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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: HolySamosa on November 19, 2014, 05:28:42 AM

Title: WB 1.3 fails when inserting new floppy
Post by: HolySamosa on November 19, 2014, 05:28:42 AM
Hi guys.

Amiga 2000, WB 1.3, no hard disk yet.

Intermittently yet consistently, Workbench starts to misbehave after changing the current floppy in DF0.   The floppy icon for the newly inserted disk doesn't appear.  All disk icons will stop responding and while I can move windows, the contents of the window disappear.   Mouse and keyboard continue to work.  Can type commands in a Shell window, but a "dir" command will freeze.  

Tried swapping CIA chip positions, but no dice.

Suggestions would be most welcome.  Thanks!
Title: Re: WB 1.3 fails when inserting new floppy
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on November 19, 2014, 05:37:51 AM
Have you cleaned the drive?  Checked the disk insertion sensor?  Checked the cables?  Do you have any other disks you can try with it?  If you boot a game disk, does it load and play successfully?  Replacement drives are pretty cheap and can still be bought new AFAIK.

If it's nothing to do with the drive I almost wonder if it's bad memory... something is making me wonder that, maybe haven't had enough coffee yet today.  Have you removed any/all expansion boards and seen if that makes any difference?
Title: Re: WB 1.3 fails when inserting new floppy
Post by: HolySamosa on November 19, 2014, 03:40:59 PM
Hi Mike!

I forgot to mention that I did clean the heads and also tried a floppy drive from another system.

Wondered about the RAM myself.  I haven't tried it yet without the RAM expansion board but I will do and report back.

I'm still short on bootable disks, but I did get Amiga Explorer up and running and have made one demo floppy which does boot but locks up on disk access about half-way though.  The disk had a bad CRC when I made it, so it's not a good test.

Cheers,
Jeremy
Title: Re: WB 1.3 fails when inserting new floppy
Post by: HolySamosa on November 20, 2014, 03:23:16 PM
Mike, you nailed it-- the RAM expansion card seems to be the source of the trouble.  Pulled it and so far no more problems-- well, no more of THAT problem anyway. Next up, SCSI...
Title: Re: WB 1.3 fails when inserting new floppy
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on November 20, 2014, 04:22:56 PM
Great!  Well, not great, because RAM cards are expensive, but glad you found the source of your problem.  You might want to look at replacing it with an accelerator that includes RAM, or if it has removable chips try to narrow down to the specific chip, or something like a Kipper2K ram expansion (i.e., new hardware instead of something 20 years old), or a hard drive controller that contains RAM expansion...  Cheers!