ScuzzBlog: Diaries September 2020 Entry 15th September 2020: Post 1: A590 and the upside-down dips. A590 and the upside-down dips. Sometimes I revisit old problems and hope that I can get better results from a fresh look. It's a test used for madness where you keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. So I dragged this busted A590 off the shelf and again tried to get her working. And yes I am quite mad. She powers fine, she is recognised by the A500, the memory works but sadly I cannot get her to recognise the hard drive. Today I tried several SCSI drives that I know work on an Amiga. Sadly she just wont play ball. The light on the drive is illuminated and the drive activates... but is not being seen. The problem has been like this since she arrived as the guy sold it me with just the memory working. The LED lights are missing as are a number of screws indicating that the drive had been worked on. I haven't checked the underside of the board and so there may be evidence of fiddling. The main issue stems from the DIPs. The unit only works if you reverse the arrangement that they should be set. The first DIP needs to be up to auto-detect the drive for booting. The second only needs to be up to check different unit numbers. The third is to increase the amount of time for booting and identifying drives. The fourth should be down or off cus it was reserved for future use. Sadly if the DIP switches are not set as shown then the A500 refuses to boot. And I have tried a number of Amiga 500s and also A500 Plus computers. The REAL issue is that the expansion connector on the A590 has a broken edge. At first you could be forgiven for thinking it should not make a difference. Trouble is without the connector being fully complete there is no tension to clasp the expansion interface at the last part of the connector. I sense the previous owner may have played with the tracks and done something to overcome the issue so that at least the memory works. I guess some clever guy could fix it. For now she is back on her shelf. I have plenty other 590's so not a problem. I just hate having stuff not working. No doubt I will have another go. It's a kinda madness. A590 and the upside-down dips.

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Last updated 15th September 2020

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