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These are questions and answers that were previously posted to the Q & A page but have been archived here to keep the latest Q & A shorter and more manageable for download.

PC1512	Problem with boot disks
PC2086	Mouse/keyaboard error
PC7486	Clearing the CMOS
Integra	Beep codes at start up
PCW	Using a different printer
PCW	Transfer to PC
General	Short and to the point
General	An odd question
PC1512	Getting it working
PC3386	Upgrade to 486
Printer	Need windows driver for LQ
General	Fax - need manual
Printer	Need LD6000 driver
ANB386	Need replacement battery
PC2386	Using expanded/extended memory
PC2086	Boot up problems
PC1640	Looking for mouse driver
PCW	Boot/floppy problems
PCW	Transferring files to PC
PCW	Trying to fix floppy drive
NC200	Trying to send fax
PDA600	How to program it
NC100	Looking for programs
PC1640	Stopping Autoexec.Bat
PC2386	Getting 170M drive working
PC9486	Replacing CMOS chip
PC9555	Disable motherboard graphics
PC2086	Looking for DOS discs
PC1512	Upgrading to 386
PC1640	Replacing monitor
PC1386	Hard drive info.
PC1512	Running CPC emulator
Monitor	Collapsed picture problem
PC7486	Clearing BIOS password
ALT	USing 3 chip SIMMs
General	Non-Amstrad PC question
PC1640	Floppy drive problems
ANB386	Need battery
General	Funny what some people do!
Integra	Recognising COM1/2
PC2286	Trying to get one going
ALT386	Using external monitor
PC1640	Getting HD working
PC2286	How to run Setup
General	Meaning of "Amstrad"
PC1640	Making a boot disc
Integra	Fixing problems
General	Question about fax
MegaPC	Spares and breaking apart
Monitor	Using PC-ECD on non-Amstrad
PC7386	Upgrading memory & info.
PCW9512	Writing to 170K discs
General	Meaning of "Amstrad"
General	Mini-Office software
PC20	Looking for info.
Printers	Everyone's favourite question
PC6400	Getting hard disk working
PC7386	Getting it running
PC2386	Drive type info.
PC1640	Need system discs
PPC	Power supply info
PC3286	Upgrading memory
General	Satellite questions
Monitor	Using on another PC
ACL386	Graphics controller used?
Monitor	Using on games console
PCW	Printing in Landscape
PC9486	Fixing hard drive problem
PC9486	Fixed hard drive problem

Chris Stagg in Chelmsford, Essex at 16:15:36 Wednesday December 31 97
Dear Cliff, following on from my question posted on 29th December, I performed a step by step boot up and found that the ghost drive does not appear if the doublespace driver is not loaded. As this step is carried out before any CONFIG.SYS commands, I looked in the root directory of drive C and moved the hidden system file DBLSPACE.INI to a backup directory. This seems to have removed the ghost drive permanently, but something is still not right as a DIR of drive D in MS-DOS mode just produces gibberish, whereas in WINDOWS everything is fine. Is it safe to delete all DBLSPACE components from the root and DOS directories? I have no intention of using disk compression again but the manual advises strongly against deleting DBLSPACE.BIN. Alternatively, have you any other ideas about this?
Amstrad answers: Arrgh, as you'll see I write the answers to these questions in reverse chronological order so I'd already suggested something very similar in my answer to your question below. However I'd be a little concerned if the contents of any drive were not accessible in DOS myself! If it were me I'd consider doing a file by file backup of all drives while they're visible in Windows to Tape/DAT/CD-R/Network or something then re-FDISK, re-FORMAT and reinstall Windows and then restore the backup to totally purge the problem because otherwise it's always going to be something "lurking" in the background that is going to spring up and cause you hassles when you least expect it in the future.

Chris Stagg in Chelmsford, Essex at 15:50:26 Monday December 29 97
I have an Amstrad PC9486i running Windows 95 with 12 MB of RAM. The original hard drive is 270 MB which was rather limiting and recently a 635 MB Seagate hard drive was installed as a slave to the original drive. Although I can use the new drive without any problem, the computer has recognised it twice and created a "ghost" drive (drive F). This is an exact replica of the real second drive, drive D, and any files I create on drive D appear on drive F! The "ghost" is not recognised when running the PC in MS-DOS mode, but DOS commands don't then work properly on drive D. Could this phenomenon be related to the fact that drive C was compressed (it has since been uncompressed) at the time of installation of the new drive? Can you suggest any way to exorcise this "ghost"? It disappeared for a while when I added the command LASTDRIVE=E to my CONFIG.SYS file, but it has now returned to haunt me all of its own accord. (Drive E is my CD-ROM drive). Your advice would be much appreciated. Regard s, Chris Stagg
Amstrad answers: It's funny you should mention this as I asked Santa to bring me a 6.4GB drive and a 24X CD for my PC at home and when I connected it all up I partioned the HD as three 2GB drives C;, D: and E: and everything was find then I connected the CD and all of a sudden I got about four "ghost" copies of C: so I had C, D, E, F(C), G(C),... To cure this I connected the CD as a master on the other IDE interface rather than having both devices as master and slave on a single IDE and the problem evaporated so maybe you'd find the same if you connected the new drive as another stand-alone master on the second IDE (and have effectively unit 0 and unit 2 rather than unit 0 and unit 1. On the other hand it may well be related to the disk compression stuff and if that's the case then I'd recommend contacting the software company who wrote the compression system that you were using. Compression software is a very black art but as a rough guidance just remove any reference to compression drivers from Config and Autoexec and "hide" any hidden files with likely sounding names (DRIVExxx.BIN, DOUBLExxx.BIN) from the root directory to be certain that the compression stuff cannot load.

William Watson in Camberley, Surrey at 23:20:49 Sunday December 28 97
My friend has a 9512/3.5" disk/Locoscript 4.11 with Epson Stylus 600C printer. Does anyone know if it is possible to print landscape format documents with this setup ??
Amstrad answers: Gut reaction: Yes of course - however I'm no real expert as it's a few years since I used Locoscript but for the very best advice on the use of Locoscript you can't do better than visit their web site at www.locomotive.com

Gerard ZORILLA at 20:32:56 Saturday December 27 97
How can connect a monitor for using any over one like nintendo or another "console" ( nintendo, playstation ...
Amstrad answers: If I read that correctly you are asking how to use an Amstrad computer monitor (you didn't asy which model) on a games console such as the N64 or PSX? The fact is you can't. Consoles are designed to produce TV signals at TV resolutions with TV horiz/vert frqeuencies and these aren't the same as used on EGA/VGA monitors. I'm sure that eventually one could probably devise a "bodging" circuit to allow you to achieve the effect but I'd better it'd costs more than a new colour portable TV!

Mike Locke at 13:57:29 Saturday December 27 97
Hi, Cliff, Glad to hear that - thanks to the vagaries of the stock market - Amstrad is officially back and you're still there. I've got a question about the ACL386SX25 Colour Laptop (I think I bought the last two in stock!). I'm trying to help a friend get Myst running - we recognise that the game will be slow but she wants to try anyway. Myst requires 640x480 256 colours. But I can't remember if the ACL was capable of this. If it was, I can't find any drivers or method of changing the number of colours. Is it possible? Thanks in advance and Merry Xmas / Happy New Year. Mike
Amstrad answers: I have a feeling that the graphics controller in an ACL was a maximum of 640x480x16, not 256 colour. To tell you the truth I can't even remember which graphics chipset was used in that machine but if I found myself in your situation what I'd do is first run the MSD.EXE program that comes with most Microsoft products (such as Windows) and use that to determine which graphics chipset was in the machine (could be Paradise from Western Digital?). Having identified the chipset I'd then find their web site and see if there are a set of Windows/DOS graphics drivers for the chipset and see if I could get them to work.

Spyros Karousos in Greece-Athens at 12:29:4 Monday December 22 97
I want to connect my color monitor from the 1512 model ,to another PC. The model from the monitor is PC-CM color monitor. Please send me the pin-out of the connector. Best regards,and Happy New Year.
Amstrad answers: Giving you the pinout wouldn't be too much problem but casting the magic spell that would allow that monitor to be used on anything but a PC1512 would be a little more difficult to achieve by this electronic medium. The bottom line is that the PC-CM was an extremely weird monitor that could only interface to the extremely weird (sort of, kind of CGA) graphics card electronics built into a PC1512. I don't think there's any hope of you ever making it work with any other graphics card (including a real CGA).

Joaquim Martins in Portugal at 11:38:34 Sunday December 21 97
I have amstrad srx300 satelite receiver, and i have problem to receive the 2nd LNB signal in normal stations freq. They are weeker and all compressed in the inicial scale (the dish is corrected tuned, each LNB is working ok!) Can I reset Programing? I evan change cables, LNB and the receiver (the same model). Please can you help me?
Amstrad answers: I guess you missed the bit on these pages where I said that I don't know the first thing about satellite systems - you might as well be talking Greek to me! If you need help with satellite (or telecoms) products then I suggest you either fax, phone or write to the contact details shown here and mark for the attention of the "Satellite Support Department" or "Telecoms Support Department"

Nigel Barnes at 10:14:42 Saturday December 20 97
How do I get an Amstrad 3286 to recognise 4 x 1 Meg 30 pin SIMMS? I have seen the BIOS clock up the extra memory once but not since. Do I have to change any links? I am using the 2286/2386 setup program. Is there a better one?
Amstrad answers: Yup, the links need to be set as detailed here.

Robert Nodder in Southampton, UK at 15:28:56 Thursday December 18 97
I have recently aquired a PPC640, but with no AC adaptor. I know that is is 12V, but I don't know which way round the connections should be. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I'm running out of batteries!
Amstrad answers: Unfortunately I don't have one here in Amstrad Towers so cannot check right away but I DO have one at home so when I update this page over Christmas from home I'll endeavour to update this answer with the correct information, (but I won't be back in the UK until 27th at the earliest).

Paul Aspland in Ontario, Canada. at 1:45:46 Thursday December 18 97
Any idea where i can acquire a boot disc or system discs for the Amstrad PC 1640. I know..I know it's a dinosaur but my little girl won't part with it and it won't light up without the original disc or discs. Any help would be incredibly appreciated. If it was possible to download them that would be great. Sincerely Paul Aspland
Amstrad answers: Look no further than this VERY web site. Just follow that Files Archive button at the top of this page to find nirvana!

Alan Rogers in Swindon College, Wiltshire, UK at 16:13:30 Wednesday December 17 97
We have been donated a PC2386 with a faulty HDD, Would it be possible to obtain a list of drive types so that we can replace the duff disk with one from our stock? We are a charity called The Access Computer Workshop which supplies old redundant computers to community groups and people with special needs. We train people with special needs to refurbish them. (We no longer take 1512's, 1640's or other xt's - but we've had our fair share in the past!! Any help greatfully appreciated. Thanks very much Alan.........
Amstrad answers: Well the controller card that's fitted to the 2386 supports MFM and RLL drives (it's a WD1006) so if you have any old MFM or RLL drives then I suggest you email me with their size and I'll try and find a match in the drive table (it's a bit long to repeat the whole thing here though I may add it to my old AT page at some stage). However my guess is that any drives you've got are more likely IDE so you are going to need to get a new IDE controller anyway and, if you're doing that, then go for an "intelligent" one that has it's own BIOS on board then you won't be limited to the drive table in the 2386 BIOS but will be able to configure the exact numbers of heads/track/sectors using the BIOS on the controller card - Alternatively you can get a BIOS upgrade to v2.4 for the 2386 from www.cpc.co.uk but it costs more than £50 which is about double what an intelligent IDE controller card will cost.

Dick Gilbert in East Sussex at 11:3:43 Tuesday December 16 97
Same old story - PC in cupboard for a couple of years, battery dead, system disks lost. Mine's a PC 7386 SX80. How can I get it firing on all 4 again ? Is there somewhere I can download a system disk copy ?
Amstrad answers Ah well, in the case of a machine as late as the 7386 things had got much easier than on early things such as the 1512/1640 or 2000 series. In fact from the 3xxx series onwards the machines had built in BIOS Setup prgrams so you didn't need a special Setup.Exe program on a separate disk. Instead to configure the BIOS it is usually just a matter of pressing one of: [Del] during boot, [F1] during boot or [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[S] at the A:\> prompt. In the case of the 7386 I think it will be the latter. What's more the later machines even had "auto hard disk configuration" within Setup so you didn't even need to know heads/tracks/sectors to set the drive parameters in the BIOS - the BIOS could just read it all automatically from the IDE mechanism. As for DOS disks to start the PC, from about 3xxx onwards the machines all had totally bog standard 1.44MB 3.5" drives and could be started with any version of MS-DOS, PC-DOS or DR-DOS you happen to have lying around. So you should be able to use any old DOS disk (just FORMAT A: /S from some other PC if you don't already have one) and then get to Setup with the magic key combination listed above. That's all there is to it.

Ken Evans in Atlanta Georgia USA at 4:21:9 Tuesday December 16 97
I have an old PC6400 with a 30 meg HD S/N 531-0113065 that I am fixing up for my 9 yr old grand daughter. (A Christmas Present) I formatted the HD in an effort to clean it up for her and now I can't get the system disks to re-install. It will boot from the A: (5 1/4") MS DOS 3.2. I also cannot get the mouse working. I don't really know much about DOS. Any suggestios?
Later:A little more info to work with as an add on to my last question. I found my HD Installation guide and tried the FDISK command.....now I get No Fixed Disk Present. Was working fine until I formatted it. Any suggestions? Thanks
Amstrad answers: Well I'm afraid it's extremely serious when FDISK won't even admit to the existence of a hard disk. Usually it's either because the drive is completely unserviceable, the contacts in the ISA slot to the controlle card aren't making proper contact or the 5/12V power to the drive isn't properly connected so I suggest you open the machine up and wiggle all connectors between HD controller card and HD mechanism and unplug then clean and replace the controller card then try again.

vince stephes in england at 13:39:54 Monday December 15 97
Where do i get drivers for the amstrad dmp 2000 printer?
Amstrad answers: You don't, instead you read this.

Trevor Dempsey in Tamworth Australia at 22:16:27 Friday December 12 97
Could you let me know any details for a PC-20 computer, like is it ibm compatible or what. The system is a friend of a friend and they say it wont't go. It has only a single 3.5" dd floppy and only one disk (part of a set and held the stoned virus). do I need special OS disks?
Amstrad answers: Hello again, I think you asked me the same thing on news:comp.sys.amstrad.8bit didn't you? Suggest you read my answer there - bottom line is any DOS on 720K 3.5" should be OK.

Pete Davis in Poole, Dorset at 8:58:23 Thursday December 11 97
Are there drivers for the Canon BJ300 available to enable printing from Mini-Office on the PC1512?
Amstrad answers: 'Fraid it's not really an "Amstrad" question as such - is it? It wouldn't make any difference whether you were running it on a 1512, an IBM PC, a Compaq or whatever. The only people who can answer it are the company who wrote "Mini-Office" but as it was about 10 years ago (before bubblejet technology had been invented) I think I can pretty strongly predict that there won't be a driver available and that's always assuming you can still find the company who wrote that software all those years ago. Have you ever considered looking at something a little more up to date. There were lots of far, far better word processors and spreadsheets written for DOS based IBM PC compatibles in the years between about 85 and 92.

Michael Wilkin in Tan-y-Foel, Llanfair Caereinion, Welshpool, Powys, Wales at 13:52:55 Tuesday December 9 97
What does Amstrad stand for:-
1) Alan Michael Sugar Trading
2) Anderson Murray Sugar Trading
or
3) Amble Street Radios
Amstrad answers: If this is some kind of extraordinarily clever and witty "in" joke them I'm afraid I missed the point. If it really is a serious question I guess you must have missed this answer below.

Ole Nielsen in Denmark at 22:23:4 Monday December 8 97
Is there a program which can manage a PCW 9512 to WRITE to a 180k formatted disc. My PWC can READ but not write on this type of discs.
Amstrad answers: I'm not aware of any way that this could be done (though I cannot think of ANY reason why one would ant to!) but it's possible that either www.locomotive.com may have some way to do it or, alternatively, try asking the regular readers of news:comp.sys.amstrad.8bit

Ian Sharp in Bath, NE Somerset at 12:40:1 Monday December 8 97
I've searched your (very good!) site for info on the Amstrad 7386SX to no avail. This machine, as it's model number suggests, is a 386SX with a built-in Sega Mega Drive.
The serial number of this machine suggests that mine was either one of the first or one of the few or both.
Have had difficulty upgrading the memory on this machine beyond 8Mb. Only (30-pin) SIMM slots 3 & 4 seem to have any effect. Any sticks placed in slots 1 & 2 are completely ignored. Have tried with a variety of 1Mb & 4Mb SIMMs.
Opinions/advice/sources of information appreciated...
Amstrad answeres: Well I've dug out my copy of the 7286/7386SX manual and the only possible problem I can see is that it seems to suggest that if you fill all SIMM sockets then ALL FOUR SIMMs must be the same capacity. They must be parity 30 pin SIMMs. I guess this means that possible memory configs are either 1MB using four 256K SIMMs, 4MB using four 1MB simms or 16MB using four 4MB simms. You can fill just 2 simm sockets (must be U2 and U3) and this also would give the possiblity of 512KB (two 256KB), 2MB (two 1MB) or 8MB (two 4MB) so my guess is that maybe you were trying something like two 4MBs in slots U2 and U3 and two 1MBs in slots U0 and U1 and in this case only the 8MB would be seen.

J.Leyden at 23:32:41 Sunday December 7 97
Hi- I'm trying to configure X-Windows to run on an old Amstrad PC-ECD connected to a 486 with an EGA card (I believe it _is_ possible!). To do this, I need some info on the scanning frequencies of the monitor. Any ideas? Thanks in advance - Cremaster
Amstrad answers: Blimey oh Reilly, I guess your next trick is to extract blood from stones and then, as an encore, you walk on water?!?
That PC-ECD monitor was obviously from the glory days before SVGA or even VGA and the concept of multi-frequency monitors so I guess the only person who ever knew it's vertical and horizontal scan frequencies was the man who designed it. All I can really say is that it uses the frequencies necessary to show video modes up to 350 scan lines with a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels as output by an IBM standard Enhanced Graphics Adapter so it's just vaguely possible that the IBM PC XT technical reference manual will actually list what those frequencies were. A manual I just looked at suggest that for 640x350 video modes the figures are typically 31.55KHz horizontal (+ sync) and 70.3Hz (- sync) vertical but goodness knows if these are really the right figures.

C D Pickering in Hull at 20:38:9 Sunday December 7 97
1: Where do i get parts from for my Mega Pc "Megadrive"? 2: Can the Megadrive Interface Card be used in any other Machine?
Amstrad answers: 1: All amstrad spares come from www.cpc.co.uk and 2: Nope I think the mechanics of the megadriveness are too closely bound into that machines motherboard design so the card cannot be used on another PC.

A .Sadiq at 18:40:50 Friday December 5 97
How can I programe the AMSTRAD Personal Facsmile(FX9600AT]?
Amstrad answers: I'm a computer person, not a fax guru so don't know much about this (except that I do know that it's in the manual but I guess you haven't got that!). However I seem to recall that you get into the setup mode on an FX9600 by holding down the two outside buttons of the group of three beneath the LCD.

Harry Daniels in Enfield, Middlesex. UK at 16:48:4 Wednesday December 3 97
Thanks for your reply. I/o & IRQ all enabled and there are no conflicts. You mentioned a driver loaded in system files or registry that is "hiding" the Com ports. I have looked but what am I looking for and if it is there what do I do to clear the com ports? It has been suggested that my Com ports controller on the motherboard is faulty and that I could add a serial port card with com 1 & 2 on it and this would solve the problem. What do you think of that idea? Thank you very much for all the help you give to "we desparate souls"! Harry Daniels
Amstrad answers: Well to check if it's something in Config.Sys or Autoexec.Bat that is causing the problem just temporarily rename those files so they won't be seen next time you boot and then reboot and see if the problem has gone away. If the problem is in one of the Windows system files (and particularly the registry) then there isn't much you can do short of reinstalling Windows unless you know the intracies of how the registry works and how to edit it with Regedit.Exe (DON'T DO THIS if you don't know anything about it!!). In this day and age the motherboard silicon almost never fails in PC's - it's just too reliable, it tends to be mechanical issues such as SIMM socket connections that go wrong in PCs but it's just vaguely possible that you've "blown up" the multi-IO chip that provides the COM ports but if that were the case then the floppy disk drive probably wouldn't be working either. However you can disable the motherboard COM ports and plug in a separate multi-IO card just in case this is where the problem lies. In the Integra you disable the motherboard COM ports using settings in the CMOS setuyp which is accessed by pressing [Del] at switch on.

GARETH SPENCER in NEWPORT SOUTH WALES at 10:44:18 Wednesday December 3 97
Sorry to be a nuisance, my E-Mail is now setup tested and working well again. Is there an answer to my originall question? I would appreciate any advice you could give. Thanks Gareth
Amstrad answers: In true "panto" style - "Oh no it isn't!". The fact is I got several emails from you while I was in Korea but they have a really confused "From:" address and when I replied this morning yet again it got bounced back as unknown user. So I think we'll give up on email. To answer your question about 1640...

As I understand it you can see the DOS 6.2 disk in drive B: but your problem is trying to make a bootable DOS 6.2 disk to go into A:. I don't think this can be done with FORMAT A: /S because it relies on you having booted from 6.2. What you need to do is start by using ATTRIB - S -H -R *.* on a disk that contains a working DOS 6.2 and then XCOPY all the files to a blank formatted 5.25" in drive A: of the 1640. You should now be able to boot the 1640 from that newly created floppy. Once you've managed to boot into 6.2 THEN you can FORMAT C: /S to system format the hard drive in the 1640. I think that should work. It's a shame you can't get your email to work cos I can't help thinking you're going to need to come back to me on this when something I've suggested above doesn't work!!

Mia Dhammaloka at 13:54:12 Tuesday December 2 97
What does AMSTRAD stand for?
Amstrad answers: Amstrad = Alan Michael Sugar TRADing Ltd

Jean Mi in France at 18:42:9 Monday December 1 97
How to run "Setup" on a PC2286 ? Is it in ROM and what is the key combination, or do I find a specific program ? Thanks for an old computer ...
Amstrad answers: It's a separate program, there are several links to it on the web site. Suggest you go to my file download page and get the file called Setup.Exe

Garet Spencer at 17:40:50 Monday December 1 97
I have an old Amstrad 1640 PC, and it recently crashed resulting in me losing all applications. Luckilly I found what I pressume to be a floppy system disk and was able to access the computer through my floppy A:drive. The machine asked me to enter the date and time. The command.Com on the system disk told me it was version 3.1 DOS. From this I was able to use debug c=500:0008, to format the C: drive. I then used FDISK to make a primery DOS partition. A friend then copied DOS version 6.2 onto 3.1/2 disks from his pentium pc, I then copied these onto double density 3.1/2 disks so I could use them on my Double Density drive B: and copy them to blank floppy disks. I then attempted to Format c:/s, with the DOS version 6.2 This copied the command.com onto my harddrive. However when I attempted touse the setup command it wouldnt work. Also the system would not boot up when I placed the floppy in the a:drive It said incorrect system disk. Will I be able to set up DOS version 6.2 on this machine? Can you also advise what windows system I can install how to install it and where it can be purchased from? I would appreciate any advice you can give. Thanks Gareth
Amstrad answers: In the words of Alan Partridge - "AH HA!", the elusive Mr. Spencer, you keep emailing me and I keep emailing you back about this but all emails to you are bounced because you are apparently an "unknown user" at patent.gov.uk. Can you try and send me an email where the "Reply To:" field is set to your REAL email address?? I don't think it's Gareth.Spencer@Patent.Gov.uk as shown above because that bounced and neither is it GSPEN@patent.gov.uk because that bounced as well - would the real Gareth Spencer please take one step forward!

Tony Goldenfeld in Harborne, Birmingham UK at 22:32:19 Sunday November 30 97
Dear Uncle Cliff, What a brilliant and useful www site. All these years with my trusty ALT 386SX and I never knew you were there! I have PC DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1 on said machine, but wish to run using an external colour monitor. When I was just in DOS 3.30 programmes, it was easy, now I can't figure out how to do it. Is it by a combination of DIP switch settings and use of DISPLAY.EXE that I can download from yr ALT page? Please help! Thanks and regards,
Amstrad answers: Note: updated. Sorry for that short delay - South Korea was very nice!! I just had a quick check and this has details of the ALT DIP switches but as you'll see they are not for switching video output between LCD and monitor. As you rightly surmised, that is achieved using the DISPLAY and SWITCHER programs (one is effectively a memory resident equivalent of the other). Just run Display and use the "Panel" entry to change to CRT. Alternatively run Switcher then, once it is loaded into memory use Ctrl-Alt-D to change the diplay between LCD and CRT.

Mike Price in Millersville, Maryland USA at 16:23:56 Sunday November 30 97
I have a pc2286 that was put away in the basement for several years. The batteries went dead and when I tried to restart it I got the time and date reset messages and the "Insert a SYSTEM disk into drive A The press any key" message. I misplaced my original system disks. I found your website and downloaded the setup.exe program. Now when attempting to boot the computer I get the following: Invalid system disk insert a system disk into drive a ---bla bla bla. Please help me get my old computer back on line!!!!!!
Amstrad answers: Well when it asks for a system disk what it is looking for is a 1.44MB disk that has been formatted (FORMAt A: /S) as system format from any version of MS-DOS, PC-DOS or DR-DOS. Once that boots to an A:\> prompt you then put in the disk containing Setup.Exe and give the command "Setup".

Harry Daniels in Enfield Middlesex UK at 15:27:52 Sunday November 30 97
I have an Amstrad Integra Pentium 90 with 16 MB Ram. I attached a US Robotics x2 Flash Ready 56.6 Modem to Com 2. I already had my Psion attached to Com 1 and an internal Dataflex 14.4 modem on Com 3 Everything was working fine to start with but now the PC will not recognise Com 1 & 2. The Modem is OK and there are no conflicts with IRQ. I have been told that I need a new motherboard but that they are no longer made. A normal motherboard will not fit. Where do I go from here? Can you please help me? Yours sincerely, Harry Daniels
Amstrad answers: I doubt whether the problem is a hardware one and don't really think you need a new motherboard (but if you did I'd be highly surprised if www.cpc.co.uk didn't stock them). More than likely it's a software configuration thing. First place to look is in Setup (press [Del] at switch on) and you may find that the I/O and IRQ addresses for COM1 and COM2 have been changed or set to "disabled". After that it may be a driver loaded in config.sys, autoexec, win.ini, system.ini or the registry that is "hiding" the COM ports. Just one thing about multiple COM ports - normally COM1 and COM3 share the same IRQ (4) so it's not usually possible to concurrently run modems on the two ports - though interleaving usage would be OK.

Test Form (Sorry) in Here... at 15:28:57 Thursday November 27 97
Demo of problem. Sending this form through a firewall...
Amstrad answers: Well I'm touched that of all the pages on all the web that contain a form that you should chose my one at the edge of oblivion to perform your test - (it certainly seems to have worked)!

Bruneel Steven in Belgium at 21:52:0 Wednesday November 26 97
I search an adapter (battery-food) for one Amstrad AND-386SX20 . Can anybody help me.
Amstrad answers: I presume that www.cpc.co.uk will still stock these as a spare part so I suggest you try them as they are the main Amstrad spares supplier.

Alan Wilkinson in Yeovil at 14:4:1 Wednesday November 26 97
We have a PC1640 with twin floppy drives which are very unreliable using media which works ok on other machines. The drives have been properly cleaned and inside they are immaculate as they have been little used (the PC also has a hard card which is fine). Even disks which have been formatted on the 1640 are not reliable. It has been suggested that the tracking needs adjusting on the controller. I would be very grateful for any ideas on what is wrong.
Amstrad answers: Well my first thought was maybe that you are trying to use media formatted in AT type 1.2MB 5.25" drives and, as I'm sure you know, although such a drive can format disks as 40 track 360K discs they are never reliable because the tracks are half the normal width of a real 360K drive. But you said that even disks formatted in the 1640 have problems so my next thought was that maybe you were using DD rather than SD media as the disks designed for 1.2MB drives has a magnetic coating that is optimised for that flux density and don't work so well in 360K drives but assuming that isn't it then the drive is presumably at fault in which case the simplest answer is to just replace it if you can still track down an old 5.25" 360K mechanism.

Jozef Baca at 12:22:50 Tuesday November 25 97
I need setup diskette for an old notebook Schneider PC7640. Could you help me? Thanks
Amstrad answers: Well I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place then because this is the Amstrad page and although we did used to sell the CPC an PCW to Schneider back in 84-88 which they then badged with the Schneider name, that is the only connection we have had with them and they subsequently went off and designed/badged their own PCs and notebooks so I'd have a look for a www.schneider.de or something like that.

Alan Hicks in Sydney at 7:54:51 Monday November 24 97
This is more a confirmation rather than a question. Your statement re Amstrad ALT 286 - increase memory to 4 MB using 3 chip sims usually doesn't work seem to be right. I just get a blank screen. Thanks for the advice, I will give up now.
Amstrad answers: Having said that there are SOME instances where 3 chip SIMMs work but the fact is that it depends on their capacitance and it could well be the case that one set from the same manufacturer works while another doesn't so it's best to stick with nine chips to be on the safe side.

Gary Hunter in Bolton at 20:46:5 Friday November 21 97
I have a Amstrad PC7 486, how can a access the bios with a password (unknown) enabled
Amstrad answers: It looks like this got cut off in mid flow but I think I know what you're asking. Basically you need to rest the CMOS in the machine to clear a BIOS password. If you find the CMOS chip on the board (a black oblong probably with the word "Dallas" on top) then near this chip you'll see a jumper on the board which has a legend printed on the PCB with something like "Clear CMOS". What you need to do is put a link onto that for a few minutes which will clear the CMOS contents then when you restart there shouldn't be a password but you'll have to reset all the usual setting including hard disk type number so that you can then access the hard disk.

Robert Carrigan in Glasgow Scotland at 20:39:44 Thursday November 20 97
Collapsed screen on my Monitor PC14HRCD/0 does anyone know the problem and what is needed to solve. Thanks if someone can help.
Amstrad answers: A colleague who knows an awful lot more about this than I do (thanks Mike!) says that the fault is caused by a failure in the vertical timebase generator and the most usual way these things fail is that a diode on the flyback generation circuit has gone open circuit so if you can identify that part of the circuit then check any diodes there (probably an IN14003 or similar) and replace anything found to be open circuit. If you don't know about this sort of thing yourself any good TV repairman shoud be able to have a crack at fixing the problem.

Neil Simpson in Scotland Ayrshire at 16:45:49 Wednesday November 19 97
Thanks for answering my last question about the 1512 but I have another question. Could I run Amstrad CPC 464 games on the 1512. I have games that I picked up from a web site and the CPC 464 was my first computer could I run these games through basic 2 in gem? Thanks!
Amstrad answers: Well there's no way it could be done in BASIC but you WILL be pleased to know that several different people have written PC based emulators for the CPC and you'll find out all about them if you follow the links from my CPC page and in particular get the FAQ from that French site. As you'll read in the FAQ there are several programs that will let you run CPC software on the PC and what's more there are huge archives of almost all the games available to download. The place where CPC emulators are discussed on an almost daily basis is the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit newsgroup.

Wilfred Francis in Physiology, UCL, London at 12:34:59 Wednesday November 19 97
I have just been given an Amstrad PC1386 with a basic memory of 640k. It also has a Western Digital HD, unfortunately because los of battery power has lost the CMOS setup i cannot tell what model this HD is, all I can say it has 794 cylinders and 4 Heads. I would like to use this computer as a simply modem server to connect to our departments file-server, so information about this H/Drive would be a help. Many Thanks.
Amstrad answers: The 1386 was a special model of 2386 which we sold without a hard disk fitted so if the one you have has a hard disk fitted it has been put there by someone else so I can't offer a whole lot of advice except to ask what capacity (in MB) is it supposed to be? Assuming that it isn't connected to an "intelligent" controller card then I can probably tell you which type numbers in the ROM based BIOS table have capacities close to that for the drive.

Paul Rae in Athens, Pa. USA at 0:21:33 Tuesday November 18 97
I have a 1640, ebverything but the monitor works. Can anyone help me fine a replacement MD or better monitor , or aservice manual for the MD. Thanks
Amstrad answers: I hope that maybe someone will email you in reply to this but failing that have a look at "Micro Mart" which is on sale in WH Smiths- a sort of Exchange & Mart for computers. You should be able to pick up a whole 1640 second hand for about £30-40. If you want a service manual for the MD then contact CPC but be warned that it'll probably cost about a tenner and you might be better off putting that towards a second hand monitor. If the power supply in the 1640 monitor is still working then you could use this to power the 1640 system unit and then just put a more standard IBM MD, CD or ECD monitor on it if you could pick one up second hand.

Neil Simpson in Ayrshire Scotland at 12:32:16 Monday November 17 97
I have an Amstrad 1512 with double 5 and 1/4 disc drives running GEM. Can I upgrade it to a 386 or higher, can I at least make it run windows. Can I upgrade it at all in any way P L E A S E H E L P as I need it for HNC Computing. Thanks. Neil Simpson
Amstrad answers: In a word "Forget it!" (well OK, that was two words). There is no way you could sensibly upgrade a 1512 to a specification suitable for running Windows. Let's face it that machine is only worth about £20-30 if you were to sell it second hand. Even if it were possible to get a 386 upgrade processor you'd also need to add some extended memory and also get a hard disk bigger than 20MB to run Windows. The cost of all those items plus it's 2nd hand value is far more than you can buy a nice 2nd hand real 386 for. (About a year ago I got a 386SX machine with 8MB and an 80MB hard disk for £100 - these days you might expect to pay £50-70)

Kay Cole in cardiff at 16:47:50 Sunday November 16 97
I have an old computer the amstrad PC2086 s and I need an operating system for it version 3 or 4 dos can I get them on the internet or can you tell me where I may get them please.
Amstrad answers: That machine isn't limited to using MS-DOS 3 or 4, you can happily use any version of DOS on it and personally I'd never use anything less than MS-DOS 5 and, preferably, MS-DOS 6.22. These later versions of DOS should be availble in any computer store but make sure it's on 720K, not 1.44MB floppies!!

Windows 95 User in UK at 12:10:50 Sunday November 16 97
I own an Anstrad PC 9555i (intel P120) with the graphics card (S3 Trio) built into the motherboard. I want to know how to disable the graghics card so i can install another card. (S3 2/3D Virge)
Amstrad answers: Well I would tell you the setting of the link on this 9555i that I am typing this on but to do so I'd have to switch it off which is tricky just at the moment! However I know from personal experience that the link is very close to the S3 chip that's on the mother board and it's a three pin jobby that actually has the legend "VGA enable/disbale" silk screened onto the PCB next to it so you really can't miss it! It's basically a case of changing the jumper from 1-2 to 2-3 or vice versa. Next time I get a chance to look at my one I'll add a more authoratitve answer to this question.

marcerou emmanuel in bellevue 33390 plassac france at 9:44:40 Sunday November 16 97
Hello, I would like to have any informations on the component DALLAS TH6887A (9331) in a 486 AMSTRAD for the pin number of the internal stack.Thanks!!! (I'm a little french).
Amstrad answers: Do you need a replacement CMOS chip then? If so I suggest you contact CPC at www.cpc.co.uk. If you are really just interested in the pin out then I suggest you seach for "DALLAS CMOS" on the internet at www.hotbot.com or similar as I'm sure Dallas must have a page on the internet.

Martin Shelton in Australia at 12:16:14 Saturday November 15 97
My friends PC2386/65 20mhz Computer had it's hard drive replaced with a 170meg one. When the batteries went flat the Bios lost the settings. I then downloaded the setup file and ran it but can not match any of the preset drives. It was working before . How do I manually config the drive?
Amstrad answers: Well unless that machine has had it's BIOS upgraded the answer is that you can't. When you switch it on it first says "Please wait" then the next thing you see is PC 2386 (vn.nn) If that n.nn is 1.x or, in fgact, anything less than 2.4 then the BIOS does not have user settable parameters, only fied drive type numbers. If it is a 2.4 then don't use Setup.Exe to set the hard disk info, instead that version has Setup built in and you just press Ctrl-Alt-S at the C:\> prompt to access it then it should be obvious how to set the details. I'm guessing that this MUST be the case because I don't see how a 2386 could support a 170MB drive otherwise. The other possibility is that the drive has a copy of Ontrack's Disk Manager on it in which case the BIOS can be set to virtually anything because as soon as DM loads it takes over the HD support from the BIOS.

Andy Powell in Lincoln England at 21:32:15 Tuesday November 11 97
I am currently flumoxed by a problem with an Amstrad PC1640 which ALWAYS defaults to starting up a game of "connect 4" !!. It gives a "file not found" message, then runs through Autoexec.bat, and automatically starts the game. On trying to quit the game, it repeats the autoexec command, then goes straight back to Connecting 4 !
What I need to know is, Is there a way of Bypassing the Startup files, and going straight to a prompt of any sort. The owner doesn't really need the menu, so a command line would do if only I can break through and alter the autoexec.bat commands. An easy answer would be Most appreciated. Thanx in advance, Andy Powell
Amstrad answers: Err two possibilities, one is to take a copy of MS-DOS on a floppy disc and boot from that. Once loaded you should be able to switch to C: and edit/delete/rename the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The only slight problem is finding a copy of DOS on 5.25" disc so if you haven't got one that brings me to option 2 - as soon as the MS-DOS boot sequence starts just keep hammering [Ctrl]-[Break] (Break aka Pause). If you are lucky you will "catch it" and it'll present a "Terminate batch job (Y/N)?" which will allow you to break out to a DOS prompt. If you are using a decent version of DOS (either 5 or 6) that presents a "Starting MS-DOS" message then as soon as that appears there's one of the F keys, think it's [F5] that pops up a screen allowing you switch off the processing of CONFIG and AUTOEXEC, or to execute them a line at a time giving a (Y/N)? option for each.

Matt Randle in Melton Mowbray at 15:53:48 Monday November 10 97
Has anybody out there got any programs what so ever written by them selfs or other people for the Amstrad NC 100 or 200?? If so could you please E-Mail me them or somthing. Thanx!
Amstrad answer: I guess we'll just have to wait and see if anyone else answers but as far as I know no one ever produced any extra software for the NC machines, basically because they didn't sell well enough for people to justify the software development expense.

Steve in Italy at 11:43:44 Monday November 10 97
I have read your mail... I am an Italian programmer, owner of a PDA 600... I want to program it ! I know Z80 assembler, but I can't understand where I can find the information on how to program the PDA... and the way to write the PCMCIA cards... Is there any site with the firmware spec. of the PDA ? Please, if you know something about this, contact me ! Steve
Amstrad answers: I presume you've got that document from my file download page which describes the PDA development process? You'll see from that there was a "technical reference manual" for the PDA600 which documented the calls available in the operating system (On the same downloads page you'll have seen some example source I wrote which shows how they are used). Unfortunately the PDA600 stopped production a number of years ago and I think the ref manual went out of print. It's just possible that the Eden Group who did most of the work on the PDA600 design may still be able to supply copies. They are based at Rainow near Macclesfield in Cheshire, England.

Matt Randle in Melton Mobray at 18:34:49 Sunday November 9 97
Is it posible to send a document from my Amstrad NC 200 to a FAX machine via a modem. i.e. to send a FAX from the NC 200?
Amstrad answers: In the past, before the internet really took off we all used to use bulletin boards and some offered a facility to take a text message and then send it via fax. I don't know if such things exist in an internet guise. I think Compuserve used to offer the service but these days I don't thin you can connect to Compuserve any more with a simple ASCII terminal like that built into the NC200.

Miguel Angel Merchan Lesmes in Spain at 14:46:32 Sunday November 9 97
I have a AMSTRAD PCW 8256 and my floppy disk is broken. I need a new or an old floppy disk of 3" to my computer that is good and if is posible no too expensive. Thanks Miguel Angel Merchan Lesmes
Amstrad answers: Follow the links from my PCW page. There are several people who sell PCW drives and you may find that the thing that is broken is just the drive belt in which case you can replace that for only a handful of pesetas.

Michael Hardin in Tennessee at 14:24:48 Sunday November 9 97
I may have missed it, but I am looking for a way to transfer files from a PCW 8256 to a PC. The question I have is whether there is anything in the States that will do the same as Locolink. This is just to avoid shipping a product overseas. Thank You
Amstrad answers: I keep hearing of a company called Elliam Associates in the US that still deals in PCW stuff but I'm afraid I don't have any more details. Perhaps a web search would turn something up. Alternatively contact www.locomotive.com and they'll probably be able to tell you of anyone who sells their stuff in the US.

Jeff Cornwall in South Wales at 1:27:11 Sunday November 9 97
I recently inhereted an Amstrad 9512 but it just will not boot for love or money all that happens is when turned on (With the disk in the drive) it just beep three times the floppy drive light is activated for a short time and then it just sits there and laughs at me. I know it is difficult to diagnoe a computer related program without seeing the machine but any responxe would be gratefully received. Thanking you very much.
Amstrad answers: Actually it's not that difficult to diagnose this particular problem as almost all PCW's eventually fail in this way. The first thing to consider is that the start disk you are trying to use is unreadable. You can do this easily by just trying a different start of day disk. If that doesn't work either then it's the fault that allthese ten to twelve year old computers suffer from - namely that the rubber band between floppy drive motor and central spindle has perished and become slack so that the floppy is running at below the expected 300rpm. The solution is easy - just fit a new band which will cost just 2 or 3 quid. Follow the links from my PCW page to people who will sell the band (or in the worst case a whole new floppy drive).

Mike Kelly in Alexandria, Ontario, CANADA at 21:35:54 Friday November 7 97
I have an Amstrad PC 1640 that had its hard drive formatted. I have been able to revive it all except for the mouse driver. Is there an ftp site where I can download the files necessary get the original mouse working again? Is there another mouse driver that is compatible? What changes to my autexec.bat are needed? Thanks for taking the time to respond, it is appreciated.
Amstrad answers: The irony of this message is that you were so near and yet so far. The very file you need is on this VERY web site! Just go to my file downloads page and get the mouse driver for 1512/1640/2086 that you'll find there!

Keith Ford in Aberdeen at 15:58:8 Thursday November 6 97
I have recently fallen heir to an old PC2086/30 base unit and monitor (minus the keyboard and mouse) and am trying to get it to boot up. I get a "check Keylock, Keyboard and Mouse" message. My question is this :- Does this machine require an Amstrad 2086 specific mouse and keyboard? ( I managed to pick the Keylock with a bent hairpin! Does this make me a bad person? ) Any help on what the dip switches at the back do would also be appreciated. Thanks, Keith.
Amstrad answers: The 2086 won't be particularly fussed if you don't have a mouse for it but it will be more than a little miffed if you don't have the keyboard connected as one of the first start up tests performed by the PC is it shouting "hello keyboard, are you there?" and if it doesn't get an "all present and correct, sir!" then it just won't come out to play. (It's difficult to imagine how useful a PC without a keyboard would actually be?!?). What's more, unfortunately the keyboard on a 2086 uses a weird and wonderful, Amstrad only, design so nothing but an Amstrad keyboard will do. It's just vaguely possible that CPC may still stock them but they'd probably cost more than the whole computer is worth (it's worth about £30).

David Landin in Rhyl, N Wales at 15:0:36 Wednesday November 5 97
Using an Amstrad PC2386/65 I used the MEMM.SYS memory manager. When I tried to load Windows 3.1 from origianl MS disks, it wouldn't load because it didn't recognise any expanded (?Extended?) memory. So I couldn't load windows. Any suggestions please? EMM386.sys didn't get the machine to recongize any expanded/extended memory.
Amstrad answers: Forget expanded memory and MEMM.SYS that is not the way to proceed for installing Windows version 3. What you should do is run the Setup.Exe program on the machine and ensure that the "Extended Memory" figure is set to 3456K. Then in your CONFIG.SYS file you will want to include both DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS and DEVICE=EMM386.EXE RAM NOEMS lines (plus a DOS=HIGH,UMB assuming you are using a decent version fo DOS such as 5 or 6.22). This will configure the machine for providing LIM XMS Extended memory which is what all modern version of Windows like. BTW, you mentioned EMM386.SYS rather than .EXE that is a VERY old version that came with DOS 4. You should use the much later version of EMM386.EXE that comes on the Windows 3.1 disks and will be located in \WINDOWS.

Bruneel Steven at 20:47:43 Tuesday November 4 97
I have Amstrad ANB-386SX20 i look for one food battery. Can you help me. Thanks
Amstrad answers: It's vaguely possible that CPC will have batteries available for that machine as a spare part. Try www.cpc.co.uk

Basso Tomas in Italy Milano at 12:9:48 Tuesday November 4 97
My friend make an LD6000 to me like a present. I use a windows driver for LJ 2, but the printing is not good, because from the middle of the page starts in background the same page. Is it a problem of driver or what else ? Sorry for my poor english and thank you in anticipation
Amstrad answers: Sounds like a memory problem. I think the HP LJ driver settings let you tell it how much memory is installed in the printer. If you had this set to 1.5MB (say) when the printer only had 512K (say) then it would explain the effect you are seeing so try reducing the printer memory setting under Start / Settings / Printers / HPLJ.

Derek in Whitsunday, Queensland, Australia at 4:5:42 Tuesday November 4 97
I have recently acquired an Amstrad FX6000AT fax/copier/answering machine but have been unable to obtain an instruction manual. Is there anyone out there who could provide this info. Cheers.
Amstrad answers: It's possible that our support department may still be able to help you - as you're in Australia it may be easiest to fax "Fax support dept." on +44 1277 211350. As an alternative you may be able to get a copy as a spare part from www.cpc.co.uk

Peter van Heumen in Elburg, the Netherlands at 20:33:50 Sunday November 2 97
Dear Sir Although I have set every dip switch according to your printer page I still have a problem with mine LQ 5ooodi printer. It prints very slow. The driver used is the Epson LQ 1500, Ive also used the Epson LQ 1500 (no ESC/p) but that gives the same slow result. The printer works correct and fast straight under DOS, but seems to have problems with windows. Do you have a solution for this promblem.
Amstrad answers: One word - "Windows". The fact is that when you print "The quick brown fox..." from DOS the characters sent from PC to printer are a "T", then a "h", then an "e", and so on. Only a few characters and for each the printer receives the "T" (or whatever) looks up the dot pattern for it in it's own internal fonts and dumps that pattern of dots on the page. When Windows prints it looks at the font you have chosen (usually Truetype) and finds the rules for drawing a "T". It then looks at what point size you asked for and converts the drawing instructions into the right pattern of dots in memory. Finally it send the printer a command that says "get ready here comes a bunch of dots" and then sends all the dot patterns it just worked out so that rather than sending 3 characters to print "The", Windows may well have sent something like 2,700 bytes of dot data to define an area 1/10" high by 3/10" wide at 300 dots per inch. THAT is whcy Windows is so much slower at printing than DOS programs (and, by the by, also why our new PcW16 word processor is slower than the old model PCWs that used to use Locoscript!). The advantage that is gained by printing text in graphics mode in this way is that you are not limited to just a few fonts and point sizes built into a printer but can choose from 100's of Windows Truetype fonts in any point size from about 3 to 128 (and sometimes more).

ken jacques in SUFFOLK ENGLAND at 19:11:3 Sunday November 2 97
I HAVE AMSTRAD 3386SX 4 MEG RAM 420 MEG HARD DRIVE. IS THERE ANY PRODUCT THAT WILL ENABLE ME TO UP GRADE TO 486? I NOTE THAT THE CHIP APPEARS TO BE NONREMOVEABLE. ANY IDEAS/TIP GREATLY APPRECIATED (PLEASE DON'T SAY THROW IT AWAY AND START AGAIN)
Amstrad answers: It's main problem seems to be that the Caps Lock key is stuck!! When 486 processors first appeared there were 386SX upgrade processors that you could get that sat a bit like a huge spider on top of the 386SX that was soldered to a board but these days it's almost impossible to even buy a 486 processor let alone a 386SX upgrade processor. Just the other day I was looking for something as simple as a 486DX2/66 and couldn't find anyone still selling them! So I'm afraid that the chances of finding a 386SX to 486 upgrade are probably somewhere between zero and none. If it's speed upgrade you are after (epsecially for Windows use) then you'll probably find that the same money invested in more RAM has more effect than a CPU upgrade even if you could find one. But although you asked me not to say "thror it away" I would urge you to stop and look at the economics. You could probably get about £100 to £150 for that machine and more RAM and a CPU might cost you £100 to £150. If you put all that together you'd have the best part of £300 for which you could probably pick up an end-of-line or decent second hand entry level 486. Anyway, think about it! What's more, you already have a decent hard disk and some RAM there so why not think about just replacing the motherboard with a late-486, early-586 model? (However you'd also need a new keyboard and mouse).

Dave Parish in UK at 22:35:56 Saturday November 1 97
I am running several machines at the moment (5 not all mine) and I have a keen interest in the earlyish machines (for example I still have a running example of the first generation of a Wang PC). There are two Amstrads. The problem is with the 1512. It lived as long as starting it once, while I was tryin to hook it into my main machine (I knew it had a virus and I wanted to kill it first) it told me that I needed to change the batteries. This I did within a few minutes ( I took them out of the other Amstrad). I re-fired up the machine and it told me it that the 'hard drive not ready'. You can then boot from FDD but the machine does'nt know that the hard drive is present.
I realise that the BIOS does not include HDD support and that the cards have to be matched to the disks (proof that I read Cliff's site first).You win 1,000,000 brownie points for this!!
My conclusion is that the HDD card is OK. but the HDD has suffered a head crash or damage (I don't think the head has ever been parked). The first thing I looked for before I lost the machine was the head parking utility for the other machine which has quite a few bad sectors.
The reason why I need the two machines is a combination 3 inch drives and 5 inch drives (I have software of this era on 5inch disk
Please tell me it is just a quirk and the answer of course.
Amstrad answers: OK, call me stupid "Oi, Stupid!" but I'm not entirely sure what your question is. You seem to have worked it all out for yourself. I totally agree that the hard disk has a physical problem because, as you rightly deduced, it's got nothing to do with the information that is maintained by the batteries. As for parking - it's not really necessary to ever park a hard disk unless you are about to physically move a machine and it's only the very earliest hard drives that weren't self parking anyway.

Timothy Walker in Cheshire UK at 18:0:42 Saturday November 1 97
My question is the same as artin Ellis's of 1.11.97 from Cheltenham, but my Family History programme is Gentree 11 purchased from Paul Bowers about 1994. How can I get this to work in Windows 95 please ?
Amstrad answers: I just searched through the complete archive of past questions but cannot find the question to which your message relates. What PC have you got a problem with and what exactly is the problem? Cliff

Anon at 13:13:37 Saturday November 1 97
Amstrad answers: Yeah, I think I can see what you're trying to say but I'm not entirely sure I agree!

Martyn Ellis in Cheltenham at 10:43:10 Saturday November 1 97
We have a 1986 Amstrad Personal Computer Word Processor (PCW8256/8512). The operating system software is CP/M Plus and the word processing software is Locoscript. We have our family records stored on the old 3.5" floppy diskettes and now wish to migrate to MS-Word format. How do you suggest we go about this ??
Amstrad answers: Did these words of wisdom not answer the question?

R G Major in UK at 19:47:15 Friday October 31 97
I've been using a Star LC24-200 printer happily with my PCW8512 + Locomotive Driver etc kit, but unable to use all the fonts now using a Epson LQ550 only its 2 main fonts, can you help please?
Amstrad answers: This is one for Locomotive who you will find at www.locomotive.com.

Jan-Willem Heerink in Bussum, The Netherlands at 9:15:41 Friday October 31 97
The Amstrad Integra i have here. 18 months old. Does not start up anymore. After power-up you here the HD-spin up and then it sends out 8 beeps in total and stops doing anything. The beeps sound like. 1 single beep en then 2 beeps another 2 beeps followed by 3 beeps. So 1,2,2,3. The monitor is blank (white) but no picture. any idea??
Amstrad answers: Sorry but I don't have a list of Integra beep codes here. Suggest you contact Viglen (support@viglen.co.uk) and speak to their "Amstrad support" department but it sounds like the machine needs to be serviced so it may be best just to contact the company you bought it from.

Neeko in London UK at 16:0:15 Wednesday October 29 97
I've been given a base unit PC7486 whi ch has a wonderfully small footprint. But I cannot access the CMOS settings due to it being password protected. Alas I have no manuals so I dont know what jumper settings to flush the CMOS. Any suggestions? Many thanks
Amstrad answers: I presume that's a 7486SLC33 you're talking about? According to a manual I have here for one the magic link is JP14 which should be made to clear the CMOS then normally left open.

Ian Collins in TORQUAY,Devon at 21:53:37 Tuesday October 28 97
Further to my query of October 23. Thanks for the answer. I have found the switch with a spring-loaded contact and tied it in the on position. Now I can load MS-DOS 3.3 but only without the mouse plugged in. With the mouse in it tells me to check the mouse. Does this mean that I have the wrong mouse or maybe the wrong mouse driver ?
Amstrad answers: Ah ha, well when the unit starts up it doesn't actually test the mouse in the "normal" sense. The only part of it that it investigates are the two buttons because it sees them as if they were just extra keys on the keyboard so the fact that you are getting a warning means that it thinks one of the buttons is held down. It's unlikely it could be the wrong mouse as our weird mouse uses a very weird plug (a male 9 pin D) so I guess the buttons are broken. I'd suggest junking that mouse and just using one off the serial port - you can pick up a really decent mouse these days for only a few dollars.

Mike Pisio at 4:8:2 Tuesday October 28 97
I downloaded the files for the PC1512 (46001.zip - 46005.zip) Upon setting up the first disk (by doing the fdcopy thing) I then proceeded to boot up the computer. I can't run ANY of the commands on the disk, because it comes up "incorrect dos version". Upon typing "VER", it says "MS-DOS Version 4.01". The command.com is dated "12/19/88 - 12:00am" Now..... I checked disk two out, and it has a copy of command.com on it and it is dated "7/9/86 - 12:55pm". I tried putting disk two's command.com onto disk one, but it came up saying "bad or missing command interpreter" (or something like that.) Any help on this would be MUCH appreciated.
Also, I have installed extra memory to bring it up from 512K to 640K. Will the system recognize the extra memory automatically, or do I have to run some kind of setup file??
Amstrad answers: OK, time to play spot the idiot. I merrily copied the contents of what I thought were an unsullied 1512 start up disk but as I no longer have a computer with a 5.25" drive A: I was unable to actually boot from it and make sure it worked and I never spotted that it had been later SYSd to version 4. What a dummy eh? Thankfully I have now managed to track down what I believe is a completely untouched 1512 disk and have uploaded a new 46001.ZIP so please download it and test it. I'd appreciate if you could either reply here or email me to let me know I got it right this time!

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