FAQ¶

Common questions and problems, each with a short answer and a link to the page with the details.

Startup and settings¶

The core stops with an error message at startup¶

The core loads the Kickstart ROM from /amiga/kick.rom on the SD card and cannot start without it. The error appears when no SD card can be mounted or the file is missing or unreadable. Put a raw 256 KB (262,144 bytes) dump of Kickstart 1.3 there, without byte swapping, on a FAT32 card of at most 32 GB. See Kickstart ROM and Installation.

The core saves the menu settings only into the file aexp-<version>.cfg in /amiga, and only if that file already exists. Copy the one that comes with the core onto the SD card. The file name contains the core version, so after an upgrade you need the new file and have to choose your settings once more. See step 3 of the Installation.

Video¶

My HDMI display stays black or says "no signal" or "unsupported format"¶

Some displays reject the extra data an HDMI signal carries. Switch on DVI (no sound) in the first HDMI: menu; the sound then comes only from the 3.5 mm jack. Since you cannot see the menu, use the blind key sequence in DVI (no sound): when the screen stays black.

The picture on my analog monitor is unstable¶

Switch off HDMI: Flicker-free whenever you use the VGA port. It makes the sync frequency step slightly, which analog monitors dislike. See Flicker-free.

My VGA monitor shows nothing at all¶

A regular VGA monitor cannot show the two 15 kHz modes, not even the menu. Connect an HDMI display, which always runs in parallel, and set VGA: back to Standard. Standard is still a 50 Hz signal, which not every flat panel accepts. See Video: VGA port.

Open the OSM: 100% entry and choose a smaller size, down to 50%. It changes only the menu, on every output. See Video: VGA port.

The picture is off-center or an edge is cut off¶

Copy one of the two ready-made files, aexp_screen.cfg_16_9 or aexp_screen.cfg_4_3, into /amiga, rename it to aexp_screen.cfg, and choose Reload Screen Config in the menu. Try both and keep the one that looks best; the presets adjust HDMI only. See Getting the Picture Right.

There is a lot of lag on my HDMI monitor¶

AExp's HDMI output is practically lag-free: with HDMI: Flicker-free on it adds less than 1 ms, and most HDMI displays show no noticeable lag. Some displays with a native 60 Hz panel, such as the Checkmate, have to convert the Amiga's 50 Hz and add 70 to 100 ms themselves. See Latency on the Checkmate Retro Monitor and HDMI latency.

Games and demos¶

A game or demo does not work¶

Try these, one at a time:

One drive only. Some titles fail when the Amiga has more than one drive (Riverraid Reloaded is a known case). One drive is the default; check Drive Settings. See Floppy drives.
Slow RAM (A501) off. A few early games, such as Rogue, need an Amiga without expansion RAM. See Slow RAM (A501).
Amiga keyboard mode. Some games, such as Pinball Dreams, need the original key positions. See Keyboard Mappings.

Software that needs a Kickstart newer than 1.3, ECS, AGA, Fast RAM or NTSC cannot run on this core. See Constraints and roadmap.

A game asks for the next disk¶

Open the menu, move the cursor to the drive line and press Return: the file browser opens, and the file you pick replaces the current disk. See Mounting and ejecting a disk image.

Disk images¶

A disk image is refused¶

The core accepts only .adf files of 901,120 bytes (a standard 880 KB disk) and over-dumps of up to 934,912 bytes. See Which files are accepted.

The second mount of the same ADF is refused¶

One .adf file can be in only one drive at a time, because each drive keeps its own copy and the later save would overwrite the earlier one. Use two files. See One file, one drive.

My saved changes are missing from the ADF¶

Changes reach the SD card in the background while the drive LED is yellow. Before you eject, reset or switch off, wait until the LED has stayed off for a few seconds. See Wait for the LED.

Real disks (Hardware Floppy)¶

A real Amiga disk does not read¶

Check that a drive is set to Hardware Floppy in Drive Settings; out of the box none is. The drive reads only double-density (DD) disks; HD disks cannot work in this mechanism. While the menu is open, the drive line shows Motor if the disk turns but nothing readable comes back, and Reading if data flows. Try another disk, and if a disk reads on a real Amiga but not on AExp, please report it. See Hardware Floppy.

The drive knocks and reads nothing right after power-on¶

The drive's own controller occasionally starts up in a bad state, and only a power cycle resets it. Switch the MEGA65 off and on again. See If the drive knocks.

Mouse and keyboard¶

The right mouse button does not work¶

The MEGA65 cannot read the right button of an original passive Tank Mouse. Hold Run/Stop instead (in Amiga keyboard mode the ↑ symbol key left of RESTORE), or use an actively-driving mouse or adapter, a mouSTer with activepotlines=true, or the simple DIY pull-up adapter. C64 mice (1350, 1351) do not work. See Mouse and joystick.

I need the Help key inside the Amiga¶

Move the menu to F11, F13 or MEGA+Run/Stop in the Keyboard section of the menu; Help then belongs to the Amiga alone. See Opening the menu and freeing the Help key.

Clock¶

The year shows 1978¶

The SetClock on Workbench 1.2 and 1.3 disks predates the year 2000. Replace it with SetClock 34.3. See the year says 1978.

The time is an hour off¶

Kickstart 1.3 knows no time zones or daylight saving time and shows the MEGA65's clock as it is set. Set the MEGA65's clock to your local time. See the time is an hour off.