help please

[sargeantinio]

hi all
i recently obtained an amiga 1200 from a friend this machine has been stored for aprox 10 years when i try inserting a disk into the floppy drive it flashes floppy light for aprox 5 seconds then just returns to insert disk screen i have tried cleaning floppy drive but still same please be specific with your solutions as i am not too familiar with this system
thanks :angry:

[gertsy]

hi all
i recently obtained an amiga 1200 from a friend this machine has been stored for aprox 10 years when i try inserting a disk into the floppy drive it flashes floppy light for aprox 5 seconds then just returns to insert disk screen i have tried cleaning floppy drive but still same please be specific with your solutions as i am not too familiar with this system
thanks :angry:

To be specific; what diskette do you insert in the floppy drive?  I guess it is an amiga diskette?

Simply the diskette is bad, or not a bootable amiga diskette, or the floppy drive is bad.

[sargeantinio]

ok i have tried a disk that i know to work so the disk is not the problem i read somewhere about a software problem but as i say im clueless so need help

[J-Golden]

Humor me:

What disk are you trying to use?  I know you said that it SHOULD work, but if your are new to the Amiga, there are good disks and there are good BOOTABLE disks.

Also, if your trying to boot a NTSC program on a PAL machine (and the other way around), you can get the same out come.

Confused yet?

Don't worry, we'll do our best to get you up and running.

Just give us a run down of what you are using and what you've got.  And if you don't mind, maybe a bit more information on the A1200 you got from you friend (ask him)...

[sargeantinio]

ok lol yes im confused however a friend of mine has let me try his floppy drive in my machine and it works so the drive must be dead so i need a new 1 anyone know where to obtain a cheap replacement im only really gonna use this for gaming cheers

[smerf]

hi all
i recently obtained an amiga 1200 from a friend this machine has been stored for aprox 10 years when i try inserting a disk into the floppy drive it flashes floppy light for aprox 5 seconds then just returns to insert disk screen i have tried cleaning floppy drive but still same please be specific with your solutions as i am not too familiar with this system
thanks :angry:

If it is a disk from a PC it won't work, Amiga uses a different format, if it is an Amiga disk, but is not set up for being bootable, the Amiga is looking for a bootable program disk, then it may use the unbootable Amiga format disk for a data disk. Do you have a copy of Workbench there, try it. It should boot and come up to the workbench screen

[smerf]

ok lol yes im confused however a friend of mine has let me try his floppy drive in my machine and it works so the drive must be dead so i need a new 1 anyone know where to obtain a cheap replacement im only really gonna use this for gaming cheers

Type in  http://www.amigakit.com on a PC, they should have one.

[sargeantinio]

well i have been using amiga disks i have a new drive in now but it still seems temperamental and if it doesnt load properly ie it finds aread error if i then quit the power light flashes and i have to turn it off at mains before it will respond i had an amiga 600 years ago dont remember this happening with that any ideas?

[rvo_nl]

again, let us know what you are trying to load, otherwise there is no way of telling you what is wrong. do you see the 'insert disk' screen at all when you power on without a disk inserted?

[sargeantinio]

ok so the disks i am using are games ie sesible soccer champ manager and say on champ manager it is saying the disk is write protected when it isnt and then it will flash and crash and i have to turn it off at mains before it will respond

[Zac67]

As it seems, the punctuation keys on the keyboard you're using are broken as well.
*SCNR*

[J-Golden]

Okay, I'm sorry if I sound rude, but you really need to use some better grammar. I really want to help but your string of words becomes rather confusing.

If you could maybe slow down a bit and give clearer examples/descriptions of what is happening we can help you better. Trust me; we want to help. So help us help you...

I'm going to try to break up what you've already posted into their respective thoughts but please let me know if it wrong.

Ok, so the disks I am using are games; IE sensible soccer, champ manager, etc.  On champ manager it is saying the disk is write protected when it isn’t and then it will flash and crash.

[/FONT][/COLOR]

What happens here?  Please describe the "Flash and Crash" (F&C from here on out because I'm lazy )  For Amigas, they use several types of visuals to help the user understand the error.

If the F&C is a solid or blinking color over the whole monitor, what is it?  Each color actually means something different so that could help us out.

If you get a black screen with red text at the top surrounded by a blinking double-red line it is What's known as a GURU MEDITION (GM).  GMs are comparable to the Windows "BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH" and it gives some data in a code.

I have to turn it off at mains before it will respond.

[/FONT][/COLOR]

Before you try turning off the power next time, press and release these three keys at the same time: CTRL + LEFT "A"miga key + Right "A"miga key.  The "A"miga keys are the big "A"s down by the space bar.  This is comparable to CTRL+ALT+DELETE on a PC and will attempt to soft reset the Amiga.

[sargeantinio]

lol ok i am aware of my lazy grammer
 
the screen tends to flash all red then all black, and then even when i press ctrl and the amiga keys it doesnt return to the purple screen,
and the power light on the machine itself pulsates,it only goes back to the purple screen with the disk going into the drive if i turn the power mains off:laughing:

[TheGoose]

lol ok i am aware of my lazy grammer
 
the screen tends to flash all red then all black, and then even when i press ctrl and the amiga keys it doesnt return to the purple screen,
and the power light on the machine itself pulsates,it only goes back to the purple screen with the disk going into the drive if i turn the power mains off:laughing:

Well, I can tell you after reading through this your problem sounds a lot less to do with a floppy, or a floppy drive. It may be closer to a flaky power situation.

Have you opened it? 10 years of no activity is not good for Amigas. The good ones are ones that are used from time to time; "charged up" for a lack of a more scientific explanation.

I would take it apart, blow it out with compressed air (canned air).
Pull out and re-seat the ROMs. Check the power with a multi-meter and check the power cable and floppy cable are connected well.

And how does the machine behave with no floppy in the drive and powered on? What are the LEDs doing?

[sargeantinio]

thanks i will try to clean it out
when the floppy drive is inactive there seems to be no problems.
the power light is just constant seems ok