Expert: Gregory Donner - 10/21/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
     I have had an amiga 1200 ( Desktop dynamite edition )which I know had a hard drive. I have not used it for some time but recently got it out to entertain my 12 yr old son who had never really seen it work. The machine works quite happily with the DFO drive but the DHO drive appears to have disappeared. It will not boot up without workbench 3 being inserted. However it then asks for D Opus which was something I remember loading a long time ago ( but not sure why) It then opens that window. I have a fast prep disk but it wont work..not that I know what it is supposed to do. I have all the disks that came with it can someone help me get my amiga hard drive back on line. I would guess that the machine is at least 15 years old. Thanks in advance  and if anyone is interested my son loved the pin ball game which worked quite happily on my machine

ANSWER: Hi Derek,

Once you've booted using the Workbench 3 disk, what happens if you type "DH0:" or "HD0:" (without the quotes) and press return? If all you get is an error, then the hard drive is definitely not accessible at the Shell level. I'm not sure why DOpus is popping up, but it sounds like a previous installation is calling it from the Startup-sequence.

If you have an Amiga Install 3.0 diskette, and you're not worried about keeping anything on the hard drive, you could try reinstalling Workbench on it by booting up from the 3.0 Install disk--with the hopes that the process will find your hard drive. If you don't have a 3.0 Install diskette, you should be able to get one from either amigakit.com, or softhut.com.

It's also possible that your hard drive has 'kicked the bucket', but it's well worth trying some of these other options before pursuing a repair shop or buying another used A1200.

I hope this helps!

Greg

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thankyou for that....when do i type in DHO  do I type it in after I have opened the shell...I am afraid I am very rusty as to the function of this machine   spoiled by PCs

Answer
Hi Derek,

Just type in "DH0:" (without the quotes) and press return--or, if that doesn't work, "HD0:" (note that those are zeroes, not the letter "O").

One of these should work if the hard drive is still alive and accessible. However, it's possible that because of the sheer amount of time that's passed, that it's no longer functional...that's not unusual for computer hardware, which tends to have a limited life-span; especially when you're talking 10 or more years.

I hope this helps!

Greg