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These sources imply that it needs to boot from floppy, whether it has a HDD or not, and you need to run a program called NVR to access BIOS settings- i.e. unlike later PCs, you can't hold down a key at power-up to get into BIOS and check which devices are attached:
https://oldcomputer.info/pc/ams1512/index.htm
http://www.retroisle.com/amstrad/pcs/Technical/Firmware/ROM_BIOS.php
chez_jay-
Thanks very much for the links.
I had a look in the case and it does indeed have a hard drive, and having switched on again to remind myself of the prompts onscreen, it says "hard disk drive not ready" ahead the disk boot failure when you put the system disk in, Having had a further rummage online, it sounds like it is an HDD issue, so I might well be spending time on a duff machine. Bah.
nickvonfiction
Thanks for the insights on the Amstrad. It's a bit before my computing experience! If it has to boot from floppy then I guess it is a duff system disk that's the problem. 'll have to have a look inside to see if there is an HD but from looking at the link, seems not as standard...