Common Questions

These pages generate quite a lot of email traffic for me and more often than not it is the same questions that come up so here are some of the main ones together with my stock answers:

Where can I get spare parts and replacement manuals?

It's all explained here.

How do I access the ALT setup program?

Ctrl-Alt-S at the C:\> prompt.

How do I transfer data from PCW 3" disks to a PC

It's all explained here.

Where can I get a boot/startup disk for PCxxxx?

For old PC models there is a chance that you may be able to get a machine specific boot disk from www.cpc.co.uk but, like me, they may no longer have master copies for some of the really old machines.

However all is not lost - all Amstrad's PCs are IBM PC compatible and as such you can use any version of MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR-DOS or whatever weird and wonderful IBM PC compatible operating system you like. The only proviso is that for the machines that have 5.25" disks you MUST use a 360K copy, 1.2MB disks will not work. Similarly for the early (i.e. 8086) machines we produced with 3.5" drives (such as 2086, PPC512, PPC640, PC200, etc.) you must get DOS on 720K disks as 1.44MB disks cannot be read in those machines.

ONLY for AT machines (i.e. non 8086 computers) you will probably then need a CMOS setup program. You do not need a setup program for PC1512/1640/2086/etc. For the later AT machines the setup program is built into the BIOS and usually accessed either with Ctrl-Alt-S at the DOS prompt or [Del] during boot up. For the really old AT machines (2286/2386/etc.) you need a copy of setup.exe.

Where can I get printer ribbons for DMP/LQ printers?

Just click here to find out.

Where can I get an Amstrad monitor driver for Windows 95?

Just click here to find out.

Where can I get Windows drivers for DMP/LQ printers?

Just click here to find out. The bottom line is you just use an "Epson" one because the printers are Epson compatible.

How can I upgrade my ALT (memory, HD, CPU)?

Just click here to find out. The bottom line is that 4MB is the MAXIMUM memory for an ALT.

Alternative ways to get questions answered

In addition to the questions/answers above I also have an open Questions/Answers page which you can get to by clicking here. You can use it to ask other questions or you may find that someone has already asked what you wanted to know already. If you'd prefer to email me personally then click here.

This page is very new, more questions will be added here as and when I get a chance.

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