Amiga Optical Drive - Part 3 Issues, fixes and Improvements

[@GadgetUK164]

With regards to current of the 12v line via the FDD connector, I think your approach there to take it from the main connector directly is the best approach tbh. You could measure the current drawn on the 12v line of the CD drive to see what it is, but I suspect the trace width will accommodate whatever the FDD pulls on the 12v with some tolerance. It might for arguments sake be safe to pull 500mA on the 12v line, but the FDD and CD running at the same time could pull too much current. If that had happened a trace would have burned out, so I doubt you were pulling more than it could handle. But there's also the benefit of connecting directly to the power socket there in that a) you aren't stressing any thin 12v traces on there, but also b) Any current dips perhaps wont affect anything else using the 12v line as much. I've found the same thing there on systems where I've added fans - the nearer they are to smoothing caps and power input connector the better. Depending on the current drawn by that CD drive on the 12v rail, I might be tempted to add a smoothing /resevoir cap at the drive end too. Not essential but it might just help with any noise generated by the CD drive motors and current dips etc.

[@GadgetUK164]

Another great video btw =D Educational, interesting, and fun at the same time :o)

[@MsMadLemon]

Actually I remember there being kits to add 3.5 inch hard drives into the A1200, I had one in my first A1200 and it was powered via the floppy connector.. but as you rightly say it's going to be limited. Even though I discovered in the end that the issue was in fact the ATX PSU wires needing to be thicker, I somehow didnt feel any regret of doing all this, in fact I feel more peace of mind knowing it's directly from the socket. Shame I didnt think about the resevoir caps and the noise from the CD drive motor!

[@MsMadLemon]

Thank you! i'm glad you enjoyed the video :oD And also thanks for the info and feedback! I appreciate! :o)

[@GadgetUK164]

Yeah, the 12v line might be quite thick on the board - maybe it will support up to an amp or something! If you traced the 12v line and worked out the width at its thinest point, and the height of the traces, you could work out maximum current. As I said before, if it works - it will work =D If you had pulled too much current, you would know about it ;) I would think that a modern CD drive would draw less on the 12v line than an older HDD.

[@sjarken3979]

Yeah connecting it to the power input was the best solution. And since the cd-rom power was connected before the caps, any noise made by the cd-rom would be cleaned by the caps before entering the board. Cd-rom would also receive any noise made by the powersupply, but i dont think its a big deal since the amiga is limited to 2,3Mb/sec anyway. Power input on amiga=amps are limited by the powersupply, if you need more amp, just get a more powerful supply. (dont worry if it can deliver more then needed, it will only take what i t needs) Power from fdd: Very limited. Its not really limited by the traces, but the voltage regulator. It will never deliver amps to a dangerous level, when it reach max amp, it will refuse to deliver more, so you cant really burn your traces here, unless you short circuit something, which is always a bad idea anywayz 🤗

[@lactobacillusprime]

Optical media on the Amiga 1200, now that's a feat. Shame about the power issues and the difference in IDE cables acting up. Great it works!

[@LemonTubeAmiga]

Interesting video. I never trust thin wires anymore since I had a few melt-downs, nice big thick wires you can trust. I think a slip of cardboard is also handy if you get two wires almost touching, as it can be easy to slot in between two solder points, and is as good an insulator as wood itself. But then it depends on the situation so maybe not really a tip.

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

It's so satisfying to use those heat shrink tubings...I love them. Makes the job feel finished.

[@MsMadLemon]

I agree, there is a certain satisfaction using them!

[@ShawnTewes]

Glad you got the power issue sorted. I find the wire gauge makes all the difference. I once tried to power a 2.5" SATA hard drive with an external supply that had a Molex plug, so naturally I needed a Molex to SATA adapter. Plugged it in and the thing spazzed out making noise like a dentist drill. Turned out the adapter was the culprit, since the wires were too thin. Swapped it for a better one, et voila (luckily there was no damage to the drive). Also, I never understood those 80 pin IDE cables either.

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks Shawn, it's amazing how much of a different the wire gauge actually makes, it sounds as if you could have fried that SATA hard drive just due to the adapter! 80pin IDE cables to me, always felt like those impossible pattern artwork you see: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a4/9b/35/a49b354402947c61722ca39a79a08314.jpg I've just been reading the other comments and apparently it's just an extra ground connection alongside each pin lol. Amazing how it makes a world of difference! the other drive refused to work with any other cable!

[@ShawnTewes]

Any time. It didn't help that it was a finicky Seagate, but either way I got lucky. Interesting artwork analogy, those cables really do feel like there's some kind of mystical voodoo or snake oil in them.

[@Ecidemon]

The IDE 80 Conductor cable is just ground on every other wire. It's still 40 pins, this is to allow faster transfer speed without data cross talk between signal wires. It is fully backwards compatible. Pin 34 is grounded on this cable but not in the old 40 wire cable thus the host system can determine what cable is used to enable ata-66 transfer and faster support :)

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated! :o)

[@carlosm.orozcocardenas800]

Thanks for sharing Maddi. I came back to this video specifically because I am experiencing a similar issue on my main screen, but on a Commodore SX-64 computer. So basically your video issues where caused by insufficient power; power that you started drawing from an alternate line and not from the standard voltage supplied by the original 12V rail as intended first, thus fixing your video problems. Very interesting. I hope I can detect and fix the fault on my computer with this newly acquired knowledge. Thanks again for so many great videos! Take care. :)

[@AlexModeling]

gee!! i had the Amiga 500 when i was young! and i really loved if i still had it! im finding that "tunning" AMIGA is quite a hobby these days! :) i just use AMIGA UAE emulator! i would never be able to do what you did without a... BANG!

[@MsMadLemon]

The Amiga 500 was the first I had also, I wish I still had mine. The Amiga community is quite large which i'm excited about, it's still alive today with enthusiasts and things are happening. I think this computer has touched many hearts, my creativity started on it :o) . And believe me I was in fear doing all this haha ;o))

[@ThePeter7071]

Thanks for the update video. Nice to see it working again.

[@ColdRFusion]

Loved this series of vids, I just got an A1200 I'm going to repair & upgrade, not sure I'll put a CD player in it though but you've given me some ideas! Well done, you can use heat-shrink to replace cable ties too to make things fit better while keeping it neat. Happy disc spinning!

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that my videos brought some inspiration, thanks for the tip for head-shrink tubing, I'll do that next time instead of cable ties :o)

[@rachelgraves2470]

I found you via the comments on 8 bit guy :) Glad to finally have found a woman youtuber discussing retro tech!

[@MsMadLemon]

Welcome! :o) I was impressed by the uproar of comments by women on that video! Retro tech is too good to for us to not be involved and enjoy! :o)

[@Mooheda]

I decided to do the very same thing to my A1200, however I'd like to know what mini-ide adaptor your using with audio as not all the ones i've found work or can be seen by workbench?

[@naviamiga]

Very cool. Such a lot of work, but a fantastic bit of kit to have at the end. I cheated and just upgraded a CD32 instead.

[@zenmaster24]

blue ide port is on an ata 66 or faster cable - your cdrom might not be able compatible with the older cables - they are both 40/39 pins, but the blue port cable has 80 wires (half shielding) with the other one being 40 wires only.

[@idimidodjimi6760]

It doesn't matter, you are limiting maximum bandwidth of IDE using regular 40 pin instead of 80 , which in any case Amiga isn't capable of achieving

[@idimidodjimi6760]

They don't have jumpers so its possible Mady placed it on slave end of the cable ?

[@GadgetUK164]

That's a good point and something I had long since forgotten about! There was a time when ATA 100 kicked in people just assumed the old cables would still work just the same.

[@zenmaster24]

yeah but i wasnt saying the amiga was the problem - more the cd rom supporting the older standard, as +Karl Bewsher points out

[@8bitbubsy]

As Idimi Dodjimi pointed out, the Amiga 1200's IDE runs at PIO instead of DMA, so the 80-pin cable is not needed (and changes nothing). It should work just fine with a regular 40-pin cable. If not, then I'm puzzled. EDIT: Using an 80-pin cable is still fine, and those can come in the shown convenient rounded cable tubes.

[@marioizzo4985]

Hi MsMadLamn, thanks for those videos about cd installation. It was some weeks now that I am trying to install 4xeide on my a1200 but after the installation of the driver at reboot the amiga stay on black screen. I am usign os3.9. Can you tell me, please, your configuration(filem system, os version, kickstart etc) to try to understand what is wrong on my setup? And if you have any suggestion to make this work. Thanks a lot.

[@MsMadLemon]

Which drivers are you installing for your buffered interface? is it Allegro CDFS? its strange that you get a black screen at boot. My configuration is A1200 with ACA1233n (but the IDE also works without that), kickstart roms 3.1 and OS3.9.

[@marioizzo4985]

Hi, thanks for the answer. I am using the last version of 4xeide.driver (the one from elbox) with allegro CDFS but AllegroCDFS is not the problem because is always the HDD that fail on the partitions bigger than 4GB. After thousand of test It seems to be an incompatibility with OS3.9 BB2 and above. Sadly Amigakit and elbox gave up on me after a couple of email. My configuration is aca1221ec and kickstart 3.X. Currently the system is working using the scsi.device that comes in the KS3.X and SFS1.8. It seems stable but I don't think I am using the full features of the 4xeide card. As soon I receive a new ide cable I'll try to use the secon ide port and I will know if the interface is working or not. Kind regards.

[@MsMadLemon]

Hi again, For drives larger than 4GB, try using PFS, (PRofessional file system) i've already made a tutorial about installing an 8GB card using PFS: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qn2blqemp92daqc It could also be the card, in which case, you could always test another card, install a fresh install on it and see how it behaves.

[@marioizzo4985]

Hi. Despite the fact that most people suggest to use PFS3 IO, my problems with partition bigger than 4GB are solved installing the SFS 1.84 (the previous give me more trouble than PFS3). The problem about the driver stay. I am using the 4xeide card with the scsi.driver present into kickstart 3.X and it seems work. It is a real shame be unable to use the proper driver. The biggest shame is the way this people abandoned me. I don't care too much because are only £45. I don't think I was so calm if it were a fastata 1200 mk-V. Thanks Again

[@apacher6433]

@@marioizzo4985 Amigakit bastards are still those! Not only were you treated badly! I also ordered a mouse and a drive from them, paid, they did not send! Although they answered that they sent everything, without a track number !!!! I didn’t receive the goods, I wrote it to them more than once to figure it out, in the end I was simply banned !!!!! Ugly finished !!!!! I do not recommend anyone to deal with them!

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

As of my knowledge the 80 pin IDE cable are of course pin identical to 40 pin cables, but they handle interferences way better due to the extra 40 ground cables. This is especially important at higher Ultra DMA transfer rates. I think U-DMA goes up to 100 MB per second or so.

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks for the info! it was weird that the Optical drive just refused to work with any other cable other than the 80 pin.

[@CelentAle]

My first work ide CD for my Amiga 1200 in the 1993 year. ✌️😁 I love Amiga 1200 architecture. W old Amiga and new Amiga OS4 hardware!

[@CelentAle]

Old Tablet Wacom for my Amiga 1200 and TV Paint, very cool 😎

[@duncangarnett1976]

The extra 40 wires are ground wires allowing more bandwidth down the cable

[@giuseppelavecchia775]

Hai fatto bene ad alimentare direttamente sui pin del connettore dell'AMIGA,cosi non metti sotto stress le linee circuitali di alimentazione della motherboard.ti chiedo,il lettore CD rom vedo che non ha punti di fissaggio,come fa a stare fermo?,lo tiene fermo solo a pressione il case del computer chiuso?

[@RakaShar]

I really like the second song playing in this video. Any chance of making it available? Keep up the good work, nice content!

[@MsMadLemon]

I'll be uploading it to my Soundcloud at some point, will announce once it's updated. Thanks!

[@fourbypete]

I have a sata laptop drive. Does anyone know how to get one of those working with the ide interface?

[@rainbowcomputers212]

can you repair my Pioneer EX-9000 Expander.? Display has some continues on lamps.

[@DaveDoc1984]

That is SOOO Awesome! Wonder now if CD32 games will work? I thought there was an Akiko Chip in the CD32 which isn't in the 1200 so I would be very interested to see how they run. I would rather try and source an external CDROM Drive for my 1200 as I would be too scared to fry it!

[@MsMadLemon]

Yes there is an Akiko chip in the CD32, though i'm not 100% sure on what it does, But we will soon find out as i'm going to do a video on the CD32 "emulator"... Well you could just use a long IDE cable to an external CD-ROM drive and power that externally. SCSI i'm imagining is hard to find.

[@DaveDoc1984]

At the moment I am waiting to buy an A1200 Accelerator card whilst also doing some smaller upgrades to my A500 Plus and A600.

[@victornassar6634]

Hi there, Love your videos very educational. I need to ask you , where did find the PATA to IDE adapter?

[@therealsimonhicks]

Where possible I use heat shrink sleeving in place of cable ties

[@MsMadLemon]

True! I should have done that... thats what those larger tubes are for aren't they, doh!

[@daishi5571]

Just a quick note. It would be advisable to cover the coke (torus with windings) next to where you are soldering. Just a slight touch from the iron (not everyone has steady hands when soldering) or the solder spitting when applying heat and will ruin that component (you wouldn't even necessarily notice) I realize that it's unlikely. Just trying to keep all Amigas healthy :-)

[@MsMadLemon]

I wish I knew this to mention it in the video! Thanks for the tip!! :o)

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks, though I always tip the motherboard upside down and tap a few times in case before switching it on.

[@arthurwday7215]

Giggling the best and entertaining. Gets me laughing so hard!! Thanks.

[@paulb4uk]

I had an Amiga 1200 that came with a 3.5 inch drive fitted fairly sure it was powered from the floppy port I removed it though it did work.

[@MsMadLemon]

Actually you're right, I remember there being kits available to add a 3.5inch HDD and the power was always from the floppy port.

[@MauroSanna]

Fantastic video as usual! I need to take the courage (and the time, LOL) to start doing my soldering exercises, because I want to do some recap (my A600 and another A1200 I have both need to be done) as safely as possible. Though every time I think I have a complete set of tools that can make the process easier I discover something else, on your channel, that I should add to my arsenal! Hahahahahaha! I am pretty sure I can get away with what I have so far but, you know, the easier the better I guess? :-D Anyways, thanks for the great video and the good contents! Keep up the good work! ;-)

[@MsMadLemon]

If you're talking about SMD recapping on the A600 and A1200, then I need to start soldering/desoldering exercises too lol SMD scares me a little. Hahah sorry I keep expanding your inventory of tools, but indeed, the right tools for the job right? ;o) My pleasure Mauro and thank you! :o)

[@MauroSanna]

Definitely, the right tools for the job! Especially that desoldering station you got recently! :-D About recapping: I want to replace all the important ones. I have bought a capacitor kit for both computers (which is basically the whole capacitors set according to each Amiga model, 600 and 1200) from Amigastore.net for the purpose. Ufff... I really need to start doing it. Maybe I will test my [lack of]skills on an old adsl modem first! :-D

[@MsMadLemon]

Ah that desoldering pump is a Godsend! lol I cant believe how easy it is now, I wish I had got it before struggling with the previous Commodore 64 and Amiga recapp attempts! All those long nights wrestling with a freakin manual solder pump and braid! Throughhole desoldering really is not fun with a wick/braid or hand pump! nice, so you’re actually ready for recapping your Amigas, you got everything prepared :o) Yes indeed, I would strongly recommend practicing on adsl modems etc first also, i’m sure you could improve your skill after a few days to a week even! :o)

[@MauroSanna]

"Throughhole desoldering really is not fun with a wick/braid or hand pump!" Which is exactly what I have so far! LOL

[@Inaflap]

I clicked on the link for part 1 and now I have two of your videos playing at once. Should I click on part 2 too boop boopy do?

[@MsMadLemon]

If you can process three of my videos at once, sure go for it ;o)) But I wont be held responsible for insanity caused by 3 Dimensional giggles :oD

[@victornassar6634]

I enjoy watching your videos and you also make me laugh too. I need to ask you what made the message you got on screen to go away? Was it the different cable from 40 to 80 ?

[@DropDeadFrederick]

You can power the CD-ROM from the floppy power cable if you want (using a floppy power y adapter). Unless you're trying to use the CD-ROM drive to plow a corn field, it's not going to draw an excessive amount of amperage from the power port. :-D If you were using the stock a1200 PSU I'd be worried, but since you're not, it's not an issue.

[@MsMadLemon]

Okay so the traces to the floppy port is more than enough for a CD rom drive! I thought so at first until I came across the issue...which of course turned out that I needed to double wires of the PSU... So it left me questioning still, thanks for answering the question, I appreciate it! :o) Hmmm CD-ROM drive cut corn... I wonder what that tastes like ;o))

[@DropDeadFrederick]

There may be two different issues behind that. Either the power cable you used before wasn't up to snuff, or there's a problem with the voltages/amperages at the power connector on the motherboard. Did you try just replacing the cable with a new/higher quality one? After that you can try checking the power with a multimeter while it's under load. I'm in the middle of adding an internal CDROM to my A1200 too, but I'll be honest. I'm not even bothering to try to power it from the internal floppy power connector. Not because I don't think it'll work, rather because I did an internal PicoPSU conversion and since the PicoPSU has drive power connectors it's just easier to use that than to mod the floppy power cable. I have seen other people power CDROM drives from the internal power connector, and there are other devices that tap into that power connector too (like the Rapid Road USB adapter).

[@MsMadLemon]

Actually I sort it out in the end, the ATX PSU wires are too thin (slightly Budget PSU) so I doubled the wires and all became fine :o) i'm thinking about doing a PicoPSU but not internal, as an external little box. I'm a little aprehensive but i'm sure it'll be fine. Then again i'm always aprehensive doing any PSU hacks/mods on my Amiga, naturally!

[@DropDeadFrederick]

Hey I was close! :D I had a feeling it was wire that was too thin of a gauge (the floppy power cable), it didn't occur to me that it was the wires on the PSU itself since the system was working. I've already done the PicoPSU mod and it's actually VERY easy to do so I wouldn''t really call it a "hack". ;) I almost did make an external PicoPSU but I didn't like having two external bricks, so I decided to make the PicoPSU part internal). I don't know if your'e active on the English Amiga Board, but from there I found a link to Ian Stedman in the UK, and he makes and sells a PicoPSU adapter that makes it very easy to add the PSU to any system (www.ianstedman.co.uk/Sales/IanStedmanscatalogue/ianstedmanscatalogue_1.html). The entire thing ends up being 2" x 3" x 1/2". I literally bought a 3D printer just so I could make some custom parts for my system including a mount for the CDROM drive to try and make it look as much as possible like the machine came with one from the factory, a new mount for the PicoPSU, new ventilated trapdoor and back door covers to let air in, and custom air guides to let me install small fans and direct the air to my accelerator card (like what'd you find in a laptop).

[@daviniarobbins9298]

The motherboard is probably not designed to run a floppy, a hard disk and a optical drive all at the same time after all this machine was released before CD-ROM drives were everywhere. The question is why didn't you power the dvd drive using the external PSU instead of the computer's power connector?

[@MsMadLemon]

If you keep watching, you'll see that I did in the end. Its not coming from the motherboard, but the power port, and yes the terminals on the power socket are thick enough to carry the current needed for the Optical drive.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

@@MsMadLemon No, I meant the PSU brick not the 1200's power port.

[@MsMadLemon]

@@daviniarobbins9298 you mentioned the motherboard not designed to run a floppy, hard disk and optical drive, and why i didnt power the drive using the computer's power connector, which is the 1200's power port?! The PSU Brick, providing its an A500 heavy one, powers the optical drive just fine, however, i've since put together a better 65w PSU for it which is more than enough power for all this.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

@@MsMadLemon Well I meant a floppy power connector from the PC PSU you are using but never mind, it isn't important. Have you thought about one of those Checkmate A1500 cases to house your 1200 in?

[@EduArana]

Well you are using a PC powersupply so you will not have problem with the current there. The 5V and 12V lines 20mm witdh so it will not problem with that I think, most of the problems came with the original powersupply.

[@amimasteronline4675]

I see this now: Your SD Card IDE adapter is not insulated at all and when any conductive (metal) piece of it touches any conductive piece on your amiga mainboard it will give you a short circuited system! Please, if you haven't done it already, insulate the SD Card IDE adapter tro prevent it from damaging your system. The easiest way to do that is just putting a very small kind of plastic bag around it :)

[@amimasteronline4675]

Here is a picture of my A1200 from the inside: www.bilder-upload.eu/show.php?file=ebb67d-1500318936.jpg I don't have the EIDE adapter and a CF card adapter (with 8gb CF) instead of an SD card one, but the whole insulating thing is exactly the same of course. Maybe you get a better idea of it by looking at the picture :o (If you wonder about it: The accellerator card is a Blizzard 1200/4) I don't want to act like a teacher at the moment who is telling you what you must and mustn't do, I just want to help you keeping your amiga alive as long as possible ;)

[@amimasteronline4675]

...and even one more thing... are your capacitors in the A1200 already replaced by new ones? If not, that is a thing you should actually do as fast as possible as well, because the old ones Commodore soldered into the A1200s, A600s, A4000s, CD32s and CDTV remotes back in the day were pretty low quality capacitors, so they are very likely to leak their very aggressively etching electrolyte onto the amiga mainboard which is desrroyed if that stuff sits on it for a time :o

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks for the warning and concerns, i've already recapped the A1200 and I made sure to insulate the underneath or any metallic corners of the SD card adapter with duct tape, so there's no danger of any short circuit. Thanks again for the advice though :o)

[@amimasteronline4675]

Ok, I really didn't see that duct tape and the caps you put in there look exactly like the original ones, so I just wanted to tell you. Of yourse it is very good that everything is already done :)

[@jp-um2fr]

Every time I see the bottom of a capacitor it reminds me of the 'Ban The Bomb' logo that was all over the UK back in 60's. Fortunately the bomb stopped any wars - I don't remember hearing any big bangs. You did a nice job there, I'm surprised the original layout could not handle the current though. I didn't see any of your non (?) alcoholic hooch. Thanks for the video you were in fine form today.

[@MsMadLemon]

I don't know anything about any bombs nor do I drink alcohol. Thanks for your feedback.

[@jp-um2fr]

'THE BOMB'......maybe it's best not to know about it. I was joking about the booze.

[@idimidodjimi6760]

Ok , well there is not an easy answer , cause we all know there a different versions of motherboards, and printed circuits especially for that period are not that well built, and they get worse over time - and don't forget they haven't built A1200 mb's with such upgrades in mind 25 years ago First of all you can get the correct voltage to the unit u are trying to power , but Amps are to low. What is most common mistake is that people don't check on what power rail they connect external ATX PSU as they have different rails with different capabilities for powering specific devices, so it is much better to use 6 or 8 pin connector if possible dedicated for graphics cards as there tend to be more Amps on that line - it doesn't also help that on most cheaper PSU's cable isn't made of copper but instead of aluminium

[@idimidodjimi6760]

BTW if you don't have 6 or 8 pin connector You can read form label of your PSU how much amps it should provide on each rail

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks for this valuable information! Also I didnt know the graphics card power rails provided more current! I will bear that in mind.

[@YesiPleb]

A-ha! Heat shrink tubing at last :D

[@MsMadLemon]

Lol! You got your Heat shrink tubing fix ;o))

[@imranchaudhry7805]

learnt alot

[@ncgallagher]

they got the pronunciation for "gif" wrong on that CD

[@JoseRamos-kd9ig]

😁😁👍👍

[@jessede1970]

be careful you don't take too much power off the power supply

[@MsMadLemon]

That's not really possible, the wattage of a power supply just determines how much it can provide. The Amiga or anything else connected will just take from it what it needs.

[@jessede1970]

i didnt know i'm jess ede from helland in cornwall uk just want to say what really good amiga filming and all the mods your doing will you be doing anymore audio or pc video's i liked the reel 2 reel refurbish that was a great video as well!!!all you videos are fab!!!

[@MsMadLemon]

Welcome to the channel Jess! :o) Thanks so much for your kind words about my videos! i'm glad to hear you've been enjoying and hopefully continue to!

[@EdwinNoorlander]

Please don't giggle for everything you say, it makes listening harder.

[@MsMadLemon]

Quite an exaggeration dont you think? I will not alter my personality for anyone.