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Dynamic_Computing

Posted Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:36 am

Ebay can be a place to get your wallet pilfered for Amiga hardware. Like the Amiga 1000 that the guy is still asking $6000 for... But I found a honey of a deal!
Apparently a computer store that closed 20+ years ago had inventory in storage, and they hired someone to sell it off. Nobody seemed to notice the A2000 being sold. It looks to be in good condition, but is untested. Regardless, I can use it for parts if it does not work. The puppies are tough, though, so I have faith it will be OK. It also apparently comes with a hard drive, but I think the seller took the controller out... I bid on a controller too, and won it. I was thinking it was an A2091, but after some research on the pics, it is just an A2090a (a piece of junk scsi controller - max HD/Partition size 256 MB)
The Amiga will be in next week and I will report on its condition.

The Price? For a possibly working A2000? $79 + shipping... Flippin steal!

If it works, I will entertain offers starting at $500... :P :P :P

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:09 pm

Holy smoke - that's AWESOME. What's the Ebay seller's handle? :cool:

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Dynamic_Computing

Posted Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:41 pm

Great. Now I have a competitor for any cool stuff she has. Texantrader214

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:44 pm

Oh! I see her stuff posted pretty regularly. I've not been following her, though. Heck, I think I've even bought from her before.

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Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Wed Aug 29, 2018 4:02 pm

Nice find. Hopefully it is working.

I know what you mean about eBay prices. I have found deals but most of the time not. I have been looking for a decent A3000, A4000 or A1000 but have yet to find anything reasonable.

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Dynamic_Computing

Posted Wed Sep 05, 2018 3:14 pm

A2000_1.jpg
Received my A2000 today - and beware that Ebay seller I mentioned above. Her packing skills are HORRIBLE! The first item was the HD controller, and the package fell apart in shipping - no tape. The A2000 was not protected AT ALL - literally no packing material. Just a form-fitting box with an A2000 inside.

The A2000 itself is missing most of it's custom chips, including the 68000. It is also corroded quite badly, even though the battery visually looks OK. The 68000 socket itself is a mess. Time to get out the toothbrush, isopropyl alcohol, q-tips and compressed air and clean this nasty sucker up. Once I do that, I can move the chips from my non-working A2000 over here and see if she still has any life left in her. If not, then at least I have a case, floppy, power supply and 20 years worth of oxidation that I can call my own.
Attachments
A2000_3.jpg
A2000_2.jpg

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Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:07 pm

Having finally repaired my original A2000, I can say yours is much worse. Bummer it is in such bad shape. That socket most likely will need to be removed and replaced. You may also want to remove the ROM chip to the right of it as that pesky battery corrosion makes its way there too. If the sockets are green you can clean them up but there is a good chance that there are still some bad pins. I had to desolder my CPU socket and my ROM socket and solder in new ones, in addition to local clean up.

Some eBay sellers are complete noobs or clueless when it comes to shipping classic computers like these. I had a seller ship me a 2000 in exactly the same manner, just a form-fitting box. Fortunately, the A2000 is built like a tank so I had no external damage but the insides were another story. Oh man, I hate the gamble on eBay these days.

Keep us updated on the restoration effort.
Last edited by Zippy Zapp on Thu Sep 06, 2018 6:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Dynamic_Computing

Posted Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:50 pm

It is coming along nicely. I think you are right that the socket will need replacing, but I am giving it the old college try to clean it up. Tomorrow I go at it with a fine wire brush in those little holes to try and get the last of the yuck out. Then on to testing the connections to see if any are broken!
Attachments
A2000_4.jpg

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BloodyCactus
Lexington VA

Posted Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:55 am

looks like you have corrosion under the solder mask. if so, thats toast.

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mattsoft

Posted Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:00 am

Yeah, you will need to scrape that solder mask and neutralize the battery leakage. Don't be discouraged though. I have a 3000 with extensive visual damage from a leaked battery and yet it works nearly 100% -- only the scan doubler shows some signs of funkiness and I'm working to track that down and get it repaired.





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