Amstrad CPC 6128 (US version) and Zaxon's 4MB expansion card

[HigashiJun]

Hi guys,

My CPC6128 (US version) does not work with Zaxon's 4MB expansion board...

I have first fitted the expansion internally (by soldering a 50 pin flat cable to the back of the motherboard where the Centronics connector is attached and son on...) but my CPC did not boot. Once the card detached, the CPC boots fine.

I first thought there was a problem with my soldering (though I am very confident with it), so I have decided to attach the expansion board with a Centronics - Edge connector adapter, but still no luck.

Does somebody of you guys has a US version CPC 6128 (or maybe a German one with Centronics connectors) and encounters the same problem ?

Otherwise, the CPC just works fine without any glitches.

Cheers.

[GUNHED]

I did need an "update" of one chip on the card. But now it works perfectly. Can check with another CPC? To see if the problem is specific to the single CPC or the card itself?

Even before my chip update the CPC did always boot.

Maybe a shortcut hidden well?
Maybe a too week PSU?

Good luck!

[HigashiJun]

Unfortunately, no other CPCs around to test (I guess I'm the only guy having a CPC in Japan...  ).

My PSU is 5V/2A, so it should be OK (?).

I think there's no short with the Centronics - Edge connector adapter.

Yeah, it's weird that the machine doesn't boot with the card on but boots normally with the card off.

What was the update on your card ?

Cheers.

[GUNHED]

The update was inside the chip performing the banking. I had an early version of the card, so there were banking problems, but they were eliminated. So the card just needed an update and now works fine.

With PSUs it's a problem. I bough one with 5V and 4A, but in reality it goes down to 4,5 V when having a CPC and an expansion card at it (less than 2 A).

For sure it would be great if you can measure the Volts being there in reality. There are these Y cables, they are great to measure Volt.

[HigashiJun]

Thanks for your feedback !

The card was bought 2 months ago directly from Sell My Retro (Zaxon's shop), so it should be a newer one.

I will check the voltage with my trusty multi-meter to see if there's a voltage drop when the card is on.

[HigashiJun]

I've just checked the voltage and here are the results:

- 5,082 V without expansion card
- 5,072 V with expansion card

So I don't think the PSU is the culprit...

I suspect the CPC itself to be the problem here, as these US versions were the first produced CPCs and apperaed on the US market before they reached Europe.

[norecess464]

Hello @HigashiJun

Sorry to hi-jack your thread. 
I already heard stories about a US version of the Amstrad CPC 6128 but never found a user.

Please could you tell us a bit more about your machine:

- when did you buy it

- where did you buy your softwares back then

- was the monitor a "NTSC" version, cf. 60hz with 262 lines (instead of "PAL", cf. 50hz with 312 lines)

- was your CPC's monitor connected to regular 110V, cf. no need of power adapters (220V->110V).

I would be so curious if you could take pictures of your CPC... I even wonder if you could take a picture of the motherboard, who know, maybe there is CRTC videochip inside it that weren't used elsewhere ?!

I'm living in Canada. I know there were few Amstrad PCs sold there - they now sell at crazy prices but never saw a US version of a CPC.

Thank you

[VintageAdvantage]

I'm living in Canada. I know there were few Amstrad PCs sold there - they now sell at crazy prices but never saw a US version of a CPC.

I second that. Not a single one on Ebay US - ever. The only ones that are in the US are in my garage :-)
And in a Computer History museum in Mountain View. That's it :-)

HigashiJun, why don't you try reaching out to Zaxon. He is a great guy and his customer support is legendary.

[HigashiJun]

Hi,

I got my US version CPC 6128 on Ebay a year ago...

I have no monitor nor software, but just the main unit. Here's a link to a thread in the forum concerning the monitor:

http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/60hz-cpc/

And here's what Wikipedia says about the CPC 6128:

"The CPC6128 was released in August 1985 and initially only sold in the US. Imported and distributed by Indescomp, Inc. of Chicago, it was the first Amstrad product to be sold in the United States, a market that at the time was traditionally hostile towards European computer manufacturers.^[9] By the end of 1985, it arrived in Europe and replaced the CPC664 in the CPC model line-up. Initial suggested retail prices for the CPC6128 were US$699.00/£299.00/DM1598.00 with a green screen and US$799.00/£399.00/DM2098.00 with a colour monitor."

There's also a short article about the US CPC 6128 article in CPCRULEZ:

https://cpcrulez.fr/hardware-6128-cpc_6128-usa-marche_americain.htm

As soon as I come back home, I will post some pictures of the machine and its motherboard.

Cheers.

[VintageAdvantage]

Wrt the 6128 and the story that it was a big hit in the US, this is misinformation, and this is what the book "Alan Sugar - The Amstrad Story" by David Thomas has to say about that episode (Page 168):

"Amstrad was under pressure from its agent in the United States to bring out a computer with 128k of memory as soon as possible. A machine with only 64k of memory would not be taken seriously as a computer capable of business applications in the more sophisticated American market. In the event, the CPC6128 did not sell particularly well in North America, although it became a flagship Amstrad product in Britain and the rest of Europe".

And that's all. Nothing else.Too bad no numbers are given. But the facts stand - a CPC 6128 is listed very rarely on Ebay US (I am frequently looking - have never seen one - until today! see below). That means maybe a few hundred or thousand units were sold here; the rest may have been imported later by collectors. It is as rare as a Unicorn here.

I wish Alan Sugar would tell us the sales numbers.

OK, and now somebody will bring up this link - the first one I saw in weeks!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amstrad-CPC-6128/203058517674?hash=item2f473b16aa:g:rmQAAOSwCcFfHNvC

And, this one does not have Centronics connectors... whereas according to CPCRULEZ, the US version did.

So, even if it was originally designed for the US marked and maybe was first presented here, it was a complete flop.

As soon as I come back home, I will post some pictures of the machine and its motherboard.

What makes it a US version anyhow, how do you know it wasn't imported from Europe? Everybody can set the 60 Hz jumper... yes, please post a pic of the monitor power plug! That's the only thing that would be different from a European 6128. From the CPCRULEZ article it seems that it was basically a Schneider CPC 6128 (Centronics instead of Edge) with 60 Hz jumper set and a US label at the bottom?

Oh, so you don't have the monitor. Then it would be more interesting to show the bottom of the case for the US Label and info.

[HigashiJun]

First, I would like to kindly answer to VintageAdvantage:

- I never said the CPC 6128 was a big hit in the US. Even if it was a flop, I personally don't care. That's not the subject of my topic.
- A CPC 6128 sold on Ebay US doesn't necessarily mean it's a US version. I can sell a UK version CPC on Ebay from Japan and it will never be considered as a Japanese one. It's not because you've never seen one on Ebay US or you don't own one that it doesn't exist.

Now as promised, some pictures of the machine here attached.

The AMSDOS chip was the standard AMSTRAD 40015 and the CRTC was a MC6845P (CRTC 2).

LK Link LK4 was installed but the previous owner seems to have removed it.


Cheers.

[HigashiJun]

And other pics...

[HigashiJun]

And last 2 ones.

[TotO]

HigashiJun, why don't you try reaching out to Zaxon. He is a great guy and his customer support is legendary.

Yes, the legend of his great material and support (if he answer) ! 

[norecess464]

Thank you @HigashiJun (and other people in this thread), it was really interesting to get more info about these US machines !

[HigashiJun]

Yes, the legend of his great material and support (if he answer) ! 

I have once sent an e-mail to him concerning a simple question about one of his hardware and I never had an answer... 

[HigashiJun]

Thank you @HigashiJun (and other people in this thread), it was really interesting to get more info about these US machines !

You're welcome... It doesn't solve my initial problem though 

[norecess464]

You're welcome... It doesn't solve my initial problem though 

I hope you will get your issue solved, sooner or later!

[HigashiJun]

I hope you will get your issue solved, sooner or later!

[VintageAdvantage]

Yes, the legend of his great material and support (if he answer) ! 

Well, his customer support is as legendary as the CPC 6128 success in the US 
In your case though, I can understand why he doesn't - you doctored with it, soldering it in and out etc., so who knows what happened.

[VintageAdvantage]

First, I would like to kindly answer to VintageAdvantage:

- I never said the CPC 6128 was a big hit in the US. Even if it was a flop, I personally don't care. That's not the subject of my topic.
- A CPC 6128 sold on Ebay US doesn't necessarily mean it's a US version. I can sell a UK version CPC on Ebay from Japan and it will never be considered as a Japanese one. It's not because you've never seen one on Ebay US or you don't own one that it doesn't exist.

Thanks for the pics! Intriguing!
Never said it doesn't exist. I said its very rare, and I never saw a real US CPC before. That's the first time (besides the one on CPCRULEZ). As I said above, any CPC that shows up here I ever saw was imported by collectors.


I am just trying to fight the misinformation that here in the US, everybody has/had a CPC 6128. That's far from the truth. And CPCRULEZ article and other sources (Wikipedia) don't give the sales numbers, so it is easy to get that idea. A couple of CPC users came to me saying - "Oh, you are from the US, you must have had a 6128 in the 80s, right?" ROFL!   


Congrats on the US 6128! That is wonderful = what a rare collector's item!

[TotO]

Funny to read that, because 5 years ago it looked that nobody* known the CPC in USA. 

It was mostly known that Amstrad has failed to sold the CPC 6128 through the brand Solavox in USA, and its finally replaced the 664 in Europe. Thank you for that!


* Except TFM

[VintageAdvantage]

Well, they certainly tried - the even changed the name from "Colour Personal Computer" to "Color Personal Computer"!
One can see that they are missing the "u" in the logo on the US 6128 - the spacing between Color and Personal is not right.

[deepfb]

Sorry to continue hijacking the topic, but I would like to clarify some points.


- The Solavox/US CPC 6128 is not so rare in Spain. Users in this forum like cngsoft, llopis or myself have one. In the spanish amstrad.es forums there are more owners.

- The "agent" that tried to sell the computer in the US, specifically through Sears stores, was Jaime Peró, a former bussiness partner of José Luis Domínguez. José Luis Domínguez convinced Alan Sugar to send some CPCs to the US on behalf of Jaime Peró. That's the reason of the "Indescomp USA" label -Indescomp was the name of the company that marketed Amstrad products in Spain and was owned by José Luis Domínguez.




- Jaime Peró apparently succeeded in selling the first batch of computers, then split from Spain's Indescomp and ordered the next batches directly from Amstrad Plc instead.

- Some (unsold?) units came back to Europe and were marketed in Spain. These units have stickers on some keys to adapt the keyboard to the spanish standard:



The Schneider CPC 464 was also sold in Spain with the same kind of stickers on some keys.

- Despite I have seen some Solavox computers here, I have never come across the monitor for them. I guess Indescomp bundled these CPCs with the regular, 220V European monitor.


Sources:

- Martínez del Vas, Jesús: Queremos su dinero. El hombre tras Amstrad España. Dolmen, Madrid, 2019.
- Thomas, David: Alan Sugar, The Amstrad Story. Pan Books, London, 1991 (Century, 1990).
- Sugar, Alan: What You See Is What You Get. My Autobiography. Macmillan, London, 2010.

[HigashiJun]

Well, they certainly tried - the even changed the name from "Colour Personal Computer" to "Color Personal Computer"!
One can see that they are missing the "u" in the logo on the US 6128 - the spacing between Color and Personal is not right.

Yes, but strange as it may seem, the spacing is correct on the label on the right side, above the FDD (Master Color Chart)...