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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: r_welfare on October 30, 2005, 11:50:21 AM

Title: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: r_welfare on October 30, 2005, 11:50:21 AM

Hi all

I've picked up an A1200 at a garage sale (another one...!).  This one is nice as it has it's original box and polys.

However, I can't get any picture from it (using an aerial cable from the RF modulator to the TV).  I tell a lie - somehow for a few seconds I got a really fuzzy picture of Workbench, but I haven't been able to replicate it since...

I'm assuming that the modulator has had it.  Can these things be fixed, or is it easier/cheaper to get a 'new' motherboard from eBay?

Secondly, when I got this fuzzy screen display, it was telling me that the 'fixed disk has source error 3457' (or similar number).  When I took it apart, lo and behold a hard disk! I wasn't expecting one. Are they easy to format? (Never had an Amiga 1200 with a hard disk before).

Any help gratefully received!

Many thanks
Richard

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: bludger on October 30, 2005, 11:56:34 AM

You really are making life difficult for yourself still using a television.

I recently found a 1084s  monitor at the local tip shop (recycling centre) for about US$5.

And a friend gave me a Phillips CM8833 that came with an A500 he got for $3 at a weekend market.

You've just got to look around for these things.

 :-P

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: r_welfare on October 30, 2005, 03:55:51 PM

Good idea, but I'm tight for space so it has to use the TV rather than the monitor!

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: Homer on October 30, 2005, 07:00:04 PM

According to previous discussions you could use an A520 modulator from an A500 to give a TV output from your A1200. Good luck :-)

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: BadBigBen on October 30, 2005, 08:41:34 PM

The A1200 has a composite output (the Yellow RCA jack)...

see if your TV has a Composite input...


as for the HD... it would depend, first of all you would need a WB Disk (FD) from which you could run a number of tools, to validate the HD, or totally reformat and reinstall the WB on...

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: r_welfare on October 30, 2005, 09:18:30 PM

Well, I decided on a whim to take out the hard disk.  Oddly enough, with the hard disk unplugged the computer works! But plugging it back in stops it from booting or even generating any kind of picture.  The HD light is permanently on, and the HD makes intermittent whirring noises.

The HD is a Toshiba item of indeterminate age.  I'm thinking of junking it unless anyone knows a really simple solution to the problem?

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: Cyberus on October 30, 2005, 10:02:12 PM

well, you could get the model number of the drive and find out its size, but to be honets, a drive shipped with an A1200 vack then is likely today to be a noisy unreliable drive, of no more than about 210mb

i.e. junking it wouldn't be travesty

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: Amiga4k on October 31, 2005, 12:25:46 AM

If you have the complete set of AmigaDOS disks, why not re-install. A hard drive "error" is preventing the boot. It's a simple task to verify the hard disk and correct the data blocks, then re-install the AmigaDOS.

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: BadBigBen on October 31, 2005, 10:12:32 AM

Toss the HD... no big loss...

where are you located at in the World? I've got a few spares (340mb) HD's, that I would be willing to give you one...

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: BenShep on October 31, 2005, 12:52:16 PM

Before you toss the HD.. it could also be a dodgy cable.

Title: Re: A1200 - no picture and duff HD?
Post by: r_welfare on October 31, 2005, 03:47:33 PM

Thanks everyone for the advice.  I think I will leave it without the hard drive at the moment.

Richard