Sounds like we're in a similar boat with our Archies!!!HigashiJun wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2024 12:53 pm!FTPc, version 1.54.
I now have an issue with the Archie, but I guess its due to the Ultra VIDC...
Once the machine booted, screen randomly goes black but most of the time, when booting, it displays 3 or 4 different colours and then doesn't go further.
Have to remove the Ultra VIDC and check.
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Archie A3000 inbound
- rubber_jonnie
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Re: Archie A3000 inbound
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...
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...
- HigashiJun
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- Location: Tokyo
Re: Archie A3000 inbound
Yeah, it seems contagious...rubber_jonnie wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2024 1:04 pm Sounds like we're in a similar boat with our Archies!!!
- rubber_jonnie
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Re: Archie A3000 inbound
HigashiJun wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2024 1:35 pmYeah, it seems contagious...rubber_jonnie wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2024 1:04 pm Sounds like we're in a similar boat with our Archies!!!
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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...
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...
- HigashiJun
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- Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:21 am
- Location: Tokyo
Re: Archie A3000 inbound
Checked my machine today and the culprit is not the UltraVIDC but the RAM expansion.
There must be a bad contact somewhere.
When there's no contact, the screen is weird but the machine beeps then boots to a blank screen.
When there is no problem with the contact, the screen is normal and the Archie beeps then boots to the usual desktop.
Not a big issue at all as I was expecting a more serious trouble...
Anyway, I was planning to remove the old onboard RAM and the RAM expansion in order to fit a new 8MB RAM expansion, but I also wonder if it is not worth trying this:
Acorn Archimedes A3000 Replica PCB

There must be a bad contact somewhere.
When there's no contact, the screen is weird but the machine beeps then boots to a blank screen.
When there is no problem with the contact, the screen is normal and the Archie beeps then boots to the usual desktop.
Not a big issue at all as I was expecting a more serious trouble...
Anyway, I was planning to remove the old onboard RAM and the RAM expansion in order to fit a new 8MB RAM expansion, but I also wonder if it is not worth trying this:
Acorn Archimedes A3000 Replica PCB
Re: Archie A3000 inbound
Wow! How does he offer that for under £70?HigashiJun wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2024 8:58 am Anyway, I was planning to remove the old onboard RAM and the RAM expansion in order to fit a new 8MB RAM expansion, but I also wonder if it is not worth trying this:
Acorn Archimedes A3000 Replica PCB
That looks amazing value.
My A3000 hasn't been out for over a year, but that's extremely tempting anyway because who know if I got all the corrosion last time?
BW
DFB1 Open source 50MHz 030 and TT-RAM accelerator for the Falcon
Smalliermouse ST-optimised USB mouse adapter based on SmallyMouse2
FrontBench The Frontier: Elite 2 intro as a benchmark
Smalliermouse ST-optimised USB mouse adapter based on SmallyMouse2
FrontBench The Frontier: Elite 2 intro as a benchmark
- HigashiJun
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Re: Archie A3000 inbound
Really don't know, but some folks on the Stardot forum were really impressed by the quality of this replica board.Badwolf wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2024 10:16 am Wow! How does he offer that for under £70?
That looks amazing value.
My A3000 hasn't been out for over a year, but that's extremely tempting anyway because who know if I got all the corrosion last time?
BW
Seems that Bob's doing great stuff.
Mine is already ordered.
Re: Archie A3000 inbound
Yes you can buy them partially populated for that price. It's a lot of work to build it (like the H5 builds) but if you have a dead A3000 due to battery leakage and you are fairly good at soldering then it is no longer terminal. I think the build cost (BOM) is quite high and you need a donor A3000 obviously so the overall price is not cheap.
I posted on StarDot in February when they first came out and HW guru their Ian Jeffray posted pictures of his build
https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=418432
I posted on StarDot in February when they first came out and HW guru their Ian Jeffray posted pictures of his build
https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=418432
Senior Principal ASIC Engineer - SystemVerilog, VHDL
Thalion Webshrine - http://thalion.atari.org
ST,STf,STfm,STe,MegaST,MegaSTe,Falcon060
A500+,A600,A4000/060,CD32,CDTV
Thalion Webshrine - http://thalion.atari.org
ST,STf,STfm,STe,MegaST,MegaSTe,Falcon060
A500+,A600,A4000/060,CD32,CDTV
- HigashiJun
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- Location: Tokyo
Re: Archie A3000 inbound
Something nice has just arrived today:
Now have to find time to populate everything, but it's another story...

Now have to find time to populate everything, but it's another story...
- stephen_usher
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Re: Archie A3000 inbound
That's a lot of soldering!
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.
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.
Re: Archie A3000 inbound
Yes too much for me.
Senior Principal ASIC Engineer - SystemVerilog, VHDL
Thalion Webshrine - http://thalion.atari.org
ST,STf,STfm,STe,MegaST,MegaSTe,Falcon060
A500+,A600,A4000/060,CD32,CDTV
Thalion Webshrine - http://thalion.atari.org
ST,STf,STfm,STe,MegaST,MegaSTe,Falcon060
A500+,A600,A4000/060,CD32,CDTV