Two Amiga SICK-hundreds. PART 1 - testing and repair of the first one.

[@ChrisFredriksson]

Can't wait for second Amiga 600 video! ❤

[@SockyNoob]

When you said your eyes were watering from the smell of leaky caps, I was immediately reminded of that burnt fishy smell.

[@larsenmats]

Thanks for the video. Those pads for the IDE connector was most likely weakened by the electrolytic from the leaking caps. That fishsmell tells it all. I've seen A1200s and A600s with IDE connectors that had pinrot due to the leaking caps. Several pins broke off and got stuck in the IDE cable when pulling it off.

[@CRG]

Possibly, it certainly did stink of that fishy smell when removing the caps.

[@larsenmats]

@@CRG don't blame yourself. Without you that motherboard would have rotted away

[@brynjarborgersen8131]

@turrican I really should have sent that A600 off for recapping before now, I bought it over a year ago and haven't had the health to do much with her, the seller didn't say whether or not the A600 was recapped or not, so I assumed not and wanted to have it done before I did anything else. I briefly opened it up and used some compressed air to blow dust away, that is all I have done myself. I didn't even put any power into it between arrival at my place and Glen turning her on, I was that worried about breaking something due to bad capacitors :lol

[@fu1r4]

38:43 When using hot air to remove capacitors, be aware of that they can explode. So, do use eye protection when you do it.

[@CRG]

Yeah I've had it happen a couple of times, always makes me jump when they do go bang.

[@anks888]

There is a inductor on the ground of Paula that normally loses the ground e301 I think that causes the lost second button and audio issue

[@CRG]

Thanks, that's a great help.

[@radio-ged4626]

Here's a suggestion which may make things a little easier (just my opinion). I think if you were to invest in some low melt solder and apply that to the pads before attempting to de-solder the through-pins of the cable you would be less likely to damage the pads on those delicate boards. The dwell time with the de-soldering tool would be reduced and also maybe you could lower the de-soldering temperature. It's not too expensive to buy and would be worth a go at any rate. I would also consider replacing the surface mount electrolytic caps with surface mount ceramic versions as these don't leak, or maybe none surface mount electrolytic caps if ceramic aren't available - they're generally more reliable than the surface mount versions if you buy the major manufacturer's caps.

[@MrFixiit]

nice job glen, i always use foil tape and capton tape also, some times i shove some blue tack behind the foil tape to stop it leaving sticky residue on the parts

[@CRG]

Foil tape might be a good option to protect the likes of that ide header, maybe I could have avoided the damage although the counter argument is that it needed to come off anyway to properly clean up under it. I think I have some somewhere. If I can find it I'll try it on the other 600.

[@brynjarborgersen8131]

Was a good thing I didn't turn that computer on to test it, I had no idea the caps were in that bad a state. Considering everything I am more than happy with the result, working floppy drive and all else, even some missing clips back. I really don't think I could have asked for more. My is just to put in the Chipmem upgrade to 2MB Chip, I have a 5.5MB Fast clipon for it, and a KickStart v40, then use a small-ish CF for as HD replacement and use the A600 for fun. Mainly AmigaE and AMOSPro, in my case, but probably a game or two as well

[@CRG]

It certainly didn't look that bad initially but just goes to show they need done. Happy to help and glad you're happy with the result. I'll get it back to you asap.

[@CRG]

Brynjar, Can I ask that you send me an e-mail again so I get arrange to get this 600 back to you. I deleted a load of old messages recently and accidently deleted our original conversation too - [e-mail]

[@MrLurchsThings]

Nice to see my clips being used 👍 If you can take a close pic of that one you needed to modify, I’ll compare it to my original files (assuming I still have them)

[@CRG]

I'll get a photo taken later and drop you an email.

[@MrLurchsThings]

@@CRG I’ll crack open my 600 later and compare. It’s possible there was a later ver that didn’t get uploaded to Thingiverse

[@SidebandSamurai]

That was a brilliant fix for the tabs. Thanks to Mr. Lurch. BTW you can use this trick to make superglue as hard as plastic. Apply superglue to part and then stick it to the target surface, then sprinkle baking soda on the wet CA glue. It will harden just like plastic instantly. Give it a try, you will be amazed.

[@josteinkallevik]

Nice job done as usual :) I love the 600, it was my first amiga to recap and done some more trough the years. I do also use foil and tape to cover the ports so the do not melt, but I leave the keyboard connector and only to take of the plastic locking mechanism then wrap it with thinfoil and capton tape. Same for the ide connector. This helps to not melt it with hotair. I think you did a perfect job

[@CRG]

Thanks. In hindsight I probably should have left the ide in place and worked around it but it's done now. Plus there is the argument that it had to come off anyway to clean up properly.

[@josteinkallevik]

@@CRG Yeah you never know if there is some problems under the ide connector. I have had one that did hide some mess from bad caps.

[@GadgetUK164]

Great job Glen! How on earth did you lose a pad when using 2 irons - maybe one wasn't up to temp?

[@CRG]

Thanks gadget. I've no idea how I lost a pad that time, all I can put it down to was severe leakage and the fact my second iron is a cheap crap 40w thing. I suppose I'm just used to doing it with the air. Hot tweezers or another decent iron I'm sure works well, I know it's your preferred method, I'm just trying to do the best I can with what I've got 👍

[@DavePoo2]

I'd be more worried about losing the skin off my flesh if I was holding 2 irons

[@Typewriter71]

I started out with Hot Air - and it works great until you make a mistake and damage the machine you are working on - ironically the reason Id be using hot air to begin with! :) . Ive found that the "Lorena Bobbitt" method works far more reliably for surface mount caps and without any damage to the PCB - takes careful use of very sharp snips though.

[@CRG]

I've watched several of Chris Edwards videos and I appreciate it works well for him. Granted I know I've caused a bit of damage with the hot air gun in recent videos but overall it's generally fine. I think each method ultimately has its drawbacks. To much heat can melt things or delaminate the board. Too much force when twisting or cutting and damage the pads. As I said I'm comfortable with the air, it's just the way I like to do it. But you have reminded me I needed to order some new snips, mine have lost their edge.

[@DavePoo2]

For the A600 with the bad keys, check closely that ribbon connector where it inserts into the board. They are quite fragile, and really are not designed to survive very many insertion/removals. I had to cut mine a little shorter with scissors to expose a bit that had less wear. As for the re-cap, I use hot air as well. The only part I remove is the keyboard connector (as I can't get the new caps in with it there anyway), but I have avoided any melting by just using cheap capton tape over the parts I don't want to melt (and the Hot Air on about 350c I think, it's all in my "Commodore Amiga 1200 Restoration (doing some recapping)" video).

[@deborahberi3249]

Ahh, that short keyboard cable is killer but lucky I had Frank at Retro Rewind extend mine when he was doing some work on my Floppy Drive. I'd love to see the Video on the next A600! -Mark.

[@DavePoo2]

36:16 I noticed that in the video you magically folded down the metal tab on the RF shield that's under the floppy drive. I think it's probably worth mentioning it, because I suspect it might the reason for the damaged clips on the case. I think people remove the RF shield, then they don't fold that metal tab back down, then put the floppy drive back in, and it sticks up a bit high. I think this why they couldn't get the screw into the motherboard to hold the drive in at 8:12 ?

[@tspawn35]

I saw that as well and though it was weird they weren't bent back down. I had to toss the top shielding on my a500 because all of those tabs broke off and had no way to lock the shielding in place anymore. They get stupidly brittle as they age.

[@DavePoo2]

@@tspawn35 Yeah, clearly they were not designed for constant removal. I would say Commodore only planned these machines to have a life of 5 years anyway. The fact that any of them are still going is amazing.

[@nicoful86]

Very nice progress! I hope you have a happy new year 🎄🎆

[@CRG]

Thanks and happy new year to you also.

[@GerardPinzone]

Recapping the SMT caps: I've seen other people use side cutters to remove the old caps and then use a soldering iron to remove the legs. No hot air necessary.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

It probably was a problem child when it was originally released but dang, the A600 is really a nice little machine. Unless you really, really need the numeric keypad but surely there can't be that many games that require it. Great video. Looking forward to the next part(s).

[@CRG]

Thanks. If I can sort out my 600 I still need to decide what to do with it. It'll get a bit more memory but not sure about accelerator etc. Might just leave it stock.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

@@CRG One unfortunate disadvantage with the A600 and which you may already be aware of, is that if you put too much memory in it, the PCMCIA slot stops working. There is a memory expansion for it which has a jumper that switches between the max of that expansion and the max RAM with a still working PCMCIA slot. There might be several actually. I found one on ami64 which uses jumpers (this one allows an extra 5.5 MB of RAM and still working PCMCIA). There's also the Wicher 608 (vee-cher (ch as in loch)). So that's something to keep in mind when upgrading an A600. I think for an accelerator, the Furia is a good option if you chose that path. Gives you a 68EC020 at 33 MHz and 68882 at 40 MHz. Anyway, I'm looking forward to see, what you choose to do with it. Upgrades or no.

[@geofftottenperthcoys9944]

The only Amiga I had here in Australia was a A600, I upgraded it with extra memory and a 40MB HDD. Damn I still miss it.

[@CRG]

Once I get mine sorted it'll be getting a further 1mb of chip ram, a CF card and probably some fast ram. To be honest I'm not sure what to do with it as I've already got a variety of Amiga setups.

[@mrt.7146]

subbed at 04:05 - clearly you're an amiga fan with impeccable taste 🤩

[@CRG]

Always great fun working on an Amiga. Thanks for subscribing.

[@envoycdx]

I have a bag of amiga keys in the loft, not sure what they came off (a500, a600, a1200 etc) but can send some over if you're stuck :) )

[@CRG]

If you had the keys for this type of keyboard I'd happily buy them from you.

[@envoycdx]

@@CRG Can you pop a key and send me a picture for comparison. I'll have a hunt through for them. There is a story about how I acquired them. For the ones you need, just cover postage :)

[@DavePoo2]

That keyboard is odd, it's got square pegs, all the ones I have got have got round pegs

[@TimsRetroCorner]

I thought the 600 was a bit of a curate's egg when it first came out, but now it's one of my top two fave Amiga models! Great job on the recap (I personally favour the "cut it off" method - I melt fewer connectors that way! but hey, all methods have their advantages). I am interested in that new metal ESD strap you have - I use the "classic" blue elastic kind and it's always working loose (I have thin wrists, lol). Gonna have to look into that one... Happy New Year!

[@clgray1970]

Understood. So from a guidance perspective, the floppy drive makes all the right sounds as if it’s working and the disk animation screen come on. But when a disk is inserted the drive tries to access but then goes blank and goes back to the animation. Any ideas? I’ve opened it all up and tried a different drive. The only evidence of trouble I can see is the Amiga chip holder has heat damage. Any clue?

[@alex1520]

Soldering tweezers makes SM component removal and installation much easier - they are not expensive either (no need for a high end weller set to do this sort of job) - no need for heat gun and kapton tape then either (or the risk of blowing components off the PCB with a hot air gun (or melting/damaging other areas))

[@CRG]

I'll think about getting them but I don't really do enough of this work to justify the cost, even if they are just £20.

[@LozzTheDev]

Have you considered using UV-activated solder mask instead of nail polish?

[@CRG]

I've considered it 😅 Its on the list of things to buy along with a load of other items too but the nail polish does the job.

[@micflynn1]

Wonder if HOT Tweezers would work better to remove them Caps??

[@CRG]

Similar to the 2 irons approach. I'm sure they would help remove caps although given how tight some are to get at you'd probably still want to remove the keyboard connector at least. I know they aren't that expensive but I don't do enough of this work to justify buying them just now. Maybe in the future though.

[@theamigademolition5868]

Hi Mate... For the composite I've found Z221 and potentially Z222 are electrolyte damaged which kills composite... That being said there is usually an image although all screwed up with flicker and colour problems so may be something else. If it is Z221 and Z222 there is a patch which involves upgrading the Sony CXA chip and completely removing 221 and 222... Hope that helps...

[@CRG]

Helps greatly, thanks.

[@SidebandSamurai]

Darn you are lucky to own so many Amigas.

[@derekfellowes4480]

If you remove the rf modulator you don’t need the 3 100uf caps and the 22uf that side the 4th 100uf is needed and the 10uf

[@CRG]

Yes I thought while replacing them and while checking PCB explorer that at least the 2 outside 100uf caps probably could be left out. Good to know they all can be left out if the RF modulator isn't being used, I'll bear that in mind for the next one.

[@MrLukealbanese]

Happy New Year Glen 🎈🎈🎉🎉👍👍👍

[@CRG]

Happy new year Luke 🥳

[@barts.517]

For SMD capacitors removal best would be a DESCENT soldering station with pin arrowhead end, makes it very easy, and you'd safe a lot of time. Suggest Weller! I'd avoid any cheap soldering equipment due to very poor heat transfer which additionally may cause tracks damage

[@CRG]

Unfortunately most of that professional type gear is just to far outside of my budget. The rework station I'm using, I'm sure you can guess, is a cheaper thing from Amazon but in saying that it was still over £100, I think it was about £120-£130. I do need to get some new tips for it which I'll be ordering shortly (along with more flux etc)

[@barts.517]

@@CRG Weller WE1010 today £129 @Amazon

[@CJWarlock]

I like the desk top, such a nice stained, rustic-style wood. Is it real wood or a furniture board with a decor? Of course congrats on the Amiga collection! :D Cheers.

[@CRG]

It's just a vinyl wrap stuck on top of plywood but works fine for me and is easy replaced if needed.

[@CJWarlock]

@@CRG Nice idea. :) Thanks for fast reply.

[@2009numan]

whats exacrly scary about plugging a ground strap into a socket ?. its not got any live connecrions on it

[@CRG]

Well if you got a live to earth fault the earth will be live until the RCD trips. Ok that should happen within milliseconds so you shouldn't get a shock but nevertheless it just played on my mind a bit. I might install a separate earth and run a ground rail under the desk to clip onto.

[@matthiaszenke3055]

@@CRG If the earth resistance is lower than your body resistance (what should be the case), the current travels to earth and not through your body. As long as you not licking a water pipe while the earth fault happens :-). So using a regular socket is totally fine.

[@josteinkallevik]

@@CRG There should be a 1Meg Ohm resistor in series with your grounding strap in case you get in contact with live current. Just try to measure it with your multimeter and check that there is a resistance from the strap to ground.

[@DavePoo2]

One of the biggest dangers with electrocution is that it generally happens from something you were not expecting. So if you showed someone a live wire plugged into the wall, they probably wouldn't electrocute themselves as they know not to touch it. But if something were to go live that wasn't supposed to be, like your sink, or the soldering iron, or some other equipment you were using, then the ground strap would provide a path to earth, and if you were unlucky and the live connection was your other hand, then the current would pass through your heart to get to ground. All the ground straps should have a 1MegOhm resistor in them to give you a chance if something goes wrong, even a cheap £1 wrist strap that came with kit of cleaning brushes had the resistor in it. Probably always worth checking the strap with a multi-meter before you use it. It should never be a direct short.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

600s rock.

[@Dutch-linux]

use hot tweezers for the caps !!!

[@CRG]

Easy to say but I don't have them and buying them just to do the odd recap isn't worth it.

[@preddy2940]

great video m8

[@CRG]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

[@clgray1970]

How much do you charge to recap an Amiga?

[@CRG]

In my best Dr Evil impression, 1 million dollars😂. For this one all I asked is that the owner pay the shipping and pay for the components but I'm not going out of my way to make a habit of recapping Amigas. If someone is stuck I can do it for them but it may take a while if I can do it at all. I don't want the channel to turn into solely an Amiga recapping experience but if someone is stuck as I say I'll do what I can.

[@clgray1970]

@@CRG ha!! I had posted my comment before I’d watched you second video. I’ve been hunting for an Amiga for a while but with little success, then boom. Managed to find an Amiga 600 and 1200 plus two shopping bags full of games and disks locally. Paid £170 for them but the 600 comes on but when a disk is inserted, screen goes purple for a bit, then the drive stops. After a few seconds goes back to the start screen with insert disk animation. Initially thought it must be a faulty floppy, so I bought a replacement but it still doesn’t work. The 1200 is a queer one, they’ve added a hard drive and when it is turned on it boots up to workbench. Unfortunately it didnt come with a mouse, so I couldn’t really do anything else. I ordered a 9PD to usb adapter, but it didn’t work. I’m assuming modern mice aren’t compatible, so I’ve ordered one on eBay. Fingers crossed I can get that one at least working. Impressed with your fault finding and soldering skills. I have a decent soldering rig, solder sucker etc but I’ve had some bad experiences before with the micro resistors and components falling off because I’m so hack handed. Is the board explorer software and Amiga test software freeware or do you have to buy a license? I’m keen to refurbish them, but I’m not confident in my ability to not make a hash of it. I recon I can just about manage the white vinegar and isp rinse. (I’m assuming ISP is isopropyl alcohol???)

[@miked4377]

nice job crg...

[@CRG]

Thanks

[@darrenslab5537]

This is why I prefer to twist SMD electrolytics off

[@griftereck]

youve definately got a screw loose

[@CRG]

Can't argue with that 🤪