A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 6:35 pm :) :dualthumbup:
I've since also upgraded to the latest version of the SCSI ROM too thanks to the good folks over at Stardot. I see you posted there regarding your BBC B floppy issue, any luck?
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by stephen_usher »

Nope! I can't find any difference in signals between the working and non-working Beeb!
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:58 pm Nope! I can't find any difference in signals between the working and non-working Beeb!
Oh, that's a bit arse...
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by stephen_usher »

Yeah. Without a 40 pin chip-clip I can't really fit a logic analyser in the FDC. I think that's the only way I'll solve this, by looking at all the signals together in the time domain.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:04 pm Yeah. Without a 40 pin chip-clip I can't really fit a logic analyser in the FDC. I think that's the only way I'll solve this, by looking at all the signals together in the time domain.
Do you have an 8271 controller? If so does it work in another machine?

EDIT: Just reading your posts over at stardot, please ignore any questions you've already answered over there.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Ok, so for now at least, I have decided to call the A5000 done, and I'm reassembling it.

:girldance: :girldance: :girldance:

All the repairs are done, and whilst I could easily continue tinkering with the IDE interface, in reality, having the SCSI drive means it isn't entirely necessary. Plus I can easily add another SCSI drive if I need to.

My limited selection of IDE drives seems to be a problem too, since it seems to be sensitive to different drive sizes and geometries.

I'll possibly revisit IDE later, but as far as I can tell, I have caught all the battery damage and everything buzzes out ok, the CMOS/RTC is working fine and the battery replacement is also working well.

The one item I won't be repairing are the traces to the FPA socket, since the FPAs are quite expensive and kind of unnecessary. I have fitted a socket to make it look nice, but only the 4 corner pins are soldered in case I change my mind later.

All the bare traces are now lacquered too.

Looking tidy inside:

PXL_20220620_145734918.jpg
PXL_20220620_145734918.jpg (315.03 KiB) Viewed 853 times

Just got to drop the lid back on. Mouse working too, I changed from the heat shrink on the rollers with silicone tube and added the 22mm steel ball, and though it requires a surface with a decent amount of friction to work, work it does :)

Total tally of repairs:

1x CMOS/RTC chip
1x 74HCT245 buffer
7x mainboard capacitors (Maybe a few more than that!!)
15x capacitors in the PSU (Super fishy PSU this one!)
A bunch of bodge wires
A ton of time :)

It's been an interesting project, but next I need to learn properly how to drive it (The O/S is a bit, well, odd) I think network access is going to be a must too, as despite the vast array of floppy disk formats the machine can do (Good job there Acorn), it's a troublesome way to get software onto the machine.

Currently it has econet installed, but that uses a din plug, not RJ45, so at present it is very much offline.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by exxos »

:bravo: :girldance: :girldance: :girldance:
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viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by alexh »

Well done. You've had yours a fraction of the time I've had mine and mine is still in an antistatic bag on my desk.
rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:12 pm My limited selection of IDE drives seems to be a problem too, since it seems to be sensitive to different drive sizes and geometries.
Did you follow the advice and add the extra ICS Wizzo IDEFS ROM in the spare ROM socket?

https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11247

I'm not familiar with this product but I was interested to learn. People claim it adds increased compatibility over ADFS in RISCOS3.11
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

alexh wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:30 pm Well done. You've had yours a fraction of the time I've had mine and mine is still in an antistatic bag on my desk.

Did you follow the advice and add the extra ICS Wizzo IDEFS ROM in the spare ROM socket?

https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11247

I'm not familiar with this product but I was interested to learn. People claim it adds increased compatibility over ADFS in RISCOS3.11
Thanks :)

Once I get my hands on a machine I do go all in, sometimes for weeks, in order to get them running, fixing any of these machines is such a buzz.

No, I haven't tried the ICS Wizzo IDEFS ROM, well not yet, but it is on the to-do list, I just need to do some more digging to see what the process is.

Don't worry, when and if I do test it, I'll put it on here :)
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by alexh »

The Wisso5 ROM binary is in that thread together with instructions to use a 27C512 EPROM. There should be an empty 5th ROM socket. Just pop it in. Well that's my thinking. Obviously but tried it yet. But I want to.
Principal ASIC Engineer - SystemVerilog, VHDL
Thalion Webshrine - http://thalion.atari.org
STf,STfm,STe,MegaST,MegaSTe,Falcon060
A500+,A600,A4000/060,CD32,CDTV
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