Attic Find: Amiga 500 — What Now?
Congratulations! An A500 from Grandad's cellar is a time-travel ticket — but before the first power-on, there are a few steps. Here is the sequence we recommend to every beginner.
STOP — do not power on yet!
Many A500s have a leaking clock battery or exploded electrolytic capacitors. Switching on directly can destroy the motherboard. Always first:
- Unscrew the case (6 screws underneath, Torx T10).
- Check the top of the motherboard — is there green-white battery residue, brown spots, bulging capacitors?
- If yes → recap and battery removal before the first power-on. Otherwise small problems become big ones.
Which variant do you have?
| Version | Feature | RAM |
|---|---|---|
| A500 (Rev 3/5/6) | OCS, Kickstart 1.2 or 1.3 | 512 KB Chip |
| A500+ | ECS, Kickstart 2.04, Super Agnus | 1 MB Chip |
| Check via boot screen or ROM label |
Cleaning
- Remove the keyboard (carefully detach the membrane) and clean the keys individually with warm water + washing-up liquid.
- Against yellowing: Retrobright (H2O2 + UV light, be careful with plastic!) or simply oxygen shampoo.
- Dust off the board with isopropanol and a soft toothbrush. NOT with compressed air due to static discharge.
Power Supply — the Biggest Killer
The original A500 power supplies are often done for after 30 years and can deliver overvoltage that kills your freshly revived Amiga.
- Use MEANWELL or modern replacement parts from Vesalia, AmigaKit.
- Or build a Commodore Amiga PSU adapter for standard PC ATX power supplies.
- Check voltages BEFORE connecting:
+5V +/- 0.25V,+12V +/- 0.6V,-12V +/- 0.6V.
First Power-On Attempt
Everything cleaned, PSU OK, no battery damage? Then let's go:
- Monitor/TV to RGB port (15 kHz). OSSC or RGB2HDMI if using a modern display.
- Power on — the purple-white Insert Workbench screen should appear.
- No picture? → Check PSU voltages, RGB cable, ROM socket.
- Solid green LED without picture → often RAM defect. Replace Chip RAM.
- Smoke/smell → off immediately. Electrolytics have likely failed.
Floppy Disks & Disk Drive
Old floppy disks (30+ years) often have bit rot, the magnetic film is mouldy or magnetically weakened. Always beforehand:
- Throw away visibly mouldy disks — they scratch the drive head.
- Obtain a Workbench 1.3 disk (original or new copy). Test boot.
- Clean the floppy head with cotton buds + isopropanol.
- Consider: install a Gotek floppy emulator — away with the 30-year-old mechanical risk. Details in our Gotek Guide.
Software & Games
- Aminet — everything freeware/PD.
- Lemon Amiga — game database with ADF downloads.
- For writing the ADFs: Greaseweazle, KryoFlux or with Gotek simply directly to USB stick.
Sensible Upgrades
- Trapdoor RAM (A501) — 512 KB Slow RAM, turns 512 KB → 1 MB. Almost every game needs this.
- Kickstart 1.3 → 2.04/3.1 upgrade (if compatible software runs).
- Gotek + FlashFloppy instead of floppy drive.
- PiStorm or Vampire for speed + HDMI. (See our hardware comparison.)
- RGB2HDMI / OSSC for modern display.