Editing Amstrad PCW 9512 Troubleshooting Guide

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[[File:Amstrad PCW9512 (Personal Computer World, October 1987).jpg|thumb|right|320px|PCW9512, keyboard and daisywheel printer]]
Amstrad's user manual for the [[Amstrad PCW 9512]] has a troubleshooting annex arranged by the machine, the disc drive, starting up and the printer,<ref name="ug9512">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)]]. Annex II, troubleshooting, pp. 37–41: the machine (p. 37), the disc drive (pp. 38–39), starting up (p. 39), the printer (pp. 40–41).</ref> and community repair advice adds the drive belt. The [[Amstrad PCW 9512+ Troubleshooting Guide]] covers the electronics of the later 9512+ from Amstrad's service manual for that model, and the [[Amstrad PCW 8256 Troubleshooting Guide]] the 3-inch drive of the 8000 series. Procedures are in the [[Amstrad PCW 9512 Maintenance Guide]].

'''Warning: the main unit contains the mains power supply and a CRT.''' Read [[CRT Discharge Procedure]] before opening it.

== The machine ==
{| class="wikitable styled-table" style="width:100%; text-align:left;"
|+'''Machine symptoms (user manual, Annex II)'''
! Symptom !! Probable cause !! Action
|-
| No bright screen at switch-on || No mains, plug not fully in, or a blown fuse || Check the socket with a lamp, push the plug fully home and check the fuses. Then look inside: the supply is in the main unit.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| Screen clears, or the machine stops responding || Software crash || Take the discs out of the drives and reset by holding Shift and Extra and pressing Exit. If that fails, switch off, wait a few seconds and switch on, then reload LocoScript 2 or CP/M.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| Blank screen with no disc in the drive || Normal: the PCW has no ROM to show anything || Insert a start-of-day disc.<ref name="jehw">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; the daisywheel boot program), section 6.2 (the PCW9512 printer controller), section 8.2 (drive decoding on the 8256, 8512 and 9512).</ref><ref name="acuc">Richard Lloyd, PCW article ("Fifty two years and counting"), ''Amstrad CPC User Club Magazine'' (ACUC) issue 1, June 2022. Scan at [https://archive.org/details/Amstrad-CPC-User-Club-01--ACUC-Magazine- archive.org]. Retrieved 2026-10-02. Boot behaviour with and without a disc; the perished drive belt as the most common PCW fault, its symptoms and cleaning the old rubber off the pulley.</ref>
|}

== Starting up ==
If the PCW beeps or the screen flashes when it is started, the disc in drive A is not a PCW9512 start-of-day disc, is damaged, or is not suitable for the machine. Check the disc and reset; if it still beeps, try the original master disc.<ref name="ug9512" /> Start-of-day discs made for the PCW 8256, PCW 8512 or CPC 6128 cannot be used on the 9512.<ref name="ug9512" /> The two kinds of PCW use different boot programs, one for dot matrix machines and one for daisywheel machines.<ref name="jehw" />

If the drive motor can be heard but the disc does not turn, and the screen stays blank with a system disc inserted, the drive belt has probably perished.<ref name="acuc" /> See [[Amstrad PCW 8256 Maintenance Guide#Drive belt|drive belt]].

== Disc drive ==
{| class="wikitable styled-table" style="width:100%; text-align:left;"
|+'''Drive symptoms (user manual, Annex II)'''
! Symptom !! Probable cause !! Action
|-
| A disc will not go in || A disc already in the drive, the transit card still fitted, something else in the slot, or the disc the wrong way round || Press eject. Check for the card fitted for transport and for other objects, and check the orientation. Never force a disc in.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| A disc will not come out || Mechanical fault || Do not push anything into the drive to free it; the manual sends the user to a dealer.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| "Disc not formatted" message || Blank disc, a disc from another computer, a damaged disc, or side 2 uppermost instead of side 1 || Check the disc and which side is up; format it if it really is blank. Copy what can be recovered from a damaged disc before reformatting it.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| "Disc read" error when opening a file || Disc inserted the wrong side up || Reinsert with side 1 uppermost.<ref name="ug9512" />
|}

Elliott's notes record that the 9512's floppy controller is of the same type as the 8256's and 8512's.<ref name="jehw" />

== Printer ==
{| class="wikitable styled-table" style="width:100%; text-align:left;"
|+'''Printer symptoms (user manual, Annex II)'''
! Symptom !! Probable cause !! Action
|-
| Printer does not start || No paper, or the printer is waiting for paper || Load a sheet and press Exit. Press PTR to show the printer status line and check whether it is waiting for paper.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| Printer runs but nothing appears || No ribbon || Fit a ribbon cassette.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| Unreadable characters || Software not set up for the wheel, or the daisywheel badly seated || Press PTR to stop the printer, check the status line, and reseat the wheel.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| Printer stops suddenly mid-document || End of ribbon; the PCW waits so no text is lost || Fit a new ribbon and press Exit; printing carries on.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| Paper creases or jams || – || Press PTR to stop the printer (it may take a while to stop if it has a lot of text queued) and reload with fresh paper.<ref name="ug9512" />
|-
| Paper does not load automatically || Paper release lever pulled forward || Push the paper release lever back.<ref name="ug9512" />
|}

The printer has no supply or controller of its own: power comes from the main unit through the printer cable, and most of the control electronics are in the main unit.<ref name="bench">John Donaldson, "Benchtest: Amstrad PCW9512", ''Personal Computer World'', October 1987, pp. 98–102. Scan at [https://archive.org/details/PCW-1987-10-Amstrad-PCW-9512 archive.org]. Retrieved 2026-10-02. The daisywheel printer powered and largely controlled from the main unit; the DAISY and MATRIX utilities that set the defaults other printers keep on DIP switches.</ref> With a completely dead printer, check the cable and the main unit as well as the printer itself. Under CP/M, the defaults that other printers hold on DIP switches, such as paper length, margins and the paper-out detector, are set with the DAISY and MATRIX utilities, so check those settings before suspecting the hardware.<ref name="bench" /> The 9512 has its own printer controller, different from the dot matrix machines', which also runs the parallel port.<ref name="jehw" />

== Related pages ==
* [[Amstrad PCW 9512]] · [[Amstrad PCW 9512 Maintenance Guide]]
* [[Amstrad PCW 9512+ Troubleshooting Guide]] · [[Amstrad PCW 8256 Troubleshooting Guide]]
* [[Floppy Drive Repair]] · [[CRT Discharge Procedure]]

== References ==
<references />

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[[Category:Amstrad]]
[[Category:Troubleshooting Guides]]