Amiga 500 won't boot - Can I boot from DF1?

[bill2reg]

I have an Amiga 500 that's been sitting in storage for years. I thought I'd hook it up to see what happens. I have the 512K ram option and an external floppy. It powered up OK as did the monitor but it won't boot. The bootscreen shows up, but when I insert the disk, nothing happens. I'm guessing DF0 is bad. Is there a way to boot from DF1 (external)?

[TomJ]

If I remember right it will depend on your ROM if it is 1.3 I don't think it will boot, but if it was upgraded it should.

[danbeaver]

I have an Amiga 500 that's been sitting in storage for years. I thought I'd hook it up to see what happens. I have the 512K ram option and an external floppy. It powered up OK as did the monitor but it won't boot. The bootscreen shows up, but when I insert the disk, nothing happens. I'm guessing DF0 is bad. Is there a way to boot from DF1 (external)?

Yes if you are using 3.1 ROMs; select DF1: as the boot drive.  For 1.3, mechanically replace DF0: with DF1:

AmigaKit has FFD's for this purpose, although A500 internal drives (same as DD A3000's) are very cheap.

[bill2reg]

I have never upgraded the ROM, so it must be 1.3. Is it difficult to remove the internal floppy and replace it? I have no idea what the components look like.

[AmigaBruno]

I have never upgraded the ROM, so it must be 1.3. Is it difficult to remove the internal floppy and replace it? I have no idea what the components look like.

If it's 1.3 that should be obvious from the boot screen with a white background and a hand holding a floppy disk with the number 1.3 written on it! A later version would have a purple background and an animation of a disk inserting itself into a floppy drive. If you can't see this, then you have to find out if it's because of the TV/monitor you're using or if the Amiga video display itself has blown out. How is your A500 connected and to what kind of display?

I think the easiest things to do are as follows.

1. Install an external switch to allow df1: to be made bootable. I don't know if these switches are still available, though. They were originally sold by mail order companies not long after Kickstart 2.0 came out.  

2. Replace the Kickstart 1.3 ROM with a later ROM.

To find out what the components look like, do some searches on YouTube.

[bill2reg]

It is 1.3. I wanted to know if it's difficult to remove the internal drive and then take the external drive out of it's housing and install it as the internal drive.

[Astral]

It is 1.3. I wanted to know if it's difficult to remove the internal drive and then take the external drive out of it's housing and install it as the internal drive.

You may be able to. It depends on what the drive is in the external housing.

Difficult? I think it's p&^s easy. But everyone is different. I suggest that even if you're half handy with a screwdriver, give it a go by opening both to compare how similar they are. Electrically they are very very likely to be interchangeable. Mechnically might be a different story.

I understand that you have your own approach that you want to try. Might be an idea to consider...when you say "when I insert the disk, nothing happens."...does the screen whiten at all and then go back to the disk holding picture? Or does the disk holding picture stay constantly on the screen? It could just be a faulty disk detect switch that you might be able to get going with just a clean. Does the floppy drive light come on at all? Also it could be that the disk is not going all the way in, and hence the drive doesn't detect the disk.............just something to consider.

Good luck!