Scrap Amiga 500 Parts Donation: Can It Be Revived?

Ross Taylor-Green sent me a box of what he called scrap Amiga bits, with a label that proves he’s got jokes (and claiming it was “tested before packing”). Inside was a disassembled, probably dead Commodore Amiga 500. Ross knows his way around a soldering iron and a meter, so I wasn’t expecting an easy fix, but I’d much rather bring a machine back than strip it for spares.

What was in the box

First out was the top case: quite yellow, but all the screw holes are intact, which is what matters, and it’ll be used in an upcoming Amiga project. There was also an RF shield that will clean up nicely (I’ve got a couple of dented ones it can replace) and a bag of screws with the trim piece that goes around the side ports.

Yellowed Commodore Amiga 500 top case from a scrap parts donation — Yellowed, but every screw hole is intact

Bouncing around loose inside was the floppy drive, a Chinon FB-354, one of the common early Amiga drives. As many of you will know, Amiga drives differ from PC drives in several respects and aren’t simply interchangeable.

Chinon FB-354 Amiga 500 floppy drive from the donated parts — An early Chinon FB-354 Amiga drive

The keyboard has all its keys, though it needs a good clean.

Amiga 500 keyboard with all keys present but dirty — All the keys are there, but it needs a clean

Can the dead A500 be revived?

The motherboard is supposedly dead, but it looks pretty healthy and the ports on the back are all fine. It could well just be capacitors, so the plan is to check them all with my ESR meter and reseat any chips that have crept. I’d laugh if I fired it up and it just worked: it does happen sometimes.