Hello,
I hope I'm posting in the right place — I'd really appreciate some help with my ACA500plus, which I'm clearly struggling with on my own.
First of all, thank you for making such a wonderful product. I've been enjoying using it on my Amiga 500+ before, and I'm very excited to be using it again.
A bit of background:
My ACA500plus has been stored carefully in its original packaging for about 3 years without use. I've recently taken it out and connected it back to my Amiga 500+. Everything seems to work, but I'm running into one specific issue I can't seem to solve.
I've also visually inspected the AUX slot — the pins look straight and none of them appear to be broken or bent.
My setup:
- Amiga 500+ with ACA500plus
- Firmware: v0.129 (October 2018)
- Workbench 3.1 installed via the F7 installer (boots fine via F1)
- CF card: SanDisk 512MB (genuine, works perfectly on my PC)
The issue I'm experiencing:
The AUX slot doesn't seem to read PC-formatted FAT cards as a filesystem. I've read in the documentation that this should work out of the box, so I'm probably missing something obvious — but I can't figure out what.
Because of this, I unfortunately can't transfer files between my PC and Amiga, and I can't perform the firmware update either, since the UPD500P.ADF on the FAT card isn't readable from the Amiga side.
Card preparation:
I've formatted the SanDisk 512MB card as FAT (default cluster size, volume label AMIGA) on Windows 11. The card reads perfectly on my PC with all files visible. I've reformatted it several times just to be sure.
My ACA500plus configuration in the Expert Menu:
- AUX CF slot = Enabled
- aca.resource = On
- Virtual autoconfig = Automatic
- IDE driver update = Enabled
- Kickstart ROM = 3.1 r40.063
What I've observed in the Workbench Shell:
- `info` shows CF0 (WB3.1) and CF1 (Work), but no CFAUX or PC0 volume
- `mount cf2:` says "Device cf2: is already mounted"
- `list cf2:` returns "cannot be listed: not a FileSystem device"
- L:CrossDOSFileSystem is present
- DEVS:DOSDrivers/ only contains PIPE and PIPE.info
- DEVS:Storage/DOSDrivers/ doesn't seem to contain a PC0 file either
Things I've tried:
- Reformatting the card multiple times (default and FAT16 explicit)
- Hot-swapping the card with Workbench running
- Creating a manual mount file at DEVS:DOSDrivers/PC0 using aux.scsi.device — the mount command succeeds, but listing still fails with "not a FileSystem device"
- Confirmed the card itself is healthy by reading and writing on my PC without issues
- Visually inspected the AUX slot pins — they look straight and undamaged
A few questions, if I may:
1. Should the AUX slot automatically mount FAT cards in firmware v0.129, or is this something that was improved in later firmware versions?
2. I have no floppy drive and no Gotek, so I'm not sure how to update the firmware without a working AUX slot. Is there perhaps an alternative method I'm not aware of?
3. I'm considering buying AmigaOS 3.2.2 and installing it on a fresh CF card (prepared via WinUAE on my PC). Would the newer OS likely resolve the AUX FAT mount issue, or is this more of a firmware-level thing?
4. Is there a simple test I could do to check whether the AUX slot itself might have a hardware issue?
5. Given the 3-year storage period and the fact that I've already tried various software fixes without success, would it be sensible to send the unit in to you for proper diagnosis and possible repair? If that's an option, could you let me know what the procedure would be (where to send it, expected costs, turnaround time, etc.)?
I really apologize for the long post and for asking so many questions at once. I've spent quite a bit of time troubleshooting and I'm probably stuck in a chicken-and-egg situation that someone with more experience could solve in minutes.
Thank you so much for any guidance you can offer — it would be much appreciated!
Best regards
