#A-Max startup
21 messages in this thread
Help! Could some A-Max user help me out? I got A-Max up to the point where
the mac screen opens with the sad face waiting for the system disk. When I
insert the only Mac software I have, I get zilch. The software is Comic
Strip Factory. Should the mac fire up with this, or do I need some system
disks? The drive never even seems to look at the disk to see what it is.
Does that sound right?
After all this baloney and the money for A-Max, Mac drive, etc., I think
I'll just buy the real thing. Really!
fmax will require Mac system software. Jsut like Amiga software, some
programs come with the system software on the disk (like a bootable Amiga
disk) and some don't. Try borrowing a MAC program disk from a friend who
knows that the Mac system software is included, and see iff that works.
– Whapping from the North Coast Michael
Be patient withit… Once you get your system disk on your HD, AMAX will be
exactly the same thing as Mac Classic. Its quite a nice thing really..
Even if you had really thing, it won't smile unless you have a system.
THANX
– via Whap!
Thanks Jack, I am getting frustrated. Even if I saw the Mac drive led light
up to give me confidence that it was trying would bolster my spirits. I
will try to get that System disk and eventually get it going. I have no
patience.
I am using a Cutting Edge drive and have plugged it into both the
ext. port of 500 and pass-thru of Amiga drive (CA-880) and am wondering if
the drive even works since it hasn't seemed to look at any disk yet. But I
will hang in there.
After visiting two Apple dealers to see about buying an LC, one
(computerland) told me they were too busy and I should make an appointment
and the other advertised that they were open but were closed.
They seem to run a close second to Amiga dealers. Both Amiga dealers
in my area have closed, I think the nearest is about 100 miles away.
Thanks for the help!
Roger
Roger, I tried a Cutting Edge drive with my AMAX II and found I couldn't
get the drive to work. I finally gave up and got the more expensive Apple
800k drive which worked fine.
George Brown
Cutting Edge works for me.
Curios! The Cutting Edge drive I tried wouldn't work. Maybe I just had a
bad drive.
George
Thanks, George. I thought I had read that other A-Max users had sucessfully
used Cutting Edge. Perhaps I was wrong.
Roger, apparently some people have had no problems using the Cutting Edge
drive. But I had the same problem as you. I just couldn't get the Cutting
Edge drive to work so I switched to an Apple drive.
George
Cutting Edge works just fine for me also!
Tim
I've been using a Cutting Edge drive since I got my original AMAX and have
not had a problem with it. Of course, I got it from an Amiga dealer nearby
that I was quite happy with, since they test stuff they sell and take it
back or fix it if it doesn't work they way they say it will. [the usual
disclaimers if they aren't familiar with your setup or you do something
truly WEIRD <but no Amiga user would ever do that, would they??? 🙂 >].
Maybe the Cutting Edge drives these days don't match up to the ones from a
couple of years ago.
Mike
Roger,
A friend of mine had the exact same problem. Amax would not see his MAC
drive (it was a Fujistu (sp?) drive), but would boot normally if the system
software were on an Amax formated disk in one of the Ami drives. You can
try this if you have a friend who also has Amax and will put the system
software on an Amax formated disk. He even returned both the Amax unit and
the drive to have them checked out. They found nothing wrong! It almost
drove him crazy! We finally discovered the problem! On his 2000 (and on
some 1000's and a 500 we tested. There was no power on one of the diskdrive
port pins that was supposed to carry 5v. When this was repaired all worked
fine!If I remember correctly it was pin 23, but don't bet your computer's
life on it. You might want to have the disk drive port checked by your
dealer. That might solve all your problems!
-Paul-
Thanks Paul. This thing is a Fujitsu. I took it apart hoping I could find
some obvious fault. I think the drive is probably the problem. The drive
makes one faint clunk, but that is all. Hopefully I'll get it going before
I buy a real Mac.
Evidently the Fujitsu drive requires 5v on pin 23, while others like the
Apple drives do not? I borrowed my friends Amax and Fijitsu drive and it
did not work on my 2000! I am going to try it out with an Apple drive and
see what happens.
-Paul-
You might see if you can find a Mac owner who'll let you test that Cutting
Edge drive on a Mac. (Or another Amax owner for that matter.) At the store,
we had 3 bad ones in a row. THey all had Fujitsu machanisms, but I don't
know if that's significant.
Thanks Jim. This thing is a Fujitsu. And probably the problem.
FYI, at least for a long while, Fujitsu was the only company other than
Apple making Mac Drives (since they vary rotation speed depending on the
track position they can't use just ANY drive).
I don't know if the drive situation has changed or not in the last year.
But as of a year ago, unless you bought a Genuine Apple Mac drive, (and I
don't know what they use), any clone Mac Drive you bought had a Fujitsu
mechanism in it.
Thanks for the information. I only brought up the drive mechanism, because
the drives that were DOA for us were all Fujitsu. The drives themselves
looked quite different than the last Cutting Edge drive we saw. Perhaps
they changed the design. I never had occasion to check the old drive for
the mechanism's maker, it may well have been Fujitsu as well. (I liked the
650 meg Fujitsu HD I installed for a guy…)
If the Comic Strip Factory doesn't have a valid system folder/file on it,
then yes you need a system disk to boot from. I've read that System 6.0.5
is the latest version that works well with AMAX.
Don't give up on it yet, I just got mine and I really like its capabilities
for the price I paid.
Allan
Thanks Allan. I haven't quite given up yet, but am close. I'll try a few
more things, but am close to just buying that LC outright.
Thanks for the help.
Roger