Hi

I recently picked up an amiga 500 plus for my games room. I want it for playing games but i wont be installing a gotek drive or similar because I prefer to just buy a few original games.

It was an impulse buy and i admit to never owning one before... I have a large sega and Atari collection already and ive always wanted an amiga.

Anyway, after buying it I started to do some research and read about the batteries on the main board :o. So i opened it up yesterday and have attached pics of what I found. I think I got lucky? Anyway my questions are:

Does the battery need desoldering? Ive seen videos of people snapping them off but im not sure about that.

Does the battery need replacing? Ive seen new ones on ebay that can be changed when they have expired.

Also ive just discovered the mouse doesn't work... the buttons function and it moves left and right but not up and down. Its a mouse that has a switch so you can switch between Atari ST and Amiga. I tested it on an ST and it worked perfectly. Any ideas what the problem could be?

Lastly, any upgrades anyone can recommend for gaming?

https://ibb.co/6s9wHMJ

https://ibb.co/fQq47Pd

https://ibb.co/tDnM5Jy

https://ibb.co/rmvhqbN

https://ibb.co/xKbxk3h


Thanks, Marc

@16bitgamer

It seems to me, if my memory is working tonight (which is only a 50/50 chance that it is), that one of the CIA chips going bad could be the cause for the mouse malfunction you are describing. I would do a search for CIA chip failures, or functions, and do a bit of research in that direction, unless someone here comes up with a more definite answer for you. Unfortunately, I don't know how to tell which CIA chip has gone bad, or if you can swap them, to verify if it is indeed the problem.

Hopefully, someone here with a better memory, will pop in to tell you other possible solutions, and either confirm my guess, or correct my mistake, very shortly.

Congrats on finding your A500+, and enjoy your first Amiga experiences. I'll never forget mine, with my A1000. I hardly slept for months after getting it.

Edit: Just looked at your pictures, and that battery looks perfectly good. Amazing after all this time. If you are a person who remembers to check things often, or are someone who can put reminders into any electronic calendar, and then follow through when an alarm goes off, just remind yourself to check that battery every few months, and leave it in, until it starts showing signs of bulging, or getting fuzzy, then if it does, replace it immediately, before it can leak and do any damage. Others may suggest to remove it now, and not give it a chance to do any damage. Both suggestions are good, so it just depends on which type of person you are, if you want to take the risk of forgetting to check on it and have it leak in the future.

As for upgrades, take a good long look at the Vampire FPGA board for the Amiga A500. It will allow you to play almost everything ever programmed for the Amiga, including AGA software and games, that could never before be run on an A500+, though some purists will object, most users rave about the performance of the Vampire board. There are more accelerators and other add-on products for the A500 than any other model of the Amiga, so you have many choices. Just read up on all of them and ask questions here, before you make a choice on which one(s) to get. Enjoy!

Last edited by amigadave on 17-May-2020 at 04:38 AM.
Last edited by amigadave on 17-May-2020 at 04:35 AM.

_________________
Amiga! The computer that inspired so many, to accomplish so much, but has ended up in the hands of . . . . . . . . . .

@amigadave


Hi

Thanks for all that info ill do some research on cia chips and see what I can come up with. I was amazed at the condition of the battery to! I was expecting something much worse when I opened it up.

Im going to take the whole thing apart at some point soon and give it all a good clean so i might look at removing the battery then.

Ill have a look at the Vampire FPGA board it sounds just the kind of thing im looking for.

Heres a pic of some of my current set up, the Amiga will be getting a nicer spot it was only on the floor for testing

Nice setup. CRT is the way to go with classic Amiga :)

@16bitgamer

Welcome to Amigaworld. That's a nice looking Amiga!

_________________
"Unix is supposed to fix that." -- Jay Miner

@nikosidis


Definitely! I only use crt for my retro stuff my only regret is not buying a few more when they were dirt cheap/free

@bison

Thanks! It was a real bargain for only £35... I think I got a steal and ill soon have it up and running perfectly

@16bitgamer

You need to remove the battery. Sorry. It is already eating away at the base of the first leg and the tops of some of the solder joints in the immediate area are dull and starting to corode. Just a matter of time. Now is the best time to remove. I just very very gently rock it back and forth and let it snap. Then very carefully clean as directed ... I have stopped advising how I clean up. I have a jar full of batteries like these. Some are not pretty sights. The battery serves no purpose. It just keeps the time. Doesn't impact on anything you do.The risk is that you will place in store and you will killl the Amiga. The 500Plus is now becoming very rare.

Don't forget that the holes go all the way through the motherboard and there are two sides.

The mouse movement could be the actual mouse. Just clean it thoroughly inside. The movement of the mouse is controlled by Denise via U15. One way of checking the port is to find a two player game that uses a joystick on the mouse port and see if it working. Something like Battle Squadron. Just that I had this problem only a week or two ago and it was the mouse rod inside the mouse needed cleaning. Also check the port pins and see if they are level. When I have had issue with the mouse of a serious nature I just swapped out the Denise.

Don't grow attached to the battery. It's an Amiga killer and needs removing.

The horror show:

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_april20/scuzzblogdapril20_0103.htm

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_november17/scuzzblogdnovember17_0902.htm

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_november17/scuzzblogdnovember17_0904.htm

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_november17/scuzzblogdnovember17_0905.htm

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_november17/scuzzblogdnovember17_0906.htm

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_november17/scuzzblogdnovember17_0907.htm

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_january19/scuzzblogdjanuary19_1301.htm

https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_november17/scuzzblogdnovember17_1101.htm


https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_april20/scuzzblogdapril20_1204.htm

scuzz

@scuzz

Argghhh those pics!!! Its coming off this week after seeing those

Luckily I have a decent solder station and kit because I do alot of Sega modifications. Ill remove it and give it a good clean before it does any (more) damage. I tested the mouse port with a mouse that I know definitely works so ill take a look at the denise chips.

Thanks for the info

@16bitgamer

Sad thing is that the degrading of chips and particularly sockets can be quite a distance from the battery and you don't actually see it happening. Worse is that the corrosion can continue on after the battery has long gone. I am currently reworking six A500 Plus motherboards and going though the whole processes again. The tops of solder junctions just go like powder and legs to resistors go green. Plus socket connectors go green and degrade. The AGNUS is the one that creeps up on you cus you can't even see the pins being destroyed. And sadly when you remove a chip you take out half of the socket connectors. I've even lost sockets on the ROM chip.

On the 2000 they stuck the blasted battery right next to the CPU and it just eats the legs and socket seats. I've had what look like perfectly good batteries sitting there only to discover their destruction a little way in under the floppy cradle on the 2000. And like I said there are two sides to a motherboard and they really are full of holes.

It is not simply a problem of the Amiga. I have removed all the batteries from Acorns. They are a lot more sturdy and quite tricky to get at.

I have two Amstrad MegaPCs that have the Sega Megadrive inside the PC. The two I had had been stored upside down and the battery leaked into the lid. I was able to remove and they still work.

They really are a pain. Remember that the A1200 and A600 do not have a battery unless you have one on a card. So it really is no big deal not having a battery.

@scuzz


Well i removed the battery today and gave it a clean up and a couple of new bits... i know not necessary but they were cheap and i prefer to have it.

I resoldered both joystick ports and now the mouse works


Ill be ripping it to pieces again to retrobright and spray the shielding