Amiga 1200 Problems

English Invader · Post by **English Invader** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:36 pm

I've just bought an Amiga 1200 and discovered that neither the hard drive or the floppy disk drive work -- all I get is the purple disk screen. Anyone have an idea of what the problem might be and how it can be resolved?

I've posted on Lemon Amiga and Amiga.org and no one's got back to me yet, so I thought I'd try my luck here.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:23 am

Have you opened it to check that connectors are seated? I know as much as the hard disk won't work until it is partitioned and formatted. The devices DH0, DH1 etc don't even show up when you hold both mouse buttons down (Early Startup) unless the disk is prepared. It annoyed me slightly a few weeks ago when I installed a 256 MB CF card into an IDE adapter.

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:49 am

English Invader wrote:I've just bought an Amiga 1200 and discovered that neither the hard drive or the floppy disk drive work -- all I get is the purple disk screen.

Purple ? Amiga 600 ? OS 2.04 ?

Try to open it and remove the Hard-disk then check if the Floppy-drive works with a workbench floppy disk.

Good luck

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:34 am

nbla000 wrote: Purple ? Amiga 600 ? OS 2.04 ?

Isn't the "insert a disk" screen of the A1200 and A600 of the same color?

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:49 am

Boray wrote:Isn't the "insert a disk" screen of the A1200 and A600 of the same color?

Yes, you are right, it change just the Kickstart number version.

Since I use my Amiga1200 with 4GB HD and the Blizzard 1230-IV+192MB of ram, normally I don't see this screen on boot

English Invader · Post by **English Invader** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:19 am

Thanks for your help, guys. As it turns out, my A1200 doesn't have a hard drive; I just took the words hard disk to mean hard drive. Tone007 thinks my floppy drive just needs a clean with either a disk cleaner or a q tip and isopropyl alcohol. This appears to be confirmed by the seller who said he got the drive to work by blowing into it.

On the plus side, though, it's in great cosmetic condition -- no yellowing whatsoever. I now have three Amigas -- two A600s (one with a 3.0 upgrade) and an A1200 for those desperate times when I need a numeric keypad.

If you haven't already discovered them, I highly recommend Zool 2, Easy AMOS and Ultimate Soccer Manager.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:30 am

So, do you have anything at all connected to the IDE interface?

English Invader · Post by **English Invader** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:28 am

I tried to open it up, but I got in a bit of a tangle. Fortunately, I managed to put it back together without causing any serious damage (although I must have misaligned the casing somewhere because there are three screws left over that I was unable to fit back in).

What's the best way to approach opening an Amiga? Should you remove the top or the bottom part first? I tried to open from the top but was obstructed by the disk drive button.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:45 pm

You just have to take the top off.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:06 am

I think there are five screws you must release. There is one screw that you must not remove as it keeps the motherboard in place. It can be hard to know if you never did it before, but once you've figured it out you can make a note. I've written "NO" with a pencil on the bottom of my Amiga 1200 to remember which screw does not need to be removed.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:00 pm

nbla000 wrote:Since I use my Amiga1200 with 4GB HD and the Blizzard 1230-IV+192MB of ram, normally I don't see this screen on boot

192MB? You have the SCSI adaptor connected to your Blizzard?

English Invader wrote:As it turns out, my A1200 doesn't have a hard drive; I just took the words hard disk to mean hard drive.

A reasonable assumption. You really should add a hard disk substitute to your 1200. An IDE to CF or SD card adaptor will run you a few quid, the cable costs about the same and you can probably find a few memory cards under the cushions on your settee.

Seriously, it's a a small expenditure that makes using the Amiga much nicer. Then you can look for an accelerator with RAM and explore the wonderful world of WHDLoad. Last but not least, the best and most active Amiga forum is the English Amiga Board. Hope to see you there.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:29 pm

Actually I have found decent sized CF memory cards cost more than the CF-IDE adaptors. I recently installed one into my second 1200. I chose a model with female connector so it could be plugged directly into the motherboard without a cable. However it required me to do some cutting in the metal shield to fit the CF adapter.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:57 pm

carlsson wrote:I chose a model with female connector so it could be plugged directly into the motherboard without a cable.

Does it stand vertically or is the connector on the bottom? I'm having trouble picturing this so a link to an image of the device would be appreciated. Worth noting is that using such an adaptor may (and most likely would) conflict with an Indivision 1200 which I consider to be the Mega-Cart of the 1200 (in that it is a must have item).

More than any of my other Commodores, my Amiga 1200 has turned into a hot rod/money pit. I added a Blizzard 060, a SCSI adaptor, 256MB of RAM, an SSD, an Indivision, a CDTV keyboard, ethernet and I have this feeling I'm going to be adding USB one of these days. When all is said and done I'm probably into this thing for more than $1000 USD. I feel ill just thinking about it.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:42 pm

Some pictures:

Yes, I know it would conflict with Indivision 1200, but since I don't own that one it doesn't matter for the moment being. Actually a fellow on another forum has an Indivision for sale, starting price about $65. So far I'm mostly happy with my native graphic modes displayed on a 1084 or even a SCART TV if it is a matter of gaming - 640x256 workbench doesn't look so good via SCART.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:58 pm

Ah, I see what you meant. My original plan was quite similar. I was going to use a Transcend horizontal 44-pin IDE flash module but I was worried (with good reason, in retrospect) about the space conflict with the Indivision. They also make a vertical model which looked like it would fit but in the end I went with a SanDisk CF card on the end of a cable. Then I got a Blizzard SCSI adaptor and things got a whole lot more complicated. (If we had an emoticon of a smiley face shooting itself with a gun I'd have used it here.)

I'm a little surprised that you're using a 256MB CF card. I've got 8GB in mine and I feel constrained. I'm actually entertaining the idea of buying a 32GB. Like I said, "money pit".

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