User avatar
bakmthiscl

Posted Mon Mar 11, 2019 6:38 am

As I've noted elsewhere on this board, I'm considering selling my Amiga computers. However, they are not in tip-top condition and I'd like to remedy that. The A-1000 needs a cleaning at least -- to the connector pins and sockets and to the disk drive at least. The A2000 suffered a battery leak and some damage to the motherboard.

I came across the YouTube channel RetroGameModz and it's clear from his video that I MIGHT be able to do some of these repairs myself, but I might just screw the computers up completely in the attempt. I'd like to contact someone of his caliber -- but I find no contact info for him and he's probably European anyway (I'm in the U.S.A.), which would run shipping charges through the roof.

Is there anyone in the U.S.A. doing such repairs professionally?

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:18 am

Some of this was covered over here.

User avatar
Dynamic_Computing

Posted Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:47 am

Where in the USA are you?

User avatar
Mr.Toast
Roseville, CA

Posted Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:47 am

I would love to help you out but I am terribly backlogged on current projects. Paul has backed away from doing repairs and focusing on re-caps and new-builds. Troubleshooting and mitigation can be incredibly time consuming so it is understandable why he has to refocus his priorities.

You definitely can learn to do much of this type of repair work-but I would contend you need a reasonable amount of investment in mid or higher level gear and a fair bit of practice on disposable boards to shorten the learning curve. When I started out, I grabbed some old cable boxes and routers from the Goodwill store and practiced until I was comfortable I would minimize damage. Don't take that Home Depot soldering iron out on you vintage gear! If you do have some board level rework experience, you're right in that it is not that difficult to do.

One very easy thing you can do right now is to remove the motherboard from the case, remove the battery, and apply white vinegar liberally around the damaged area. There is still active corrosion going on and it will continue to eat away the copper and conductive materials even long after the battery has been removed. Scrub it in with a soft bristle brush or welder's style acid brush. Irrigate it out with some isopropyl alcohol (I prefer denatured alcohol). You need to remove all the vinegar now as well. Several rinse sessions might be required.

Good luck!

.Toast

User avatar
obitus1990
USA

Posted Mon Mar 11, 2019 7:26 pm

Does the 2000 boot?

What do you mean by the connectors and disk drive need work? The internal connectors, or, the externals? Are they corroded, have broken pins, or something else?

Please post high resolution pictures of the A2000's leakage, and the A1000's ports in need of service.

User avatar
bakmthiscl

Posted Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:59 pm

Thanks for all the replies

The A2000 doesn't boot, nor does the A3000. I opened up the A2000 and saw that the battery had leaked and affected the mother board and the 6880 (???) socket and chip. So far I have done nothing about this. I've yet to inspect the guts of the A3000.

I'm considering digging out some old scrap PCBs and practicing working on them, specifically re-learning how to pull socketed chips, desolder sockets and other components, replace corroded traces, and seal the new traces with epoxy. If I have luck with that learning curve, I may opt to try to do the repairs myself -- but at this juncture I think that unlikely.

I may postpone for a year or so my sale of these computers. I'd much rather sell working computers than non-working.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:29 pm

It's always a bummer to hear stories like this - an all too common occurrence. Sadly it's also part of what makes the 3000 so highly coveted. Not only were fewer of them sold, but of the ones that were a healthy percentage have died of old age via the batteries.

Good luck with trying to sort them out, though.

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:03 pm

That's a bummer but unfortunately the same happened to my A2000. Curse you Varta and your dang leaky batteries!

I don't want to say too much or make promises right now but I am working on a little side project for when I move. I am trying to design and construct a retro repair lab so that I can be more active in the repairs aspect. I have been doing some repairs and a lot of cap replacements for a while now but my current location is not ideal for it so I have not been advertising it. Hopefully in the not so distant future I will get to where I want to be.

User avatar
RetroJim

Posted Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:11 pm

Is anyone familiar with the website "amigarepair.com"? I came across it in a google search recently but can't find any real info on it. It doesn't look completely finished as a number of pages have no content.

I sent an email there inquiring about possibly repairing my 3000T motherboard. The guy's name is David and he is located in the Houston area. Just wondering if anyone knows him or his work?

This page has a bit of a bio on him:

http://www.amigarepair.com/about-us/





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