Got a A600!!

[JLPedro]

Today i hade a wonderfull surprise en a friend off mine give me a A600 for free! The unit was very yellowed on the top and keys, but the real suprise as wen i taked it home and opened it! It has a 1MB expansion so 2MB chip Ram and some sort off hack and a external switch to change between kick 1.3 and kick 2.05 (37.299), both kickstarts are soldered on top one of other ( ? ) but works like a charm.
The only problem i found appart the yelloyng was that the 1mb expantion has a battery that leaked a little, i remode-it and cleaned the area whith wd-40 (if someone knows what to do else to prevent further damage please help), the expantionn works fine, workbench shows 1,8xx mb.

I will post pictures tomorrow of the A600 parts.


PS: on the box also came a Spectrum +2A (havent tested it yet) and an spectrum 48k (looks very old and misses some keys and no psu so doubt it works as also i doubt the +2a works also , but i will clean it first to boot-it)


I have another question: does the kick 2.05 (37.299) supports a compact flash adapter with a 256mb cf card?

[Teho]

I'm not certain of the exact kickstart version I have in my 600, but I do have a CF adapter with a 1GB card in it and that works just fine. You shouldn't have a problem I think.

[JLPedro]

The most important thing is that it works and try to keep the expantion working also (tomorow ill make a better inspection to the pcb and try to see iff it as damage. But it would be cool tho have the cf card as a hd cause with 2mb chip it will run all the whdload ecs games i think, or not?

[JLPedro]

This is the ram expantion (Zydec AmRam6001) with the battery removed and cleaned, some tracks seem to be afected. any sugestions?

[Harrison]

Congratulations on the free A600. Buying one always feels great, but being given one for free is even better.

As for the ram expansion. As you have removed the battery and cleaned it up no further damage should occur. And if the ram expansion is working OK in its current state then I don't think you need to worry about doing anything further.

[JLPedro]

Here ara some more pics off the machine. I would like some opinions about wath color should paint the case to match the yellow keys as i dont want to buy a new keyboard. I was thinking Black (Black and yellow keys ?!? :whistle: )
Also I can't make the install disk off wb 2.05 detect the CF Card as HD, do i need some special application? or its better to use winuae to do the install stuff and just stick it to the A600?

[Tiago]

Great gift Jlpedro !!!
Looks a bit yellow, think on painting it. I do it on my A1200 and the result was great.
I cangive you some info about that, if you want.

[JLPedro]

please help-me with the cf adapter and card, does the rom 2.05 v 37.299 supports hd 2,5'' or CF card? Anyone as sutch setup? I can't make it to work.

[Buleste]

It should support the 2.5" hdd and probably with some software support the CF card. I'm not 100% as i've never owned anything other than a 1200.

[JLPedro]

Just read some posts on other sites that say roms 2.05 37.299 won't boot any drive hd or cf. I find it to be very strange.

[Teho]

Looking through the list of different kickstart versions, it may seem that's the case. It does say that v37.299 is for A600, while v37.300 and v37.350 are for A600HD. Hmm, I may have to dig out my A600HD now and see what kickstart version it is running on.

[Harrison]

Just read some posts on other sites that say roms 2.05 37.299 won't boot any drive hd or cf. I find it to be very strange.

The first none HD A600 model's kickstart roms did have a bug in them that prevented access to the pcmcia slot and the ability to access HDs over a certain size.

The best solution if you do find your A600 has this version of the kickstart roms would be to upgrade the roms to either a later A600 HD version or the newer 3.1 roms.

[JLPedro]

Yes i could upgrade to kick 2.05 v37.350 (13€+shiping from amigakit) but i dindn't want to loose the hack that has been done to switch between kick 1.3 and 2.05(v37.299). Would it be possible to have a kickstart switcher and put a 2.05 v37.350 in one slot and the hack in the other slot? Here could i buy a kickstart switcher (those that have 2 slots for kicks and a switch)?

In Winuae (A600 configuration standard) with the cf card mounted as hd i can install wb 2.1 on roms 37.299 (2.05) so it should work on the real A600 also, or not?

[Harrison]

Here are some further details of exactly what the different kickstart versions in an A600 can be, and what the bugs are:

Early revisions of the Amiga 600 were shipped with Kickstart revision 37.299, which, to the surprise of some, neither had support for the internal ATA controller, nor for the PCMCIA interface. Although it was possible to load the necessary drivers from a floppy disk, it wasn't possible to boot directly from ATA or PCMCIA devices. Only later models of the Amiga 600 and especially the Amiga 600HD were equipped with Kickstart 37.300 or 37.350, which both were able to utilize those devices at boot time. Due to bugs in Kickstart 37.300, the maximum supported size of a hard drive was limited to 40 MB. Everything above this size was a game of chance. In contrast, version 37.350 was capable of supporting hard drives up to 4 GB.

I'm not sure what revision kickstart my A600 has in it. I will need to check, but it did boot PCMCIA devices perfectly well as i use an Archos 330MB external PCMCIA HD with it and that boots and worked perfectly well.

[JLPedro]

Buyed a Roms 2.05 v37.350 from Versalia 12.50€ with shipping, now the dilema, keep de hack and use a very compatible machine with old games, or put the kick v37.350 and use a 2mb chipram A600 with a 256mb cf card? What would you do?

Other way is to find a romswapper for the A600 and use both (actualy 3 kicks). Anyone knows were to find sutch hardware? Are the ones for A500/2000 compatible?

[Buleste]

TBH it the ROM swapper looks a simple bit of kit and as long as you have a good memory (or photos for reference) and are handy with a Soldering Iron then why not replace your old 2.05 ROMS with your new ones in the ROM swapper.

[Zetr0]

@JLPedro

Great stuff on gettin an A600!

personally for me they are an unsung hero of the Amiga World...

as you have found out KS2.05 has issues with hard disks over 40MB, as you want to keep the kick rom changer there is ANOTHER way you can do this :D

you can be done with two kickroms, and just get an 27c800 programmed with both kickstart 1.3 and 3.1 again accessable with a swtich, I will try and get you some hardware pron on the one i am doing for r0jaws (on amibay/amiga.org)

anyway for your viewing pleasure, please enjoy this little linkie to some tastey hardware pr0n :) (http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=27727)


:) by yours truely :)

[Puni/Void]

@Zetro


anyway for your viewing pleasure, please enjoy this little linkie to some tastey hardware pr0n

That is one amazing A600 modification! It's incredible how you can manage to fit so much stuff into the little machine. :)

[Zetr0]

@Zetro


anyway for your viewing pleasure, please enjoy this little linkie to some tastey hardware pr0n

That is one amazing A600 modification! It's incredible how you can manage to fit so much stuff into the little machine. :)


LOL

my friend i haven't finished yet... theres loads more to put in!!!!

like an 020 with 8mb ram :D

[Harrison]

Not an 030? :o

[Zetr0]

Not an 030? :o


LOL, no i am going to build my own from the LUCAS project, base it on 21mhz clock, if i am lucky i will try and get it upto 28mhz or faster.... it all depends on the line propagation of the CLPD's and logic chips but we shall see ;)

[Puni/Void]

Good luck with the project, Zetro! Be sure to keep us updated on your progress. :thumbs:

[Harrison]

Yes, I am also excited to see what you finally can come up with.

The A600 is a great little machine for its size and you can definitely expand and modify it quite a bit if you can source the parts. And these days where Amiga fans are mostly using their Amigas as secondary hobby machines the A600's size is great as it is portable enough to put away when not in use. An A1200 or A500 are much harder to find a storage place for.

[Puni/Void]

@Harrison


Yes, I am also excited to see what you finally can come up with.

The A600 is a great little machine for its size and you can definitely expand and modify it quite a bit if you can source the parts. And these days where Amiga fans are mostly using their Amigas as secondary hobby machines the A600's size is great as it is portable enough to put away when not in use. An A1200 or A500 are much harder to find a storage place for.

The small size is exactly one of the reasons that made me purchase an Amiga 600. :thumbs: The fact that it is expandable is a big bonus. Have ordered a CF-card and adapter for it, and I hope to get some more memory as well.

[JLPedro]

Just painted the case of the A600 and it looks very nice and white (post some pictures later).
But nnow i have another problem, after mounting the case and hardware back together, i booted the machine and it showed a yellow screen and flashing power led, did dis 2 or 3 times and then booted normaly, but now there is some problems with the sound output, the sound is rubish at some frequencies, and makes noises even when just waiting for disk to boot.
Can someone give-me some idea of the problem? capacitors?( all look good, the board is clean and looks like new) kickstart chips? (the hack is a bit home made so it may be faulty, the issues are both on 1.3 kick or 2.05 v37.299). I was so happy with it and restoring it was wounderfull and now this... :no:

[Harrison]

Could be a grounding issue. Have you checked that nothing is touching something it shouldn't in the case? Or that the metal shielding around the motherboard is correctly positioned.

[Buleste]

Yellow flashing screens are generally a ROM problem. It may be that when you took it apart you might have nocked the ROMs. Try reseating them again and also just check all the solder joins just in case.

[JLPedro]

Will check that. Thanks.

[JLPedro]

No luck, probably faulty Paula/IO Chip, got one NEW motherbord rev 2d from france 24€ total.

[Buleste]

If it is a problem with Paula it's strange that it's only just appeared. Try taking out ROM's cleaning contacts and reseating. Yellow screens are usually software related which means the ROM's aren't seated quite right and can cause problems with other chips.

[JLPedro]

Arrived yesterday new roms 2.05 v37.350 from versalia and i've tested with them and the result is the same, it only apeard when i dismounted the machine to paint the case and then mounted all back together same as it was. The cpu and gfx chip seem a bit hot, same as the paula chip but games run normaly and dont crash the A600, only the sound is jerky like when a speaker is wasted. I leaved it runing for some time and it did'n crash or other, just the sound problem.
Read some place that there some problems related to this regarding a pair of capacitors of 16v near the paula chip but i don't see them, and if it was the case some other parts of the A600 would be afected to, like the floppy drive (by the way with the new roms i used the CF cadapter with a 256mb card as hd fine).
The psu from the a600 as a -12v reading of -9,xxx V is this a problem? the one i have for my A1200 is reading -12v ok. Used the psu from the A1200 with the A600 and same problem with the sound.

[Zetr0]

sounds like an interesting pickle you have here...

I like interesting pickles...

okies... now contray to popular belief it was only KS 1.3 and before that used colour codes, the moment you get to KS2.x+ there are no explcit codes.

this being said... i have an a600 here, (been testing lots of things and obviously enjoying much hackery) now I ONLY get a yellow screen when there is a CHIP RAM failure. i get a GREEN or BLUE screen with a ROM failure. and if the is major grounding going on its a white/dark grey fail..

RED is clearly a problem btw LOL

I will have a look for that paula fix for you and put up a pic with the items to replace...

[JLPedro]

I already have a set of new roms (37.350) and a new board rev 2D on its way to me :thumbs:, but i would like to recover this one to other projects like a custom a600 case :sly:.
I noted another simptom, on Cabal theres a ocean intro with ocean logo scroolling, sometimes it apears and sometimes just sound, this never apened before, i may have damaged the board with static discharge while dismounting or mountig the machine. :no:

Other thing : does the low reading on the -12v (i get -9,xxx) on the psu, may have caused this type of damage? Cause i don't know the use of the -12v on the amiga.

[Harrison]

I can't imagine that too little power would damage anything, it would more likely just crash the Amiga. Too much power though is another matter.

[Buleste]

If it's not a ROM problem then i don't know. However i've found this (http://en.allexperts.com/q/Amiga-Problems-1522/) site and it looks like the expert Greg Donner knows what he's talking about so he may be able ot help you.

[Zetr0]

If it's not a ROM problem then i don't know. However i've found this (http://en.allexperts.com/q/Amiga-Problems-1522/) site and it looks like the expert Greg Donner knows what he's talking about so he may be able ot help you.

for an expert he seems a little weary from what i have read...

but fear not... i have signed up.... my request to join the experts is pending

we shall see :D......

[JLPedro]

http://vlrqyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p8cfV_U20lrSNsw0KAf7zkx0hlaLZV4X1IqWjIQqw4YGsg16e5WEROULRNkzQp5DVwScNaMvuyK3GjsfdJa3eXg/a600mb_rev15_1.jpg

Are the capacitors marked with red circles the ones that belong to the audio circuit on the A600?

Other question, having tried the board with audio rca out and tv tuner, and the audio is cracked both conections, does this means the Paula chip is faulty or can i hope to repair it just replacing the capacitors? Cause i dont see any leaking on any capacitor on the board. Tried the board with a 170w psu with -12v, +5v and +12v good readings and the result is the same... bad sound output.

By the way, the amiga 600 is working fine now with the new board rev 2d and new roms 37.350, 2mb chip ram, 2 mb pcmcia sdram and 256mb cf card. Some Pics:

http://vlrqyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p8cfV_U20lrSj5KOptbTvLRzD6speyGAyrc_1fdDiaEc_fWLD4sQTuM-Mf-uR7z5HVno3fmgug6qOUjGvCtuEOg/A600%20Painted.JPG

http://vlrqyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p8cfV_U20lrSucQtqQYMTFOVLtQZ8R7CZuz7EwHudTc7eR3wSwo8BQ2DhLggN_5JnhT9SLiT1uQdQWnjAW7FH1Q/A600%2BPSU.JPG


Just want to repair this rev 1.5 board cause it as the 1.3 + 2.05 roms hack shitch.

[Zetr0]

@JLPedro

I would say that those are the caps indeed, but to be 100% positive i would double check the schematics :D

replacing them should clear up the sound, however if it doesnt then there may well be a more serious fault.

Some nice pics, my Hardware Pr0n folder thanks you, from the deepest part of its directory :D

[JLPedro]

Yey another question, got an A1200/A600 psu that as from my 1rst A1200, decided to test-it, removed it from the case, and its the ones with that brown solid plastic covering the entire case and pcb... so this is what i got from the readings of the multimeter:



Black GRD
White -12v 100mA -> Reads -15,04v / 1,04A
Brown +12v 500mA -> Reads +11,67v / 0,28A
Red +5v 3A -> Reads +5,14v / 4,91A


Is this psu in good condition? -12v reading seems a little high, and on +12v only got 0,28A instead of 0,5A.

Readings from the psu that came with the A600 that was given to me:

+12v -> +11,36v / 0,8A
-12v -> - 8,98v / 1,7A
+05v -> +5,12v / 2,25A


Is this one better? all seems fine except from the -12v that is only reading -8,98v.

[JLPedro]

Anyone :please:?? So does it or doesn't damage the amiga the -12v low reading? The -12v is related to the audio circuit and i got the A600 with the audio damaged, this psu came from that system, coincidence?? :blink:

[Harrison]

A reading of -15v does seem very high for a -12v rail. The other readings all seem within acceptable ranges.

Not sure if it would damage an Amiga, but if the -12v rail is used specifically for the audio then that could explain your damaged A600 audio. But I'm not really an expert in the internal electronics of the Amiga. You need to get Zetro to answer this one to give you a proper answer.

[Zetr0]

:)

sorry i have not relpied to this sooner...

okie dokie... the reason you have a -15v reading is the fact there is no load on the +12v

-15 is perfectly fine :)

the reason the audio is dead could be one of two things

1. (and most likely) the motherboard capacitors are shafted... these need replacing :D
2. Paula is on the way out, (you would also notice intermittent mouse action as well)

hope that helps :D

[JLPedro]

So this meen i can trust both psu for use on an unexpanded A600/1200, paula chip should be fine as i only notice the sound problem (will replace the capacitors from a A1200 dead board) :thumbs: , as for you welcome help i shoud be giving you some very good quantity of hardware prOn in a few days :p

[Zetr0]

LOL

did some one say hardware pron!? ooohhhh yes please :D