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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: _ThEcRoW on October 24, 2013, 02:50:36 PM

Title: A1200 floppy controller broken/Will a catweasel in clockport work?
Post by: _ThEcRoW on October 24, 2013, 02:50:36 PM
Hello guys. I have a a1200 in original desktop case and it has a nos working floppy controller. Could a catweasel (the clockport model) allow me to put a floppy again on it?. And in case it works, will work only under workbench or also could boot ndos disks as a df0 drive?
Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: A1200 floppy controller broken/Will a catweasel in clockport work?
Post by: spirantho on October 24, 2013, 05:56:16 PM
Sorry, the Catweasel only runs under Workbench,  NDOS disks won't work as Kickstart doesn't know about the Catweasel.

Can you not just get it repaired? Probably cheaper (I repair them for 50 GBP for what it's worth).....
Title: Re: A1200 floppy controller broken/Will a catweasel in clockport work?
Post by: nicholas on October 24, 2013, 06:40:04 PM
Another option is to use a PCI Catweasel in a PC and copy all your floppies to ADF's, then use a HxC floppy emulator in the A1200 with all your ADF's on a single sdcard.

Or just skip the Catweasel step and download ADF's of all your existing games from the net and put them on the HxC's sdcard.

It's not illegal as you already own legitimate copies of the original disks. :)

http://lotharek.pl
Title: Re: A1200 floppy controller broken/Will a catweasel in clockport work?
Post by: psxphill on October 24, 2013, 10:00:37 PM
Quote from: _ThEcRoW;751010
Hello guys. I have a a1200 in original desktop case and it has a nos working floppy controller.

I assume you mean "non working" floppy controller. Getting a new motherboard is the easiest fix. It's either going to be paula or cia that is blown.
Title: Re: A1200 floppy controller broken/Will a catweasel in clockport work?
Post by: EDanaII on October 24, 2013, 10:12:20 PM
I believe AmigaKit has floppy drives available (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=106). I bought one from them a long time ago, and other than the button breaking, it works just fine.

Two cents....
Title: Re: A1200 floppy controller broken/Will a catweasel in clockport work?
Post by: spirantho on October 24, 2013, 10:17:54 PM
@_TheCrow

What is it that's actually wrong with it? Are you sure your PSU is good and providing 12V correctly? Have you tested with another floppy drive? What happens when you connect an external floppy drive (especially one with external power if you have one)?

There's a bunch of capacitors on the floppy port - I've seen these go kablooie and short circuit before now (I'm talking about the ceramics, not the electrolytics here - but those should be changed as a matter of course).

If you can tell use the symptoms, perhaps we can get it running again - but it's fairly unlikely to be the controller because the controller is pretty fundamental to the rest of the system (which I presume works ok!)
Title: Re: A1200 floppy controller broken/Will a catweasel in clockport work?
Post by: _ThEcRoW on October 26, 2013, 02:56:40 PM
Thanks to all for the replies. The mobo runs ok except the floppy drive, and the mouse port. I'm using at the moment a joystick extender in order to get two ports on the joystick port and allowing me the use of a mouse with the setmport utility. The psu is ok, i'ts an at pc generic one and is delivering the correct values. I suspect the controller was broken because the port failure and the problem with the drive. Also it's interesting that i have an external amiga drive and it doesn't get recognized as well. Seems that i need to find another mobo, but recently searching for a 1200 board at good price has been difficult.
Title: Re: A1200 floppy controller broken/Will a catweasel in clockport work?
Post by: danbeaver on October 26, 2013, 04:32:30 PM
That sounds like CIA issue -- blown. Opt for a replacement MB or someone to replace the SMD CIA.  

An HxC uses the floppy controller and won't work. A Catweasel MK2 is just as expensive as a proper repair and can't be used to boot.