exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

So, here begins the A5000 repair thread, as promised!

At present the machine doesn't boot, however there is clear damage on the area of the battery, and having removed the RTC (IC58), there were some rather immediate problems apparent from the get go.

The clock oscillator circuit has a missing SMD cap, and from a circuit PoV, there are some definite missing connections. (More on that later)

It was also clear that the PLCC socket was heavily corroded, so given some of the nearby tracks were damaged, i decided it had to go. This is part way through the cleanup and you can see how bad the corrosion is on the pins:


It also gives a good view of the clock oscillator circuit damage.

All the pins came out just fine:


And you can see here the level of corrosion in this selection:


Though you might have to zoom in!!

I've found a lot of missing connections now the area is clear, but nothing I feel that can't be fixed with some bodge wiring, though I am going to have to break out the finest wire I can find!!

The one thing that strikes me with this machine is how fine the tracks are. They really are super fine and very susceptible to damage by a leaky battery, and I think I got lucky here in that the damage is not as bad as it could have been. Damage is marked with black dots:


So first order of the day, get the tracks repaired so we can see what it does, then take it from there. One thing at a time.

That's not the worst A5000 battery damage I've seen. Relatively "minor" in the scheme of things.

stephen_usher wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 6:55 pm That's not the worst A5000 battery damage I've seen. Relatively "minor" in the scheme of things.

Honestly, I'm counting myself lucky.

Good luck with the repair @rubber_jonnie , there’s much more than the black dots to repair when you zoom in.

Still all repairable with some patience and lots of bodge wires

Sorry for arriving late to this thread (had a real life emergency x2!).

Anyhow, as far as I can remember what happened with this...

The machine booted to the 'No OS' prompt when I originally purchased. However, on opening up, I noticed the battery had just started its 'ooze of death' routine, so I set to work on neutralising the threat (removing the cell and cleaning as much of the corrosive alkaline as I could get to).

I remember it being worst hit around the battery and wiping off a SMT component around there on the clean up.

Hopefully, its not too bad to sort and @rubber_jonnie can get this running again.

As for the mouse ball...I have no idea where to start with that!

PhilC wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 7:26 pm Good luck with the repair @rubber_jonnie , there’s much more than the black dots to repair when you zoom in.

Still all repairable with some patience and lots of bodge wires

Everything marked is basically an indicator of something that should be connected, but isn't. I can't help but think if the tracks had been a smidge wider they'd have been fine after a clean up, but I have buzzed everything out that looks damaged and have a reasonable map of what's bad, including the pads under and around the RTC clock and its oscillator circuit.

There are some tracks that look bad i.e. have a dark spot on them, but in reality once cleaned up, it's just uneven lacquer.

It isn't as bad as I have seen, all you need is one look at the results of a Maxell bomb going off in a Mac and you realise it's not that bad.

mrbombermillzy wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 8:53 pm
As for the mouse ball...I have no idea where to start with that!

This is totally new for me, I have never seen a mouse ball turn into toffee before!!!

Enjoyable read. Good luck.

alexh wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 12:27 am Enjoyable read. Good luck.

Thanks

Mine didn't look too bad when I first opened the case but when I started to clean it, tip-toe gently, simply applying the white vinegar (I just poured a little bit out of the bottle) washed away C154, C159 and R430 and their pads