Search Posts:

Amiga 2500 Restoration

SHARE

Return to Threads

  Amiga 2500 Restoration by Bill Degnan - 07/22/2011 21:27
The Amiga 2500 with Video Toaster, top cover removed. The 2500 was actually an Amiga A2000 that shipped with certain upgrades included. Motherboard Rev 6.2 Click image for larger picture.


Picture of the Video Toaster installed. Click image for larger picture.


Commodore Amiga 2500 top cover.


NEXT: Replace the battery and clean the motherboard:
http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2390



Reply
  Disassembling an Amiga 2000A (2500) by Bill Degnan - 11/10/2011 12:16
Took photos of controller boards, battery, and power supply wiring to aid in re-assembly of the system after replacing the system battery

3.6v Battery Location

Video / Audio Ports rear view

Reference Photo 1
Reference Photo 2
Reference Photo 3
Reference Photo 4
Reference Photo 5
Reference Photo 6
Reference Photo 7
Reference Photo 8
Reference Photo 9
Reference Photo 10
Reference Photo 11
Reference Photo 12
Reference Photo 13
Reference Photo 14


Reply
  Replacement Battery Installed by Bill Degnan - 12/24/2011 11:13

New 3.6V battery installed on motherboard. Fortunately the original battery did not leak.


After carefully re-assembling the cards into their slots and re-attachhing the cables there is still no video output. The new battery had no impact in this regard. I plugged a Commodore 1950 into the Flicker Fixer monitor port on the end, and I also tried to get a video signal from the standard Video port (using a Magnavox Professional Series monitor). Both monitors are known to work elsewhere, so the problem must be with the system.

NEXT: Remove all cards and leave only what would be needed for a stock A2000 setup, and see what happens. If the video works, add one card at a time until I determine which card is bad, or mis-configured. It's possible that this system was configured to attach to video processing equipment directly, and no monitor was used. The "fix" may be changing a jumper someplace.

Reply
  Great Valley A2000-040 Combo Rev6 by Bill Degnan - 12/28/2011 20:22
Located the bad card in the bunch. When I removed the Great Valley A2000-040 Combo (Rev6) the computer sprung to life and asked for a Workbench disk. I think the fan is the problem, in that it came loose from the processor chip and may be preventing it from regulating the temperature, who knows. Of course this is the most important card in the computer, and what makes it a 2500 and not a 2000....

Reply
  Amiga 2630 Accelerator by Bill Degnan - 01/23/2012 21:26
Amiga 2500
Amiga A2500 with Commodore 1950 display. Click image for larger view.


I replaced the Great Valley multi card with the stock A2630 Accelerator card that I think would have originally come with the A2500, and added a separate SCSI hard drive controller card. The original SCSI hard drive was bad, so I transplanted a similar drive from a dead A3000.

Here is a link to the accelerator card:
http://amiga.resource.cx/manual/A2630.pdf

Amiga 2500
The good news is now the system boots to a working hard drive. The bad news is the the drive came from an A3000 system, not a A2500 with a Video Toaster setup. The SCSI hard drive is separated into three partitions (Work, System 1.3, and System 2.0). The folder called "Fargo" is a separate IDE hard drive used by the Video capture card. Coverdisk 31 is the icon for the disk in drive 0.


Amiga 2500
This photo shows the results of the SysInfo test. This program is pretty useful for determining what's going on with your Amiga system. Note the CPU and clockspeed! Click on the image for a larger view.


Amiga 2500
Boot screen of the A2500. Note "OpalBlanker installed", is this the message associated with the loading of a driver, or does the system detect the presence of an OpanBlanker, whatever that is...?


Next - Study what software goes with the hardware installed on this system, format the main SCSI drive and make a fresh Video Toaster (et al) install.


Reply
  Returning Amiga 2500 to Stock by Bill Degnan - 01/24/2012 08:49
The Amiga A2091 SCSI hard drive card is the default card for the A2500 computer. The utilities for returning the system to origin are included on the A2091 Installation Software disk. The directions are found on page 5-4 of the Amiga 2000 series manual, which also covers the 2500 and 2000HD.


Reply

Resources:


Buy a Commodore Computer Poster

Popular Topics and FAQs


  • Commodore B Series Tips and Tricks
  • Aerocomp TRS 80 M 1 Expansion Unit DDC
  • Items Wanted
  • Lobo Max 80
  • Zenith Z-19-CN
  • Prototype PET 2001 photo
  • Using Toggle Switches to Analyze Memory
  • Commodore Disk Archive Project
  • PET 2001 Prototype at Gametronics 1977
  • Jim Butterfield Photo
  • IMSAI 8080 With Processor Tech. Cutter
  • Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny
  • Cromemco System Three
  • Northstar Horizon - Boot Problem
  • Computer History and Restoration Links
  • Commodore BX-256-80 - 8088 Co-processor
  • S-100 board testing with Z-80 ICE
  • Donner 3500 - an early portable computer
  • Digital (DEC) PDP 11/05 NC Assembly
  • Univac 1219 rescue
  • IMSAI 1.4 BASIC vs. MITS 8K BASIC
  • Fido BBS listing node list 6-13-1986
  • PDP 8e
  • MITS 88-2 SIO (2SIO) for BASIC
  • Visual Technology Inc Model 1050
  • Amiga 2500 Restoration
  • The Evolution Of IBM Computers
  • Replacement teletype print hammer head
  • Archiving and Copying Software 101
  • Computers Built 1940 - 1950
  • CBM B-520 (a.k.a B256-80 or B500 256)
  • RCA COSMAC Microkit
  • Commodore 64K C-116 Mods
  • MITS 8800b Turnmon 9600 baud
  • Catweasel, 8in and 5 1/4
  • Raspberry Pi as Gateway to Internet
  • Digital PDP11 late 1969 early 1970
  • PDP 11/40 72 inch cabinet model
  • PDP 11/40 Industrial 11 model
  • Digitial MicroVAX 3100 30 System
  • Digital VAX 4000-200
  • Commodore 64 / 1541 DRIVEKNOCK
  • Booting the System Using RL02 drive
  • PACS: Reflections by Kathleen Mauchly
  • Tele-Graphic Computer Systems Inc.
  • Commodore B Series SID Jukebox?
  • Installing Core into PDP 11/40
  • Setting Up OpenVMS 7.1 DNS CLERK
  • Felt-Tarrant Comptometer Model J
  • NextStation Color
  • Digital Rainbow (PC100-B2)
  • 1970 Compusad Compulogical Tutor
  • Archiving Papertapes Using DSI NC 2400
  • 1976 P.C.C. Features the MAI JOLT 6502
  • 1961 Beckman DEXTIR Computer
  • UNIVAC 1 and UNIVAC File Computer 1
  • Past Issues:


    Systems Group Systems Group System 2900 front2

    This image was selected at random from the archive. Click image for more photos and files from this set.