ScuzzBlog: Diaries December 2023 Entry 10th December 2023: Post 1: Amiga 4000d - Buyers beware. Amiga 4000d - Buyers beware. The rarity of the Amiga 4000d makes the choice of suitable ones for purchase a touch limiting. Nonetheless as a possible first time buyer you may benefit from a few guiding comments in respect of what to expect. The Amiga 4000d is the last desktop that Commodore released before they went bust. The machine was released at the same time as the Amiga 1200 and Amiga A4000T. Sadly only around 400 of the original 4000T were made and many were destroyed. Very few exist today. The A4000d runs very similar to the A1200 and used the same version of Workbench. The machine has a different architecture suited to powering up expansion cards that can be mounted off and internal daughter board. Unlike the A1200 the machine requires a separate keyboard so the first thing to make sure you have is a suitable A4000 keyboard. The connector is a PS/2 style smaller type. It is possible to use an A2000 or A3000 keyboard but you will need a suitable adaptor. The A4000d came in two speeds, the 030 and the 040. The difference on these machines is substantial and you should aim for the 040. It is possible to swap the 030 board out for the 040 with a few tweaks to jumpers and a few suitable plastic stands to support the board. When looking into the A4000d the processor board sits at the front to the side of the floppy drive. If there is very little in the way of circuitry and looks relatively bare then that is an 030 board. If it has a number of small chips and capacitors plus a heat sink on the processor its the 040. The A4000d may have been upgraded with a third part accelerator board like the CyberStorm. The machine is very basic in form factor albeit a bit smaller than the A2000. The front fascia may have discoloured and that is the only plastic on the computer. The power button is actually a crude long rod that simply throws a button on the PSU to the rear. There is space for a 5.25" bay unit such as a CD-ROM and two 3.5" floppy drives. The A4000d can power PC style HD drives and there is a suitable jumper on the board to determine what the floppy drives are. Note that you should save the plastic pieces that are removed from the 4000 as they are ridge'd to suit the styling. Very hard to replace. There is a keyboard lock on the case and the machine came with its own set of keys. When removing the front fascia/bezel be mindful of the wires and connectors that get hooked in behind the front frame. The badge will say 030 or 040 or even the EC030 if I recall. There is also an LED for power and hard drive activity. To take the 4000d apart you simply unscrew two small screws on the rear and slide the case out. Be mindful of the mouse and joy- stick ports which are on the side. When buying an A4000 you really need to know that the mouse is working, the joystick is working, the keyboard is working, the sound is working along with the other ports. The machine is a real problem when things are not working. Mostly cus it points to a possible motherboard problem. Main motherboard issues ... Battery leakage which depending on how the machine has been stored is likely to damage not only the top layer but the bottom also. The battery is a killer on the 4000 given the proximity of the other surface components. It can even take out the SIMM slots and the rear ports. Capacitors just melt on this machine and will corrode so much when they leak. Buster Chip needs to be the Buster 11. Trust me. The SIMM slots are notoriously fragile and break so easily. The furthest SIMM from the edge is the machines CHIP RAM and the rest is the FAST. You need the minimum of the CHIP working or the beast is dead in the water. Next up is the PSU which can range from noisy to just plain busted and they are a pig to replace. It is worth checking inside a machine before you buy one cus it may have additional cards. A graphics card would be most useful. These things do get hot and so an extra fan would be useful. There is no onboard SCSI on the 4000d as the computer runs IDE drives. Two drives can be mounted one on top of the other in the space between the PSU and the daughterboard. Just make sure you have the special 'L' shaped brackets or the cradle plus the plastic separating membrane to protect the daughter board. There are two ROM chips the same as the Amiga 1200 and so you can easily upgrade to 3.1. The machine would have come with 3.0 as standard for the day. These computers are rock steady when they are fully functioning and will super impress when it comes to undertaking all your needs. The computer gets even more thrilling when you fit a suitable graphics card like say a Picasso IV. The 040 just screams along and needs little more in the way of a boost for general use. It is a shame that there are not more A4000d machines in circulation. Hope that helps. Below are a few links to some old blogs I created when I was doing work on the 4000d. I still run the machines and really would be quite lost without the archive that I have on the one in the Workshop. Amiga 4000d - Buyers beware. Links to some older blogs Changing the A4000D processor board Changing the A4000D motherboard Rebuilding a busted A4000D < ~oo~ >

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Last updated 10th December 2023

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