Atari 1040 STE please help

[Nubian]

Hello All,

I am a videogame fan and was thrilled when I got my hands on an Atari ST. I acquired an Atari STe quite cheap and I couldn;'t wait to get it home as I had also come across some games including an Atari Power Pack with games such as Outrun, Afterburner Crazy Cars II and World Cup Rugby.

 

Unfortunatley I can't get the damn things loaded. The Atari STe starts up and I get the loading screen but then the disc drive stop sometimes with the disc drive light on and sometimes off. I actually got a 'loading error' when I loaded Outrun. So I have come to this forum for help. Could it be that the discs are all faulty or could it be that there is someting wrong with my Atari's disc drive. Something that happened was I get a picture of 4 small bombs with fuses when I load up Crazy Cars II and then the screen goes a strange color and the Titus loading screen freezes.

 

Any suggestions are most appreciated as I'm not sure whether to take the discs back and get some other ones or if the problem is with the machine itself. Could it be that all these games aren't compatible with the Atar STE?

 

Regards,

 

Daniel Foot.

[Greenious]

Well, could be bitrot affecting the disks. Over time the magnetic fields will start to fade.

 

Or, it could be your STE that is faulty.

 

Try booting it without a disk in the drive, after a while you will get to the desktop. Get an empty floppydisk and see if you can format it etc.

 

Erratic errors with an old ST(E)'s can often be corrected by opening the Atari up, and reseating all cables & socketed chips inside.

 

Try that first, and get back if it doesn't help.

[Trooper]

I had some problems regarding the joystick ports in my old Atari ST, It just wouldn't read the joysticks or mouse.

 

I opened it up and pulled out the massive amounts of dust that had settled on top of the board. Problem solved.

 

I'd open it up and clean it and see if that doesn't help. Wouldn't surprise me if the disks are bad either since they are getting old.

 

/Troop

[Nubian]

Thanks guys,

I actually wa able to get Outrun and Crazy Cars II loaded this morning. Still others won't load so I'll try and format a disc as recommended and then I'll open her up and give her a good clean from dust. I was so pleased to get Outrun loaded this morning, I was an Amiga 1000 owner when I was younger as the Atari ST didn't really take off in Australia I don't think. But now Iv'e got my STE and Lynx I'm an Atari man through and through.

Regards,

 

Daniel.