Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    
    
    	Any authorized AMIGA repair person should be happy to look at your
    system.  They will get payed by commodore.
    
    		Steve Peters
    

    
    By the sounds of it - it most probably is one of your CIA Chips (65??)
    
    There easy to find - 40pin and the other chip which there are two of.
    Because of this it is easy to fault find - Swap the two chips over. If
    you get a different fault or the fault goes away then you have a faulty
    CIA.
    
    Shaun.
    

    re -.1
    
    I second the suggestion.  I had exactly the same problem with my
    external 3.5".  I suspected one of the CIA chips, (can't remember which
    one but you can check the prints in your owners manual).  I swapped the
    2 chips and the problems followed the chip.  Replaced the CIA chip and
    my problems were solved.   Of course, if it is still under warranty,
    take it to an authorised dealer.
    
    Ken

    re .2 and .3
    
    DON'T DO THIS UNLESS YOUR WARRANTY HAS EXPIRED!!!!
    
    
    Greg

    Greg,
    
    I've just come back from Reading, after two official Commodore dealers:
    
    You have bought your Amiga in France get if fixed in France. 
    
    I asked Commodore's phone number in the UK and France.
    UK passed me onto their repair place who said that the warranty was
    void as I had brought the computer from France.
    
    Phone Commodore France you have to see the dealer where you bought the
    Amiga.
    
    Great level of after sales..... Any similar experience, any suggestion.
    
    I don't really want to pay ��� to send my amiga back to France if I can
    do otherwise.
    
    Patrick "really miserable today.."

Patrick,

I'm only guessing at this but I think they are wrong!!

The whole idea of buying from an AUTHORIZED dealer is that any other authorized 
dealer can fix the machine for you

I just went through this for a new video I was buying, I paid a bit
more than the cheapest price available so that I could take it back anywhere.

Ring Commodore UK back and ask them about this. Give them some of the
old "this is disgusting service, I'll seriously consider never buying
another Commodore product etc etc"


Greg

    Greg,
    
    I wrote to Commodore and the answer is well you wanted for the 22nd
    sorry too late our technical department only receiced the machines
    until the 7th. My letter was sent on the 10th and only got to who it
    was on the 13th. They suggested all this over the phone to get it 
    fixed in France.
    
    Very professional.........
    
    Patrick "not impressed at all".
    
    P.S. I'll let you know when its fixed what it was. Thanks for your
    advices and suggestions.

    I noticed in your description that you just got a new printer.  I had
    exactly these symptoms when I first connected my printer to my system. 
    It turns out it had nothing to do with my disk drive or my printer.  It
    was a problem with the printer cable.  The A500 has a "non-standard"
    parallel port in that one of the pins provides power; this is useful
    for some low power devices that can take advantage of it to avoid a
    need for their own power supplies.  It is bad news for standard
    devices, some of which connect that pin to ground.  Many users killed
    there A1000s with bad cables, so Commodore put a current limiter on the
    A500 and A2000.  But the A500 has an anemic power supply and can't
    function properly when maximum power is drawn off the serial or
    parallel ports.  I would guess that all sorts of malfunctions are
    possible when voltages drop, but the one I saw was DF1: BAD on any disk
    I tried.
    
    So try disconnecting your printer and see if that helps.  If it does,
    chances are you need to cut a wire inside your connector.
    
    Good luck.