Hello,
Wondered if anyone can help. I just dug out my old A500, checked it worked on a friend's compatible TV, it was fine. Took it home waited a couple of days, while trying to scrounge a TV off anybody I could!
Anyway, set it up, all good. Put one of the same disks in as I had checked it with, it failed to load! Got a little way then power light flashed. That's it!

Had a look on you tube for tips on cleaning disk drive, took Amiga apart, disk drive out. Couldn't get it completely out of casing, not having proper size tiny screwdriver, so cleaned as much of the fluff out of it, and the reading heads as I could with cotton buds and alcohol. Put it back, loads a bit more but not properly.

The other thing is I couldn't tune it in to the TV. Controller doesn't seem to be working, even with new batteries. I'm going to get an RGB to SCART cable as I have found out that TV is compatible.

Any help is much appreciated, as I don't know anything about fixing computers!
Thanks

Hello,
Wondered if anyone can help. I just dug out my old A500, checked it worked on a friend's compatible TV, it was fine. Took it home waited a couple of days, while trying to scrounge a TV off anybody I could!
Anyway, set it up, all good. Put one of the same disks in as I had checked it with, it failed to load! Got a little way then power light flashed. That's it!

Had a look on you tube for tips on cleaning disk drive, took Amiga apart, disk drive out. Couldn't get it completely out of casing, not having proper size tiny screwdriver, so cleaned as much of the fluff out of it, and the reading heads as I could with cotton buds and alcohol. Put it back, loads a bit more but not properly.

The other thing is I couldn't tune it in to the TV. Controller doesn't seem to be working, even with new batteries. I'm going to get an RGB to SCART cable as I have found out that TV is compatible.

Any help is much appreciated, as I don't know anything about fixing computers!
Thanks

Hi,

A couple of things first!  You need to count how many times the power light flashes, and is it consistent?  Ie. happening at same point or various random times?  Are you getting a picture at all, you mentioned your remote isnt working?  At this stage it could be (off the top of my head) the PSU, floppy drive (some models have surface mounted caps that fail related to rotation speed), CIA or worst case RAM (not socketted, hard to remove).

Simple things you can do to start with are to remove RAM expansion and retest, take cover and shielding off and make sure all socketed chips are firmly in place.  If its an a500+ you could have a leaked nicad battery, the same battery issue occurs in the 512Kb RAM expansions also.

Think he means the TV remote also, he stated that it 'loads but not properly' so it seems like the machine kick-up ok. Think we're onto a compatability or dead disk issue.

Yes, i thought he meant he'd not got it working with the TV because the remote isnt working?  Why else mention the remote?  Hopefully its the drive.  He mentioned the game worked previously so it can't be the KS version, logically it's going to be the disk, the drive, loose chips, leaked battery, CIA, or RAM - I would check in that order.  Btw, you can swap the 2 x CIA chips around to see if the behaviour changes - if it doesnt you can rule that out.

One of the most common chips i've seen fail in 500's and 2000's is the CIA, and it normally follows movement of the machine, static, and or removing devices whilst the a500 is on - design fault, something to do with different ground levels.

If there's a memory expansion in the trapdoor slot remove it and see if it changes anything. Usually, they've got a battery inside which leaks and eats up the board. If the fuzzy stuff has already spread to the board it'll need a good cleaning at best.

The 500 doesn't output RF, it's only got (monochrome) composite and - much preferable - RGB. (Plus digital RGBI, but you wouldn't want that either.)

For RF you'll need an A520 modulator but as long as your TV has any way of directly inputting a video signal you won't really want that.

Try connecting the RCA jack on the left edge to your TV's AV input (any RCA cable will do). There's no color but you should be able to see something.

The power light flashing means the machine crashed. It probably has nothing to so with the floppy drive. To help you further, can you say whether it's a 500 or a 500+ , or if it comes up with a white or purple screen with no disk inserted. Also, what game(s) made it do this? trust me, it's all relevant.

On checking again it just crashes, power light just goes dim, no flashing. Though I could swear it did flash a couple of days ago (prior to taking apart and attempted cleaning).
It's a 500, with white screen. Games I played the other day which were fine, and not now : Turrican 2, Nitro and Project X.

Hi,

A couple of things first!  You need to count how many times the power light flashes, and is it consistent?  Ie. happening at same point or various random times?  Are you getting a picture at all, you mentioned your remote isnt working?  At this stage it could be (off the top of my head) the PSU, floppy drive (some models have surface mounted caps that fail related to rotation speed), CIA or worst case RAM (not socketted, hard to remove).

Simple things you can do to start with are to remove RAM expansion and retest, take cover and shielding off and make sure all socketed chips are firmly in place.  If its an a500+ you could have a leaked nicad battery, the same battery issue occurs in the 512Kb RAM expansions also.

Socketed chips all firmly in place, the whole motherboard is in good condition. I can get the screen, followed suggestion from Zac67, without using the 520 Modulator.

Just to be clear, have you removed the modulator when using the black and white composite signal?  maybe you plugged the modulator in whilst it was powered up or something?  If video output is faulty it could be a problem with hybrid.  Could be denise but unlikely I think.  Try swapping the 2 x CIA chips around and check behaviour, if swapping them around changes behaviour it will be faulty CIA - i've got several spares.

Edit: when you swap them make sure they are installed the correct way around.

Modulator was unplugged when using the mono output. Just tried it again, get a picture both connected and unconnected. Just not through the modulator.
Had a go at removing the CIA chips, but they are well in and am a little worried that I will damage the chip and/or motherboard taking them out. I will have to get one of those PIL tools to grab both ends at the same time. It's going to take quite a bit of force in any case though.