My pro has arrived :) Some "new user" questions

[carlosemandrade]

Hello all,

Bought x68000 pro (without monitor) from a friend, the computer is in excellent condition. Tested with an old VGA crt (31 khz only,  very good picture quality) and played a lot of Castlevania (copy) and original Naious  but i have some questions/concerns

- How difficult is to change the sram battery ?
- Using a stepdown 100v converter reduces chance of problems with PSU ? Is the pro psu more robust ?
- Is there many problems or issues with floppy drives from pro series ? (capacitor related)
- How is the best and/or less difficult method to transfer files/images from pc to x (serial RS232 or xfloppy) ?

[NFG]

1. Not sure, I've never had to do it.
2. No, the PSU is crap and will die no matter what you do.  You can try pre-emptively replacing all the capacitors, but nothing else will help.
3. No, the Pro drives seem to be much more robust than the others. 
4. Dunno, I bought originals of all my games.  Never had to try.

[carlosemandrade]

Thanks Lawrence 

Well,  time to buy a spare atx psu and study the replacement tutorial 

[NFG]

Luckily the PRO is HUGE inside, you can use many standard power supplies.  I think I bolted a cheap ATX PSU inside, fit without problem, and I just suspended it from the rear support rail.

[carlosemandrade]

I'm just reading the tutorial, but i'm a bit confused with this:

The main pinout for pro/pro2 psu connector indicates a blue wire with -12v, but the pinout of fdd and hdd connectors also indicates a blue wire, but marked as +12v 

The other wires are ok (red +5v, yellow +12v, orange +5v standby and brown = poweron, via 7404)

[NFG]

It means that blue on the motherboard isn't the same as blue on the FDD/HDD.  Be careful which one you're using at all times.

[carlosemandrade]

hmmmm. two blue versions ...

so, the blue on main psu connector for pro/pro2 = -12 and the blue for fdd/hdd = +12 

[NFG]

Yup, you got it.  It's pretty easy to tell based on the size of the connector and the number of wires, but it can lead to simple (and very deadly) mistakes.

[SteveP25]

I changed the battery in my pro and my expert.   The pro is easy, the only pain is if you try to replace it with out taking the board out (which is what I did)

[carlosemandrade]

Lawrence, is this psu enough/ok for replacement ?

Hipro HP-K1507A3c

It's a "130W" compact atx psu, specs:

+5v 12A
+12V 4,5 A
+3,3v (won't be used) 10A
-12V 0,4A / 400mA
+5V standby 1A
and a warning "+5v and +3,3v shall not exceed 86w"

[eidis]

 I have an ACE-HD and can clearly state that the hardware works well if capacitors are good. Some claim that they tend to dry up in about 5 - 10 years time so it is necessary to replace them in mission critical parts like PSU, floppy drives and motherboard. I did it with my ACE-HD and it still works good. One floppy has bad bearings but that's another story. Hope to someday repair it and do a tutorial on it. Please don't trash your PSU. If it still works, just replace all capacitors, especially the big ones and everything should work fine. Please don't butcher a fine piece of art from Japan.