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These are questions and answers that were previously posted to the Q & A page but have been archived here to keep the latest Q & A shorter and more manageable for download.




























































General	This page not indexed yet

Andy King at 8:56:5 Saturday July 3 99
I'm looking for a program to convert locoscript files to word for use on my PC. I have been left numerous historical files for our residents association and the departing chairperson used only an Amstrad machine which has moved with them. Thanks Andy King
Amstrad answers: You've proably already found this but details of all your options are on the PCW page on this site.

Andrew Stephen in Dunedin, New Zealand at 21:32:18 Tuesday June 29 99
I live in Dunedin, New Zealand and have recently aquired a non-functioning CPC464. When power is applied the text area of the screen is showing a uniform gray colour while the border is black. Does anybody know of somebody in New Zealand who might be able to repair or supply parts for the CPC series?
Amstrad answers: I think you are unlikely to find anyone to fix it in NZ but there are several companies in the UK who stil do CPC repairs however I'd guess that the shipping costs of sending it over here would be prohibitively expensive but if you are interested post a request on the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit newsgroup and you'll probably get responses from the companies such as SD Micro, Trading Post, Bemish, Pinboard etc. (details also on the manuals/spares page here)

Robert at 12:5:11 Monday June 28 99
I am looking for a sound card driver for old card, that has a volume control switch at the back. Possible that it is an 8 bit sound card.
Amstrad answers: See the answer to the very next question below this one

K (Hooky) Hoekstra in Albany, West Australia at 10:24:54 Thursday June 24 99
I have an old Amstrad 50286 computer running Win3.1 My problem is that this computer has a soundcard installed that I cannot seem to find the drivers for. (I have just recently reconfigured the hard drive). The only information on the soundcard itself is "Amstrad PLC 1991" I know this is an old machine but can anyone help with the necessary drivers?
Amstrad answers: That card is an Adlib compatible so just select "Adlib" from the list of standard Microsoft drivers but remember that this is only good for FM music and WAV files will not be playable (you'd need a modern sound card for that which would cost about five pounds)

bruno in France at 7:38:27 Tuesday June 22 99
I would like to know how to connect a Amstrad monitor to a video tape recorder.
Amstrad (eventually!!) answers: You'd need to get a piece of TV tuner electronics or else some level shifting circuitry to convert the RGB in the scart to the monitor input levels but, because of the franme frequencies used, I can't guarantee that would work.

Cecil W. Gresham, Jr. at 3:54:1 Monday June 21 99
I bought my Amstad PCW 8256 December 1, 1987 from Venture store in Crystal Lake, Illinois. When I purchased my PCW 8256 I was promised additional books with my pcw 8256. Which I never gotten. Then I had problems obtaining new disks and ribbions for my printer and I could not obtain any futher information. I looked in Illinois and in Texas and many other states and found nothing. Finaly, I was told that Amstrad went out of buisness which left me hanging. Now since I have found that AMSTRAD has a web site, I feel I have the right to complain about the process of how I was treated unfairly with AMSTRAD product. I have used my PCW 8256 from 1987 to 1996. The only problem I have had was a cable from the moniter was touching, I think is a power transformer which burnt the cable into caused the monotor to stop working. I fixed the wire with electrical tape. Trying to find a way to inprove my skills I finally went to a Packard Bell computer. I had let my PCW 8256 set for about two years. Whi le surfing the internet I descovered Amstrad site. I reset up my PCW 8256 and turned it on. I had no problems with it. Then lately I found that the disk drive was slipping. Thanks to your information on why the disk was slipping and giving errors message, I replaced the drive belt temporary with a rubber band. Now I haven't had any problems with it. But I do have a problem with the printer. It doesn't seem to want to reset for a 8 1\2 wide sheet of paper. I also want to know how to deturmin american dollars into pounds or what ever your currency is. I am interested in obtaining the information on the disk of my PCW 8256 to the disk of my Packard Bell disk.
Amstrad answers: Well all very interesting but did you not spot the word "unofficial" on this web site - if you look closely at the background of this VERY page you'll see it says "unofficial". The "official" Amstrad web site can be found at www.amstrad.com so if you have a grievance that's where you should be directing your message (to support@amstrad.com I'd suggest).

jon in australia at 8:34:41 Saturday June 19 99
Amstrad 1640HD30 DOS operating PC. Anyone assist me in a site ref to download or be able to email me a boot up disk?
Amstrad answers: Err??? This web site - try the file download page.

Robin White in Texas at 22:45:29 Sunday June 13 99
When I turn my PDA600 on, the screen is very dim, and as far as I can make out, has the message "Card!" on it. What does this mean and how can I get it fixed. Thanks!
Amstrad answers: It's telling you that it is having a problem reading the PCMCIA card plugged into it. If you don't actually have one then it probably needs to be reset by removing ALL batteries for about 10-15 minutes.

COLIN HUGHES in OLDHAM MANCHESTER at 16:4:48 Friday June 11 99
PCW 9512 I HAVE NOW SEEN THAT IT IS PROBABLY THE DISK DRIVE THAT NEEDS A NEW RUBBER DRIVE BELT. I AM UNABLE TO SEE HOW TO REACH THE DISK DRIVE, THE ONLY PIECE OF THE PCW WHICH SEEMS WILLING TO MOVE IS THE TOP REAR --- TO REACH THE DISK DRIVE I NEED TO MOVE THE BOTTOM OF THE MACHINE HOW???
Amstrad answers: YOu need to start by taking the back off, then removing the picture tube, then the circuit boards and then you can access the disk drive.

colin hughes in Oldham at 10:6:18 Friday June 11 99
I have just obtained an amstrad pcw9512 without a start of the day disk HELP!!!
Amstrad answers: www.locomotive.com

Carolyn in San Diego, CA, USA at 19:30:48 Thursday June 10 99
My father in the UK has an Amstrad 3086 running DOS. Is there any s/w currently available that he could run to access the Internet? I don't think it will quite be up to the requirements for IE5 so he can't use Freeserve. Even just e-mail capability would be good. Thanks Carolyn
Amstrad answers: Not really much hope for doing anything internet related on a 3086 as it doesn't have enough memory for starting a browser etc (and all the PPP TCP, IP, POP3, SMTP, etc. that that would imply). The only limited hope is that he could connct to an ANSI based BBS system and use an email relay but I think it might be time to consider a new PC (you can get a 486 system unit for $30 thses days).

mike in durham north carolina at 18:47:41 Thursday June 10 99
i have an amstrad 1989 20 mhz computer that will not start up. the only thing it does is display the message please wait. on the side is labeled microsoft windows ver 3.1 does this have anything to do with the problem? please help me figure out what's going wrong. sincerly mike
Amstrad answers: Well if its 20MHz it must be a 2386. After it prints Please wait, it starts printing a number of dots. How many do you see? My guess is 3 which would suggest the machine has a RAM fault so just remove the SIMMs, clean the contacts and then replace them firmly.

DAVE in South Brent, Devon,UK at 14:5:32 Thursday June 10 99
Where can i get a copy of the system disk with dos 3.3 for pc3086 if you can help with download or a disk let me know.
Amstrad answers: I don't have a copy of DOS 3.3 for the 3086 because, frankly, DOS 3.3 is a pretty crap version. If I wanted to use a 3086 I'd use DOS 6.2 (or 5 as a minimum). If you REALLY want DOS 3.3 for some reason then get ppcdisk.zip from the download area as it DOES have a copy of 3.3 on it.

Jordi in Reus (Spain) at 10:20:39 Thursday June 10 99
I've got a personal computer AMSTRAD PC3286. It has FLIP virus in memory and the BIOS. I don't execute systemboot antivirus because this virus kill the executable files (EXE.COM.BAT, etc.). I need one answer for this problem. Please, send the answer to my e-mail (bergada@bergada.com). Thanks.
Amstrad answers: I don't understand what you are talking about. That PC cannot possibly have a virus in the BIOS because the BIOS is in ROM not flash. If you boot from a clean floppy then there is absolutely no problem. Then run the anti-virus scan on the hard drive and everything will be fine.

jessica houghton in quakers hill at 2:31:19 Tuesday June 8 99
how come the computer freezes up to much? & we just got a new mouse & it doesn't work?
Amstrad answers: That's computers for you!

Dave Connor in TELFORD UK at 19:21:17 Sunday June 6 99
I HAVE JUST OBTAINED AN AMSTRAD LQ3500 PRINTER WHICH I WAS TOLD WAS EPSON COMPATIBLE. i HAVE CONNECTED IT TO MY PC - WHICH IS AN IBM SPECTRUM - BUT I CAN'T GET THEM TO WORK TOGETHER. I SUSPECT THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH THE PRINTER DRIVER DISK. CAN YOU SUGGEST ANYTHING? THANKS DAVE
Amstrad answers: It should work fine with the Epson LQ550 driver in Win95.

Richard Black in Canberra, Australia at 5:26:57 Thursday June 3 99
I would love to be able to play some of the games of my amstrad childhood on the computers at uni and I've got no idea how to load games up and get them cooking on the pretty high powered machine in front of me. I desperately want to play jetset willy and monty on the run among other great games but have not got the skills to make it happen. Any advice, or pushes in the right direction would be really appreciated.
Amstrad answers: There are loads of different CPC emulators to choose from and almost all the old CPC games are available via FTP to download and play. This is all explained in the FAQ for the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit newsgroup.

Xenocryst in Bonn at 11:54:30 Tuesday June 1 99
** I call a SX3386 and a 3286 my own... Trying to install a not-type-nr-conforming HDD into the 3386 finally surprizingly succeded as I recovered the undocumented possibility to enter a type of 50 or 51 using setup.exe. I tried the same using the ctrl-alt-s screen and -- what a wonder -- there appeared the possibility to enter cyls, heads, SPT... Resumee: You are able to specify two user-types (50 and 51) and spread them among the two IDE devices (in contrast: nowadays you call eg both drives 47 and enter different values for each). ** Is there any memory driver available to fill upper memory (may be using pages from the page pool) NOT with a page frame, but with ram usable as UMBs? Or any driver "converting" EMS mapped into the pageframe and used/declared/forced as UMBs afterwards, disabling EMS for other processes, of course?
Amstrad answers: Use EMM386 on the 3386 but there's no way to do it on a 3286 as the 80286 doesn't support V86 mode.

Paul in Co. Durham at 2:22:13 Monday May 31 99
I am working on an Amstrad pc2386/65 for my boss to try to get the mouse to work in windows 3.1. I have used your mousefix file and followed your instructions but it still wont work. the mouse works in dos. I havent had any error messages at all and windows loads without a problem, apart from the mouse not working. am i doing something wrong or am i overlooking something. Under windows setup the mouse driver is(mouse.drv]
Amstrad answers: Delete the MOUSE.INI in \WINDOWS and then try again. I think it should work (unless its Win 3.11 in which case you probably need to get a new mouse)

Sylvester Onwordi in London SE14 at 20:17:57 Sunday May 30 99
I used a PC9512 for many years and have stacks of Locoscript II discs with important files on them. Is there any way to convert them to word format and 3.5 inch discs? If anyone could help me I would be extremely grateful.
Amstrad answers: I'm beginning to think that my navigation design on this web site must have failed. People keep asking this even though it is all explained here!

Ian Brittain in Dorset at 18:39:28 Sunday May 30 99
I have had an AMSTRAD PC9486 for nearly 4 years, have upgraded it and use it for the Internet. I have installed a 16-Mbyte memory chip. The m/c automatically recognised the new chip, but I have made no changes to any operating parameters. All my applications are run in Windows (3.1). One or two of my applications have long spells of disc activity and, worse, long spells of apparent memory activity with little or no disc activity. For example, it takes several minutes for the software to 'acquire' the scanner, and some scanner options lead to hangs in which the application no longer responds. I suspect that I have memory management problems. Question: Are there parameters I should have changed when I fitted the new memory chip for proper (or maximum efficiency) working? In particular, what should my EMM386 statement in CONFIG.SYS look like? I am now thinking of upgrading my CPU. Questions: Will I get any significant improvement on the Internet by upgrading from SX2/50 to DX2/66? Can I fit a DX4/100, and if so what jumper settings are required? Thank you in anticipation.
Amstrad answers: I think your problem is that scans often produce an awful lot more data than 16MB so the scanner software is presumably having problems allocating scan buffers.
All this would be solved if you upgraded but I'd forget about just going for another 486, why not replace the motherboard as well as the CPU and then you could go for a decent Celeron, PII or PIII board and CPU and whack 64M or 128M of DRAM on it?

Sandra Lindop in Staffordshire at 15:59:46 Friday May 28 99
I have an Amstrad PCW8512 which has recently died, but still have lots on information on the discs fro this machine. Do you know of a company that can transfer the data on these discs to standard 3.5 inch discs to be recovered on a PC?
Amstrad answers: I presume you have since found this?

Allan Nolan in Melbourne Australia at 9:48:31 Tuesday May 25 99
I gave my old PC 2286 to a friend. The batteries went flat. By referring to this site I was advised that the hard drive number was 17. This was entered in setup from MS 4.01 setup/install disk. Since then we have been unable to access the C drive. I tried the advice in your answer to Rachna Gupta in India Wednesday July 20 97 without success. The hard drive was compressed some years ago. When from the dos 4.01 setup/install disk we try to install we get the message "invalid drive specification" and when we try to change the drive from A to C we get the same message. We do have dos 6 upgrade and dos 6.2 upgrade disks but have been using the 4.01 setup/install disk only in our attempts to access the C drive. It is an old machine but was working well one week ago when the batteries went flat. Since then trying to get it working again have been fruitless. What action should we take?
Amstrad answers: Try these type numbers: 16, 1 and 49 in that order and see if any of them make the hard disk visible. To check whether the drive is visible first try the obvious after booting from floppies to an A:\> prompt of typing DIR C: and see if you can "see" it. If that doesn't work, try running FDISK as maybe the hard disk is visible and just isn't paritioned/formatted. Use option 4 in FDISK to view the partition information but if even FDISK can't "see" the drive then you've probably not got the right type number yet.

Victor in Netherlands at 14:35:24 Sunday May 23 99
I have an Amstrad SRD520, could you tell me if this is a digital or analog sat. receiver? thanks
Amstrad answers: It's analogue. Amstrad only make one digital satellite receiver for the Sky Digital service and that is the DRX100. (more details on the official www.amstrad.com site)

Alec Beanse in Southend on Sea at 7:42:21 Saturday May 22 99
I have been given an Amstrad PCW9512 and would like to know if it is possible to fit a 3�" drive in place of the 3" drive. If so, as I have a spare drive, could you tell me how to make a suitable data cable or where to get one and any other issues that need to be addressed .
Amstrad answers Well you can add a 3.5" second drive but you'll need to keep the 3" drive A: otherwise you won't be able to load your Locoscript / CP/M disc. There are details about this in the FAQ for the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit news group.

Dohlen Mario at 0:0:54 Saturday May 22 99
Hi, I'm student and I have a Notebook (ALT286)(serial N40013671)pleas send me informatin about update chanse to 386 or 486 and dip switch(a + b) list and informations about any new accu !!! (pleas,pleas,pleas!) Sorry aboute my mistakes !!!! (I'm a german)
Amstrad answers: Don't worry, your English is 1,000,000 times better than my Deutsch! I'm afraid there is no way to upgrade the processor in an ALT. A few years ago it might have been possible to get a replacement main board from an ALT386 and fit that into the 286 cabinet but I don't think the board will be available any more (you need to check at www.cpc.co.uk). I'm not sure what you meant by "any new accu" - did you mean accesories? Well there's nothing specifically for the ALT286 but it is a "standard" IBM compatible computer with a standard expansion slot so anything you could get for an IBM compatible should work in the ALT.

Craig Pearce in Manchester at 8:54:52 Thursday May 20 99
I know this is an Amstrad page, but as you get such a vast amount of people visiting I thought someone out there might be able to help. I need to find a 'circuit diagram' and an explanation ('Idiots Guide' type explanation please) for a 'GOODMANS DC Integrated Stereo Amplifier, Model no. GSA435.'
Amstrad answers: No problem, hope someone can help you out.

shane reid in taunton at 11:22:0 Monday May 17 99
I have an pc3086 wheen i on the dos screen at the top it say hard drive not ready can you help
Amstrad answers: Well a 3086 is an XT type of computer so as long as the hard drive card and controller are fitted correctly and have the right power applied then it should just work with no complications like modern "setup" hard disk type numbers to be set or anything like that. If it fails to work even after you've checked the power cables etc. then I'm afraid it is just plain broken. The problem is that as XT hard disks haven't been made for about 10 years you may have extreme difficulty in finding a replacement.

Tony Barnes in Cardiff at 10:37:53 Sunday May 16 99
Thanks for the advice for using Laplink to get the contents of my Dad's PC 1512 DD onto his new Windows 98 PC. I see the software costs about �100, and assume it installs under Win 98 on the new machine, and then a DOS counterpart is installed remotely on the old one, enabling data to be copied across. What I was wondering was, is there an easier solution? For instance, could I just take the hard drive and card out of the PC 1512 and slot it into the new computer. If I run the Cmos setup to detect it, will that be OK? Similarly, could I replace one of the 5" floppy drives with a 3" one without too much hassle and get the data out that way? Thanks again for your help
Amstrad answers: Well there isn't anything easier than Laplink but there are cheaper solutions. One is supplied free with MS-DOS 5 and 6 and is called Interlink. You connect the two computers either with a cable between their serial ports or a cable between their parallel ports and then run INTRSVR.EXE on one and add INTERLINK.EXE as a DEVICE= line in the Config.sys on the other then the drives on one machine just appear as extra drives on the other and you can just COPY/XCOPY between them as if they were all on a single machine.
You can't really use a hard drive (XT type) from a 1512 in modern (AT type) of computer. However the idea of taking the 5.25" from the 1512 and adding it as a scond drive to your modern computer is one that would be fairly easy to do and might be your simplest solution.

Bob Mason in staffordshire at 19:29:50 Saturday May 15 99
I have found answer to first email problem about mouse not working(serial port at back of m/c) I altered system settings to genius serial mouse on com1 need win3.1 disk1 & 2 then rebooted mouse worked ok in windows but not in dos deleted dos mouse directory and references reinstalled dos mouse driver from disk ver 6 and used a switch to tell it on com1 in autoexec.bat c:\mouse\mouse.com/1 everything ok now maybe of use to someone else Bob

Bob Mason in Staffordshire at 13:57:11 Saturday May 15 99
I have been given an Amstrad PC2386/65 which I have reformatted and put Windows 3.1 on. The 2 button mouse that came with the computer does not work in windows 3.1. A friend had the same Machine which was scrapped and gave me his serial mouse that plugs into the serial port at the back of m/c. My problem now is mouse still wont work error message " Import mouse interupt jumper missing". Can you tell me what jumper would need to be altered to disable side mouse port and enable the serial port(new mouse plgged into). I have no manuals but can see lots of jumpers but dont know which jumper to alter without doing any damage. Thanks. Bob
Amstrad answers: Two solutions, either read this and use the old mouse or remove link 30 on the 2386 to disable the onboard mouse electronics and then you will be able to use the serial mouse (probably the best answer).

Ian Owens in Nottingham at 9:37:44 Thursday May 13 99
What printers and drivers are available for the amstrad PCW
Amstrad answers: Difficult to answer this as you didn't say which model of PCW. If it's any of the early ones (8xxx, 9xxx or PcW10) then you need to get the "Printer support pack" from www.locomotive.com and they'll be able to tell you which printers Locoscript will work with. If you meant the PcW16 then that has a number of printer drivers built in for IBM X24E, Epson Esc/P2, HP Deskjet, Canon Bubblejet and HP LJ PCL 3.5+ so will work with ANY printers that are compatible with one of those standards (which means pretty much all modern 24 pin printers, all inkjets and quite a few lasers).

Sailor Moon in UK at 17:53:33 Wednesday May 12 99
I have inherited an amstrad monitor (14" svga). I am trying to use this with my upgraded pentium pc to run at 800x600 x 24bit colour at 75hz refresh rate. I am having problems running above 720x480 (strange resolution!). At the moment, I am running at 720x480, 75hz at 24bit. Doesn't SVGA mean 800x600 ? I can't even run 800x600 in 16 colours. Does anyone have the manuals/diagrams for altering the resolutions...as I am sure that I should at least be able to run ay 800x600 no matter what the colour or refresh rate. Thanks in advance.
Amstrad answers: Are you sure it is an SVGA monitor. Some of the 14" monitors we produced could not do 600 line modes. Even if it is one of the later ones then it almost certainly won't be able to do 600 line modes at 75Hz. Try it at nearer 50-60Hz and it should be OK.

Valdis Ozolins in Diakonata 6, Valmiera, LATVIA, LV4200 at 12:26:59 Wednesday May 12 99
Hello! I have AMSTRAD 1512 (V3.1). I can't open setup. I've tried Del or Ctrl+ALT+S at boot , but these don't work. Could You help me, please! BW Valdis
Amstrad answers: On a 1512 you could try accessing Setup until you were blue in the face but you'll never succeed because it is an XT, not an AT and therefore does not have a setup and does not use the CMOS for anything to do with the hard disk. Having said that the 1512 does use CMOS for some special "Amstrad only" features and these can be set using a program called NVR that is available for download from this web site. However I presume you are trying to get a hard drive working and this won't help. On an XT the hard drive either works or it doesn't - there is no settings to be made.

Tony Barnes in Cardiff, South Wales at 20:2:2 Tuesday May 11 99
Hi there, My Dad has a PC 1512 DD and would like to get the data into his new Win 98 PC. What is the best way, in your opinion? Thanks for your help in advance.
Amstrad answers: Laplink from Travelling software. It's by far and away the easiest way to link two PCs using either their serial or parallel ports.

Oddity in UK at 19:50:42 Tuesday May 11 99
Just got my hands on a PCW9512+ WITHOUT any disks..I believe you need a disk to enable it to boot? Any suggestions where I might be able to find one? Thanks!
Amstrad answers: Sure, www.locomotive.com sell them.

F.C. & Meghan in Mousie, KY at 17:38:9 Tuesday May 11 99
Does bacteria effect the rusting process of an iron nail?
Amstrad answers: Shouldn't that have been "affect"?

Andreas Franz Schubach in germany_rpl_sohren at 13:31:6 Tuesday May 11 99
ich habe einen alten dmp2160, der an einem schneider cpc einwandfrei druckt und m�chte diesen unter windows (95/98) nutzen. i have an old dmp2160 that works without any problem with an old scneider-cpc geht das? gibt es einen treiber daf�r? wo kann man diesen bekommen? muss man das druckerkabel/die schnittstelle anpassen? is it possible to use it with a pc with windows 95/98 where can i possibly get a driver? do i have to modify the cable or the printer port? im voraus vielen dank thanks in advance
Amstrad answers: Suggest you read this

Steve Wilman in Sheffiled, England at 9:37:11 Tuesday May 11 99
I have Wordstar 1512 documents from an Amstrad 1512 machine which I want to read using MS Word 6. These documents have *.mld and *.mli file extensions. I have transfered these onto 3 1/2 inch from 5 1/4. Can I get a text convertor to allow Word to read these files or is it not that easy? Thanks for any info you can provide.
Amstrad answers: WS1512 was written by the Wordstar people - Micropro so I suggest you try to contact them and see if there is a WS1512 (aka "Wordstar Easy") to other format converter.

Carsten Russ in UK at 17:46:3 Monday May 10 99
Hello, I have an Amstrad PPC512 and I need a systems disk, where can I get one from Cheers Carsten
Amstrad answers: This very web site on the files download page - you need the file called ppcdisks.zip

Ted Melnyk in Winnipeg, MB, Canada at 15:3:41 Monday May 10 99
I have a PC1386 with the original HD replaced with an IDE card and a ~500 MB drive. I also upgraded the BIOS in about 1992. It has suffered a seemingly catastrophic boot failure during the POST. I get the "Please Wait" message, then the first two dots. As soon as the third dot appears, the screen blanks, the "Please Wait" reappears and the process repeats indefinitely. No error message of any kind. What hardware POST is done for each dot and does the dot appear as the test begins or as it is successfully completed? I suspected possibly something to do with the floppy drive or contoller. I replaced the floppy drive with another, known to work, drive but no change. I have also removed all boards in the system (including the IDE board and hard drive) but also no change. Any suggestions? Has my 10 yr old machine finally died?
Amstrad answers: Failing at the third dot means it has a memory failure. It may just be that the SIMMs are loose in their sockets or that their ocntacts need cleaning.

Ha van Long in �vertorne�, Sweden at 9:22:38 Monday May 10 99
I have an Amstrad keyboard PC1512 that has 84 keys, 6-pin connector. I intend to rewire it to suit with a 5-pin(DIN41524)connector. How is data-description of this connector?. Thank you for your assisstance in this matter.
Amstrad answers: Not possible - please read this

Jason L Musgrove in Telford, England at 13:43:55 Tuesday May 4 99
I have recently aquired a PPC512 as a collectors item. I have, however, got 4 questions regarding it: 1) Is it's manual available in an electronic version? 2) I beleive it can be upgraded to 640K. How is this acheived? 3) Can the 720Kb drives be replaced with 1.44Mb drives? 4) The 'MON DC IN' port: Is that for connecting a 1512's or 1640's monitor to it? Thanks for any help you can provide.
Amstrad answers: 1) No the manual is not available electronically but you should be able to buy one from www.cpc.co.uk 2) Not really practical to upgrade - it involves soldering the extra 128K into place and it's almost impossible to buy such small DRAM chips these days. 3) No the FDC data separator cannot handle the increased rate of 1.44MB drives. 4) Yes - it's where the power supply from the 1512/1640 monitor enters the PPC to power it.

jake williams in Aberdeen, Scotland at 16:52:9 Thursday April 29 99
I have inherited an PC5086 but I am unable to get beyond C:\>. I have been informed that there may have been a password, is there any way to get the old thing running without knowing the password if there was one?
Amstrad answers: If you are getting as far as a c:> prompt then it's not a BIOS password problem as they appear as almost the first thing on the screen after switch on. When you say "unable to get beyond the prompt" what do you mean? that the prompt appears but pressing keys on the keyboard doesn't make characters ppear on the screen? If that's the case then its simply faulty keyboard and because that machine uses a standard PS/2 keyboard it should be easy to replace it.

Emma at 12:10:12 Wednesday April 28 99
I want to know about Alan Sugar as a leader? Does he run an autocratic/democratic company? What sort of culture does his company have?
Amstrad answers: At the end of the day it is "his" company and so what he says goes but he is usually pretty open to argument on any issue and as long as you have a valid argument then he's willing to listen to the opinion of others. In short he's very fair. The company is small and doesn't have large heirarchies of management structure so getting decisions made is very quick and the whole company runs like a friendly team (which is why I've worked here for fifteen years!)

Stan Kurzet in Park City, Utah at 2:7:14 Wednesday April 28 99
Can anyone point me to a utility that runs under DOS or Win9X, which provides for reading a specific head, track, and sector of a floppy to an edit screen and writing from the edit screen to a defined head, track, and sector? Thanks in advance for any help.
Amstrad answers: After my mum's hard drive crashed the other day I know ALL about this. I found that diskedit.exe that comes with Norton utilities is the best disk editor allowing direct cylinder, head, sector access (and it knows how to decode FATs and DIRs etc) but obviously it costs quite a bit. I did have a surf round to the likes of www.winfiles.com and found other sector editors but NU is the best one to my mind. However, as long as it's a "small" drive (ie <528MB) then I used to find a thing called Professional Master Key (PMK) to be VERY good. My copy was written in 1990 by Public Brand Software but I just did a web search for them or the program and can't find anything. However, like I say, if you go to somewhere like winfiles.com or download.com you should be able to find something.

Arjan Vos in the Netherlands at 16:17:57 Tuesday April 27 99
I have a ALT286 with a faulty floppy drive. Now I tried to build in a standard floppy drive but I seem to have problems locating the wires which the amstrad drive uses for the power supply, while I'll have to connect these not to the standard 34-pin connector of the floppy drive, but to the power connector of the standard drive. My question is: how can I find out which pins are used for the power supply ??
Amstrad answers: It will be in the service manual that should be available from www.cpc.co.uk - I would have given you the information here but I just checked and find I no longer have an ALT service manual. If you are a competent engineer you should be able to trace the +5 and +12 signals that are delivered to the existing drive in otherwise unused wires of the ribbon cable.

Markus Franz at 19:1:13 Saturday April 24 99
I would like to know if its still possible to get a Fax/Modem for my Amstrad PDA 600
Amstrad answers: Unfortunately not.

Beverly Gonsalves in New Bedford, Massachusetts U.S.A. at 20:55:31 Friday April 23 99
In 1987, I bought a PCW 8256 Amstrad word processor. It worked well until now. When disk is inserted, the GREEN color comes up on the monitor, SLIGHT rattle sounds come up, but I cannot access the Menu on the monitor. It's never been serviced. Now I cannot find a company in my area that can help me out. AMSTRAD is unknown here. HELP!!!!!
Amstrad answers: Think I can predict that it is the rubber drive band in the floppy. Suggest you read about it and how to fix it on my PCW page

Cortesi Alessandro in Milan, Italy at 8:55:59 Friday April 23 99
A videocamera type AMSTRAD VIDEOMATIC VMC 200 was given to me without instructions. To which service could I ask for this? Yours sincerely, Alessandro Cortesi
Amstrad answers: YOu should find that www.cpc.co.uk can supply a spare manual but that is a very old product and they might be out of stock now in which you should write to the customer service department at Amstrad in Brentwood

Paul Cook in Central Coast, NSW, Australia at 13:58:53 Thursday April 22 99
G'Day Cliff, I have a friend who has asked me to have a look at their Amstrad PC7386SX. The problem is that when I turn it on, it comes up with an error saying diskette not ready. It will not boot off a bootable diskette either. Any information in regards to this query would be greatly appreciated. I do not know anything about this PC and cannot find any other information other than this page.
Amstrad answers: IS it possible to teporarily "borrow" the floppy drive from another PC and fit it in place of the one in the 7386? That would seem to be the quickest way to identify if it has a physical fault. Another angle of attack is that I think on that machine you press F2 at boot to enter setup so you might want to try that and make sure that the BIOS setup for the floppy hasn't been changed to the wrong value. You should also be able to use setup for setting the hard drive parameters so that even if you can't boot from a floppy you can still boot from the hard drive.

Joris van de Vrande in Netherlands at 13:58:45 Sunday April 18 99
We own A Amstrad srx-310. It used to work pretty good, but we aren't able to hear the sound any more. If you shake a bit with the LNB connector on the reciever, the sound returns sometimes. We already opened the reciever but we can't find the problem without a diagram. Do you have one? Or can you help me in an other way. Thanx, joris
Amstrad answers: You should be able to get a service manual for it from www.cpc.co.uk

Phil Murray in Essex, England at 21:56:57 Friday April 16 99
I had a Amstrad PC7486SLC33 for some time, but have upgraded PC but not the SVGA PC14M28LR monitor. Have S3 graphics card which seems to be OK, but wish I had the correct driver for the monitor. I still have all the driver disks for the old system but am unsure what driver is used for the monitor. I am using Windows 98, which likes to use default SVGA driver, this seems to restrict monitor & graphic card possibilities. I would be most thankful if you can help with this problem?
Amstrad answers: There isn't a special driver for the monitor but it works fine if you select (standard monitor types) and then SVGA 800x600. The restrictions on the modes/colours you see is because the built in SVGA has very little memory (probably just 512K) so you might want to consider disabling the onboard SVGA and fitting a card with 1 or 2MB which should only cost a few quid.

Joshua Waller in Lancashire, UK at 13:30:33 Friday April 16 99
I would really like to buy a cheap working Amstrad NC200 to use at university - so that I don't have to lug my big PC around and risk getting my PC stolen. Does anyone have one for sale and know how much they are going for? Or where there might be one for sale?
Amstrad answers: Your best bet is to post a wanted advert to comp.sys.amstrad.8bit and see if you can pick one up second hand.

Paul Casanova in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia at 1:45:22 Thursday April 15 99
I used to own a CPC-6128, and having just started a Bachelor of Computing at University, I am trying to comprehend how guts of the CPC's worked and whether or not they had an operating system at all. I know that once a disk drive was added CP/M was used for disk tasks, but what about the computer itself? How would you describe the CPC operating system in comparison to the PC's of these times? Was BASIC the Operating System as well as the programming language, or was there something else behind the scenes, burned into the ROM that took care of the screen display, printer, memory, graphics & sound etc? I would really appreciate some help on this as I can't find this information anywhere. Thank you.
Amstrad answers: I'd love to be able to spend more time answering this interesting question but my best suggestion is that you ask the guys on comp.sys.amstrad.8bit as there are loads of CPC programmers there who can tell you all about it. Basially it did have a sort of operating system. The ROM contained effectively two programs. 16K was used for the "firmware" (effectively an OS) and 16K was for the BASIC which was the program that effectively made use of the firmware. An OS doesn't necessarily imply disks - just the bare bones of a machine that get the thing started, drive the display and read the input devices (keyboard etc) is an operating system but in this day and age (when all computers have floppy/hard drives) it has taken on the meaning of the piece of software that handles files on disk. If, for example, you study a PC you'll see that there are actually three parts to its operating system. The BIOS (basic input output system) in ROM is the first part of the entire operating system that handles screen output, key input and sector read/writes from a disk together with booting procedure that starts to read the next bits of the operating system into memory. If you start MS-DOS the next bit to load is from a file called io.sys and this is the next level of OS support that takes over key and screen output (but still using some parts of the BIOS) and it has higher levels of disc support that knows about file allocation etc. The third and final part loads from a file called MSDOS.SYS and is the thing that provides yet higher level support of those things. All those bits of opeating system then conspire together to aid the running of a file called command.com which is the command line interface to the computer. Back in the CPC world it is a little simpler in that the BIOS/firmware starts to run at switch on and controls all the peripherals and then BASIC is the client program that makes use of the services it provides. If one has attached a floppy drive to a CPC then during the firmwar startup it spots some additional code in an add-on ROM which is the part of the operating system dedicated only to operating the disk drive and that's called AmsDOS. Of course the BASIC and AMSDOS can actually be replaced if you load CP/M which is an alternative operating system (a bit more like msdos). It still uses bits of the firmware support for basic things like key reading (like a PC uses its BIOS) but it also comes in three parts in that there is a very low level hardware specific bit called the BIOS (like msdos has io.sys), the next level (like msdos' msdos.sys) is called the BDOS (basic disc operating system) and then, like msdos' command.com, it has a third part called the CCP which is the command processor.

Ralph Wood in NJ at 4:40:8 Wednesday April 14 99
how do you get a instructional disk to start running?
Amstrad answers: On what computer. For a CPC Run"DISC", for a PCW boot CP/M insert the disc and look for any .SUB or .COM files and then type the name as a command. For a PC running DOS look for any .BAT or .EXE files and type the name as a command. For a PC running WIndows use Explorer to look at the disk and run any .EXE file you see there.

Bill Stevenson in Aalborg, Denmark at 12:31:23 Tuesday April 13 99
I have an elder PPC512. Is it practical to install a modem - internal/external? If it is, which modem is recommended?
Amstrad answers: You can't fit an internal modem but it should work with any external modem or ISDN terminal adaptor. Personally I've got a Diamond Supra Expree 56e which i think is a GREAT modem.

Simon Pell in Lincolnshire at 14:50:48 Sunday April 11 99
I have a PC2086 which the display is out of focus and there are loads of $$ apear all over the screen when anything is typed. Also what are the different dip switch options for the display switches on the rear.
amstrad answers: The focus of a monitor can be adjusted by taking the back off it and turning the plastic control in the middle of that large black rectangular block toward the back of the monitor but be VERY careful as there are 25,000Volts inside a monitor so it might be better to get a TV engineer to do this for you. However this does not explain the $ signs which sounds like a failure of the VGA card perhaps. It might be an idea to borrow a monitor off some other PC and just see whether it is the monitor or the computer that is at fault. If the monitor then it might turn out cheapr just to get a new VGA monitor. DIP switches should all be off (up) apart from switch 6 which should be on (down). As shown on page 4-10 of the 2086 manual the meaning is 1/2 set the default mode for the built in VGA, 3 is to disable COM1, 4 is to disable the VGA, 5 is to set for a multi-frequency monitor and 6 is on=ps/2, off=AT. 7 and 8 are not used.

Alison Salisbury in Wadebridge Cornwall at 22:5:47 Saturday April 10 99
I need to transfer work from a PCW16 disc to be used on an ordinary PC. I've had confusing information ranging from 'It's impossible', to the manual stating that it's quite easy, but we get jibberish mixed in with semi-readable text. Help! Please!
Amstrad answers: I guess this counts as a failure on the part of our manual then because the PcW16 ALREADY uses PC format discs so it is as simple as taking the disc fromthe PcW16, inserting it into a PC and reading the files directly. Naturally you have to use the "Export" option on the Document menu first to convert them from the PcW16 format to a well known format such as RTF. This IS all explained in the manual at far greater length than I can go into here.

jose carlos rodriguez in Canelones-Uruguay at 13:7:44 Friday April 9 99
modernize my old one 386sx to pentium 133.It used a disk seagate st351ax(40 MB), install a new of 1.2gb. My old hard disk doesn't appear as slave, in bios he appears "not installed", in the boot "hard disk error".Enter the values manually, cylinders, heads, sectors and the continuous problem, as I can solve this problem? I need their help.
Amstrad answers: Forget about trying to turn a 386SX into a Pentium. You can buy a whole PEntium machine for under £100 which is less than an upgrade would cost. Have a look at www.sterling-management.co.uk who have 486 machines for just £23!!! The BIOS in that 386 will not allow you to use hard drives over 512MB so you'd need to get Ontrack Disk Manager for a 1.2 which would cost as much as an entire 486 machine.

Andrew Shrimpton in Dundee at 12:55:2 Friday April 9 99
I have recently acquired an old PPC computer - twin floppies, no hard disk, but integral modem - and want to use it for email. I have no software. What do you recommend, and where can I find it?
Amstrad answers: Well you won't be able to do "proper" POP3/SMTP email via TCP/IP over PPP using that computer but you can use the Mirror terminal program that came with it to connect to an ANSI based bulletin board that does auto receipt/forwarding of internet email to its local messaging system.

Herbert Zimbizi in Zimbabwe ,Harare at 7:42:4 Thursday April 8 99
Hi Cliff I have got an amstrad printer DMP4000 which was seemingly working before,then the problem came up.The printer was leaving dirty marks on the papers. I however serviced the printer by way of adjusting the print head. After having done this the printer was now not leaving any marks on the paper .Instead upon turning it on it starts printing test print.Turning it on holding the FF button it goes on line . If you then send a print job it prints but all the data will be sort hex code.
Amstrad answers: That printer normally switches to hex dump mode if switched on while the LF and FF buttons are both being held down. If it does it every time it suggests those buttons are stuck - maybe time for a new printer?

Brett Sandiford in England at 17:56:26 Wednesday April 7 99
What printers can be used on the Amstrad PCW16. Thanks
Amstrad answers: It supports most 24 pin dot matrix printers and both HP and Canon compatible inkjets as well as HP PCL 3.5+ compatible laser printers. The IBM X24E and Epson Esc/P2 modes mean that it is conmpatible with a VERY wide range of printers as these are emaulted by a large number of printers.

Mike Williams in East Fremantle, Western Australia at 0:33:59 Wednesday April 7 99
How do I start up a PCW8256 which has stood unused for nearly three years!!! and whose empty green screen just growls at me when I switch it on. I want to transfer material to my IBM computer and will use Loco Link version 3.00 which i bought in UK last year. Is there anyone here in Western Australia who can help me?
Amstrad ansers: Well, in theory, to start it you just switch on and isert either the Locoscript or the CP/M start of day disc but please read this

Clay Dugger at 1:22:51 Tuesday April 6 99
More of a statement, actually. Here are the DIP Switch settings that allowed me to use the built-in LCD screen on the PPC640: #1 ON, #2 OFF, #3-5 ON, #6 OFF. This is vastly different than the settings shown in the Technical Reference Manual. Don't know if mine is just wired wrong or what, but thought that the info might be useful.
Amstrad answers: Well there's certainly something odd going on as the tech ref manual is correct.

Clay Dugger at 15:41:40 Monday April 5 99
Thanks for the response. Actuall, though, I mis-stated the question. What I need to know is this: Is the parallel port on the PPC640 bi-directional? If it is, then the IDE conversion should run on the machine. If not, then it won't. BTW, I also received the Technical Reference Manual for the machine, and found an error in some of the instructions. I discovered the correct settings for the DIP Switches controlling the VDU. I will post them within a few days. This site is a great service to those of us who love and use the "workhorse" machines of Amstrad. Thanks for putting all of this online for us.
Amstrad answers: Simple answer - the PPC parallel port is most definitely only unidirectional - remember that the PPC is just an XT class of computer, not an AT or PS/2. AFAIK the video DIP settings in the PPC tech ref are exactly right so I don't know why you have found them to be otherwise.

MATHEW in Ontario Canada at 16:14:38 Sunday April 4 99
I own a PC 1640 and I was wondering how much RAM it can be upgraded to?
Amstrad answers: To be brutally honest you cannot really upgrade that PC's memory beyond the 640K fitted. It's true that there used to be a system called LIM Expanded memory (EMS) that allowed paged memory on special cards to be added to such an XT class computer but this could only ever be used by special programs that were designed to use LIM EMS - some versions of Lotus 1-2-3 were (and by a coincidence the L in LIM just happend to stand for Lotus - IM is Intel and Microsoft). So while you could hunt round for an 8bit LIM EMS card to fit that machine you might be hard pushed to find any software that would actually make use of it.

Jonathan O'Rourke in Cooma, Australia at 3:16:53 Thursday April 1 99
I have a client that has an Amstrad PC2286 with an interesting problem. Whenever the machine is switched off, it loses all knowledge of its setup - including HDD settings, date time etc. I have changed the batteries but it still insists that they are flat and that they need replacing. At the moment, the customer is running setup after booting off a floppy each time they start the machine but this is obviuosly not an ideal situation. Any ideas?? Thanx.
Amstrad answers: More than likely this is because someone has had the lid off the machine at some time and has forgotten to reconnect the blue battery wire connector when they put it back together (it's a VERY common mistake!)

Anon at 13:43:29 Wednesday March 31 99
bull electrcal have surplus itemsfor the amstrad 1512/1640 for sale bullnet.co.uk in section clearance/ section 5 there is keyboards and base units in section 14 there is start up disk packs
Amstrad answers: Great! Thanks for the tip - Cliff (By the way the start up disks are a free download from the amstrad.com web site anyway)

Peter Schulz in Qld,Australia at 11:25:58 Friday March 26 99
Have an old 3386 with a faulty floppy drive. Can I use a standard 1.44 floppy drive in the machine or are the Amstrad drives different ?
Amstrad answers; Sure, that 3386 uses totally standard 1.44MB floppy drives.

D. Wolfe in Portsmouth, UK at 13:43:7 Tuesday March 23 99
I have pc7386sx, running windows 95 successfully but only in 16 colours. In my manual it says i need 2 256k vram chips to get 256 colours but that is all it says. I've looked at cpc's catologue but with no part numbers it doesn't really help that much. have you any idea what the part number of these might be?
Amstrad answers: A far cheaper, quicker and easier option to updating the video on that machine would simply be to disable the on-board VGA and plug in a new card. You can get an entry level card with at least 1MB of VRAM which would allow up to 16million colours for about £10 these days!

Catherine McFarlane at 12:8:8 Friday March 19 99
Hi Cliff I am having problems getting a new mouse (Tulip serial mouse) to run in my Amstrad 4386sx I have just come accross your mousefix which I have downloaded. I tried to find a readme file but failed. I have two questions 1. Do I put the mousefix exe file in the root directory or just invoke it by running it. 2. I am a bit thick could you please be a bit more specific about removing the link inside the machine to disable the built in mouse interface. As far as I can see this link is an itegral part of the keyboard plugin arrangement. I have just upgraded to Dos 6.2 and Windows 3.1 which are both running smoothly. Incidently I tried running mouse.sys in the Config.sys but the machine kept hanging. Thankyou for your time Regards Cathy
Amstrad answers: No, you won't need MOUSEFIX on a non Amstrad mouse (and you don't need it on the 4386SX anyway!). When you bought the new Tulip mouse (presumably a serial mouse?) it should have come with a disc with a driver on it. The program will be called MOUSE.COM so you just copy it to the hard drive and put a line to run it in your Autoexec.bat file.
As an alternative, Win 3.1 comes with a free copy of the Microsoft MOUSE.COM anyway (on disk 3/4) so you can just use EXPAND to EXPAND MOUSE.CO_ MOUSE.COM and then use that (which is probably the best idea anyway).
Before doing all this the other thing you have to do is disable the mouse electronics built into the 4386SX which you do by removing link 20 inside the machine (you also need to delete MOUSE.INI from \WINDOWS).

Jeremy in Texas at 17:49:56 Thursday March 18 99
Hey Cliff, not really a question, but a staement. I just wanted to say thanks for all that you are doing. This isnt something your required to do, your just doing it out of the love of the machine. And Im sure we are all gratefull. I sure know I am. Once again, sir, THANKS!
Amstrad answers: Thanks - I really appreciate it when people take the time out to send messages like this!

John Clarkson in Edinburgh, Scotland at 15:35:31 Thursday March 18 99
I have a pcw 8256 with locoscript 1985 v1.2. I recently tried to access the 4 hidden files hoping to free extra memory, in transferring them to a new file they all lost their H designation automatically. Since creating this new file and trying to reboot the PCW consistantly brings up "ERROR in reading SCRIPT.JOY, this file does not exist" and fails to fully boot thus denying access to my word processing. How may I rescue or overcome this?
Amstrad answers: Dare I mention that you should have a back up that you can go back to whenever something like this happens. But assuming this was your only copy of the start of day disc then I'm afraid you'll have to contact www.locomotive.com to see about buying a replacement.

Anthony Hartman, the Netherlands in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands at 20:16:47 Wednesday March 17 99
You are my last hope! I own a Amstrad Designote notebook, with a Cyrix 486 DX2 processor with only 4 Mb RAM. Do you know where I can get a suitable 16 Mb SIMM-module to fit in the machine. I wasn't able to find a adress in Holland?
Amstrad answers: Sorry but sad to say that computer was not produced by the main Amstrad company but was merely a unit that our German office bought in and put the Amstrad badge on because the main company didn't have a 486 portable available at the time. As such I'm afraid that no one in the UK office knows ANYTHING about it and the Amstrad GmbH office in Germany was closed down several years ago. However, having said that, I'd be hugely surprised if it didn't just use "standard" SIMMs anyway as available from any good computer supplier.

Neil L Fludger in Croydon, Surrey at 19:39:28 Wednesday March 17 99
I am using a heavily upgraded PC9486 however it still has the original Sony X2 CD-ROM drive. I have noticed that Software Warehouse are offering a X32 speed CD ROM for around �25. My question is whether my machine can use a CD ROM of this speed. I still use the original Amstrad-supplied "Sound Power Pro 16" sound card/CD ROM controller.
Amstrad answers: Sure you will be able to use an X32 CD on that machine - most modern CD drives are IDE devices and just plug on as if they were an additional hard drive without any special interface card or anything like that.

GRAEME RUSSELL in Burpengary,Queensland,AUSTRALIA at 7:0:3 Monday March 15 99
I am using a PC14M28 svga monitor on a cyrix 686pr200 operating in windows 95 using svga settings and although the picture is crystal clear it does not fill the 14" screen area. Do i need a driver for the monitor to operate in windows95 and if so where can I get one
Amstrad answers: Just pick "Standard monitor types" and then "SVGA 800x600" and that should work fine.

S Wong in London UK at 3:30:38 Monday March 15 99
I have an INTERGRA P100. with 514 MB hard drive. Q1. I tried to upgrade the processor to higher speed. I tried an IDT Windchip 225MHZ 75 MHz chip. I changed all the jumper settings as suggested by the Amstrad handbook. Although it seems to register 150MHz when the computer starts, it did not start up properly. It hung at start up. I have to switch it off and switch on again. It then give a message 'boot incomplete'. I have to press F1 to start. Although it start and work, I cannot reboot machine subsequently. I have to go through the whole process again. I did not get any joy from any where. Any suggestion for a suitable compatible CPU that can be replaced?
Q2. I tried to replaced the internal modem by a 56K US robotic VoiceFax Modem. It did not detect the new modem. I foound a lead from teh old modem plugged to teh sound card somewhere. I am not sure wheter I need to plug this some where into the new modem. Any suggestion? I tried also a friend's external modem plugging into COM2. But it was not detected. What have I done wrong?
Amstrad answers: A1: Can't recommend any upgrade chips as I've not had any experience of using one but any of those listed in the manual should be fine.
A2: For detection of the modem you need to check with the modem makers that it is Plug and Play because otherwise Win95 won't find it automatically and you'll have to manually use "Add new hardware" in Control Panel.

vince at 10:58:38 Saturday March 13 99
for l jones run memmaker when it askes about ems say yes hope this helps
Amstrad answers: Fraid it only half helps as this WILL add the necessary HIMEM line to Config if it isn't already there but it won't work if the machine is set to EMS rather than XMS which is a setting that must be made using the 2/3386 SETUP.EXE program.

L JONES in London at 0:36:26 Saturday March 13 99
I am upgrading an amstrad pc2386sx.I have installed bigger hard drive,cd-rom drive,and msdos 6.2 all up and running.I would like to load windows95 but it keeps telling me that there is not sufficient extended memory(ems)what next? thanks L Jones.
Amstrad answers: There's no such thing as a 2386SX - the 2386 was a DX model, not an SX but then there WAS a 3386SX. Anyway, that's incidental, the fact is that you just need to run SETUP and set the "Extended memory" figure to 3456K and also make sure that Config.Sys includes the line to load HIMEM.SYS but be warned that Win95 in just 4MB is TRULY AWFUL!! You really should consider upgrading the machine to 16MB (but for the £50 that this would cost you can now buy an entire 486 system so you'd need to weigh up the best way to go on this!)

catherine mcfarlane in Glasgow at 13:10:19 Friday March 12 99
I have an amstrad pl4386 there appears to be little information available re this particular machine my my mouse appears to have given up the ghost. The problem is I cannot determine if it the mouse or the driver can you give me any information about which mouse driver I should use there appears to be several options. The machine has just been upgraded to Dos ver 6.2 and win 3.1 My mouse seems to be an unusual type D 9Pin male connection hard to aquire. Thankyou Best regards Cathy
Amstrad answers: I presume you mean PC4386SX ?? If it is that then you should use the mouse.com that comes with Windwos 3.1 (MS mouse v7.04) and that should work fine. However, considering that a serial mouse only costs £5 it may be FAR easier to ditch the awful Amstrad mouse and just get a whole new mouse/driver from your local Dixons.

carmine in Italia at 23:3:36 Thursday March 11 99
i'm looking for drivers abaut all amstrad DMP printers. thanks for your help.
Amstrad answers: Aren't any - suggest you read this site for more info.

Clay Dugger in San Antonio, Tx at 18:11:41 Thursday March 11 99
I have noticed an adapter for IDE HDD that converts it to a parallel drive. It cost's about $70 US. Would this be feasible to connect to the parallel on a PPC 640? I've already got the drive and may be getting another PPC 640 soon. Just wondering.
Amstrad answers: I presume that to support this the drive comes with a driver that loads in Config.Sys so you need to ask the people who wrote that driver whether it will work in MS-DOS 3.3 but as long as they say "yes" then I think it should work on a PPC but only the people doing that drive add-on can really answer this.

Raimond Schultheis in Hamburg, Germany at 21:33:28 Wednesday March 10 99
hi, i live in hamburg, germany and need to know the encoding for the TAE6/4 N (Western) plug for a AMSTRAD FX6000AT fax-phone-answering machine. if you should not know, do you have contact addresses in germany? thanks
Amstrad answers: Go to my "Contact" page and write to the "Fax support dept" at the UK address (probably easiest for you to fax them if you have another machine that works).

Peter Hewitt in Home at 17:53:54 Tuesday March 9 99
I am trying to connect a PCW9512 to an Amstrad Notepad. I know that this should work quite easily, but can't get the PCW to accept the CPM disc. I have tried 3 different copies. What does this mean? It will accept the normal start-of-day disc quite happily.
Amstrad answers: In what sense does it "not accept" the disk? (suggest we continue this discussion via email!)

Jim in Leicester at 15:39:11 Tuesday March 9 99
I know this is not specifically your area but, do you know anything about Clive Sinclairs company 'Sinclair research' I know Amstrad used to have connections with him, I'm specifically looking for info in his 'Zike' (electric bike) sorry to waste your time if not Ta Jim
Amstrad answers: Funny you should mention this as I was trying to find a copy of the Sinclair logo to put on the new web site at www.amstrad.com the other day and just searched for "Sinclair Spectrum" at www.metacrawler.com and one of the links I found was to "Planet Sinclair" where there were current contact details for Sinclair Research. I think he's still the president of Mensa so I guess there is a mensa.org site (or mensa.co.uk perhaps) and you might find a link to him from there as well.

Tristan Harris in Swansea, UK at 15:27:58 Monday March 8 99
Hi, I was wondering how easy and how expencive it is to copy a load of locoscript file from a PCW9512 to PC?
Amstrad answers: Most disk transfer bureaus charge between £5 and £10. For more details have a look at my PCW page.

Chris Peppiatt in Loughborough, UK at 13:31:58 Monday March 8 99
I have a rather old second-hand Amstrad PC9486 DX2/50 pc. Does anybody know where I can lay my hands on a manual for one of these? Also, I was hoping to change the hard drive and remove an old 5.25 inch floppy drive for replacement with a CD drive; does anybody know of acceptable drive models for this, or will any do? The BIOS the machine has doesn't mention CD drives, I assume I will have to get an upgrade?
Amstrad answers: For a manual visit www.cpc.co.uk. As the machine has IDE you should be able to add any current hard drive (though you may have to run Ontrack's Disk Manager to cope with LARGE drives). For a CD you should be able to fit ANY current model and don't worry about the BIOS, it is Win95 that will provide the CD support, not the BIOS.

Philip Noel at 22:48:16 Saturday March 6 99
Is it possible to write to the Bios chip on an Amstrad 1640 to introduce a virus. If not how does a virus get into the system
Amstrad answers: Sorry but I have to question the motives behind a question such as this - if you are just worried about protecting yourself against virus attack then I suggest you run Norton Anti-Virus, McAfee, Dr Solomon's or similar and don't get too concerned with the mechanism actually used in virus transmission. (But to answer your question, virii are not transmitted by reprogramming the BIOS, they usually lurk in disk boot sectors or as appendages on .EXEs etc)

Anon at 20:27:57 Friday March 5 99
How do you erase things from the address file?
Amstrad answers: And tomorrow we ponder "Just how long is a piece of string"!

Robert J. Baker in a state of confusion at 17:54:29 Friday March 5 99
What is the copyright status of Spectrum ROM images? I thought they (and hence emulators) were legal, but GeoCities beg to differ, and have already taken down one Speccy site for this reason...
Amstrad answers: Our view on the Spectrum ROM code for emaultors is exactly the same as for CPC ROM code and that is that we are happy for emulator writers to ship copies of the ROM code in their programs as long as they don't modify the (c)opyright notices and somewhere in the program/manual they say "Amstrad has kindly given their permission for the redistribution of their copyrighted material but retain the copyright. As a sign of gratitude please rush down to your local Dixons/Tescos/... and buy as many Amstrad video/TVs/sat receivers as you possibly can" (or words to that effect!!)

Robert J. Baker at 17:51:46 Friday March 5 99
Not a question but an observation...
>Amstrad answers: Windows 95 has a 2GB limit on partition
>size.
I've been told that this is not the case with Win95 OSR2 -- or any Windows with FAT32; the limit is in terabytes. I've forgotten where I read this, and whoever posted it could of course have been talking a load of ...
Amstrad answers: You are absolutely right, Win95 OSR2 with FAT32 support no longer has the 2GB limit but there is no way you could possibly have a legally licenced copy of Win95 OSR2 as the ONLY way to get it is when it is supplied as an OEM liceneced version with a brand new PC, You cannot buy Win95 OSR2 as the retail upgrade pack (which is the only legal copy of Win95 you could possibly be installing on an Amstrad as we never supplied OSR2 with any of our PCs) so be very cautious about admitting this publically or the Microsoft/FAST boys will be round to confiscate your computer!!

morel at 14:37:24 Friday March 5 99
where to find sis 5596 VGA drivers
Amstrad answers: Sorry but I have no idea what "sis 5596" refers too - care to give a more detailed description of what it is you are talking about?

vince stanley in ely cambs uk at 16:4:14 Thursday March 4 99
I have 386 pc with the saga mega drive interface but no manuals my question is. on the back of the mega interface card are two connectors a 15 way d type socket and a 3.5mm headphone style jack socket ,what are they for/interface to
Amstrad answers: A very long time since I last saw one of those dinosaurs but the 15pin connector will almost certainly be for an analogue joystick and the 3.5mm wil be the line/ear output from the soundcard.

Mark Thurston in Cullompton, Devon at 18:24:35 Tuesday March 2 99
I am also a user of an Amstrad SVGA 14M28 or 14M39 14" monitor. I would like to know if I can get some sort of proper Win95 drivers to sort out resolution troubles. It came with my PC7486 which currently lies with a freind under my watchfull eye. It originally shipped with a DOS application called Amstrad Desktop, ADT. It was a GUI with calender and clock plus tutorial and a menu system. My backup of it has corrupted and I would love another copy. I believe it also shipped with PC9xxx computers. Thanks for any help you can give.
Amstrad answers: There is no specific driver so in Win95 just pick "Standard monitor types" and then "SVGA 800x600" and that will be fine.

Jon Smeed in UK at 19:59:53 Monday March 1 99
PC 9555i Can I find a view of S154P VIO Rev:1.1 main board anywhere. Been given a good looking board with SIS chipset which I want to use for connecting to the Internet. Two graphics memory chip holders are empty - no problem as could al#ways add later but: Large 24 pin IC socket near socket into which ISA & PCI socket card plugs into and behind com 2 IS EMPTY, DOES THIS MATTER? Hope yiou can help Thanks
Amstrad answers: No it does not matter

Stephen Whiting in Southampton at 18:10:30 Monday March 1 99
I have just been given a 8256, which has been lovingly looked after by its previous owner. As this included some unused discs and a spare 3" disc drive I want to keep it going for as long as possible. Thing is, I can't stand the nasty little printer that goes with it! Having read enough to glean that the PCW printers can't be replaced with any old printer, I just wondered what you think is the best way to get better print quality? Are other PCW printers compatible (I recall a friend having a daisywheel printer, which would be fine) or am I better off going the whole hog and changing the printer port and software and buying a modern printer? There doesn't seem to be a lot of point in spending money if there's another way round the problem!
Amstrad answers: Your ONLY option for adding a different printer is to get an add-on RS232/Centronics interface pack for the PCW. It's a device called CPS8256, it will cost you £50 from the various PCW suppliers mentioned on my Spares/Manuals page but before you shell out so much money for that interface consider this VERY carefully.... You can buy an ENTIRE 486 with 8MB RAM and 200MB hard drive and a mono VGA monitor for £50 !!!!

Alan Henderson in Sunderland at 16:47:50 Monday March 1 99
I have a PC1640 HD20 with a 5.25 floppy drive - I want to change this to a 3.5 drive but I am unable to access the setup where I would expect to change the configuration. Can you please point me in the right direction.
Amstrad answers: No such thing as "Setup" on the 1640 because it's an XT, not an AT. To add a 720K 3.5" (you CANNOT use a 1.44MB drive) you add it as drive B: and then put either a DRIVPARM or DRIVER.SYS line to support it into the CONFIG.SYS file that loads from the existing A:

HELP!! Thanks to Trevor G. at 13:26:51 Monday March 1 99
Thanks to Trevor Gowen for his help on disk drive problem.....
Amstrad answers: Yup, thanks from me too!

Alex Murray in Aberdeen at 3:30:28 Sunday February 28 99
Where can I get my grubby paws on an Amstrad 1640 setup disk no:5 Harddrive Install
Amstrad answers: There never was such a thing as a 1640 disk 5. For the 1512 it was supplied with four disks then there was an extra disk 5 that had the hard disk bits (FDISK etc) that was supplied separately but for the 1640 all the utilities fitted onto the FOUR disks and you can get 47001..47004 files from my file archive above.

Daniel in Rayleigh. Essex at 1:29:54 Sunday February 28 99
How can I get a copy of the operating software and the aplications for the PCW16 that my son has been given. I hope somebody can help me out with this?
Amstrad answers: You should have got a "Rescue Disc" in the box but luckily for you there is an image of it downloadable form my archive (link above).

leo in spain at 23:22:48 Saturday February 27 99
I�d like to download the driver for an old LQ1500 that I have, but there�s no way to get into yor "files/arch." page.Thanks
Amstrad answers: You're looking at the wrong page - have a read of this (but note that we never made an LQ1500 (I presume you mean LQ3500??)

Thomas F. Ormsby in Kress, Texas at 19:38:52 Saturday February 27 99
Bone Phone. Any information available.
Amstrad answers: And the English translation of that question is..... ???

Pete in Anywhere at 17:42:29 Saturday February 27 99
Where can I get a XT hard drive for a PC 3086
Amstrad answers: Most people would tend to look a) in local paper classifieds, b) Micro Mart (from W H Smith), c) car boot sales, d) computer auctions however it is getting quite tricky to find some of this really old junk these days.

John Homewood in Sussex at 10:36:17 Saturday February 27 99
I am trying to sort out A 9486, it keeps loading up to many ide controllers in Windows95 and so conflicts occur and also, probably because of this the CD-Rom does not appear in My computer even though a shortcut on the desktop (That the old owner used accesses it perfectly. I've tied reinstalling but that does not change things. The CD-Rom does appear also in the Systems properties so it knows its present. Can any one help!!
Amstrad answers: Loads of PCs show too many IDE controllers under Win95 Device Manager (my 333MHz Viglen does!) but as it doesn't actually affect system performance you should do like the rest of us and just ignore it. As for the CD, just get the latest drivers from the Sony site (you better open it up to make sure it IS a Sony!!) and you should be able to get it going easily.

Bourgeaux Eric in rouen at 12:5:22 Friday February 26 99
Could you tell me please where I can BUY an Amstrad MP3, useful to look at TV on CTM 644 ??
Amstrad answers: Every once in a blue moon one of those rare beasts is offered for sale on comp.sys.amstrad.8bit - it's normally like a feeding frenzy in a pool of piranhas amongst all the people who want to buy one!!

Vincenzo Monaco in Vincenzo Monaco - Via C. Massini 43/a - 00155 Roma - Italy at 8:29:35 Friday February 26 99
Please send me the addres and telephone number of a dealer in Rome (or Italy) to purchase the remote control for your AMSTRAD TVC model 1414. Thanking you in advance for your kind cooperation Best regards
Amstrad answers: Amstrad no longer do any business in ANY country except UK so there are no dealers in Rome.

Anon in Wolverhampton West Midlands England at 20:38:3 Thursday February 25 99
Hi Cliff,I have an Amstrad vdu SVGA PC14M39 or PC14M28LR. Could you tell me what it's generic identity is, i.e is it a Sony a Hitachi a Tatung etc. Thanks Martyn G.
Amstrad answers: More than likely it is a Tatung but for the purposes of monitor selection in Win 95 (I presume thats why you want to know) just use "Standard Monitor Types" and pick SVGA 800x600

Trevor Gowen in Bristol, U.K. at 8:50:28 Wednesday February 24 99
Not a question but a response re. anonymous query - HELP!!! at 23:0:12 Monday February 22 99 - this referred to problems in fitting a 3.5" drive to a 6128 in respect of READY now being DISKCHG on current drives. I had to solve this problem when fitting a second 3.5" drive to my Spectrum +3 (having arranged things so that the "A" drive could be switched between the internal 3" drive or another, external 3.5" drive). It involved some electronics (one ic) to "feedback" the drive select signal to the READY pin ie. the drive is ALWAYS ready if selected. N/B the DISKCHG signal cannot be used - it's the opposite logic to READY and changes levels only after a disk (directory) has been (re-)read, which cannot be done (at least by CP/M on the Speccy) until the disk is ready! For further info. I can be contacted via the (new) CP/M Discussion List - mail to CPM-L@topica.com . Any queries re. CP/M on the Speccy or PcW16 can be mailed there too!
Amstrad answers: I love it when this page writes itself!

Peter Dickens in Sussex, England at 15:56:9 Tuesday February 23 99
A useful point for any one running Win95/98 on an Amstrad particularly a 2386 or 4386 is to use Norton Utilities (well worth the investment) to fine tune your registry and to speed start in background, it will also debug and defrag and sort files in a better way than windows defrag which is a the old Peter Norton defrager anyway supplied to Microsoft. You can use the s/w on any Win platform and it will speed up an older m/c.
On MMX's, PII's and Xeon's at 300 400 and 450 mhz. you don't notice the difference but on and Amstrad, you certainly do. Windows 98 is I am told slightly faster (from 10% to 25%) still, but cannot confirm it yet.
I am curious if anyone has ever tried NT 3.51 or NT4 yet?
Amstrad answers: I presume you were just joking, the 2386 and 4386 can only take 16MB and the minimum amount of memory that NT will run in is about 24MB (and don't expect to DO anything with less than 64MB!!)

Peter Dickens in Sussex, UK at 15:43:37 Tuesday February 23 99
I am using a 2386 with Ram increased to 16mb (Iknow it can only use 10mb)
Q1. Using multiple machines I have a swithbox so that I need only one VDU and K/B from your answers I know a normal KB cannot be used, Howvever to save me using two k/b's can I use the Amstrad with other PC's via the switchbox, instead of a standard k/b? I have rewired Sockets to take the Amstrad K/b plug.
Q2. I have the patches Fix7 Fix8 sent by Amstrad to fix the mouse for 3.1, but is there a Fix patch for win95/98 ? I am currently running a mouse off the parallel port which restricts the out ports I need for External CDrom and Printers.
Q3. Win95 finds the mouse port, but the amstrad mouse will not run on it. nor any other, should this be a fix patch driver as per Q2.?
Q4. I tend to use hardware/cards etc. discarded from the many other higher end machines & equipment that I use and have access to, on slower, but not "lower" m/c's, where possible. This answers you point about putting the ferrari engine in a Ford anglia, but even the Mini had a Mini Cooper engine in it! anyway it is cheaper my way (often free) and and the Amsrad does make a good Printer server; I digress. The question is... Will the new Evergreen Technologies Processor card that plugs into a Board slot to upgrade machines where the processor cannot be upgraded using a high end Pentium (announced 2 months ago) that takes over the existing processor work in a 2386/20.
Amstrad answers: A1: No the non use of Amstrad keyboards is bi-directional, that is, you can't use any other keyboard on an Amstrad and you can't use an Amstrad keyboard on anything else.
A2: Yes, get MOUSEFIX from this web site and use it to fix the MOUSE.COM (v7.04) that comes with Windows 3.1 then you can use the Amstrad mouse with 3.1
A3: See A2 - if you load MOUSE.COM in Autoexec before the rest of Win95 loads it MAY work (not sure how Win95 mouse support works as it may be different to Win 3.1 where this DEFINITELY works.
A4: I think only Evergreen can answer that as we no longer have any examples to try such a card in (even if we HAD such a card!)

James Greenham in Bracknell at 10:9:34 Tuesday February 23 99
Hi, Can you let me know whether there is an "Official" Amstrad Website which provides detais of current AND Obsolete products, and also statements on Year2000 Compliance - even if it's a generice statement which says that "All our Printers/Monitors are Year 2000 Compliant as they do not undertake any date related processing. Is there also a Y2K compliance table for their PC products, or some statement which says that processors later than Pentium for example are compliant? I look forward to your reply P.S I'm not getting paranoid, I just need this info for a project I'm working on. and I do know that My teapot is compliant (it's highly advanced with a clock)!!!
Amstrad answers: On the whole almost all Amstrad computer equipment is not Y2K ready so you will have to manually use the DATE command to correct it. There is quite a comprehensive statement on Y2K on the "official" Amstrad web site that will appear at www.amstrad.com very shortly (its currently undergoing beta testing).

HELP!!! at 23:0:12 Monday February 22 99
I have bought an external 3.5" drive for my 6128, and all went quite well while I was making the cable, YET! I could find no pin on the drive to connect to the READY pin on the 6128!! Even when there is a disk in the drive my 6128 says : Drive not ready! Please help!!! I have tried the only logical solution of connecting the READY pin on the computer to the DISKCHG pin on the drive but it seems to have the opposite effect.. When I remove the diskette, it thinks it is inserted, and vice versa..
Amstrad answers: Don't worry about this - the whole sequence for connecting a 3.5" and getting round the "READY" problem is described in the FAQ for the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit newsgroup (link from my CPC page).

Fazekas Zoltan in Petrosani, Romania at 14:4:52 Monday February 22 99
I asked this quesion on e-mail too. I own an Amstrad 9555, with an S3 video card on-board. The IRQ allocated to this video card is 1(by default) and the Windows '95 has serious troubles to access it as SVGA (it uses the card only as standard VGA) because the IRQ 1 is already occupied by the PS 2 keyboard. How can I reallocate one of the two devices to resolve this problem? Is there any other possibility to use the video card as it should work?
Amstrad answers: I used to get this sometimes when installing Win95 on 9555s but it doesn't happen all the time so just reinstall Windows (or if that is too drastic remove the devices from Device Manager and let them be refound on the next Windows boot). Half the time you don't get that IRQ 1 error.

Michael Fitzpatrick in France at 13:31:12 Monday February 22 99
I have a SRD550 Sat rec,We had the electricity cut then a min or so later it resumed,but it has completely locked the unit,when you plug it in all that happens is the Led continually flashes and you cannot access the unit to use,ps I cannot find a reset.
Amstrad answers: Sorry, but for sat questions you need to write to the Satellite Support Dept. at the fax number/address givenm on my "contacts" page.

Bill Calvert in wollongong australia at 22:59:13 Sunday February 21 99
Cliff,a friend gave me a "AMSTRAD PC7486slc80" and it comes up with"CHECKSUM ERROR"which i assume is due to a faulty battery.Question,i have a 3.6 volt external battery so can i just clip off the leads of the old onboard battery and solder the wires from the external battery to the old battery legs or would it be ok to just solder external battery in parralel to the old one ie.leave old one in place?I am not terribly experienced with pc`s.Regards,Bill Calvert
Amstrad answers: The error doesn't necessarily mean the battery has died - only that the checksum on the CMOS contents is not OK so rather than starting to hack it apart I'd try just running setup (Del/F1 at boot up probably) and set the contents right. You may find you don't need a new battery at all.

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