mclek@dcatla.UUCP (Larry E. Kollar) (03/11/88)
Well, here's the survey results I promised. Things appear to be MUCH better
than they sounded at first. Some digested statistics are listed below, followed
by each person's responses. If you have time, some of the commentary is worth
reading.
I tried to mail a thank-you note to everyone who responded, but I was unable
to reach Mike Mazzone (otto.lvsun.com!mike) after several attempts. Mike,
please accept my public thanks & apology for no note.
I had 23 responses as of 4:10 p.m. EST, on March 10. Thanks to:
David Carter (gt4785b@pyr.gatech.edu)
dfisk@hawk.ulowell.edu (David Fisk)
ali@polya.stanford.edu (Ali Ozer)
kasper@csli.stanford.edu (Kasper Osterbye)
(anonymous)
ut-emx!bph (hine butler)
"Ronald G. Minnich" <gatech!harvard!ll-xn!harvard!UDEL.EDU!rminnich>
ralph@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Ralph L. Vinciguerra)
gatech!rutgers!uwvax!uwmcsd1!lakesys!joe (Joe Pantuso)
druhi!mab (Alan Bland)
pur-ee!frohne (Henry R Frohne)
Educational Software <gatech!ut-sally!uunet!ecf.toronto.edu!edusoft>
otto.lvsun.com!mike (Mike Mazzone)
lsrhs!damon (Damon Michaels)
sun!mongo!waynet (Wayne Thompson)
Blaine Gardner <utah-cs!uplherc!esunix!blgardne@sally.utexas.edu>
dayton.dhdsc.mn.org!joe (Joseph P. Larson)
geocub!anthes (Franklin Anthes)
gatech!uiucdcs!uxg.cso.uiuc.edu!schwager (Mike Schwager)
wybbs!meyers (John Meyers)
Kari Sutela <gatech!FINTUVM!LK-KARI>
CLWA@me.chalmers.se
babcock@sun.com (Gigi Babcock)
They reported the following:
No problems: 11
Chip worked loose: 4
Power supply: 2
Disk problems: 3 (including a user-damaged one)
Loose connectors: 2
Broken motherboard: 1
Average time of ownership is roughly 4 months. I didn't make any effort
to correlate age of machine with failures.
While a 50% failure rate sounds pretty ugly, nobody reported any out-of-warranty
repairs/costs. This suggests to me that C-A isn't burning in the 500. They
should look into it -- might save some money in the long run. Also, I talked
to a trusted dealer, who mentioned that disk drive cables sometimes work
loose -- he almost always tests out the 500s he sells before they go out the
door, and he's had only one DOA.
Seeing how things were working out with the survey, and how memory prices were
rising, I broke down yesterday & bought a 500 with 512K expansion & disk drive.
My major beef is with the video cable -- who makes a DB-23??? The dealer
showed me how he cut off pins 13 & 25 from a DB-25 female connector to make a
23-pin kludge. It works; I'm going to try it as well (and run monochrome until
then).
Back to the survey: what follows is the text of each response, edited to
eliminate included text. Like I said before, there are some interesting
stories and comments, so read 'em if you have time. Briefly, the questions
were:
1) When did you get your A500?
2) Have you had any problems which required a trip to the repair shop?
3) If yes to #2, was the repair under warranty?
4) If no to #3, how much was it? (Nobody who responded had to pay.)
5) What is the configuration of your A500 (memory, disk drives, etc.)?
Thanks again to everyone!
Larry Kollar ...!gatech!dcatla!mclek
From: David Carter (gt4785b@pyr.gatech.edu)
1) December 23, 1987
2) One day early Feb, the machine refused to boot- came up with a solid color
(green I think). After leaving on about 15 minutes (warm up), it would start
showing Gurus. After cycling through a few Gurus, sometimes it would go on and
boot normally.
Problem turned out to be that the Denise chip was not seated fully. Took six
days between the day I dropped it off, and the day I picked it up (there were
other machines ahead, both Amigas and 64s).
3) Yes.
5) Commodore 1084 monitor. Microbotics 512K memory. Smartmodem 1200.
The monitor had problems from the beginning. Every 15 seconds to 1 minute, it
would "jump" (appeared to lose the vertical hold for a fraction of a second).
I sent it back to Go Amigo for an exchange (free- they paid postage both ways).
The Microbotics memory doesn't fit quite right. The metal enclosure is about
3mm too large in one dimension. This makes lining up the connector pins
difficult, and prevents the A500's plastic cover from laying flat.
-------------
From: dfisk@hawk.ulowell.edu (David Fisk)
Hi, I'll throw my $0.02 in. I've been working part-time at a Commodore
dealer since last summer and as since I have seen a number of 500's. There
really haven't been many 500's that I've seen have serious trouble. What I
mean by this is that of all the 500's that have been sold, only a couple
have been seriously dead. However there have been a good number of 500's
that were DOA. The biggest problem was a flashing power light and a green
screen. In every case this was quickly fixed by applying pressure on the
Fat Agnus chip to re-seat it. It seems that it is somewhat sensitive to
shipping vibrations.
-------------
From: ali@polya.stanford.edu (Ali Ozer)
I was describing my sister's situation (she doesn't read Usenet).
1) October 1987
2) Absolutely none. The machine has been transported from place to place,
has been left on 12-15 hours at a time...
5) 512K machine with 1080 monitor. Pretty minimal.
-------------
From: kasper@csli.stanford.edu (Kasper Osterbye)
1) sep 1987
2) Once I got a program that could not run with the expansion memory,
and I had to take out the extra ram at the botton. I did not get
it back in right, and was shaking the machine around for 1/2 an
hour to get it to work, but did not have any luck.
So I took it to the shop, where they put the video chip back in
its socket (It had gotten loose from all my shaken it around)
5) a500+1MB total 1 extra drive printer modem usual screen 1080.
-------------
From: (anonymous)
Had it since since about September 87. 1 Meg, two drives, no problems.
-------------
From: ut-emx!bph (hine butler)
I've had my A500 for about 4 months now and have had absolutely
no trouble with it at all.
-------------
From: "Ronald G. Minnich" <gatech!harvard!ll-xn!harvard!UDEL.EDU!rminnich>
1) Last summer, july or august.
2) No. It has been as solid as a rock through steady use. Also the local
dealer reports no such problems.
5) A500 + disk + .5mb/clock progressive Peripherals and Software.
-------------
From: ralph@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Ralph L. Vinciguerra)
1) 12/87
2) Nope.
5) Only addon is a microbotics inter 512K expansion.
-------------
From: gatech!rutgers!uwvax!uwmcsd1!lakesys!joe (Joe Pantuso)
1) 12 days ago
2) No, Should hope not after 12 days...
5) A500-501ram expansion w/clock calendar-1084 RGB monitor-BT2400 baud
modem-Okidata micro 92 printer.
I think I got screwed on the monitor, the guy made a big deal out of it
being the *new* 1084, not the old 1080, in my opinion it is blurry.
Also, it has a *bad* tendency to overheat, causing cruddy display in
interlace graphics mode. Otherwise I'm amazed at this machine, get
but get a better monitor, like a Multi-sync, and get a second drive
right away.
-------------
From: druhi!mab (Alan Bland)
1) 2/11/88
2) No problems at all. I used it quite a lot the first 4 or 5 days
(probably 8 or more hours each of those days) and since then I've
had it on almost every day for an average of 3-4 hours. I assume
the infant mortality period has probably passed (today is 2/27).
5) Minimal configuration for now: 512K, internal drive only,
1084 monitor, printer.
-------------
From: pur-ee!frohne (Henry R Frohne)
I have had an A500 since last October. No problems. 1Meg memory; 1 extra
drive. It is a nice computer.
-------------
From: Educational Software <gatech!ut-sally!uunet!ecf.toronto.edu!edusoft>
I bought my A500 at the World of Commodore show here in Toronto around
the beginning of December. I have a single drive, 1M ram and a cheapo
$99 1200 baud modem. I haven't had any problems with it yet but I'm
planning on doing some hardware hacking to add a hard drive in the next
few months.
Wayne Feick
-------------
From: otto.lvsun.com!mike (Mike Mazzone)
1) Aug 20th, 1987 (serial number 5096) or so.
2) None at all.
5) A500, external disk drive, A501 to bring memory up to 1 meg, 1080 monitor.
No other observations except I am very happy with it.
-------------
From: lsrhs!damon (Damon Michaels)
1) August.
2) Yes, 5 times the computer blew up (smoke etc...)
Got 5 new computers and one new power supply
It was the power supplys fault.
3) Yup. Free and I got some software for my troubles.
Needless to say I *LIKE* my local dealer.
5) 1 MEG, 2 drives (external=Amiga whatever)
Digitizers, audio,visual
Gemini 10X printer, 300/1200/2400 baud Personal Peripherals Modem
Switching boxes. Amp etc...
I like it a lot except for the fact that it Gurus too much
Basic is *VERY* Buggy.
-------------
From: sun!mongo!waynet (Wayne Thompson)
I've had my 500 since sept 87 and it's power supply went south quickly.
A trip to the dealer revealed that C= had to switch vendors because most of
the power supplies from that vendor were no good. I was informed that they
were expecting a shipment of replacement supplies in a week and they would
exchange with me upon arrival. I couldn't wait. I wired one up myself. I
currently have the 500 and the Skyles Electric Works .5Meg internal ram
expansion w/ battery backed clock. No problems at all since.
I did read somewhere that the I/O chips that interfaced with the
connectors in the back (serial, parallel, etc.) are sensitive to static
(no diode protection on the inputs). Could be rumors, but I use caution
when connecting things. Hope this helps.
-------------
From: Blaine Gardner <utah-cs!uplherc!esunix!blgardne@sally.utexas.edu>
This is for a friend that is on the net. He owns the A500, not me.
1) December 87
2) Yes, it's been in the shop twice. Both times for a loose chip (probably
Fat Agnes). The first time they just twisted/banged the case to try and
reseat it, the second time they took it apart and did it right.
This could have been fixed by me, but why mess with it when it's under
warranty?
3) Yes.
5) 512K, one drive, monochrome monitor.
-------------
From: dayton.dhdsc.mn.org!joe (Joseph P. Larson)
1) About 3 weeks ago. Maybe 4.
2) No visits. Do have a little screen flicker now and then which appears
to be associated with the video cable connection. I wiggle it and it
stops. If it won't void the warrantee, I'm gonna open the puppy up and
take a look to see what's loose.
5) A500. Just got the extra 1/2 Meg, so it's got a Meg. 1 extra 3.5 inch
drive. Amiga monitor.
-------------
From: geocub!anthes (Franklin Anthes)
1/ A500 made in Germany, bought July 1987
2/internal disk drive wouldn't work sometimes, when the A500
was being used for the first time in the day (coldAfter a
couple of minutes everything would work fine.
A couple of days after having bought it I went in to the dealer, and
he exchanged it for another A500 (time ~1/2 hour)
3/ yes
5/ A500, 512K commodore internal memory extension, external non-commodore
drive, Philips multi-scan monitor, modem, printer,perfect sound
digitizer.
I have heard from many A500 users that they have had problems with
the internal drives. Since I got mine exchanged, everything has
been just fine.
-------------
From: gatech!uiucdcs!uxg.cso.uiuc.edu!schwager (Mike Schwager)
I've heard about hardware troubles with the A500- mostly power supplies.
Anyhow, here's my experience:
1. August, 1987
2. no
5. A500, external Commodore 3.5" floppy, 500k Commodore RAM expansion,
1080 monitor, Panasonic KXP-1080i printer
-------------
From: wybbs!meyers (John Meyers)
I received my Amiga 500 early in July. The only "major" problem I had was
I bent the write protect switch down when I pull one of the disks out at
a funny angle. A screwdriver put back into place. No problem.
I use an unexpanded 500 (512K) with 1200 baud modem, 2002 monitor, and
Epson printer.
My power supply is one heavy sucker. My friend's 500 (and consequently
newer) has a power supply that could float on air compared to mine.
-------------
From: Kari Sutela <gatech!FINTUVM!LK-KARI>
Hello, I'm an European A500 owner, so my experiences and opinions might
not apply in the US.
1) September 1987.
2) Yes. When I got home after buying my Amy the POWER-light blinked and the
machine refused to boot. The problem was a break in the motherboard
(which probably was caused during the transport - I bought the machine
100 miles from home because it was much cheaper there).
It took 2 days to repair at a Commodore approved repair shop.
3) YES.
5) A500 + 512k memory expansion + 1 external floppy + an Epson printer and
the A1081 colour monitor.
After the initial problem I have had no difficulties with it. I'd say
it is an excellent machine (though I'd rather have an A2000 but it's
much more expensive around here).
-------------
From: CLWA@me.chalmers.se
My name is Claes Walther, and i work at Chalmers Univerity of
Technology in Gothenburg Sweden.
I saw your entry on NEWS concerning the A-500 problems.
Here is my view of it.
1)
I bought a A-500 about 6 month ago. I now own my fith A-500,
that is i don't own five, but my other four all had lots of
drive problems.
2)
My first could not recognize a disk when it saw one, ie
the diskchange signal didn't work ok. The next two or three
trashed my disks, hard error and stuff. The problems usually
starts on the higher tracks (65-). The next one was "OK" but the
indexsync signal was not OK.
3)
Yes, infact they always gave me a new one, (i only kicked them
lightly)
5) 1meg, 1 extra drive.
All of the above mentioned problems occured 1 or 2 weeks after delivery.
The A-500 i use now has never given me any problems.
The guys at my local CBM store told me that early A-500 had lots
of drive problems!!.
-------------
From: babcock@sun.com (Gigi Babcock)
1) 1/88
2) Problem with modem connector.
3) Yes.
5) memory expansion board, 2 disks, printer. Everything else has worked fine
so far.kasper@csli.STANFORD.EDU (Kasper Osterbye) (03/11/88)
Hi,
I participated in the story, had a loose chip. I have now for a week
been using a FAT a500. I broke down and got the subsystem from Pacific
Peripherals, and plugged in a 2MB board, giving me a total of 3MB.
The following is the story. Went to the dealer to pick it up friday,
came home, and it did not work. Called the dealer, who said he would
look into it. He called back later friday, saying that they had set up
system like mine, and got the same problem. They would get hold on
Pacific Peripherals. He called saturday, that there was a missing ground
in the subsystem. I went down monday to have them insert the ground fix.
Came home, and it did not work. Took the subsystem, and the computer
down again tuesday. We tried a number of combinations of 2MB board,
subsystem and computer. Finally the dealer put the chips in the a500
back in place, and I went home, and it seems to run just fine. I think
I have a dealer who cares that my stuff works, and I like that. I dare
not think about what I would have gone through it I had bourght it mail
order.
Kasper Osterbye ||| /// ///|
Internet: kasper@csli.stanford.edu ||| /// ///||
UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,sun,decwrl}!csli!kasper |||<<< ///|||
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