Joystick/Games Pad Problems

Hi I have just brought a game pad for my amiga 1200 and I can not seem to get it to work, Do I need a program or driver for it, I also have a joystick which doesn't seem to work either do I need a program to calibrate it

Kind Regards

James F

No you shouldn't need any drivers for Amiga joysticks. The joystick ports are a standard part of the Amiga design and their support is built into the roms. In games and other software they should just work.

What joystick is it you have purchased?

hi there I have a quick shot joystick also just an unbranded game pad which doesn't seem to do anything

Do both ports not work?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James2010

also just an unbranded game pad which doesn't seem to do anything

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Nothing a little hackery wouldn't fix ;)
I've "converted" a few Genesis and Pegazus (Polish NES clone) pads and it's easy, all you have to do is check the signals and solder the wires directly onto the pad's board.

But yeah, like Harry mentioned, first make sure the ports work at all - test them with the mouse, anything, and then check the non-working joystick/pad for a switch of somesort that might exist.
IF the ports work and the joy/pads don't, get inside them and test them for connection problems.

Definitely try to see if the ports are working first. Easiest way is with a mouse connected and boot from a workbench disk. If the mouse works in Workbench, then you know the ports are working. If that doesn't work then it is a hardware problem that we might be able to track down and help you fix.

The Mouse Port Works, the joystick port seems to work slightly, if the joystick port has gone down will I need to get another motherboard? I have tried plugging the mouse into the joystick port but it doesn't do anything and vise versa

The only way you could test a mouse in the joystick port is if you loaded a game that supported 2 player mouse gaming. Lemmings does if you have that.

It is normally possible to repair A1200 motherboards for such issues if it is a hardware fault. Also, worth mentioning is that on later version of the A1200, the motherboard's joystick ports were not part of the main motherboard, but an additional little board connected to the main board via a cable. If you have a board like this then the connection might be lose and just need reseating. Failing that, a common issue with joystick/mouse ports is something called the CIA chips on the motherboard. On the older A500 these were socketed so could be replaced, but sadly on the A1200 they are surface mounted, so not as easy to change. However, we still know people who can service and repair Amigas so all is not lost.

Failing that, there are also some who can source replacement working motherboards also. But first, it would be good to fully make sure the ports are working or not, or if it is just the joysticks you have.

I dont have any games like that also I have checked the portand it is permantluy fixed to the motherboard,the thing is I am not surew if it worked when I got it so I think that maybe I have brought a duff one who really knowsI am not going to give on it! lolif you have any more suggestions then please let me know
thanks again
james

I will have a look for you and see if there are any programs to test the ports for you.

Thank You :-)
That would be great

There is a program on aminet.net that tests a joystick plugged into port 2.

http://aminet.net/package/driver/input/JoyTest#contents

To get this program onto your Amiga you can copy it over using a PC formatted floppy disk in DD 720KB size. And to get the A1200 to read a PC disk you need to use something called CrossDOS which is built into Workbench 3 and above. Make a copy of your workbench disk, then copy the PC0: icon from the libs disk into the workbench disks Dev directory. Reboot and it will then be able to read PC disks.

There is also another program on there:

http://aminet.net/package/util/misc/joytest#contents

But it is in German so you would need to translate the docs using something like Babelfish.com or Google Translator.

Hi thanks Harrison I will give it a go, if it turns out that the port is f***ed then I take it I will need another motherboard?

Not always. If you can't get it to work, post here exactly what you discovered and I will contact some friends with a lot of Amiga hardware knowledge to see if they can work it out or know how to repair it. Some of them might even offer to repair it for you.