Let's have a look at the keyboard. Actually, it's a classic Amiga 2000 keyboard, not the A4000 one with the modernized look.
Pressing the keys felt a bit different to what I am used to. When I opened the case, I found out why. The Amiga keyboards I know use a membrane. This one is different, it has a full-size PCB.
But that isn't the only difference.
Under the keycaps, I found these silicone cups instead of the usual springs. In my opinion, they provide a slightly improved key feel. On the other hand, they are dust magnets.
The photo was made after I cleaned up everything. There was a bit of the usual filth, but alltogether, the keyboard is in a good shape.
While I was reassembling the keyboard (and almost finished), I found out that one of the plungers is different. It has a blue base and a different mount at the top, and it's made for the space key.
I didn't knew that, so I accidentally put the plunger into the "F6" position, and wondered why the key cap wouldn't stay on.
So... Disassembling time again. 😒
Finally, the keyboard is nice and clean again now! 😀
Tomorrow, we'll have a look at the mainboard.
Let's have a look at the mainboard. It gave me a lot of mixed emotions.
First of all: The seller was totally open about the state of the board. I knew exactly what I was buying here. 👍
Good: All electrolytic capacitors have already been replaced.
Bad: I could not find a manufacturer for the SMD caps. For the two TH caps, it was definitely a cheap brand with a specified lifetime of only 1,000 h. I doubt the SMD ones are much better.
I will remove them all again, and use Panasonic Aluminium Organic Polymer ones instead. Lifetime: 10,000 h. 🙂
The battery was removed. The previous owner also tried to fix the battery damage. Unfortunately it looks like the soldering equipment was insufficient. There are traces of force. Pads, vias and traces ripped from the board. 😭 They tried their best to fix the damage, but (fortunately) gave up at some point before making it worse.
It won't be fun to fix that mess. There will be a lot of bodge wire involved.
Time to clean up that area. I generously removed all the parts at the top and bottom. Then I cleaned old flux residues.
After that I removed the solder mask with a fiberglass pen (wear a respirator and gloves!).
In a last step, I used vinegar to neutralize residues of the battery lye, then washed off the vinegar.
Well, I guess I'll also have to remove U891 and the other SIMM sockets. That's fine though, as I planned to replace the SIMM sockets with ones that have metal latches.
Next steps here? Well, the board is too badly damaged for a simple solution. It is impossible to solder U177 back in place, as almost all of its pads are missing. But I guess I have a much better idea how to fix this. 😀
Anyway... Tomorrow I will replace the capacitors at the other parts of the board.
OK, let the healing begin. 🙂 Near the floppy port, some of the parts around the capacitor looked a bit corroded. No characteristic "fish" smell though. I still decided to replace a few components.
Same thing in the audio corner. I cleaned it more generously here. Maybe I should have replaced the resistors and caps as well. Hmm... I will do it next time I work on the board.
The next steps will take more time, but I will keep you updated in this thread.
