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THE PCW CLUB.

The PCW Club has now closed but a few members still meet once a month, so if you have any queries please email the Site Editor with your question(s) and they will be passed on.

No more issues of the 'DISC DRIVE' or 'THE NEWSLETTER' will be published --- the last issue of the 'NEWSLETTER' was send out February 2003.

The complete 'Disc Disc' set of magazines is available on CD for the large sum of £1 post paid, just contact the Site Editor for details.

Brian Dorricott's 'CROSSWORD MAKER KIT' for the PCW is still available, should anyone be interested in purchasing a copy please e-mail the Site Editor for a price including postage -- all profits will go to Charity.

PcW16 EXCLUSIVE.

An upgrade of the Rescue Disc, version 1.13, is now available.
For a copy send a PcW16 formatted HD disc to the address below with a £1 coin or five second class stamps or a cheque for £1 made payable to M. Elliston, the plus a padded bag for it's return.
Send to:-
Mr. M. Elliston.
96, Sparrows Herne.
Basildon. Essex.
SS16 5EX.
For those of you who have asked me what is new in this version of the Rescue Disc and were given the reply -- I do not know -- well I do now --- a bug fix in the Spreadsheet.

PcW16 TIP FROM THE 'NEWSLETTER'.
PcW16 REBIRTH.One method which sometimes works when a PcW16 seems to have died is as follows:-
Switch the machine on while holding down the four [Task] + [Shift] + [Ctrl] + [Red] keys (yes this can be done with one largish hand) and keep them held down for ten seconds or more. The bootstrap or protected flash should kick in, wipe the entire flash memory and invite you to insert the operating system Rescue Disc to write a fresh copy of the operating system into the machine's memory. You will, of course, have lost any stored data files but these can mostly be restored from your back-up floppy discs and anyway it is a small price to pay to have the machine working again.

ANOTHER PcW16 TIP FROM CLUB MEMBER PETER HUNTER.
Following the 'Four Key' instruction as published in the 'Newsletter' (as above) I saw the message 'bootstrap error: Insert Rescue Disc and press power switch'. I did as instructed and saw another message 'Searching for disc operating system file', followed by 'erasing block 04 to 3C', ending with 'Done'. This was followed by 'Programming Block No 04 to 09, 0A to 0F, 10 to 19, and 1A to 1F' again ending with 'Done'. At this point I waited for the next instruction but nothing happened. I switch off and tried again, but failed to get any further. I was convinced that I had to do something to get past 'Done', so I pressed the Red/Green power switch and held it in. The screen changed to grey and a message appeared saying that the systems were being loaded, starting with the Swiss fonts. When this finished I was asked to enter the date and time, name and address and etc and then the opening screen appeared. The two main points are 1) Inserting the rescue disc does not initate a Total reset and 2) The Red/Green Power Switch must be pressed and held long enough to start the second phase of the reset.

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Updated 1st March 2008. J.R.P.King.