Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga community support ideas => Topic started by: Paul1000 on January 15, 2006, 09:58:44 PM
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Hello,
Iam new to this group and I have a problem with my Amiga 1000, it will not load the workbench disc or any workbench from any program disk. I have owned this since "1984" and have stored it since 1992, is there anyone on this group that can assist me on getting my computer to work again?
I appreciate any help that you can give me. :)
Thanks in advance.
Paul
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Welcome!
The Amiga 1000 must be loaded with a Kickstart first. So you need a special Kickstart disk. After it has loaded, the Amiga asks for the Workbench disk.
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Hi,
Welcome to A.Org!
I presume you haven't forgotten the fact that the A1000 needs to load the Kickstart disk before you attempt to load Workbench?
- Ali
EDIT: D'oh! Beaten to it! :-)
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Thanks for the quick responses! No, I did not forget the sartup disc. When it asks for the workbench it just won't load, so Iam at a lost on what to do next.
Paul
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Are you able to check your Workbench disk in a different Amiga?
- Ali
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Hi,
No, good question! wish I had another but, I do not, I was wondering if there might be a patch disk out there for corrupted files in system, or somthing to anyalize the system for errors?
Thanks,
Paul
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There are a few old 1.3-based disk checking utilities, the most well-known (and most notorious!) being the original Disk Doctor. I'm not sure if the more recent utilities such as DiskSalv work on 1.3, I'm pretty sure they are 2.x onwards only.
But in order to use any such utility, you'll still need to be able to boot at least into a shell via a bootable disk with the required files on it.
And... in order to create such a disk, you'll need some sort of working Amiga environment (or a PC with a Catweasel card)... It's a bit of a catch-22 situation!
Where abouts are you located? Perhaps a friendly Amiga owner near you can help you out with a working 1.3 Workbench disk?
- Ali
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I live in Savage, Minnesota and I do have software games that are preloaded with workbech and it still will not load the workbech utility.
So, if there is someone local, or someone that can send me 1.3 utility disc that can help me I would appreciate it.
Question: since I can not load the workbench after the start up disc, does this mean possibly that the machine is no longer useable? and also, can I send this in to someone to get it working again?
Paul
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It's bizarre that the Kickstart disk loads but Workbench doesn't... At least your floppy drive and the basic hardware would appear to be OK...
Unless there are a couple of subtle read errors on the Kickstart disk that are preventing the machine from going further? Presumably, this disk would have some sort of checksums on it to prevent the Amiga from loading a bad image?
What happens when you boot the Amiga? Presumably, you're seeing the "Kickstart hand", waiting for the KS disk to load, and then seeing the "Workbench hand"?
Once you're at the "Workbench hand" and insert the Workbench disk, is there any activity? Does the A1000 even attempt to load anything?
- Ali
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There is indeed a patched Kickstart called Level42 (Kick1.2), which had a diskcopy Programm patched into Kickstart (leaving out some other suff of kickstart).
Perhaps you find someone with this kickstart. (I can't find mine anymore).
With this kjickstart you can make a copy of the workbenchdisk, which is then written onto a fresh disk.
The benefit of this diskcopy prg is that it tries to read atrack severel times until it gets valid data too write back.
It seems to mee that your drive cannot read anymore cylinder 0, where the bootblock is.
Perhaps blowing air into the drive can help.
There is also a kickstart hack which gives you a cli instead of the wb-handpic, but i don't remember its name (HQC kick???).
Or find someone with the beta kickstart1.4 specially for A1000 (very rare sorry). There you could get into the bootmenu and chose booting without startup-sequence. You will get an complaimng requester about not beeing able to read the wb.disk, but after clicking away the requester you have a cli. Now do the following:
1. Write-Protect your WB-disk.
2. Insert it into df0:
3. enter "df0:c/copy df0:system/format ram:"
4. enter df0:c/copy df0:c/install ram:
5. put a empty (or obsolete) disk into df0:
6. enter ram:format DRIVE df0: NAME Workbench
7. enter ram:install df0: (makes the disk bootable)
8. press ctrl left A right A (softreset)
Now the a1000 should at least boot from your new disk into a cli.
Exchange above "format" (step 3) with the diskcopy command and give it a try:
ram:diskcopy FROM df0: TO df0:
(always writeprotect your important disks)
At last. there is a patched kickstart called "UFO Final Antivirus kick". Give that a try as it can eliminate some bootviruses and install the C= bootcode, BUT don't use this on Original Gamedisks, as it can overwrite the custom bootcode !!!)
I can send you that UFO kickstart via snailmail, but that can take some days.
Markus
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NEVER EVER USE diskdoctor. It won't help. Its just a bunch of badly appended bits and bytes. LAZARUS comes in mind
The problem is to get into a cli (command line interface) without a working workbench. Under OS2.x no problem, but under 1.0 - 1.3 ?
Markus
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Heh! Lazarus indeed! :-)
Disk Doctor is fairly crappy, it has to be said...
Getting into a CLI on 1.x just requires a bootable disk that has been installed with a standard boot block (e.g. "install df0:" from a working Amiga environment). This will then at least allow you to get past the "Workbench hand".
- Ali
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Shure. But how to get into a cli without a working bootblock on any disk is a bit tricky (or a diskdrive not reading the bootblock (cylinder 0))
Markus
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Ok, I found a startup disk 1.3 and workbench 1.3. here was I get after workbench 1.3 loads.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' I get this continually, until I stop it by hitting the enter key, but I am in "DOS" but can't get any further than this screen.
I now get the same screen as mention above with 1.1, 1.2. and also I found out that I can not stop it by hitting the return key, it automatically stops on its own, no matter what key you use to stop it from scrolling.
Paul
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This is why you should keep backups... :-(
I hope you can get in touch with someone that can make you a copy.
Disk repairing software will often make things worse.. One last resort method that worked for me sometimes is to blow on the magnetic disc inside of the floppy, while manually turning the disk wheel around. This has saved me a couple of times when the problem was related to dust or something stuck inside.
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Hmmm... Could be a keyboard-related problem??
What happens if you start the A1000 up and insert the KS and WB disks with the keyboard disconnected?
- Ali
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Ali,
Thank you!!!
I disconected the keyboard and it boots up just fine. Now I guess I have to find a new keyboard, or perhaps I need a new spiral corde?
Thanks much to all of you!!!
Paul - one happy camper!
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Cool! At least that shows the A1000 itself is undamaged!
Good luck with finding a replacement keyboard... but I think you'll have a difficult job getting one. The A1000's keyboard connector isn't used on any other Amiga (the A2000/A3000 use DIN plugs and the A4000 uses a PS/2-style plug).
It might be worth undoing the keyboard's screws and seeing if anything small has worked its way into the keys themselves... Look around the "ESC" / "`" / "TAB" and "1" area and check underneath everything. If you're lucky, it might just be that something's forcing the "`" key to make a contact continuously...
- Ali
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I disconected the keyboard and it boots up just fine. Now I guess I have to find a new keyboard, or perhaps I need a new spiral corde?
hmm... Have you spilled something on it as of lately?? Could be something simple as a shortcut in one of the keys, which makes it act like one of the keys were stuck.
In any case, open it up and clean it.
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Ali and everyone,
I cleaned my keyboard throghly and it now works. I am glad I found this forum. thank you.
Paul
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Good luck with finding a replacement keyboard... but I think you'll have a difficult job getting one. The A1000's keyboard connector isn't used on any other Amiga (the A2000/A3000 use DIN plugs and the A4000 uses a PS/2-style plug).
I actually have an extra A1000 keyboard and cable that I was going to list on ebay! It is very clean and works 100%, pmail me if anyone wants to buy it!
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Paul1000 wrote:
I cleaned my keyboard throghly and it now works.
Excellent news!
And stay on the forums! There's always plenty of classic Amiga discussions on here...
- Ali
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I am very happy to hear that it is alright :-)
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Wayne,
Thanks but mine is working fine.
Thank you,
Paul