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stephen payne in gloucester at 17:6:13 Tuesday January 19 99
my frend has a problem with his amstrad pcw 8256 when he puts a disk in the drive he gets a message on the screen error (script-joy) what can you tell me about this problem so i can help him please send all the info you can about this amstrad pcw 8256
Amstrad answers: I'm 99.9% confident that this answers your question.

LE MOAL CHRISTIAN in BENODET,BRETAGNE FRANCE at 7:41:52 Tuesday January 19 99
Je recherche un driver pour une imprimante A3 Amstrad Lq 5000di,pourriez vous me renseigner sur la maniére de me le procurer? meilleurs voeux pour 1999 à toute l'équipe Amstrad.
Amstrad answers: Lisez cette page si'l vous plait.

peter fitzpatrick in Sydney Australia at 23:17:16 Sunday January 17 99
I have an Amstrad PC5386SX with bios AM53004 that I am trying to set up as a Workstation into a Pentium PC Network using Windows 3.11. Everything is satisfactory except the Video, where I cannot get 256 colours from the Inbuilt Chips & Technology Video Chipset. I have tried your Chips.exe file, but the Windows load fails. Is there another driver set available. What is thee C& T website name? Or how do I dissable the inbuilt Video Card. There are a few jumpers IO have found on the Motherboard with which I have yet to experiment. Thanks for any aid you can provide to the colonies. Peter Fitzpatrick
Amstrad answers: I just typed "Chips and Technologies" into my favourite web search engine (www.metacrawler.com) and the very first, top entry pointed me to their web site at www.chips.com (I might have guessed!). The easiest answer may be to just disable the onboard VGA all together and, according to my 5286 manual, it is LK1 on the main board that needs to be removed.

Tim Decker in Rochester, UK at 9:58:1 Sunday January 17 99
I have an NC100 that is about 4 or 5 years old and in weekly use. I have a 128KB memory card and I am concerned that the battery needs to be changed. Are there any precautions I need to take when changing the battery to ensure I don't lose the contents.
Amstrad answers: Most of those memory cards have a "super capacitor" inside them that will maintain the contents for about 30 seconds after the battery is removed which should give you time to whip out the old battery and insert a new one. Another thing you can do is have it plugged into the NC (and NC switched on) while changing as it's possible that the NC will power it while its own battery is not present. Having said all that, obvioulsy the best thing to do (which is good practice anyway) is to wire the NC up to a PC with a serial cable and take a backup copy of the files via that route before you start - just in case.

Ken in Sheffield at 18:31:22 Saturday January 16 99
I have recently acquired an old (is there any other sort?) ppc512 in excellent condition, startup disk and all. No manual though, and no idea how to get into the BIOS at startup having tried the usual methods. Any ideas? Where can I get a hard card? Any chance of a personal notification (as well as this being posted on the FAQs?)
Amstrad answers This may come as something of a shock to you but the PPC does NOT have a BIOS "Setup" program for you to "get into". The machine is an XT compatible, not an AT compatible (do you remember the halcyon days of PC computing pre 1986?). All you do to get it going is insert a 720K (NOT 1.44MB!!!) floppy disk containing a copy of MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR-DOS or whatever and switch on (there are copies of the original MS-DOS 3.3 floppies in ppcdisks.zip in my file library). It may also be bad news but there is NO way to add a hard disk to it. There was a company back in the late 80s who offered a service of adding a 20MB for £400 but that required huge amounts of internal surgery to fit it and needless to say the company who offered that no longer exist.

Dee at 7:2:36 Saturday January 16 99
I have an Amstrad LQ3500 printer and I was wondering how to get it to work with Windows 3.0? I don't have no disk for the printer to install it and I don't have no disk for Windows 3.0 either. I had bought my computer at a Swap meet and The computer that the printer came with died and don't work no longer so I purchase this other one and I just can't get the printer to work with it.. Can you please help me and let me know what I have to do to get it to work...
Amstrad answers: You don't need a special "Amstrad" driver for that printer because it is compatible with the Epson LQ550 so you just pick that Epson drive in Windows and you should find that the printer works OK (may not be 550 but its certainly one of the Epson LQ choices).

stephen payne in gloucester uk at 3:44:55 Saturday January 16 99
A friend of mine has a amstrad pcw 8256 wordprocessor but can not get disk to work. when you put the disk in to drive a message appears on the screan saying script.joy can you tell me what i can do to make the computer to work again
Amstrad answers: It may just be the copy of Locoscript on the floppy that is corrupt in which case you can get a new one from www.locomotive.com but more than likely it is simply that the rubber drive band in the floppy drive has stretched. You find out more about that problem here.

Ross Dempsey in Brisbane, Australia at 3:2:15 Saturday January 16 99
I have a PC2286 v2.1 in which I am trying to install a Qantum 105Mb hard drive. The Bios and memory were upgraded about 10 years ago and this same hard drive installed, but was since removed. When I boot from the floppy I get the message "Hard Drive Not Ready". I have installed an IDE card. The C: drive can not be accessed. I have the updated Setup program. From memory (although it is a long time ago), I thought I was to specify type 50 and then have the opportunity to list the drive specifications, but this does not happen. Can you offer any suggestions?
Amstrad answers: Nope that BIOS does not have built in Setup and does NOT have the facility of using a user settable drive type such as 50 - so if the drive was working on that PC before now you must have used one of the pre-existing fixed type numbers. I can't find the documentation of what they were (it wasn't in the manual it was on a separate leaflet that was packed in the envelope that the system disc came in) but at worst it means you'll have to try every number in turn between 1 and 50 and keep rebooting until you find the number that does the trick. (Types 1 to 15 are the same on ALL IBM compatible PCs and 9 is the only one even close (110Mb) so probably best to start at type 16 and work up (though it may be worth giving type 1) a go as well early in the process.

Carl Last in London,UK at 1:43:18 Friday January 15 99
I have a Mega-PC but have had to replace the monitor with a non-Amstrad one. The PC works fine but the Mega Drive scrolls the screen. Is there a way of getting this to work. Thanks. Carl
Amstrad answers: As I said in an email to you I think the monitor supplied with the MegaPC had a special sync locking circuit that allowed it to operate at both VGA and Megadrive scan rates so I fear that the only way you could get it to work would be with the actual monitor as originally supplied. I guess there is a very remote possibility that www.cpc.co.uk may stock them as a spare part but I'll bet they would be astronomically expensive (like more than the cost of an entire 80486 system!!)

Alan in Reading at 18:12:25 Thursday January 14 99
I have quite a number of files in WS1512 wordprocessor format on 5 1/4 inch disks. Is it possible to transfer these to a format suitable for use on 3 1/2 inch disks within a Word6 package ? I have access to a standard PC with both size drives but am not sure whether specific software is required to 'adjust' the various control characters etc which will no doubt be different in the two packages - assuming this does exist - is it available on the internet or from some other source ?
Amstrad answers: Well WS1512 was written by the people who wrote the REAL "WordStar" (Micropro wasn't it?) so if I were you I'd maybe try finding their web site and see if they know of any modern day word processors that can read their weird and wonderful file format. Alternatively crank up WS1512 on the old 1512 machine (if it still works) and see if it has any options to export the files in one of the widely recognised word processor formats such as "real Wordstar", "RTF" or similar.

Kolesnichenko A at 5:26:25 Thursday January 14 99
Under Win 3.11 Amstrad DMP 4000 prints as Epson, but under win 95 or Win 98 it is not prints. What the matter?
Amstrad answers: I can only guess that you maybe picked the wrong Epson driver. The one to use for DMP4000 is the Epson FX100 driver. That should definitely work as I have heard from others who have tried this.

Kolesnichenko A.V. at 4:29:57 Thursday January 14 99
I cannot find drivers for printer Amstrad DMP 4000 for Win95 and Win98
Amstrad answers: Judging by your next question an hour later I guess you found my advice on using an Epson driver.

T. Everitt at 19:59:55 Tuesday January 12 99
I have a two year old (ish) PC 9555i. Is it year 2000 compliant?
Amstrad answers: Almost certainly not which means you are going to have to manually type the DATE command on Saturday 1st to put it right - I know that must be a really major hardship but there's very little else one can do unless you fancy being ripped off by one of these cowboy outfits that is more than willing to take £50 off you to provide a program that only does the same thing but automatically.

The standard way to check a PC for Y2K is use DATE/TIME to set it to 23:59 on 31/12/99 and then switch it off for a few minutes. Finally see what happens when you switch it on. Even if the BIOS gets it right the chances are that the daylight saving bug in Windows 95 will make it go wrong anyway!

David in england at 17:1:37 Tuesday January 12 99
what are the keys for elite? and more importantly what is slow down?
Amstrad answers: Elite was game on the Acorn BBC B computer and as such you might be better off asking the question in comp.sys.acron.games I would have thought!

Fred Geiger in Oegstgeest, Holland at 10:2:9 Tuesday January 12 99
I have a PC6486SX fitted with 8 MB of RAM and an Intel 486SX20. There are 4 30 pin RAM modules and 4 Turbo RAM modules. There is a tag on the board with M516P50 and CPM/20-P5. Two questions: Can the 30 pin modules be replaced by e.g. 4 MB modules, without changing the Turbo RAM modules? I assume they are now 2 MB modules. What 486 CPU does this board support? Thanks, Fred Geiger
Amstrad answers: As far as I know it should be quite possible to just change the SIMMS in the 30 pin sockets but I don't have a user manual for 6486 so cannot check. Similarly the lack of manual means I can't tell you which CPUs it supports either but as it is the very slowest 486SX I guess your only hope for upgrading it would be to look at one of the Evergreen upgrade processors and you'll probably be limited to a single choice of speed. As such as processor will cost the best part of £100 you might find it more cost effective to upgrade to a Socket 7 Pentium motherboard and one of these 300 or 333MHz AMD/IBM processors which should come in at about the same price and will be a far better upgrade than an Evergreen. The only downside is that such a new motherboard will not have the old 30pin type of sockets so you will need to get 72pin or 168pin memory but as 16MB currently costs about ten quid it's not really a HUGE problem!!

John Vernon in Johnstone, Scotland at 0:21:36 Tuesday January 12 99
A friend of mine has recently purchased an Amstad PCW 16 and also an Olivetti JP 192 printer. The trouble seems to be that the printer only comes with windows 95 drivers. do you know where I can get hold of a printer driver for the olivetti jp 192 printer so as the WPC 16 can run the printer? I have also asked this question at the olivetti home page, but I would be gratefull for any help or pointers you could could put my way. Thanks in advance!
Amstrad answers: I fear that you may have failed to understand the PcW16 manual. There are no additional printer drivers as such, all the printers it supports are already built in when you get it. Rather than supporting specific models of printers it supports about eight or ten standard "types" of printer. So, for example, if your printer is Canon BJ compatible you pick "Canon BJ", if it is Epson Esc P/2 compatible you pick "Epson Esc P/2". So you just need to find out from the manual of the Olivetti which standard emaultion it supports and then pick the appropriate matching one in the PcW16's printer setup. This is explained in more detail in the PcW16 user manual.

Grant Marwood in Auckland New Zealand at 8:52:16 Friday January 8 99
I've just fitted a 3.5 Floppy Drive to my PC1640 ,but it won't work. Is it posible to change from 5.25 to 3.5 Floppies.
Amstrad answers: Well 1.44MB floppy drives will never work on the 1640 as its disk data separator can't cope but as long as it is a 720K drive then it should work fine as long as you use either DRIVER.SYS or DRIVPARM to let the BIOS know that the /D:1 is /F:2

Rod Little in NSW, Australia at 4:21:57 Thursday January 7 99
I have accidentally killed the mouse attached to my Amstrad 3286. I think I deleted the driver ( unsaved ) when I reformatted the hard disk to upgrade to DOS 6.22, and now, although Setup says the mouse is enabled, and my Autoexec.bat file refers to C:\mouse, the little fellow remains extinct. Where can I get a driver to resuscitate him, please?
Amstrad answers: The mouse driver to use is the totally bog standard Microsoft mouse driver which should be on your set of Windows disks. It may be compressed on the floppy as MOUSE.CO_ so you'll need to copy it to the hard disk and then use EXPAND MOUSE.CO_ MOUSE.COM to inflate it.

Paul F in Sarfend at 21:54:24 Tuesday January 5 99
Someone has given me an Amstrad Integra to repair. When powered on it gives beep code 1-2-2-3 (short beeps). It has a Phoenix BIOS chip. What does the beep code mean?
Amstrad answers: Just had a quick look at phoenix.com and the page at www.phoenix.com/support is VERY useful - there's a PDF file there that lists all the standard Phoenix beep codes and, rather worryingly, it lists 1-2-2-3 as being "ROM checksum error" which sounds like you will need to fit a new ROM. I presume they may be available from www.cpc.co.uk or it may be that the Integra was one of the computers that Viglen took over support for so an alternative to try would be support@viglen.co.uk

Dino in Printers at 23:24:31 Monday January 4 99
Where can I find driver for Epson LQ505?
Amstrad answers: I'd have thought that www.epson.com would be the best place to start looking (I'm confused as to why you posted the question here because, at first sight at least, I can't see how it's relevant to Amstrad computers?!?)

Shawn Shaw at 15:5:56 Monday January 4 99
What is required to transfer pcw data(3" drive) to a PC1640 (5 1/4") ? Both machines are using Locoscript.
Amstrad answers: Sounds like a job for "Locolink" which is available from www.locomotive.com but your other options are explained here.

TAD in UK at 1:45:42 Saturday January 2 99
I've been looking for ages for a the keyboard wiring of an Amstrad 3086 PC keyboard. Inside the keyboard there are 7 wires which come from the curcuit board and form the cable to the PC. Pins 7 to 1 are coloured Black, Brown, White, Orange, Yellow, Red and Green. I REALLY, REALLY need to know what these pins are (Clock, Gnd, Data, +5v etc.. etc...). Even if you can only tell me the names of the keyboard plug or socket pins I would be very grateful. I have NO documentation and I have searched the net many times over without finding any help :-( Thank you. regards TAD
Amstrad answers: I just checked our library of old manuals and I'm afraid we don't have a copy of the 3086/3286 service manual but I just checked the CPC catalogue and they list their part number AMSMPC3086/3286 - which is the 3086 service manual - for £13.44 so I'm afraid that's your only hope for finding the details.

Paul Monopoli in Adelaide, South Australia at 12:11:32 Friday January 1 99
I'm a bit of a gadget junkie & like collecting old consoles. I'd like to get ahold of a GX4000 console but they were never released in Australia (to my knowledge). Are there any stores which still sell them???
Amstrad answers: Well they haven't been made for about 5-6 years so I think you may be hard pushed to find a commercial organisation that still has stock but some of the companies that provide service/support for the CPC scene in general (Trading Post, Pinboard, SD Micros) may well have the odd one available from time to time. There are links to those companies from my CPC page. Failing that there may sometimes be one advertised for sale in the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit newsgroup (where all those companies also regularly post adverts/advice/etc.)

Rene Marijnissen in Netherlands at 15:39:49 Thursday December 31 98
I'am playing with an 8086 Amstrad and a Amstrad LQ3500 printer and WP5.1. I'am looking for drivers for WP so that I can use. Does someone know where to get these...?????
Amstrad answers: I doubt whether the Word Perfect Corporation (now owned by Corel) ever wrote drivers for an Amstrad printer (they were American and would never had admitted to the existence of a UK company!) but the LQ3500 is Epson LQ compatible so the driver for something like the Epson LQ550 should probably work OK. I just typed www.wordperfect.com into my browser and found the relevant web site so it may be worth searching there for drivers.

Chris Hinchliff in Leighton Buzzard Bedfordshire at 20:10:46 Monday December 28 98
Is it possible to get a copy of the GEM software which use to run on Amstrad 1640's if so where and can it be upgraded to run on Windows. I have a lot of trainig programmes which were produced in that format and I would like to be able to use them again
Amstrad answers: Look no further than this very web site! Visit my file download area and get the full set of floppies for the 1640 which includes the GEM installation that came with that machine but be warned about two things. One is that it may be "crippled" so that it would ONLY run on a 1640 (for licence restriction purposes) but even if it can be installed on something else the video drivers will definitely only stretch as far as the maximum EGA resolution of 640x350 in 16 colours as the software is obviously from the pre-VGA days of 1985/6 (VGA appeared in mid 87)

Ferenc Federer in HUNGARY at 10:4:44 Monday December 28 98
I have an old 2286 machine, and the hard disk drive has to be repaced. I already have the new one (131 Mbytes), and I also know it's parameters (heads, cyl., etc.). But I do not know the "parameter list" of the drives listed in the setup program. Could you please help me in this. Thank you in advance. HAPPY HOLYDAY SEASONS ! Feri
Amstrad answers: Well you face two problems but they actually cancel one another so things aren't quite as bleak as they may first appear. Firstly the BIOS in the 2286 does NOT support user settable parameters for heads/tracks/sectors and secondly, the existing HD controller card in a 2286 is not an IDE controller (it's a WD1006 for RLL drives). It is inevitable that for your new drive you MUST buy a new IDE controller card and this will cancel the first problem if you get an "intelligent" IDE controller card with it's own hard disk BIOS on board as this will replace the built in HD suport in the existing 2286 BIOS and will definitely support user settable Heads/tracks/sectors. What's more it will probably support logical block addressing (LBA) which means that you won't be limited to just 130MB but could use a modern drive of several GB (though DOS/Windows may mean you are limited to maximum 2GB partitions).

Dave Edwards in North Wales at 20:46:43 Sunday December 27 98
1)Is e-mail possible with an NC100 and are there any books on this? 2)What's the normal life for the lithium battery? Mine seems to last for less than a month,even using mains power every time, whether I use it or not.
Amstrad answers: The only way to do email from an NC100 would be to use the simple serial program to connect to a bulletin board system that echoes its messages to and from the internet as email. There is a great system called Direct Line that offers this facility and you can find our more about it at www.ps.com (maybe not directly but email them and they can probably tell you about it).

As for the lithium issue - it can be one of two things. The first is that the connections to the lithium can be a bit "iffy" which may be giving a false low battery reading even when it still has power so start by bending the "wings" of the bottom connector up and the side arm inwards so it grips more tightly. Often this will cure things. If there is still a problem then it may be that the SRAM chips in your unit are slightly faulty and ar drawing a much higher than average standby current (which should only be a few uA). You'd need to get an engineer to investigate this and while it may just be a bad joint it may require chip replacement which would be VERY costly and it's actually cheaper to just keep replacing the lithium batteries!!!

Ian Adey in West Yorkshire at 16:53:43 Thursday December 24 98
What are the driveparm, when fitting a 3.5" drive as a second floppy to the amstrad 1640 pc.
Amstrad answers: I just checked the MS-DOS manual and it says:

DRIVPARM = /D:1 /F:2 /C

Where /D:1 means unit 1 (0=A, 1=B, 2=C etc.) and /F:2 means it is 720K 3.5" (you can't use 1.44MB). The /C is optional and means that the drive supports changeline (i.e. it has a door switch which lets the PC know each time a floppy is changed but you don't need to indicate this)
Stephan Forster in Swindon, UK at 11:3:37 Monday December 21 98
Windows 95/98 drivers for Amstrad monitors?
Amstrad answers: No such thing - just use the Microsoft supplied "Standard" options.
Martyn Morris in WOLVERHAMPTON at 19:5:14 Thursday December 17 98
Thanks for your previous reply. In answer to your question here is exactly what happens when I boot up my computer. "ERROR: HIMEM.SYS has detected unreliable XMS memory at address 01002300Ah XMS driver not installed. EMM386 not installed XMS manager not present. HMA not available loading DOS low. SMARTDrive cannot be loaded because the XMS driver, HIMEM.SYS is not loaded. Check the CONFIG.SYSfile for a DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS command line." I checked Config.Sys and the line is there. There also appears to be a "Ghost Drive"? on my hard disk which may or may not be the cause of a lot of my problems. How can I get rid of it or check if there is a problem there. HAVE A HAPPY CHRISTMAS.
Amstrad answers: Well that first error message (which is the only important one) seemsvery clear to me - the fact that it says "HIMEM has detected unreliable memory" really says it all. The RAM chips in your computer are faulty. Often this is simply caused by them being loose or the contacts dirty. Access the SIMMs, remove them, rub the edge contacts with a pencil eraser to remove any oxidization then put them back making sure they are pressed firmly home. When you restart hopefully HIMEM will then load without any errors (it does in 99 cases out of 100). If it doesn't then you'll have to think about buying some new SIMMS (or possibly a new PC).

"Ghost drives" often appear if you are using some type of drive doubling software (Stacker, Drive Space, Double Space (aka Double Trouble!), etc.). If this is the case then you most definitely do NOT want to do anything about remove that ghost drive as it is really the uncompressed host drive for the double spacing technology that you are seeing and if you erased that you'd actually be erasing all the compressed stuff you normally see on the drive. In this day and age when 4G costs less than £100 it is not cost effective to keep using drive doubling technology - you'd be far better advised to get a new hard drive.
Andy Elford in Southampton at 14:17:56 Wednesday December 16 98
I need to get an MP 3 tuner for the CPC series of monitors, I know they are rare! I would be happy with a circuit diagram so I could construct myself.
Amstrad answers: Best bet is to post a note to comp.sys.amstrad.8bit as there is sometimes one being advertised there. As for shcemtaics. I don't think a service manual was ever produced as I think it was considered a non serviceable unit.
Nigel Talbot in Oldham greater manchester. at 19:2:4 Monday December 14 98
I have a pc2286/40 I have the setup program and everything seems to work ok but I cannot get the mouse to work in dos or windows. I am using (6.22) and win 3.1.) I have checked the link setting, the irq and the monitor setting. I am using the original monitor. I have the mouse plugged into the port labeled mouse on the side of the machine. I have tried several different mice and their relevant software drivers. When I boot up It always reports that the dos driver is loaded but if I go to any dos program like editor then the mouse does not work. M.S.D. reports the mouse is present. Maybe this machine requires a special mouse or type of mouse (serial or ps2)? or special software. I dont know if I have the original mouse. Could the interface be the problem. Am I missing something funamental.Helllllllllllp.
Amstrad answers: If you want to use the mouse port on the side of the machine you MUST have the Amstrad mouse as no other mouse will work there. If you have that mouse then when you run the Microsoft MOUSE.COM that comes with Windows 3.1 it should load and correctly support the mouse. DOS programs such as Edit should immediately work with the mouse and Windows probably just needs the MOUSE.INI in \Windows to be deleted in order for it to work with the mouse. If you want to use any other mouse then it should be plugged onto COM1 on the back of the machine and the mouse jumper should be removed from beneath the machine.
Rob Peach in Chertsey UK at 20:32:6 Sunday December 13 98
I have just brought a pcc512, i have plug in a 12volt adaptor and got power light on but no screen or key board ligths any ideal why. regards rob.
Amstrad answers: Could be any one of a million reasons. Perhaps someone has removed all the RAM (not uncommon if a computer has a mysterious past - If you know what I mean ;-). Or maybe there is no power to the LCD, or maybe the LCD is juts plain broken or maybe the keyboard cable is disconnected, or maybe the onboard regulators are broken, or maybe the CPU oscillator isn't running or.....

I'm afraid you'd need to take it along to someone who has diagnostics tools and is familiar with repairing computers.
Neno in Zadar, Croatia at 18:46:11 Sunday December 13 98
Recently I bought P55C 200Mhz MMX to upgrade Amstrad P-75. In booklet of motherboard (SQ599) it is stated that it supports same CPU but it lacks information about jumper setting for the same (split voltage 3.3/2.8V). Tryed to find answer on BCM site (motherboard manufacturer) but with no result - no info on such jumper position. As the matter of fact, found that SQ599 originally doesn't support MMX CPU's and that CPU voltages depends on manufacturers revisions... Kindly advise can I upgrade with iP-200MhzMMX CPU and does motherboard in Amstrad's P-75 multimedia series supports split CPU voltages. Thank You in advance.
Amstrad answers: This doesn't really have much to do with Amstrad does it? It would seem to be a question that only the makers of that motherboard could answer. Normally motherboards just take 12V and 5V from the power supply then they use on board regulators to generate the 3.3V and 2.8V (etc.) that MMX split voltage processors need. Only the board manufacturer can tell you if their board does this.
TAD at 2:35:33 Sunday December 13 98
does anyone know the correct wiring for an old PC3086 keyboard ? I need to re-wire my keyboard to a 7 pin din-type connector plug. It is a spring based with a clear membrane keyboard and has 7 coloured wires coming from the small curcuit board, they are BLACK BROWN WHITE ORANGE YELLOW RED GREEN Thank you, in advance.. regards TAD
Amstrad answers: I think the keyboard cable is documented in the service manual but I don't think it documents the colour of the wires so you'd need to trace them back to the other end inside the keyboard and then try to match the appropriate signals.
Kevin Jacques in Yorkshire, England at 10:54:52 Saturday December 12 98
I am trying to upgrade the memory in my Amstrad PC 9486. It currently uses 1x 16MB 72pin SIMM and 4x 1MB 30pin SIMMs, and works fine. I have a 32MB 72pin SIMM to replace the 16MB one but when I install it the machine makes error beeps on start up and throws the monitor display out of kilter. I get no readable info, nor does Windows 95 boot up. I guess I need to change some jumper settings to allow for the increase in RAM but don't have a manual. Any assistance - even if it is to get to 32MB with the single 72pin and removing the 4 single 30pins (which I tried and still doesn't work) would be much appreciated.
Amstrad answers: No, there are no jumpers to set when you change the memory in that PC - it should just recognise it and adjust itself accordingly. It sounds like the memory you are fitting must be faulty in some way. Is it the right speed I wonder? I think it probably needs to be Fast Page mode rather than EDO SIMMs in the 72 pin slot as well to be on the safe side.
Andy Barber in Anerley, London at 22:5:44 Wednesday December 9 98
How do I read a 3.5" floppy written on an Amstrad PCW on a DOS (Windows) machine?
Amstrad answers: There are various PD and shareware programs such as 22DISK and MSODBALL (I think it is) that will allow a PC to read the CP/M format discs from a PCW but that's only half the problem as the files on the discs are almost certainly Locoscript documents and you then need to convert these to a format that can be used on a PC. Probably the easiest answers are either to get Locolink from www.locomotive.com or send the discs off to one of the many bureaus that offer a transfer service which is normally about £5-10 per disc. There are details on all this on my PCW page
richard.langan at 18:34:5 Wednesday December 9 98
I have an Amstrad SRD 520 satellite receiver that has locked me out of 2 satellite channels. The messsage Sperre appears in the bottom right hand corner of screen. I think this means locked in another language. The original switch I have no longer works so I bought an all in one switch which miraculously unlocked the channels without me doing anything. They've now locked up again without me doing anything and the switch will not let me unlock them. How do I get these channels unlocked permanently?
Amstrad answers: Sorry but as stated elsewhere on this web site, for support on non computer stuff you need to revert to the old fashioned communications methods (letter, phone, fax, pigeon etc.) to the numbers/adress shown here
D M Fryer in Lincs, England at 10:7:6 Wednesday December 9 98
Is the Amstrad PC 3386 millennium compliant?
Amstrad answers: No. Why? Is it important?
Ms S roberts in Manchester england at 19:53:12 Tuesday December 8 98
Where on earth can I get the boot or startup disk for a amstrad pcw 9256????? Please help
Amstrad answers: Well the actual place on Earth is Dorking in Surrey but I don't think that's important right now. What is important is that Locomotive's web site is at www.locomotive.com which is where you'll be able to get that disc.
Bryan Palmer in St. Bees, Cumbria, England. at 21:19:14 Monday December 7 98
Thank you for your two responses to my last e-mail. As you remark my main use of the transfer facility for the NC100 Notebook is to download notes made away from home (usually in Record Offices re Family History Research)onto my PC which I have now done relatively easily. Also used it for aide memoir notes to use whilst carrying out the above type of research. I note your suggestion which I will try but feel that the backstop is to type these aide memoir notes directly into the Notepad. As you suggest I might as well also try out the Lapcat software on my Windows 95 system. Thanks again for all your help. Bryan Palmer
Amstrad answers: You're welcome!
Jennifer Platts in Liverpool, Merseyside, England at 21:5:52 Monday December 7 98
Why does an Amstrad 33Mhz 486SLC (4Mb RAM, 1MB video RAM and 130Mb hard drive) not recognise a Sony floppy disk drive? please reply Jennifer Platts
Amstrad answers: Haven't a clue - it uses a fairly standard floppy drive. One thing to watch for is that the jumper/switch on the Sony drive should select it a unit 0 rather than unit 1.
Bernard Cavanagh in Stockport, Cheshire at 17:59:8 Monday December 7 98
Has anyone actually changed the floppy drive on a ALT386SX and if so could you let me know the best, safest and easiest way of removing it.
Amstrad answers: I think you'll find that there only is ONE way of removing it and that's the one that works! As I remember it the ALT construction makes it fairly easy to dis/re-assemble.
Hartmut Schwinty in Germany at 22:57:47 Sunday December 6 98
I have a PDA 600. When I point on the screen with the pen, the line is 5 to 10 millimeter away from the pen.
Amstrad answers: Usually an error as small as 5-10mm can be corrected by using the built in calibration routine as described in the manual. If this still won't fix it then maybe the digitiser is damaged in which case it is fairly easy to replace if you can get a spare. I think the best place to look for a spare is that German company called Wiedmann who are linked from my Penpad page.
Dave Lloyd in Newquay at 0:5:48 Sunday December 6 98
I have a PC9486 (fitted with a P83 overdrive processor) and am having problems upgrading the memory. It works fine with the original 8MB, 1 x 72pin 4MB and 4 x 30 pin 1MB but if I replace the 4MB(72 pin) with a 16MB SIMM (non parity) I get odd amounts of memory reported. With just the 16MB SIMM fitted the POST memory test (and Windows 95) reports 4MB. If I refit the 4 x 1MB 30 pin SIMMS as well then instead of 20MB only 12MB is reported. I have the manual and believe that the various jumpers have been set correctly and the non parity option is selected. Do you have any suggestions? I have seen a similar question raised before but unfortunately it was answered by email. Thanks.
Amstrad answers: Unfortunately in the library of manuals that I keep I have one for 9486i but not one for 9486 so I can't give too much help on this but the usual things to watch for are making sure the speed of added RAM are OK, generally choose 9 chip rather than 3 chip SIMMS where possible and watch out for the fact that a lot of PCs need SIMMs added in matching pairs.
Dave Wroe in Somerset England at 22:56:25 Saturday December 5 98
My Brother has a Amstrad 2086, he had apower cut whilst using it, when we switch it on it starts up and asks for a system disk, i have coppied "command com" fom an old system disk on to a 720K floppy disk but it says "non system disk". He has all his Accounts on disk and uses it with a DOS program, can you offer any advice on how we can get this machine restarted please.
Amstrad answers: You can't make a disk into a system disk by just copying Command.Com to it - there are also two hidden files (Io.Sys and Msdos.Sys) that must also be copied. The easiest way to do that is either to put the disk in A: and give the command SYS A: which will copy all three files and leave any files already on the the disk intact but if you don't want to keep what is already on the disk it's perhaps even easier to use FORMAT A: /S
PHILC at 21:53:6 Saturday December 5 98
does anyone have a schematic on the TVR3 for the video board is so could you email me with some more info
Amstrad answers: That schematic should be in the service manual which, like all Amstrad servicve manuals, should be available from www.cpc.co.uk
Losa Vang at 15:3:27 Saturday December 5 98
I bought a McAfee VirusScan CD-rom package at Wal-Mart and installed into my PC. Each time I start-up my PC, a silly message "vshwin32 perform an illegal operation, system will shut-down". Do you know what was the cause? What should I do to get away of this problem?
Amstrad answers: Not sure what this has to do with Amstrad computers - I'd have thought that the two companies who might be able to answer the question would be either McAfee (as it's their program) or Microsoft (as it's their operating system). It is unlikely to have anything to do with the type of computer you happen to be running the software on.
Bill Pattison in Thornaby, Teesside at 20:50:13 Friday December 4 98
I have a friend who let her batteries go flat on her Amstrad 2286 with a 40M hard drive. She has the 3.3 dos start up/set up floppies, but when I try to engage setup it can't find it. Looking at the floppy - it seems to have only dos on it and there is no reference to setup on it. The config.sys is empty and the very simple autoexec.bat seems ok. The machine does not see the c drive at all. Where can I get info on setting the drive up or floppies with the setup parameters on them? Thanks
Amstrad answers: You'll find the Setup.Exe that you need available for download on this very web site. Once you've got that you just boot DOS to get an A:\> prompt then insert the disk containing Setup.Exe and type the command SETUP. Set the hard drive type number to one of 1, 16 or 17 - one of those should work. The Esc/Enter to leave the program and save changes and when it reboots it should start from the hard drive when you get the number right.
Elder Rodriguez Richmond in SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA at 19:4:38 Friday December 4 98
when I cashed the fsetup.exe to Amnstrad 2286D 12 mhz pleace if you answer me in spanish is better. gracias y Feliz Navidad
Amstrad answers: Yo no hablo espanol. Unfortunately I don't really understand what your question is.
GEHIN Bruno in LA BRESSE - FRANCE at 16:20:18 Friday December 4 98
Est-ce qu'un AMSTRAD PC 5086 est compatible l'an 2000 ?
Amstrad answers: Non.
PHILIPPE SADOUGHI in PARIS at 13:16:10 Friday December 4 98
I NEED TO FIND INK ROLLER (PAPER) FOR MY MODEL 1000 FAX MACHINE; ALL DEALERS SAY THAT THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE ANYMORE; I DONT TRUST THE DEALERS, PLEASE TELL ME WHERE I CAN SOURCE THIS.... KIND REGARDS PHILIPPE SADOUGHI
Amstrad answers: Well I don't know a whole lot about our fax machines but I do know that spare parts for most Amstrad equipment can be found at www.cpc.co.uk but if it is just a roll of thermal paper that you are asking for then you should find that any good office stationery supplier could provide this.
Nathan Hunt at 1:49:20 Friday December 4 98
I have a friend that has got a amstrad 5286 series computer. They have lost the system startup disk for dos 3.3 and would like a copy sent to them. If you have a copy lying about could you please send it throught the mail. at: Nathan Hunt 33 Maxwell Avenue Orange N.S.W Australia 2800 thanks!! let me know what you think i should do! please send me an email if you can i like you computer systems
Amstrad answers: Well I don't have a copy but I'm not sure how Micrososft would feel about me distributing it anyway! Having said that, let's face it that the 5286 is just a bog standard PC and, as such, can run with any version of MS-DOS, PC-DOS or DR-DOS so if you just go to another PC and FORMAT A: /S to make a system disk (then copy the \DOS files onto it) then take this back to the 5286 that should work fine for getting the machine started (the fact you sent this message would seemto suggest that you probably do have access to some other PC!).
martyn morris in Wolverhampton at 16:17:32 Thursday December 3 98
Thanks for your prompt answer. I have already done all that you suggest and the problem still persists. Is it possible that there may be a problem with my RAM? The hard disk chechecks out fine and I have replaced the CPU and the MOTHER BOARD with kwown good ones. If I load BIOS defaults the computer hangs before it boots up. If I disable VIDEO ROM SHADOW in ADVANCED CMOS SETUP it boots up OK. If I load my Windows95 upgrade it will not run at all.
Amstrad answers: I think it may be easier to continue this via email (clawson@amstrad.com) but I still need to try and understand what the EXACT problem is - assuming you have the himem.sys line on config.sys and don't suppress the memory test what is the EXACT error message that it produces? Also, I presume the machine is doing the BIOS memory test at switch on - does that not throw an error? Often with memory errors it is simply that the pins on the SIMMs have oxidised and aren't making the best contact. If you remove the SIMMs, rub the contact "fingers" with a rubber pencil eraser (a good way to clean them) and then put them back pressing them FIRMLY home you find in 9 cases out of 10 that this fixes any memory faults.
Mike Lindley in Kinghorn, Fife, Scotland at 14:58:59 Thursday December 3 98
I have a customer who has purchased second hand an Amstrad 1640 with 5.25 floppy disc drive. Whilst 5.25" discs are still available, she would like to use 3.5" discs in order to swap work with a friend. Is it possible to purchase a compatible 3.5" external floppy drive and if so where from and how much? Best regards Mike
Amstrad answers: People normally used to mount a second 3.5" drive internally rather than externally. You can hang such a drive off the internal cable that goes to the existing 5.25" drive but you need to put on an IDC connector as the pins on a 3.5" drive are different to a 5.25" (which just uses an edge connector) but the actual signals in the cable are the same. Having added a drive in that way you just use DRIVPARM or DRIVER.SYS in Config.Sys with the /D:1 /F:2 parameters to let the BIOS know that you have added a 720K drive (there is NO WAY to use a 1.44MB drive though!).
As an altrenative I gues one might be able to find a 3.5" external that hangs of the parallel port (as normally used on notebooks) but I'm not as familiar with those things and can't really recommend any but I presume you just plug them on then load up some sort of driver in Config.Sys to make them accesible as just another drive in the system and that would have the advantage that they'd almost certainly support 1.44 disks.
Martyn Morris in Wolverhampton. england at 21:31:30 Wednesday December 2 98
I have an Amstrad pc9486 multimedia 486DX/2 running Windows 3.1. On booting it up recently it cannot load XMS, to buy pass set testme:off I did this and managed to run my computer but keep getting random and various error messages. I now have a message when I load windows which says " cannot load windows in 386 enhanced mode VSBPD.386 is missing run setup again . I have done all this but to no avail. HELP!!!!!
Amstrad answers: I'm not entirely sure what you man by "cannot load XMS". Do you mean that it can't laod the HIMEM.SYS driver that is the piece of software that arbritrates accesses to extended memory through the XMS interface? The fact that it can't load that file or VSBPD.386 sounds like there's been some file corruption on your hard disk. I wonder if you could just wipe it and then wind back to one of your previous backups? Or maybe just re-install the Windows 3.1 from scratch from the floppies?
Paul Farrugia in Cardiff at 9:38:47 Wednesday December 2 98
Using an ALT-386sx notebook, the display is suspended if not in use for a set period. Pressing any key restores. Under windows 3.11 what is the correct key or sequence of keys to restore the display. I can get it back but it alwas seems to be a different sequence.
Amstrad answers: I thought it was supposed to wake up on ANY key press so I don't know what's going on there. It might be easiest just to disable the suspend features all together.
Brian Mac Aree in Tulla, Co Clare, Ireland at 21:4:35 Tuesday December 1 98
I have an Amstrad FX9600 AT, FAX machine. 1. This excellent but old machine has a parallel printer port on the back. Can you tell me what printer it emulates when a PC is connected? 2. How do I setup the FAX functions is there a default password? 3. Where could I obtain a manual? Thanking you in advance, Brian
Amstrad answers: Well I do know that it emulates and Epson FX80 but for other questions I'm afraid you will need to get a manual which should be available from www.cpc.co.uk
Bryan Palmer in St. Bees, Cumria, England at 21:1:44 Tuesday December 1 98
Thanks for your reply to my earlier message. Have been able to make transfers in both directions between my notepad and PC using the Windows 95 Hyper Terminal facilty. The transfer was not always smooth with several retries indicated by the progress screen. Main problem was transferring from the PC to the Notepad. Seemed to behave very oddly if any tabs present in the Text file (converted a Word for Windows file to Text file which still retained the tab details) Seemed OK on 'clean' text files. My most common use will be transferring notes made away from home on the Notepad and these transfers seem fairly straight forward. Would be grateful if you can give any tips for prearing fiiles on the PC for Transfer to the Notepad.
Amstrad answers: As you may have spotted I edited and have split your rather long message into separate questions. Glad you got the PC-NC transfers working but the obvious answer for "preparing" files would be to not use tabs in the first place if they cause a problem. I think most people only ever really used the NC for the initial text input while out and about and then transferred it to the PC for "tarting up". I don't think many people ever transferred stuff back from the PC to the NC so I'm not aware of any problems/solutions in that area but it seems to me that if, for example, you set up a second printer driver in Windows for "simple text" and then print to that "printer" but with the save to file option you would probably get files that only contained spaces where the tabs used to be (I'm sure there must be an easier way to do this!!).
Bryan Palmer in St. Bees, Cumria, England at 21:1:44 Tuesday December 1 98
I noted looking through your Index of questions and answers that Arnor Ltd who produced the Lapcat software have gone out of business. Used this package n my old PC with Windows 3.1 quite sucessfully but not sure if this software can be used with Windows 95. Could you advise. Thanks for your help.
Amstrad answers: I've never even seen a copy of Lapcat so can't help - the only people who would know would be Arnor but they've gone out of business. Having said that about 99.99% of all 3.1 software also works in Win95 so I don't see why it wouldn't work.
P.Koukoulas in Manchester at 14:2:48 Tuesday December 1 98
I am studying for a degree in electronic and computer engineering and would like any technical information on the PC2386, as I recovered one that works from a skip. The machine has only one problem and that is a lot of bad clusters are appearing - could you suggest a solution to this. I've heard that I could 'low level format' the standard 65Mb hard disk and this may recover some clusters but I do not know how to do this. Any help will be great. Thanks
Amstrad answers: I'd suggest you might want to visit www.cpc.co.uk and see if you can order a copy of the service manual which includes full schematics for more tech info. As for the HD problem - the answer is easy: unscrew the lid, remove the HD and controller card and drop them into the nearest waste-basket then fit a nice new EIDE controller card and large HD. Forget about low level formatting it (which you can probably instigate with the usual DEBUG G=C000:0005) as a failing drive is a waste of time and effort!
Peter Hollamby in Foots Cray, Kent, England at 11:31:26 Tuesday December 1 98
My uncle has a PCW9512 utilitising LocoScript v4.05 and I am trying to find out if both are Year 2000 compliant. I have checked on the Q & A page but was unable to find any info.
Amstrad answers: Maybe you didn't spot it but the PCW does not have a clock so how could it possibly be affected by time/date problems. Bit like the coffee cup sat on my desk - it's unlikely to b affected by the millenium as it doesn't have a clock either.
Scott O'Hare in Long Island, New York, USA at 23:12:47 Monday November 30 98
My Dad lives in Florida and uses his Amstrad to compose poetry. Like myself he is completely Amstrad-illiterate Awhile back his floppy drive went toast, and we are wondering if someone out there wouldd be willing to transfer his Amstrad diskettes (they are the asymmetrical ones) to regular High-density PC floppies. We would pay expenses & be eternally grateful. In the long run it would be nice to get his machine working again, but that might take awhile... All responses appreciated, thanks.
Amstrad answers: Suggest you read this.
BARB in LONDON ENGLAND at 21:33:46 Monday November 30 98
A FRIEND HAS GIVEN ME AN AMSTRAD FAX MACHINE. MODEL NUMBER FX6000AT, WITHOUT THE INSTRUCTIONS. WHERE CAN I OBTAIN THE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS MACHINE? ITS IN GOOD WORKING ORDER. THANKYOU.
Amstrad answers: Manuals for almost all Amstrad equipment are generally available as spare parts from www.cpc.co.uk
Tim Davies in Portsmouth, England at 19:53:20 Monday November 30 98
I've aquired an Amstrad Alt 386 but have no details about it. The batery seems not to be working and I'm stumped as to how to get it so. When the system is left switched off then the second LED lights up but the system does not operate without being plged into the mains. Any help gratefull recieved.
Amstrad answers: Well if it works off the mains then it's obviously just the battery that has died (not uncommon in such an old PC!) so I'd suggest you visit www.cpc.co.uk to see if they still stock the battery as a spare part - if not then I'm afraid you'll have to live with just using it mains powered.
Giorgio in Nole Canavese (Torino) Italy at 12:49:51 Monday November 30 98
Hi,I am looking for a printer ribbon for my AMSTRAD DMP3160. Do you know where is possible to buy it in Italy or through Internet? Thanks in advance for your reply.
Amstrad answers: I don't know of anywhere in Italy but there are several office supplies companies in the UK who still stock ribbons for those printers and I've got details of them on my printers page.
Stewart at 22:45:20 Sunday November 29 98
Is it possible to get an MP 3 tuner for a 6128?
Amstrad answers: Rare as hen's teeth mate but I have seen the odd one advertised second hand in comp.sys.amstrad.8bit every now and again but they are usually snapped up in hours.
Voytas at 17:17:50 Saturday November 28 98
Where can i find amstrad cpc 6128 emmulator ?
Amstrad answers: Look at my CPC page and follow the link to the FAQ for the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit newsgroup - it's got full details of where to get all the emulators and the games images. It's also worth visiting that ng regularly as there is a lot of traffic discussing emulators there.
ernie in birmingham at 18:59:44 Friday November 27 98
how do i scroll text on the screen and change the text colour on the ctm 640
Amstrad answers: I presume you mean how do you write BASIC programs on the CPC464/6128? Basically you type line numbers followed by BASIC statements and then finally the command RUN to make the program work. To scroll a string you could do something like A$="Hello": LOCATE 1,1: PRINT A$ and then a loop that keeps doing A$=RIGHT$(A$, LEN(A$-1)) and loops back round to that LOCATE.
Tim Parsons in Gander, NF Canada at 13:14:28 Thursday November 26 98
I am looking for as much info as possible that you can give me about a PC1640MD20 640k personal computer Coryright 1987. I'm at Centrac College doing microcomputer Maintenance and a student brought in this computer as a test subject so to speak. Any info on this system would be greatly appriciated. Thank You.
Amstrad answers: It's an 8MHz 8086 IBM PC XT compatible with an EGA fitted - what else did you want to know about it?
Jacques Fournier at 13:5:18 Thursday November 26 98
I have an old Amstrad Printer DMP 3160 with a PC 1512.I have a problem with this printer. What kind printer do you proposed for replace this old printer ? Thank you for answer quickly Bye
Amstrad answers: You can use ANY type of IBM compatible printer on the 1512 which covers just about every printer on sale today.
Andrew Godson in NE Victoria Australia at 12:35:24 Thursday November 26 98
I bought a second hand alt-386sx portable and it only has 1Mb of ram. I tried putting 4*1Mb simms in but it diddn't work. Do these have proprietry ram chip? or do you have to run the setup to get it to regognise them? Reguards Andrew.
Amstrad answers: The setting of the DIP switches to let it know that 4MB has been fitted are on this page.
Bryan Palmer in St. Bees, Cumbria, England at 21:54:53 Wednesday November 25 98
Looking for information on transfering files from NC100 Notepad (Word Processor facility) to a Ibm compatible Pc with Windows 95 Operating System. would be grateful for advice. Many Thanks
Amstrad answers: I've been asked about this a few times before and I've just checked the index of previous questions and notice that there are already a few questions/answers about this - did you see those? If there is anything more you need to know I'd be happy to answer your further questions here.

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