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Amstrad PCW 10 Maintenance Guide

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Amstrad PCW 10 with printer and keyboard (Joyce Computer Club)
PcW10 with its 9-pin printer on the platform above the screen (Joyce Computer Club)

The Amstrad PCW 10, badged PcW10, keeps its monitor, power supply, main board and 3.5-inch drive in one unit. Its 9-pin dot matrix printer sits on a platform on top of the monitor and takes both power and data through a single flat cable from the main unit. The Joyce Computer Club, the Dutch PCW users' group, describes it as a look-alike of the Amstrad PCW 9256 with the same keyboard and printer, on sale from August 1993.[1] Amstrad's service manual for the PCW 9256 is the nearest published documentation; no PCW 10 service manual has been published. Faults are covered in the Amstrad PCW 10 Troubleshooting Guide and the supply's capacitors in the Amstrad PCW 10 Capacitor Replacement Guide.

Safety

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Warning: the main unit contains the mains power supply and a CRT. Both can hold a dangerous charge after the plug is pulled.

Unplug the machine and the printer before opening the case, and discharge the tube before working near it; see CRT Discharge Procedure. On the 9256, Amstrad's monitor board drawing outlines the area at mains potential and places the mains fuse F501 (3.15 A time-lag) and the 150 µF 400 V reservoir capacitor C505 inside it.[2] Check that your monitor board matches that drawing before relying on its designators. After any repair, run the safety tests Amstrad gives for the 9256: a 4 kV flash test and an insulation resistance of at least 4 MΩ between the joined mains live and neutral and all accessible metal on the outside.[2]

Identifying the boards

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Published accounts disagree on whether the PCW 10's main board follows the 9256 or the 9512+ (see the main page). The board numbers settle it for a given machine. Read them off your boards and compare them with Amstrad's two manuals:

Board numbers in the related service manuals
Board PCW 9256 PCW 9512+
Main (CPU) board MC0127, drawn as MC0127A, PT No. 3500-005P-4 MC0130A, PT No. 3500-011P-2
Monitor board with the supply MM0059 MM0041A
Other boards MS0227 CRT, MS0228 switch, MS0229 Kbd, MS0231 printer, MS0233 AC input, MK0011 keyboard Listed in the 9512+ manual

Sources: the 9256 and 9512+ service manuals.[2][3]

The 9256's CPU board has eight fitted RAM chips (IC104–IC111), eight empty sockets (J112–J119) for a second bank, and a link, LK101, beside which the board is printed "remove jumper for 512K RAM".[2] The Joyce Computer Club's notes on upgrading a 9256 to 512 KB describe the same arrangement: soldered memory, eight spare sockets that accept the 8256 and 8512's memory chips, and a single jumper removed for 512 KB.[4] The 9512+'s main board has sixteen RAM positions, IC110–IC125, and connectors marked "parallel printer" and "internal printer".[3] The PCW 10 has 512 KB as standard and a Centronics port.[1]

Cleaning

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Amstrad's user manual for the PCW 9512 asks for an anti-static aerosol cleaner on the screen and plastic case and rules out alcohol-based cleaners.[5] Clear paper dust out of the printer and off the platform it stands on.

Opening the case

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The Joyce Computer Club's notes for the 9256, whose case the PCW 10 shares, give the order of work:[4]

  1. Unplug the mains lead, the printer cable and the keyboard.
  2. Remove the four screws that hold the plastic back cover, and lift it off.
  3. The power supply sits directly below the monitor, and the main board below the supply.
  4. To reach the main board, lift out the supply, fold back the insulating foil and remove the metal shield.
  5. Note the position and type of each screw as it comes out. There are many, of several different types.

The supply is exposed as soon as the back cover is off; discharge the tube before reaching past it.[4]

Disc drive

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The PCW 10 has one 3.5-inch drive.[1] Its floppy controller is of the type used in the 9256 and 9512+; LocoScript and CP/M versions written after the 9256 contain code that detects this controller and its 3.5-inch drives.[6] Clean the heads and check the drive as for any 3.5-inch drive; see Floppy Drive Repair.

Amstrad's drive power cable is not wired to the PC standard. Convert it before fitting a Gotek floppy emulator, or the Gotek will be destroyed.[7] Let a machine that has been stored in a loft or garage stand in a warm room for a couple of days before switching it on.[7]

Printer

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The printer is the same model as those used on the 9256 and the 8000 series, but the Joyce Computer Club found that the printers cannot be swapped between those machines.[1] On the 9256 the printer mechanism is Amstrad part 171127, the same assembly as on the PCW 8256 and 8512.[2] Ribbon changing and the print head lever are handled as in the 8256 guide. 1990s dealers sold one ribbon for the PCW 8256, 8512, 9256 and PCW 10.[8]

The printer's power arrives through its cable. Switch the PCW 10 off before plugging or unplugging the printer.

Connections

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Amstrad PCW 10 rear connectors (Joyce Computer Club)
Rear connectors: expansion edge connector, Centronics port and printer connector (Joyce Computer Club)
  • The keyboard plugs in at the front, below the screen and beside the drive. A disc ejected from the drive can trap a finger against the keyboard plug.[1]
  • The rear carries the PCW expansion edge connector on the left, a standard female 25-way Centronics printer port in the middle and the Amstrad printer connector on the right. The screen controls are above the model label at the back.[1]
  • The expansion connector is mounted low and horizontally, so the add-on boxes made for the 8256 and 8512 cannot be plugged straight in; it was designed for use through an extension cable.[1]
  • Keyboards are interchangeable across the range, according to the Joyce Computer Club, and second-hand dealers sold the same keyboard for the PcW10 and the PcW9256.[1][9]
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Joyce Computer Club (Amsterdam), "PcW 10 Gallery", fvempel.nl, last updated 29 July 2007. Retrieved 2026-10-19. Owner's description with photographs: on the market in August 1993; a look-alike of the PcW 9256 with the same keyboard and 9-pin printer; printer platform on the monitor and a single printer cable carrying power; 512 KB and a 3.5-inch drive; boot files not interchangeable between models; rear ports (expansion edge connector, Centronics port, PCW printer port); the low expansion connector; the printer not interchangeable with the 9256 or 8000-series printers; keyboards interchangeable; the keyboard socket at the front beside the drive; reports that the design was altered slightly because of component shortages.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Amstrad plc, PCW9256 Personal Computer Word Processor Service Manual. Hosted as File:Amstrad PCW 9256 Service Manual.pdf, described at Amstrad PCW 9256 Service Manual. Technical specification and safety tests p. 2; alignment chart p. 3; monitor/CRT board layout p. 4; CPU board MC0127A top view p. 6 (eight RAM positions IC104–IC111, sockets J112–J119 and the printed note "remove jumper for 512K RAM" beside LK101); electrical parts list pp. 16–17 (board assemblies MM0059, MS0227, MS0228, MS0229, MC0127, MS0231, MS0233, MK0011; printer mechanism 171127).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Amstrad plc, PCW9512+ Personal Computer Word Processor Service Manual. Hosted as File:Amstrad PCW 9512 Plus Service Manual.pdf, described at Amstrad PCW 9512+ Service Manual. Technical specification p. 2; main board MC0130A top view p. 16 (PDF p. 15) (RAM positions IC110–IC125, "parallel printer" connector J002, "internal printer" connector J001, expansion bus J003); monitor/CRT board MM0041A p. 18 (PDF p. 17).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Joyce Computer Club (Amsterdam), "Upgrading memory of a PcW 9256", fvempel.nl, last updated 29 July 2007. Retrieved 2026-10-19. The 9256 and PcW10 share the later case design; the back cover held by four screws; the power supply directly below the monitor and the main board below the supply, under a foil and a metal shield, fixed with many screws of different types; soldered 100 ns memory with eight sockets for a second bank; the single jumper removed for 512 KB, as printed on the board.
  5. ↑ Amstrad, PCW9512 Ordinateur Personnel Traitement de Texte – Manuel de l'utilisateur (1987, French). Hosted as File:Amstrad PCW9512 User Manual (1987, French).pdf, described at Amstrad PCW 9512 User Manual (French). Part 1, p. 16 (PDF p. 24), "Nettoyage de votre PCW": an anti-static aerosol for the screen and plastic case, never an alcohol-based cleaner.
  6. ↑ John Elliott, PCW Hardware. Hosted as File:PCW Hardware Reference (John Elliott).pdf, described at Amstrad PCW Hardware Reference (John Elliott). Section 2 (boot process), section 6.1 ("PCW8256/8512/9256/10 printer controller": I/O ports FCh and FDh, controller error numbers and status bits), sections 8.2–8.3 (drive decoding on the 9256, 9512+ and 10, and the controller probe), section 10 (keyboard).
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Richard Lloyd, PCW article, Amstrad CPC User Club Magazine (ACUC) issue 1, June 2022. Scan at archive.org. Retrieved 2026-10-19. The PCW 10 as an updated 9512 sharing many features with the 9000 series; letting a machine stored in a loft or garage acclimatise for a couple of days; the non-standard power cable to Amstrad floppy drives and the risk to a Gotek; the CRT's high voltages.
  8. ↑ PCW Today issue 9, dealer advertisement "Printer ribbons": "Ribbon for PCW 8256/8512, 9256, PCW10" and "Ribbon for PCW 9512, 9512+". Scan at archive.org/details/PcwToday9. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  9. ↑ 8BIT issue 16, small advertisements: "keyboard to fit PcW10/PcW9256", "Dot matrix printer to fit PcW10". Scan at archive.org/details/8Bit-fanzine-16. Retrieved 2026-10-19.


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