andrewsr@remus.rutgers.edu (Rich Andrews) (04/13/91)
Hello All!
Well, thanks to the encouraging folk of usenet, I have successfully
installed 8Mb of RAM in my A3000. I wish to thank those of you who
replied and offered help/encouragement: Brett Bourbin, David Tiberio,
James Seymour, Sean Reifschneider, Stephen Kelley, William Warner,
and Steve Neas. If I have forgotten anyone, I am truly sorry.
Well the operation *was* rather hairy, but mainly because I installed
my second bank of chips in the wrong places. I had to take out almost
all my chips (which is considerably harder than putting them in) and
relocate them. I am very happy to say that my machine is working (and
working well with 10Mb, I might add) and I am very satisfied that *I*
put the chips in. (There is just something about "doing it yourself").
I received such good advice from usenet that I felt it necessary to
summarize and repost. Thanks again for all your help. What follows
is a compilation of what I received. I will credit each author.
Instead of just dumping all the text, I will attempt to edit it some.
Please note that many of the people whom I thanked above contributed
to the general knowledge from which I write with below.
-Rich
---cut here---
-------------- HOW TO INSTALL RAM INTO AN AMIGA 3000 -----------------
General steps:
1. General setup and protection methods
2. Disassembly of the 3000
3. Move the DRAMS from fast memory to chip memory
4. Install the ZIPPs (Read this section thoroughly!!!)
5. Reassembly of the 3000
6. Testing to make sure that the memory is working.
1. GENERAL SETUP
Be sure to protect yourself against any static charges. James Seymour
suggests buying an anti-static wrist-band. I used a plug in
anti-static mat which fit underneath the 3000. I did constantly touch
it just to make sure that I didn't have any charge built up.
Make sure that you have a clean and fairly large workspace. Remember
that you have to basically strip the 3000 down to the motherboard.
You need a place to put all the parts. I had a towel set aside for
the parts.
2. DISSASSEMBLY OF THE 3000
I'll bet that tearing apart your 3000 will scare a great many people.
And, even being used to stripping IBM ATs daily at work, I was a bit
concerned with fooling with *my* Amiga. But, taking it apart was
actually not much harder than the ATs; it's just that there is a lot
more packed in there. C= did a good thing by putting all the drives
on their own platform.
First, be sure that you have the "Introducing the Amiga 3000" small
white book which accompanied the computer. It does give good
instructions on dissassembly, but *NOT* on installing the chips.
a. Remove the cover to the 3000. (This is rather simple: remove the
screws and pull forward).
b. Although the manual didn't tell me to, I found it necessary to
remove the cover plate assembly (the place at the rear of the 3000
where the expansion cards will poke through the back of the PC). I
needed to do this to get the daughter board out.
c. Remove the daughter board. The daughterboard is the place where
the expansion boards plug in. Be sure to remove the S-clips first,
then pull the board out. This does require some pressure. (I almost
fell over when I got the damn thing out! :-) Then remove the spacer.
d. Remove the floppy drive? Some people recommended that I pull out
the floppy drive, but I didn't find that necessary. I left it in
and just unplugged its power and connector (and shoved the connector
through the slot toward the motherboard). Be *sure* to note how the
connector plugs in (I remembered it as "numbers down").
e. Remove all the screws holding the platform. (Follow your manual).
f. Remove the platform. First, lift the platform and disconnect the
power and hard drive. Then pull the thing out. This requires NO
pressure. It should just lift out.
g. That's it, you have now stripped the 3000 down to the motherboard.
3. MOVING THE DRAM FROM FAST TO CHIP
The first thing I did when I stripped the 3000 down was move the
DRAMS. This is a very simple move. Pull the chips from the fast ram
sockets and put them into the open bank by the chip ram. (Follow your
manual). Be sure that the chips you put in match the direction of the
chip ram already installed. Just be sure not to bend the chips.
4. INSTALLING THE ZIPP CHIPS
This is the hairiest part of the operation. Installing the chips took
me a great deal of time. READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY!
The first thing to do is switch the jumper on the motherboard so the
Amiga knows that it will be using ZIPP chips for fast memory instead
of DRAMS. The manual has a great picture showing you where it is and
how to change it.
Next, note that the ZIPP chips DO NOT install one after the other!
When you install chips, you must fill a full bank. And the chips in a
bank are NOT adjacent. The absolutely best instruction I got (and
which I FOOLISHLY didn't study enough) was given by James Seymour:
Unless they changed the board,
the orientation of the FAST RAM is with pin 1 pointed toward the
center of the main PCB (to the left, if you're facing the front of
the computer).
The pictorials of the RAM location were not clear in my manual. As
an aid, I developed this:
FAST RAM Physical Locations (ZIP) in A3000
socket number "bank.number"
u881 u879 4.8 4.6
u873 u871 3.8 3.6
u865 u863 2.8 2.6
u857* u855* 1.8* 1.6*
u880 u878 4.7 4.5
u872 u870 3.7 3.5
u864 u862 2.7 2.5
u856* u854* 1.7* 1.5*
u877 u875 4.4 4.2
u869 u867 3.4 3.2
u861 u859 2.4 2.2
u853* u851* 1.4* 1.2*
u876 u874 4.3 4.1
u868 u866 3.3 3.1
u860 u858 2.3 2.1
u852* u850* 1.3* 1.1*
Double-check this against your manual, but it's correct for mine.
I have marked the locations that comprise the first bank. You can
see how the other banks follow.
James's diagram clearly indicates where the chips should be installed.
If you do not understand it, please take the time to reread it until
you do. I jumped the gun and ended up removing all my chips and doing
it again. For example, to fill the first bank, put a chip in every
fourth spot, starting with the first one (assuming you are looking
from the front of the computer). The second bank is also every fourth
one, starting with the SECOND space.
David Tiberio also gives a good pictorial of where to install the
first bank of chips:
(front of A3000) (rear of A3000)
DRAM sockets Z---Z---Z---Z---
DRAM sockets Z---Z---Z---Z---
Z = ZIP chip
- = empty socket
(The second bank would be, assuming the first bank is in place (z for
first bank chips), zZ--zZ--zZ--zZ--).
Ok, now that you know where to install the chips, you need to know
HOW. These chips are NOT EASY to put in. Just pushing them in was
not the way to do it. Sean Reifschneider did give good instructions
that worked for me too:
>I placed the pins in the sockets, grasped them by their middle, and kinda
>wiggled them into place. I tried to just push them into place, but it took
>too much force to get anywhere that way. Just kind of exerting a steady
>pressure on the chip, and wiggleing it forward and back seemed to work well.
>I did the same only gently pulling, and they came right out (when I was checking
>for some problems with the chips).
Wiggleing then forward (that is toward the front of the computer) and
backward worked for me, but it gave me a weird feeling of bending the
leads. But, they slid in and work great!
However, I did not find it so easy to take them out. I was pulling
with all my might to get them, and I nearly broke 3 or 4 of them. IF
YOU FOLLOW THIS GUIDE AND PUT THE CHIPS IN RIGHT THE FIRST TIME YOU
WILL SAVE YOURSELF SOME HEADACHES!!!!
5. REASSEMBLY OF THE 3000
I will not go into great detail here, just follow (in reverse) the
steps you used to disassemble. Just make sure that you plug
everything back in correctly.
James Seymour:
A last note: when re-assembling your A3000, make *sure* that you
have the vertical expansion slots board correctly and fully
inserted. The A3000 will not work well (or at all) if this is
not done.
6. TESTING
I used the program SysInfo to check to make sure my chips were
working. I was surprised to see only 6Mb responding (instead of
10mb) and I had to rip the PC down again and move a bank of chips to
their right socket.
It has been a week, and all is well! Thanks again guys.
PS. I hope I didn't scare anyone into not doing it, I wasn't going to
until I received the info from usenet. Then I mustered the courage
and saved myself some money.
--
// Rich | "If I spent as much time on my classes as I do reading
\X/ Andrews | news, I'd graduate." - Brett McCoywwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Art Warner) (04/14/91)
In article <Apr.13.11.58.45.1991.27404@remus.rutgers.edu> andrewsr@remus.rutgers.edu (Rich Andrews) writes: >-------------- HOW TO INSTALL RAM INTO AN AMIGA 3000 ----------------- <stuff deleted> >The first thing to do is switch the jumper on the motherboard so the >Amiga knows that it will be using ZIPP chips for fast memory instead >of DRAMS. This is not exactly correct. The jumper (j852) that I think you're referring to is used to select 256k or 1Meg x4 Zipps, not for Zipp or Dip selection. -- Art Warner Amiga makes it happen.......... wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu IBM,Mac,Sun,& Next make it expensive!
f_j_reichert@saarag.zer.sub.org (04/18/91)
#-------------- HOW TO INSTALL RAM INTO AN AMIGA 3000 ----------------- #The first thing to do is switch the jumper on the motherboard so the #Amiga knows that it will be using ZIPP chips for fast memory instead #of DRAMS. The manual has a great picture showing you where it is and #how to change it. J852 allows the choice between 256Kx4 and 1Mx4 ZIP's. People using 256Kx4 need not to change anything. There's no need (and no jumper, too) to switch between DRAM's and ZIP's. #However, I did not find it so easy to take them out. I was pulling #with all my might to get them, and I nearly broke 3 or 4 of them. I used all-purpose nippers for that job (yes, just these usually for car-repair!). Worked great for me, tchak, tchak... And I broke none of them, they all work fine in the new box (the old had some flaws, so I returned it to my dealer...). Best Regards, F.J.Reichert