Old Questions and Answers

Previous Q & A

Home
Page

These are questions and answers that were previously posted to the Q & A page but have been archived here to keep the latest Q & A shorter and more manageable for download.

PC5286	Can't get it started
PC3386	Various questions
PCW	Want to dispose of one
PC1512	What's 1701 error
PDA600	Need download software
General	Question about videos
PC5286	Screen blanking problem
General	Using UK fax elsewhere
Year2000	Is PcW16 compliant?
PC3386	Making "soundchip" work
PC1512	Trying to use Win 3
PC1640	Need DIP switch info
PC6400	Trying to sell one
PDA600	Penapd won't calibrate
General	Soundcard playing WAVs
PDA600	Want to buy one
Monitor	Using 14HRCDR on modern 486
PC1386	Need drive type number
PC2286	Floppy read problems
PCW	Looking for serial interface
General	Searching for Indexlink software
PC1640	Strange boot up message
General	Clearing BIOS password
PC1640	Trying to fix faulty boot up
Integra	Looking for system software
ANB386	Need spare parts
Integra	Upgrading the memory
ALT286	Need new battery
NC100	Looking for memory cards
NC100	Trying to buy one
PPC	Need system discs
PCW	Fixing floppy drive
General	Need service manual
Integra	Characters are too small
PC3086	Replacing floppy drive
NC200	Looking for printer
PPC	Service centre in Holland?
PC2086	Change drive 720 to 1.44
PC6400	Boot up problems
Spectrum	Need programming info.
PC5286	Want to replace floppy drive
MegaPC	Need spare parts
PCW	Replacing daisywheel printer
NC200	Running games sofwtare
PCW	Replacing broken printer
PcW16	Need rescue disc
PCW	Fixing a printer
CPC	Trying to upgrade
PCW	Fixing floppy drive
General	Using UK fax in Germany
PC9486	Upgrading IS possible
Printer	LQ3500 under Windows 95
General	Looking for anti-virus software
PC9486	Upgrading graphics adapter
PCW	Adding a hard disk

Thomas Hamann in Heemstede, Netherlands at 17:8:28 Friday July 10 98
I have an Amstrad PCW 8512 and I would like to add a hard-disk and a centronics-interface and I have some questions about those.
1. What kind of harddisk can I use?
2. Can I use a IBM-compatible hard-disk by plugging it into the centronics-interface?
3. Could I use the hard-disk as a start-of-day disk?
4. Will I be able to connect the PCW with my 486DX when there is a hard-disk connected to the PCW?
5. What kind of program do I need to send ASCII-files to the 486DX, can I use a terminal-emulator program to do this?
6. Where can I get a NEW Centronics-interface for the PCW?
Well, that all. Thanks in anticipation.
Amstrad answers: You can only use a hard disk that has specifically been designed for use with a PCW. You cannot use any old IBM compatible hard disk. You stil have to boot from floppy and you need a special version of Locoscript that will recognise the hard disk (it may come with the hard disk when you buy it). Having a hard disk does not necessarily mean that you can connect the PCW to your PC. To connect a PCW to a PC you need a serial interface which is an additional add-on box. When you buy a serial interface you will find that it also has a Centronics parallel interface. Again a new version of Locosript is required to be able to access such a Centronics interface (it may have this function built into the version you get with the hard disk). To transfer ASCII files to a PC via the serial interface you normally use a terminal program in CP/M - you'll probably get suitable software when you buy the serial/Centronics interface box. Almost all your questions and everything you require can be found at Locomotive Software (the people who wrote Locoscript). Their web site is www.locomotive.com. Another source for hard disks is Cirtech - suggest you email them.

DARRIN GARNHAM in GUERNSEY CHANNEL ISLANDS at 13:15:4 Friday July 10 98
CAN I UPGRADE THE CIRRUS LOGIC DRIVERS IN MY 9486 TO A LATER VERSION.IWAS TOLD ONCE THAT IT CAN BE DONE OVER THE INTERNET.BUT I DONT KNOW WHERE TO LOOK
Amstrad answers: Is it the lack of graphics resolution on your PC that means you have to type EVERYTHING IN UPPER CASE SO YOU CAN READ IT?
You should be able to get the latest version of Cirrus drivers for the video chipset in your PC from the Cirrus web site. A good place to try looking would be www.cirrus.com (almost all companies (except Amstrad!!) have a web site which is www.[company name].com but if that fails go to www.yahoo.com and search for the word "Cirrus". There will probably be a number of different drivers on the Cirrus site when you get there so you'll probably want to start by running the MSD command at your C:\> prompt to find out exactly which type of Cirrus chipset is fitted in your machine (or take the cover off and look at the number on the chip).
Having said all that I kind of wonder what you are hoping to achieve by upgrading. It's very likely that the drivers on the Cirrussite are EXACTLY the same as the ones you already have as I doubt whether you will actually have found anything wrong with the ones you've got. In fact I always work by the old adage that "if it ain't broke - don't fix it" as trying to upgrade may lead to nothing working at all! Only upgrade if there is a reason and I strongly predict that you don't have a reason.

Michael Adams in Notting Hill, West London at 20:10:52 Thursday July 9 98
Where can I find an Anti virus program that will work on an Amstrad 2086/30. The specific virus is "Stoned", and although I have A-V that will work on a IBM compatible with 640k conventional, it won't work on the Amstrad (only 500k) Thanks in anticipation
Amstrad answers Boy it looks like you are in serious need of an AV program as something on your machine meant that your question got posted twice!!
I'm not entirely sure I follow what you are asking as the program that works on an IBM compatible with 640K conventional should work equally well on the 2086 which is also an IBM compatible with 640K. You never actually get to use the full 640K on any IBM PC as MS-DOS itself (unless you are using 386+ with QEMM or Windows 9x) always occupies about 50-100K. You can try to minimise the amount of DOS stuff that gets loaded by trimming down the Config and Autoexec. If you are using a decent version of DOS (ie v5 or greater) then you can use the [menu] stuff to have different booting versions and set one up especially for when you want to run the AV program. I'd also highly recommend using at least v5 (preferably v6.22) as MS have continued to reduice the amount of real mode memory occupied by MS-DOS. I'd guess that with 6.22 and a well stripped down config/autoexec you might expect to get as much as 570K of available DOS memory which should be enough for virtually any program to run. If it is such a memory hog that it needs more than that then it's obviously been designed for later Windows 95 (or QEMM) type environments in which case I'd ditch it all together and get a DOS based copy of the McAfee stuff which only needs about 300-400K.

Michael Adams at 20:7:36 Thursday July 9 98
Where can I find an Anti virus program that will work on an Amstrad 2086/30. The specific virus is "Stoned", and although I have A-V that will work on a IBM compatible with 640k conventional, it won't work on the Amstrad (only 500k) Thanks in anticipation
Amstrad answers See above.

Mrs. Sybil Hewson in Australia at 6:6:3 Thursday July 9 98
Cliff, thank you for the opportunity to seek advice - I am being driven crackers! To begin with, I am (semi?) illiterate as far as computers are concerned. I have read all your Q & As, and have done as instructed - (just to let you know I've done as much as I can by myself). This will upset you, I know - I cannot attach my LQ3500di to this new all-singing, all-dancing Windows 95 HP 8130 computer. It was all right before my beloved Amstrad 2086/30 died...... I have tried ALL Epsons, and the Generic Text Only. Following one of your answers, at the Doc C prompt, I copied the autoexec.bat LPT1, and it said it had copied 1 file. I read the READMEPR.TXT file from the MS Windows (1987) Utilities disk which came with the Amstrad - it tells me I've attached an IBM Pro, Pro II or Pro XL (I suppose when I first got the Amstrad and printer) so I tried those too - and several other odds and ends, just in case. A most frustrating business (for me, anyway). I've also tried getting windows to look in the A; drive at the above-mentioned Utilities disk. It will not recognize anything there. The only printing I get from any of the trials is mobs of hearts and diamonds, a few letters, and a few indescribable odds and ends - in fact, gobbledegook. If I try to print something from the word processor, I get just about the same. The Generic was the closest I got to something that looked like anything. Do you think perhaps there's a problem with Windows 95, Hewlett-Packard - or is it this old chook on the keyboard? Thanks again, at the least for the opportunity!. Sybil
Amstrad answers: So you are saying that even a COPY AUTOEXEC.BAT LPT1 just produced gobbledigook hearts and diamonds? In that case you can forget about trying any amount of Windows drivers etc. as the printer just plain does not work. Now the fact that it DID work on a 2086 rather points to the fact that there may be something wrong with the printer interface on the HP computer - is it possible for you to try some other printer connected to that PC - if that also fails then it's quite definitely the interface on the PC that is faulty.

darrin garnham at 13:17:2 Monday July 6 98
i have an 9486,which i had upgraded to 20mb ram,10 speed CD ,ROM,1.6GB HARD DRIVE and a DX4 INTEL OVERDRIVE PROCESSOR. Anyone else thinking of upgrading,it can be done. Who needs these modern pcs?
Amstrad answers: The only thing to be wary of is that you can often spend more money upgrading than trading in the current model for something new. I've seen entry level Pentium 200MMX machines at about £350 and you might easily pay that on just the extra RAM, CD, HD and processor.

Ralf Rodenbeckenschnieder at 12:1:14 Saturday July 4 98
I have got from a frind an old FX6000AT FAX device. i is from England ( There it works ) but i'm in Germany and here i get only the massage ( Check Tel.-LINE ) can you tell me what i must to do ? thanks a lot for an answer. ralf rodenbeckenschnieder
Amstrad answers: Fraid that a fax machine from England is only approved for use in the UK. Because other European countries have different dial and ring tones it will not work overseas. There is a current process of harmonisation going on lead by the EU (so they are good for something!) which is trying to ensure that there are Europe wide standards for this kind of thing but the FX6000 predates that.

Juan Pablo Pinto Mag�n in Le�n (Spain) at 1:13:52 Saturday July 4 98
I have an old Amstrad PCW and i have broken its 3" drive, how and where could I buy and replace it?
Amstrad answers: Well you can get spares from CPC and Edcom listed on my spares page or, as a possibly cheaper alternative, because the drive is the same as in the PCW you may also be able to get a suitable drive from Pinboard who are linked from my PCW page.

Pablo Estrada Fern�ndez in Le�n (Spain) at 1:6:11 Saturday July 4 98
I live in Le�n (North of Spain) and where can I get hardware to upgrade my Amstrad CPC 464+? Could I get memory to the CPC?
Amstrad answers: No the memory could not be upgraded but even if it could what would be the point? You'd need software that made use of extra memory and I'm not aware of any games that need more memory.

Bob Harrison in Kingsbridge, Devon, UK at 16:28:46 Friday July 3 98
Hello again, thanks for swift response. I may have inadvertantly misled you in previous query. The 'dead' printer had an integral DIN-type plug which did not use the parallel printer port. The replacement printer is of the standard PC variety with standard parallel printer cable.
Amstrad answers: Ah well, as it is a 9512 rather than a 9512+ I'm afraid it doesn't have a built in "standard" 25 pin parallel port. To add that to the machine you need to get the add on module that provides both standard serial and parallel. The one that Amstrad used to produce is called the CPS8256 but is no longer made. However I think someone like Pinboard or Locomotive do have suitable devices so I'd check the links from my PCW page. Be warned that it will probably be quite expensive (maybe c. £50).

Santosh Giani in West London England UK at 15:20:13 Thursday July 2 98
I need a rescue disk for a pcw16 what do you suggest? Can you send me one in the post? Or Can you email me a copy that will fit on a floppy?
Amstrad answers: Suggest you download it from this very web site. You'll find a copy here.

Bob Harrison in Kingsbridge, Devon, UK at 14:48:40 Wednesday July 1 98
A friend has a PCW9512 with a dead DMP printer. He has recently purchased a std 9 pin parallel printer and cable. Question: how do we get the PCW to recognise the presence of a printer plugged to the parallel port?? We think we have sorted out Locoscript software.
Amstrad answers: Well if you were previously using a DMP then then new printer should connect and work in the same way but because it may use different ESC sequences to a DMP then you will almost certainly need a copy of the "Fonts and drivers" pack from Locomotive

Matthew Randle in Leicestershire at 19:27:13 Monday June 29 98
Dear Cliff, I am the very proud owner of an amstrad nc200 and also the owner of a Nintendo game boy. I understand that the gameboy, like the NC200 is based on the Z80 chip. Does this mean that programs writen on the gameboy in assembly language could in some way be trasfered and run on the NC200? Thanks for all you help in the past years with other questions I have had. I am starting to write some software for my NC200 and I think Tim Surtell's software is excelent. I think there might be a market for more software. Especially as the dreaded PSION is starting to have softwar written for it!
Amstrad answers: Fraid life is not as simple as all that. It isn't just a similar CPU that determines software compatability, it's other stuff like the I/O address map, the attached devices, the layout of the screen memory, etc. You may remember that in the mists of yore both the Amstrad CPC and the Sinclair Specturm were both based on the Z80 as well but you wouldn't have expected to be able to use the games written for one on the other. Unfortunately the same holds true for Gameboy and NC200.
I doubt very much whether there would be a market for more software on the NC200 as the installed user base is very very small and is unlikely to be attractive to commercial software developers. For the Psion, on the other hand, there are hundreds of thousands of machines in use worldwide and that's why software developers take the time (and lots of money) to write software for that machine.

Ivor Quickfall in Scunthorpe Linc's UK at 17:38:39 Sunday June 28 98
Hi On behalf of my elderly cousin. He's 71 I'm 64 so please keep it simple. Can any other printer than the present [defunct] Amstrad daisy wheel be used with his 9512. What about drivers and leads. I understand the output cable is round with 14 pins. He loves the thing but is printerless. Please help. We wrinklies appreciate it greatly. Many Thanks. Ivor Q
Amstrad answers: Your best bet is to visit www.locomotive.com and see what they have on offer. The 9512 can be used with other printers but you need a parallel interface to connect such a printer and you need extra software from Locomotive to support it. As far as I know Locomotive can probably supply everything you need.

Martin in Chilcompton,Somerset...ooh aar at 14:3:57 Saturday June 27 98
I'm the one with the mega486pc with a damaged 4700-002p sega vertical interface card. Do you know where i could get ne or the sega cd rom adapter for the 4700-001p card. Thanks
Amstrad answers: The only source for Amstrad spares that I know of are either CPC or Edcom whose details are listed on my Spares/Manuals page.

Alastair in Australia at 15:0:49 Tuesday June 23 98
Amstrad 5286hd - is the 3.5floppy interface standard IBM? I have the above machine with the protective slide from a 3.5 floppy broken off and jammed in the drive. It has resisted all reasonable attempts to dislodge. If drive interface is IBM compat then a replacement drive would be the answer.
AMstrad answers: Yup, I'm 99.999% certain that the floppy in that machine is totally standard and it should be easy to replace it.

Luis Carlos at 23:16:46 Thursday June 18 98
I have an old spectrum +2 computer. I want to make some hardware tests but i'm having some trouble finding datasheets of amstrad chips. Where can i find them? Can you help me? thanks in advance Luis Carlos
Amstrad answers: There aren't any datasheets on the Amstrad chips as such but not only does the user manual already document virtually all the user programmable features of the gate array anyway (like what I/O to use to scan the keyboard etc.) but there is a WEALTH of information on programming Spectrums on the web. I actually answered this question last week but my stupid web server wouldn't let me FTP the update back to it. When I was writing the answer the other day I did a web search for "Sinclair Spectrum programming information FAQ" on several search engines and found loads of pages with all the information you could ever possibly need to program the machine.

Brenda Ashcraft in Monterrey, Mexico at 3:55:37 Thursday June 18 98
I have a dinosaur Amstrad PC6400 with a 20meg hard drive and one 5 1/4" floppy drive that I am trying to fix up for my neices. Until about a year ago, I was using this machine and everything was fine. I periodically cleaned out some files to maintain space on the hard drive. I accidently cleaned out a wrong file and couldn't get it to boot from the C drive. A friend did something, (I don't know what), and I was able to boot from the A drive using my original "red" system disk. Last week, in gathering up everything to give to my neices, I discovered a complete backup (PC Tools) from when the machine was working fine. I decided to run "Recover" and fix all problems.... Immediately, I was asked if I wanted to overwrite the Autoexec.bat file. Of course, I said, "yes". The screen went haywire; I was told to put in a system disk. I tried the red system disk and a copy. It will not boot in C or A, now. It comes on, gives the date of the last time it was used, and asks for a system disk. The local computer man suggests a new operating system, but since the computer is 11 years old, he is at a loss as to where to find one. Could you help me? I have a lovely red headed 8 year old neice and a brown eyed 6 year old beauty who are urgently awaiting your reply. (Also my local computer man...) I live in Monterrey, Mexico. My neices are in Texas.
Amstrad answers: I can't see how you could ever stop a PC6400 (we call it PC1640) from booting from A:. As long as it detects a readbale floppy in drive A: it will boot from it and (unlike modern PCs) there is no way to stop it doing, no matter what files you might have written to drive C: so I'd suggest that the copy of DOS on the floppy must have been corrupted in some way. There is a "virgin" copy of that disk in my file download area and you might want to get that and try writing to a new 360K floppy but you'll need a PC with a 360K floppy drive attached to do this.

Geoff in Melbourne Australia at 6:7:46 Wednesday June 17 98
I have an old pc2086 in which i am trying to change the f/d from 720 to 1.44 meg size , i have the orig disks and have found the device.com but cant work out the syntax to change the drive specs ... can you help ?
Amstrad answers:The command to use is DEVICE SETFD /D:n /T:n +/-C +/-S where the n after /D: is 0 for drive A and 1 for drive B, the n after /T: is 0 for 360, 1 for 720 and 2 for 1440. +C or -C either switches on changeline support or switches it off. +S or -S either turns on or turns of drive A-B swapping.

J vd werf in alkmaar holland at 21:7:56 Tuesday June 16 98
i have a problem with my portble PC do you now a dealer in holland may be in alkmaar thanks and i hope that you kan give me a answer. JOS
Amstrad answers: Amstrad no longer have any overseas subsiduaries and the only operatin is no in the UK so I'm afraid I can't help with suggesting a dealer in Holland. However you may find that most computer shops have a repair service that will have a go at fixing a computer even if it is a brand they didn't used to sell.

david gavigan at 15:1:15 Tuesday June 16 98
IS it possible to get a printer for a Amstrad notebook nc200 also i have trouble looking at files as it says too many files are open even though there is only one file open
Amstrad answers: The printer interface on the NC200 is 100% standard and just like on an IBM PC type of computer so you can use any of the thousands of printers designed for use with PCs and because it even has the same connector you should be able to use the PC cable that comes in the box with almost all printers. The only type of printer you can't use is so-called "Windows GDI" printers as they only work when connected to a machine running Microsoft Windows.
As for the "too many files open" problem - I don't know what's causing that but try "soft reset"ting the machine and if that doesn't fettle it then back up all the files to a floppy and then "hard reset" it.

bryan atkinson in wigan at 11:36:57 Tuesday June 16 98
how do i replace one of the 5 1/4 floppy drives on my amstrad 3086 pc with a 3 1/2 floppy and do i need special cables and which controller on the motherboard do i plug it in to in the past when i have tried i get the message wrong controller
Amstrad answers: The 3086 was designed to be used with either 3.5" or 5.25" drives (in fact I thought all machines had at least one 3.5" anyway). As such you should find that the floppy drive cable already has connectors for both 3.5" and 5.25" drives.

Peter den Hartog in The Netherlands, The Hague at 10:25:32 Tuesday June 16 98
Information appears miniaturized in the middle of my screen of my Amstrad Integra Pentium, even the BIOS setup screen. Also in DOS as well as in Windows 95
Amstrad answers: Sounds like someone has been fiddling with the horizontal and vertical size controls which are operated by the a couple of the 5/6 rotating knobs located just under the picture tube.

Ray Youngs at 7:36:44 Tuesday June 16 98
I understand that I have a manual for my car I do not have one for my Amstrad if it would help after putting it back together everything appeared to work ok apart from formatting a disk which it will not do.
Amstrad answers: Well when your car breaks down you reach for the Haynes manual that you get from Halfords, when your PCW breaks down you reach for the service manual that you get from www.cpc.co.uk.

Ray Youngs at 19:15:38 Sunday June 14 98
I have just fitted a new belt to the drive on my PCW9512 upon putting it back together a pin fell out help I don't know where it goes.
Amstrad answers:That's a bit like phoning the garage to say that you've just reassembled the engine on your Ford and have a screw left over - it's very difficult to diagnose where it came from without actually seeing the thing.

terry rees in S. WALES. UNITED KINGDOM at 21:26:12 Thursday June 11 98
I HAVE BEEN GIVEN AMSTRAD PPC 640. ON START UP IT ASKS FOR SYSTEM DISK. ARE THESE STILL AVAILABLE HERE IN THE U.K. AND IF SO WHERE CAN I GET THEM FROM. ALSO WHAT ARE THESE MACHINES CAPABLE OF?
Amstrad answers: Look no further than this very web site - you will find ppcdisks.zip in my file download area.

Thomas Teo in Brighton, Englland at 21:2:2 Thursday June 11 98
Do you know of anywhere i can buy an nc100/nc200 from. My laptop is broken, and i need a low-cost (can this term be used?) replacement. thank you.
Amstrad answers:Well Amstrad stopped making NC computers quite a few years ago but the remaining stocks have been floating around for a while and were last seen in the hands of Tandy so that is usually the best place to go looking for an NC. In fact I think Tandy actually found them to be quite succesful and went on to design their won machine that looks physically similar but is based on a different computer and software design internally.

Henrik Carlsson in Sweden at 14:32:27 Thursday June 11 98
What kind of memory fits into an Amstrad Notepad Computer NC 100? Where can i buy it?
Amstrad answers:The NC machines use totally 100% industry standard PCMICA cards. The type you want are "battery back static RAM" up to a capacity of 1MB. They should be available from all good computer shops - especially those that stock just about any sort of portable computer.

Peter J. Craig in North Carolina, USA at 13:57:52 Thursday June 11 98
I have an old AMSTRAD ALT-286 Laptop that I need a new rechargeable battery for. It is not available through CPC. Does any one have a possible alternative source.
Amstrad answers:Did you try Edcom who are the main alternative to CPC for Amstrad spare parts? Their details are here

Ursela Krebbeks in The Netherlands at 17:9:7 Wednesday June 10 98
We already have an Amstrad Integra P75 Multimedia computer with 8MB memory. We want to increase this to a total of 32 MB. Which kind of memory should we use and where can we buy this in the Netherlands, with distributor doe we have to contact. Could you please answer our question before 12 june 1998. We thank you very much for your cooperation. With kind regards, Ursela Krebbeks, Companyname:Giryon Automation
Amstrad answers: I take it you have lost the Integra manual then? The fact is that the machine takes totally standard 72 pin SIMM modules. The fact that it already has 8MB suggest that two of the four slots are already occupied with two 4MB SIMMs so I don't think you will be achieve 32MB total as that would require the remaining two slots to be filled with two 12MB SIMMs (they must be filled in pairs) but there are no such thing as 12MB SIMMs - there's either 8MB or 16MB so I'd suggest getting two 16MB SIMMs (either parity or non-parity - it doesn't matter) - they can be either Fast Page Mode or EDO but you won't get any benefit from EDO. The two new 16M SIMMs together with the existing two 4MB SIMMs will give you a total of 40MB which should be sufficient for just about anything if you are using Windows 95 but you'd probably need to consider even more (say four 16M and junk the 4Ms) if you plan to use Windows NT.

j vd werf in alkmaar holland nl at 20:34:25 Monday June 8 98
sorry for my englisch i am looking for a flat cable for my laptop i dont now wat type it is one flat cable for a conner cfn340a it is broken and i dont know how i can buy it in holland i hope that you can help me greetings jos
Amstrad answers: Amstrad spares are normally available from www.cpc.co.uk - there is no one in Holland that you can get them from.

diependaele Steven in Jabbeke, Belgium at 23:15:44 Tuesday June 2 98
I have bought a second hand integra Pentium 75. This pc has a tv tuner card for wich i have no drivers. I even don't know wich brand of card it is. can you help me with this problem? Thanks a lot
Amstrad answers: Sure, they're already available for download on this very web site - access my file archive and get integra.zip

Geoff Byrnes in Terrigal,NSW,Australia at 15:23:35 Tuesday June 2 98
I have friend with a PC 1640 HD30 that will not boot up to the C drive. It will boot to a start up disc. Problem apparently started after machine was moved from another location. Any Suggestions ?. Thanks.
Amstrad answers: Unfortunately hard drives that are more than ten years old (as that one will be) are very prone to failure and I don't suppose there is much you can do if it has failed. You didn't say but I guess that when you boot from A: you still can't see the C: drive? If you can then obviously you should just try to back up all the data and then junk the drive, if you can't then there's not a lot you can do. There are organisations who will try to salvage data from dead hard disks on a no fix-no fee basis but I'd only recommend that if the data is vital beacuse if they do manage to access it the fee will NOT be small!

Stuart Boston at 11:29:57 Tuesday June 2 98
How Do i Overwrite the password?????
Amstrad ansers: Could you have made that question any vaguer? What computer? What software? I'll take a punt on the fact that you mean a BIOS password at switch on on one of our later model PCs.. If that's what you are talking about then most of those machines have a link on the main board (marked "clear CMOS") and if you make that link the BIOS settings including the password will be reset.

Derek Bennett in Barking, Essex. at 21:14:30 Monday June 1 98
I have a Amstrad PC1640 fitted with a western Digital 32Meg Hardcard, Which has not been used for a few years. On checking it to give to a local city farm i find that it is not accessing the hardcard, and if i try to reinstall it comes up with the message. SYSTEM ERROR (101) can you please explain this as i can find no reference to this message Thanks.
Amstrad answers: The reason you can't find any reference to that message in any of the Amstrad documentation is that the message is not coming from an Amstrad bit of the system. It is being generated by the BIOS in the Western Digital hard card and I guess that only Western Digital could tell you what it means (at a rough guess probably "controller failure" but I could be wrong).

Saeid Shenouda at 6:36:16 Monday June 1 98
I am wondering where I can download the program INDEXLINK that is used with the Indexphone IX1000. I would really appreciate any help. the phone is made by Amstrad.
Amstrad answers: I'm not aware of anywhere that has it available for download and I kept on meaning to get a copy from my colleague who wrote it but tragically he died two weeks ago at the age of 53. If I can find a copy somewhere I will upload it to my file archive but I can't guarantee anything.

Graham Polley in Blairgowrie, Scotland at 20:26:29 Sunday May 31 98
Can anybody tell me where i can get a serial interface for the Amstrad PCW 8512 so i can use the mail program (i forget the name of it) as i have two 8512`s! Also is it possible to get a convertor that will fit on the I/O (printer) port so i can use a standard centronics printer. Any information welcome. Thanks In Advance.
Amstrad answers: You'll often find people selling things such as PCW SIOs on the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit Usenet newsgroup. It's a very good place to speak to fellow PCW users. The same blob that plugs on the back to give you a serial port (PCW8256SIO) is exactly the same blob that gives you a standard Centronics parallel interface at the same time.

Matthew A. in Canada at 11:52:51 Friday May 29 98
I recently recieved (free) an Amstrad 2286 computer. It was riddled with problems. The video cable was shot, ide wire was on backwards, there were branches and even a magnet inside the expantion bay area. I fixed what I could see was obviously wrong (I striped it and put it back together again) but it still has one problem that mabye, hopefully, you can shed some light on. When I try to boot from a floppy the floppy light comes on and stays on until the machine is turned off (but it does not seem to read the disk). Same thing happens when inserting a floppy after it trys to boot up (which it will not do witout a floppy). any insight would be helpful, thanks.
Amstrad answers: That symptom in a floppy is normally caused by one of two things 1) the cable is on upside down or 2) there are two floppies jumpered to appear as drive A: and they are clashing.

Paul Edmunds at 0:47:27 Tuesday May 26 98
Hi Cliff, I have a PC1386, the CMOS batteries have expired and I need to reset the CMOS settings. I need a hard disk number (between 1-50) before the thing will recognise the C: drive. Would you happen to know this number or will I have to re-boot 50 times entering a new number each time ?
Amstrad answers: The way the PC1386 differed from the PC2386 was only by the fact that Amstrad did not fit a hard disk to it. For the 2386 I could tell you that it was a 65MB disk and the type number to use would be either 1, 4 or 10 but for the 1386 some third party reseller must have fitted their own choice of hard disk and there is no way I can guess which type number would have been suitable for it. So I'm afraid it does sound like 50 reboots (though by random statistics it probably should only be about 25 until you hit upon the right number).

Steve Hill in London at 19:35:35 Monday May 25 98
I'm using an old Amstrad PC14HRCDR monitor (from a 3386SX) with a DEC 486DX base unit. Everything works fine apart from the screen resolution - photos appear very indistinct and the wrong colours. Can I get photo quality resolution by changing graphics driver, or is this monitor simply not capable of displaying photos?
Amstrad answers: You wouldn't normally expect to be able to use more than 800x600 on a 14" monitor but there's no reason why you should be able to use either 24 or 32 bit colour modes on even that Amstrad one and this would give you 16 million colours but whether you can actually use 800x600 in 16M colours has nothing to do with the monitor but everything to do with the VGA card that is fitted in the PC you are using. It is that card (not the monitor) that a) must have sufficient on board memory to support that kind of resolution and b) a suitable Windows driver to make use of it.

SIMON ELLIS in CARLISLE at 20:57:10 Sunday May 24 98
HELLO CLIFF!I AM AFTER A PENPAD,I HAVE LOOKED THROUGH YOUR SITE I CAN NOT SEE A FIRM IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WHO SELL THEM.I HAVE BEEN TO TANDY (NOT VERY HELPFULL)AND ALSO DIXONS WHO WERE BETTER BUT DID NOT SELL THEM COULD YOU HELP AND GIVE ME AN ADDRESS OR CAN I STILL GET ONE FROM AMSTRAD BUSINESS DIRECT.IF NEITHER OF THE ABOVE IS THE FIRM IN AMERICA THAT YOU HAVE THE ADDRESS RELIABLE MANY THANKS.
Amstrad answers: Hope you'll excuse a brief word about netiquette - UPPER CASE is usually only used when you are angry and want to SHOUT a lot. Apart from anything else it is just more difficult to read text in UC.
Anyway, about PenPads, as far as I know there is no one left in the UK with any stocks of PenPads. The only stock I know of are that American company (where all old computers got to die!) but apart from the fact that I've been told that they've got some I don't know anything about them.

Elliot Ali in Halling, Near Maidstone Kent at 19:51:14 Thursday May 21 98
I am trying to fix my friends amstrad 386. We installed windows 3.11 and found that we could get the midi output to work, but not WAV. He has a combined motherboard, sound card, videocard etc. I was wondering if anyone had the windows driver to help us.
Amstrad answers: The vital piece of information you left out was exactly what sound card is it that you are trying to use? There have been roughly three generations of sound card over the years: 1) "Adlib" compatible only had chips to support FM MIDI music, 2) "Soundblaster" compatile - like Adlib but added the necessary bits to play/record WAV then 3) "AWE" type cards that have RAM on board so that you can sample sounds (WAV) and then play them as MIDI notes (simplistically). The only type of cards Amstrad ever fitted as standard to some of our PCs were in category 1) so if that's the type of card you've got there is no way in the world that you are ever going to get it to play WAV. Given that you can now by a card in category 2) for about £8 and one from 3) for about £20 then I'd suggest that now might be a good time to consider an upgrade.

Arjan Beekman in oostdijk at 16:24:24 Monday May 18 98
Dear Amstrad My penpad pda 600 will not callibrate, when i touch the pen in the center of the box, My Penpad do nothing, What must i do? Please can you give me also the adress of the dutch company. Thanks, Arjan Beekman
Amstrad answers: It sounds like the front digitiser screen is probably damaged and needs to be replaced. Amstrad no longer have offices in any country except England and we cannot supply spare digitisers anyway - all Amstrad spares for the UK are supplied by www.cpc.co.uk but you may find it easier to get a spare digitiser from Weidmann - a German company who specialise in the PDA600 - there is a link to their web site from my Penpad page.

Jerry Jones in Boise, Idaho, USA at 1:40:19 Monday May 18 98
Collector's Item: I have a fully functional AMSTRAD PC6400DD: NO hard drive, but two dependable 5 1/4" floppy drives. 8086 processor at 8MHz. Color on the AMSTRAD CGA monitor.
Amstrad answers: That machine is known in Europe as the PC1640 - the model without hard drive is worth about £20 (which is $30). It would cost far more than this to pay the freight to send it from the US so I guess the only people who might be interested would be someone who is also in the US. (Not that there can be many people still interested in buying 8086 machines when you can get 80486 for about $100!

Hugh Chadwick in Stanmore, Harrow, London at 20:25:26 Thursday May 14 98
I recently aquired an old PC1640 but the internal video card/circuit seems to be broken, or maybe the switch settings on the rear of the machine are incorrect. Two questions:
1. What are the correct/manufactureres settings?
2. If the internal video circuit is damaged can it be disabled so that an 8 bit video card can be fitted and how is this done?
Amstrad answers: Unless I'm very much mistaken absolutely all your questions are answered here.

Per-Axel in Sweden at 19:50:57 Tuesday May 12 98
First I'd like to know how to boot from harddrive and what graphicsdriver I should use when I want to install Windows 3.0 on my Amstrad PC1512HD20 and how I can get into the BIOS to make systemchanges.
Amstrad answers: To boot from hard drive you do nothing more than fit one. On a machine like the 1512, which is an XT class of computer, there is none of this setting hard drive type number malarchy that you get on modern computers and there is no BIOS setup to "get into". In the good old days of that 12-13 year old computer hard drives were designed so that you simply plugged in the mechanism and controller card and it all just magically worked. If you have a machine with a hard drive that isn't been recognised then there is only one reason for it - the drive/controller is broken. In that case you should try checking cable/power connections. Although there is no BIOS setup in the same sense as a modern AT type of computer the machine does have some CMOS memory that is used for special Amstrad specific features and that can be set using the NVR program that is available to download from my file archive.
As for running Windows 3 I'm afraid there is NO WAY that you could ever run Windows 3 on a 1512. If you'd had a 1640 with an EGA card then it is just possible to get Windows 3.0 (but not 3.1 or 3.11) working by replacing the 8086 with an NEC V30 but the problem on the 1512 is that it's graphics card is only CGA and cannot be replaced. You may be able to get a copy of Windows 2 working (if you could find a copy) but be warned that Windows on an 8MHz 8086 of any description is a DOG! A far better idea would be to look at GEOS from Geoworks (www.geowowrks.com) which is a Windows-like interface that was specifically designed for 8086 as well as the later variants of x86. However, as a 1512 is only worth about £15-20 I'd consider trading it in (or junking it) and getting a more modern type of computer that WILL run Windows. I've seen 80486 machines with hard drives and several MB of memory advertised for £89 in this country.

Arie Bant in Llandrillo at 16:40:5 Tuesday May 12 98
How do I get the sound chip drivers for the PC3386SX? What other information do I need to get this working? Is there a midi facility?
Amstrad answers: In order to get the sound chip in a PC3386SX working it will take nothing short of a miracle because it simply hasn't got one!! 'Course you can go out and buy a card (for as little as £8) but when you do that it will come with the necessary drivers on a disc or, if it is SoundBlaster compatible, you can use the standard drivers on the Windows CD. Even the cheapest SoundBlaster cards generally offer two types of MIDI - their own, internal, FM synthesis chip is driven by MIDI and they normally can drive external MIDI equipment via a connector on their joystick port.

Mark Preece in London at 12:25:1 Monday May 11 98
I am trying to find out if there any Year 2000 compliance issues on Amstrad machines (PC W16). I would very much appreciate any help anyone can give. Thanks Mark.
Amstrad answers Yup, naturally software that was only written in the last few years is bound to be Y2K compliant. I think the RTC hardware in the PcW16 is designed to work until about 2100.

Chris Kuijpers in ARUBA at 0:39:0 Friday May 8 98
My mother in law gave us a faxmachine, which she bought in the Netherlands. We however live in Aruba. The faxmachine doesn't apear to work in Aruba. It seems as if it doesn't recognize the dial tone. It also doesn't "pick up the phone" when there is an incoming call. I can't get any info from the manual on this. Is there a way to switch some dip-switches or something in order to get a better result? (It is an Amstrad TFX 500) Thanx in advance.
Amstrad answers: Well my first thought was "where the hell is Aruba" but a quick internet search tells me that it's a Caribbean island (you lucky so and so!). I spoke to our fax designer and apparently the Netherlands have very stringent telephone regulations that say that a fax machine should not work if it can't detect a dial tone. If you'd bought a UK one you'd have been fine as ones for this country try to detect a dial tone but will go ahead and dial after 3 seconds even if they can't get a tone. Unfortunately, because the one you have is from the Netherlands there is no solution to this. One thing we were surprised about is that the Aruba telephone system doesn't generate international standard dial tone anyway - but I guess that if they modernise their system in future they may change (as happened in the UK about 8 years ago) and then the fax machine would become usable.

Michael in Adelaide at 7:7:27 Wednesday May 6 98
I have a PC5286HD. After a few minutes the screen goes blank. Is this memory problems or hardware problems? It was alright until a new program was put on it. I can't get enough time to do anything with it. What else could I do?
Amstrad answers: I'd suggest temporarily renaming the config and autoexec files so they aren't used then boot the machine (and don't start Windows) then leave it for 5-10 minutes. If the screen doesn't go off any more then it's obviously a TSR or driver loaded in config/autoexec that's doing it and you can just experiment until you find the culprit. If it STILL does it then the only thing I can think of is that maybe the BIOS is doing some sort of power saving feature so I'd access the bios setup program and disable anything that mentions power management and see if that fettles it.

Jim Hession in Camberley, Surrey at 16:55:45 Monday May 4 98
Sorry to take the heat off PC questions... I have (now upstairs, on the 2nd output of a dual LNB), an Amstrad VS1140, a super machine, 48 satellite channels, Nicam stereo video, 4-head, etc., etc.. What I want to know is, is there another Amstrad machine that I could replace the channel memory with (ie 64 channels), and if so, how on earth do I get the frequency shifter to work with it? Downstairs I am motorised, with a Pace 1000 Dolby unit. Wonderful. But the trouble is, the Amstrad still works so well. In 7-years I have had the pinch roller replaced twice. Although I paid nasally for a 5-year guarantee, and extended it, I still maintain it, because of the "if we can't repair it, we replace it" warranty. Somebody please help me.....
Amstrad answers: Well I'm sorry to say that I don't know the FIRST thing about satellite/TV/etc. - for support of those things there is only one alternative and that is to address a request to the "TV/Satellite Support dept" at the phone/fax/mail address shown here - they don't have email.

Patrick Johnson at 15:40:34 Saturday May 2 98
I have a Amstrad PenPad 600 + PC link But where can I get the software from to link two. I have being to Tandy (UK) and they was no help what so ever
Amstrad answers: I'll email it to you and when I eventually get round to it I'll add it to my download archive in case others want it in future.

Neil Simpson in Ayrshire Scotland at 11:2:43 Monday April 27 98
I have had an Amstrad 1512 for a number of years now and use it for 8086 assembly. When I switch the computer on it reports a 1701 error, I assumed it was a hard disc error as the computer has a 40Meg hard drive how can I fix it?
I have another question, I think that the monitor on the 1512 is a CGA device, is there any way of connecting the 1512's monitor, keyboard, mouse and hard drive to an old 386 SX base unit as i have the chance to buy one for &pund;25?
Thank you for your time. Neil Simpson
Amstrad answers: 1701 is the number of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek and some bright spark at IBM thought it would be a "real neat idea" to use it to mean "Hard disk Not Ready". At Amstrad we thought the use of these numbers was a silly idea because, without a manual, the user wouldn't have a clue what they meant so in all the hard drive systems we ever made we ensured that the hard disk controller messages were in legible English. Obviously the hard drive in your computer is one that came from some other IBM compatible where the manufacturer wasn't so considerate. The reason they just used a number rather than a message was to prevent the need for messages in French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc. but we did put in all those different languages cos we're real nice people! The actual message appears when the controller tries to kick the drive into life and it doesn't respond. This is often because the power isn't connected (you can usually tell because you won't hear the motor spinning or the head actuating). On other occasions it is because the head has stuck which again is given away by hearing the motor spinning but no sound of head actuation. In either case the thing is probably U/S and should be junked.
You could use the 1512 monitor on another PC if you can find a standard CGA card to plug into the 386SX but remember that this will limit you to either 320x200 in 4 colours or 640 x 200 in 2 colours.

Andrew Mole in West London at 11:24:9 Friday April 24 98
I have somehow ended up with a PCW8256 sitting on my floor. It doesn't have a printer, and I don't have any use for it. However, I hate the idea of simply throwing it away, because it seems a waste when it is actually in good condition. Is there any way of finding it a home - even if only as a source of spare parts for someone? Are there likely to be any repair shops that might be interested in giving me a few quid for it? I live in Ealing, West London, so I would prefer to deliver it to somewhere near to me. If you could email your reply to me as well as leaving it here I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Amstrad answers: Have a look at my PCW specific page and follow the link to Pinboard computers. They specialise in PCW spares/repairs and might want to take it off your hands to break for spares.

Roberto Alonso Gonzalez in Madrid, Spain at 15:37:1 Tuesday April 21 98
Hello, Cliff!. I'm very happy finding your web questions page!. Get my questions!. I have an old Amstrad PC3386SX, 20 Mhz, 4 SIMMS of 1 MbRAM, 30 contacts, 9 chips, 80 ns, 40 MB HD,1,44 MB SD 3.5 in & 720 KB 5.25 in, and the software installed it is MS-DOS 6.1 and Win 3.1. In this moments I try to do my best to upgrade the "old dear sweet PC", in order to work with win 95 (or al least, win3.11). My little sister need to write your home works now! The possibilities for the upgrades cause in my mind the followings questions:
a) It is posible upgrade the CPU from 80386 to 80486?. Who sold the upgrade?
b) It is posible put-in the CPU daugther board the 80387 copro (or the 80487 copro in its case)
c) I have a "new" HD of 540 MB. It is posible made it as a slave disk for the old HD, or it is better put in the big disk alone?
d) I can to get 4 SIMMs of 4 MB, 30 contacts, 9 chips and 70 ns. This memory RAM modules can to work correctly in my old PC?. If it is not, It is posible to get the 80 ns SIMMs modules?
e) Exists any kind of sound card compatible with this PC3386SX? (Je,je, this card is for that I will play games, of course!)
f) What it is the correct configuration for the links jumpers in the main board for to can connect a serial mouse in the socket in the front of the PC?. I never get that one mouse was connected it working!
Jokes appart, the main problem is that in Spain we do not have representation of Amstrad or spares of Amstrad. I can to get the memory, the HD and even the 80387 CoProcessor, but...anibody can to say me if this upgrade running! Best regards, and sorry for my bad english
Amstrad answers: I'm also sending this to you via email: The amount you are going to have to spend on upgrading the machine is more than it would cost to buy a whole new 486/Pentium machine so I wouldn't advise trying to upgrade it at all. In UK computer magazines I have seen 486 machines for £200 (49 200 pesetas) and early model Pentiums (60-90MHz) for £250-300 (61 500 - 73 800 pesetas). In the UK you might get £50-100 (12 300 - 24 600) if you sold the 3386. Alternatively you might think about just fitting a new motherboard and processor. However, if you really insist on trying to do those upgrades the answers are:
a) I think that "Evergreen" used to sell a 386SX to 486 upgrade kit but that was sevral years ago and I think they now just do 486 to 586 and 586 to 586-MMX upgrades.
b) Yes, there is a socket for an 80387SX but be warned that this will NOT make the machine go any faster for about 99.9% of all software. It is only programs specifically written to use a co-processor that will benefit and that is usually limited to CAD programs. Besides you may not be able to find an 80387SX any more.
c) The speed of Windows is very much determined by the speed of hard disk fitted to a machine so I'd make sure that the boot drive with Windows and (most importantly), it's swapfile are located on the fast drive. But you could make the current small drive a slave (but what's the point for only 40MB?)
d) The 3386 is so slow compared to modern PCs that it wouldn't matter whether you use 70 or 80nS SIMMs. The existing RAM is about half the speed at 120 or 150nS.
e) Any currently available soundcard will work in that machine. You can buy them in the UK from £10 up to £500 or more.
f) The link setting are on another page on this web site. I just checked and it is link 30 to disable the mouse.

Steve Rood in Kent, England. at 13:53:5 Sunday April 19 98
Hi Cliff!, I have an old Amstrad 5286HD 40MB HD, 1MB Ram. I'm trying to get it working agin so that I can give it away to a friend. Some time ago I installed Dos 6 and used the "Doublespace" program so that I could get more programs onto my HD. I have been trying unsuccessfully to get it back to normal again as this facility uses too much base RAM. I have now completely messed up the system, deleted Dos and all other critical files, and can't even get it started. I don't have the original system disk anymore (Dos 3.3) as I have messed this up as well! I somehow need to start completely from scratch and Format my HD but don't know where to start. I was trying to format the HD before I messed up completely, but it wouldn't have it. Can you help please?
Amstrad answers: Suggest it may be easiest to discuss this via email. The fact that you sent this message suggests to me that you obviously have access to another computer so on that one FORMAT A: /S to make a bootable DOS floppy then copy FORMAT.COM and FDISK.COM from \DOS onto the floppy. Take that disc to the 5286 and boot to the A:\> prompt then type the command FDISK. Use option 3 to delete any existing partitions and then option 1 to create a new primary partition that covers the entire drive. Exit from FDISK and it will re-boot. When DOS ahs reloaded type the command FORMAT C: /S to put the bootable DOS files onto the hard drive. That should have got the 5286 going again then you just need to copy all the DOS files across (via floppy) then dig out a set of Windows install disks and install that afterwards.

Back to the main Questions page
Back to latest Questions & Answers page
Back to the Amstrad home page