Amstrad suddenly wont load games fully :o any ideas?

Started by mark25810, 18:51, 19 May 22

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mark25810

Hi there so i received 2 games in the post the other day and came to try them and they were not working, 1 either stayed on the Amstrad main screen loading till tape ran out..not even showing the games name at the loading section. or it came up error b

and the other game just stayed on the main screen.

I assumed the games were faulty till i tried some of my other games which i knew were fine and they did not load either. The first dizzy game either stayed on loading screen or it managed to load the dizzy image and then it cut off to blank screen.

Treasure island dizzy neither copies load either.

Any ideas why its not loading games? i have a tape head cleaner which i got a while ago with a bunch of amstrad games i bought and i presume it still works as on it it states if the tape has turned dark it is no good and its still like new...but this has not really done anything

mark25810


mark25810

it loaded roland in time but all other games so far nope, neverending story looked like it was going to work got to picture screen then it stopped and went to black screen

eto


mark25810

Quote from: eto on 20:31, 19 May 22Maybe the head is slightly misaligned? Check out this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC0WpCXMPno&t=814s
Thanks, not sure how I can do that when I don't have that tape....would this work if I downloaded that software as he put a link to download it and play it off my phone and use the car cassette tape adapter that I have used to load games from my phone?

Also if it does not work like in the video do I just screw or unscrew that...screw a bit then try again?

WacKEDmaN

i would try cleaning the heads and roller manually before moving the screw/head...
does the tape slow or jitter as it plays? or is it nice and smooth? your belts may need changing?...

..the alignment software requires the tape being played, it plays a constant signal that is then read, you adjust the screw while the tape is playing until you get the best signal displayed on screen...

eto

Quote from: mark25810 on 21:14, 19 May 22
Quote from: eto on 20:31, 19 May 22Maybe the head is slightly misaligned? Check out this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC0WpCXMPno&t=814s
Thanks, not sure how I can do that when I don't have that tape....would this work if I downloaded that software as he put a link to download it and play it off my phone and use the car cassette tape adapter that I have used to load games from my phone?

Also if it does not work like in the video do I just screw or unscrew that...screw a bit then try again?

I never did that so I really don't have an answer, I just remembered that there was that video. 

Maybe this thread helps a bit more:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/tape-head-alignment/

mark25810

Quote from: WacKEDmaN on 22:43, 19 May 22i would try cleaning the heads and roller manually before moving the screw/head...
does the tape slow or jitter as it plays? or is it nice and smooth? your belts may need changing?...

..the alignment software requires the tape being played, it plays a constant signal that is then read, you adjust the screw while the tape is playing until you get the best signal displayed on screen...
I ordered a new drive belt as I opened the case but I could not tell if the belt was slack or ok so just replace it anyway, also ordered a small thing of IPA so can clean the heads, have a tape head cleaner which I assumed was still ok to use as the tape is still clean and not dirty but that's not done anything to fix the issue.

If the cleaning and tape belt do not work I will try the alignment.

I assume then that I can indeed use my phone and the car tape adapter then to play the software

mark25810

Quote from: WacKEDmaN on 22:43, 19 May 22i would try cleaning the heads and roller manually before moving the screw/head...
does the tape slow or jitter as it plays? or is it nice and smooth? your belts may need changing?...

..the alignment software requires the tape being played, it plays a constant signal that is then read, you adjust the screw while the tape is playing until you get the best signal displayed on screen...
hi there i put a new belt in and cleaned the heads and i thought it worked as some games work but alot of others do not which i do know should work.

i was going to download that alignment tool and play it from my phone like it do games with one of those car tape adapters but i can only find the tool in dsk format which iis no good as the only apps to load games etc from the phone need tap format so ive no idea how i am supposed to get the app to work lol

Johnny Olsen

#9
I have made this azimut cdt files. I can only test it in emulators. Maybe you can use it.

You cannot view this attachment.

WacKEDmaN

you NEED a real cassette tape to use the adjustment tho

transfer the cdt back to a real tape....but there lays the problem, if the cassette player you record the cdt back on to tape is out of alignment, then its going to record wrong.. you can use it to adjust the cpc, but its only going to be aligned to that one tape

play the cdt through your phone plugged into cassette RECORDER/stereo etc to record to tape..
then move that tape back to the cpc and load it up... key is to use a real cassette, dont use the adapter play the cdt straight through to the cpc...

pelrun

You don't need to record the alignment software to a real tape, but you will need a pre-recorded tape to provide a reference signal - any commercially duplicated game tape should do the trick.

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