Many ADF disks don't work

Hello all,

I just got an Amiga 500 (1.2 OS, one external 3.5 disk drive, 512Kb, no expansion) a few weeks ago and was able to setup a null modem connection between the Amiga and my pc using Amiga Explorer.

However, even though I can copy files to disks without a problem most of the times (sometimes I get a checksum error but that could have been some bad floppies) the majority of games don't seem to work. Some of them will simply not boot (I get the blue disk screen) and some of them will get me the 'this game was craked by...' screen but then it just keeps that in a loop.

I know Amiga Explorer is working because a few games do work (Arkanoid, Pacman, etc) but I don't understand why so many others don't. Could it be bad ADF files? I am getting mine from www.planetemu.net and www.thegamearchives.com ... or could it be that high density disks are messing this up? (I did format all of them on the amiga side)

Any suggestion is highly appreciated
Thanks

[s2325]

Most games are for Kickstart 1.3

My bad, I am actually running 1.3

[Toni Wilen]

KS 1.2 very rarely causes any problems. Try without external drive (extra drives take small amount of memory which can cause problems if you don't have any ram expansions)

[TCD]

Originally Posted by pmack

or could it be that high density disks are messing this up? (I did format all of them on the amiga side)

It is possible that the HD disks cause the problems. You could get some DD disks from AmigaKit for example and try if they work.

[Graham Humphrey]

Alternatively you could also try covering the hole on the HD disk with sellotape (make sure you cover both sides) first. If that works that will save you some money (unless you need to buy sellotape, I guess).

I tried to cover the hole on the disks and it didn't seem to make a difference. I did get a lot of checksum errors today, so I am not sure this is not some problem with my Amiga Explorer setup... For instance, I tried all the Datastorm files (from both planetemu and gamearchives) and every one of them got me a checksum error.

Another example for the other issue (disk writes ok but doesn't boot) is that I tried all Ghost n' Gobblins files and all of them didn't work.

Any ideas?

[Graham Humphrey]

Could be a dodgy disk drive also. I don't know anything about Amiga Explorer so can't comment there. If putting sellotape over the holes on the disks doesn't work I'd think it was unlikely that buying normal DD disks would work any better (though I'm sure someone will prove me wrong there).

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

Alternatively you could also try covering the hole on the HD disk with sellotape

This is only useful (and required) if you want to use DD formatted HD disks with a HD drive, in all other cases it doesn't make sense.

Originally Posted by pmack

I tried to cover the hole on the disks and it didn't seem to make a difference. I did get a lot of checksum errors today,

See above why it didn't make any difference. Basically, using HD disks with a DD drive is a very bad idea and I don't recommend it as it can lead to all kind of problems and it's not reliable at all.

Try to find some DD disks and see if you still have these problems. Another reason could be that your drive is just dirty and needs cleaning.

Thanks guys. I got some DD disks from eBay, let's see how that works.

In case this is a dirty driver, do you have any recommendations on how to clean it?

[musashi5150]

Isopropyl alcohol and cotton buds (qtips) would be the order of the day here I think

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by StingRay

This is only useful (and required) if you want to use DD formatted HD disks with a HD drive, in all other cases it doesn't make sense.

Except my external disk drive throws a hissy fit if I don't put sellotape over the hole first. So there are cases where it does make sense

[musashi5150]

Which suggests the manufacturer cheaply made it from a PC HD drive

[fc.studio]

To write adf or adz images I use the transadf tool (you can find it on Aminet).
Assuming that a disk is in the df0: drive, the tool is installed in dh0: and the file I want to write is in dh1: I use this syntax in the execute command or shell:

Transadf df0: dh1:namefile.adf w v

The final "v" allows to verify the destination disk.
If, at the end of writing, no errors occurred then you can be sure that the disk and the copy are fine.

It's not so difficoult I find several old disks damaged.
I can try to format them again, but unfortunately I have often to launch these disks to bin.

[dlfrsilver]

I use myself Codetapper tool Called Tracktool, which works great

[Retroplay]

Originally Posted by pmack

512Kb, no expansion

If you can get your hands on a 512kb trapdoor expansion it might help.

Not a whole lot of games work with 512kb only.

What games is it that don't work ?

[Djay]

1mb games normally told you, you don't have enough memory rather than Guru'ing..

i have experienced a few corrupt ADFs, that don't work on real Amiga too

grab the original off ebay instead