Rainbow Islands

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

this preview is not A1200 compatible.

What about the NDOS Denis? Is that normal?

I have 3 dumps using KFfree, booted using WinUAE default A500 1.2, either FACILITIES no longer works or maybe something I'm not doing right.

[dlfrsilver]

it is normal, even if it's a preview, i have explained a few posts above that it uses the same protection on disk as Fire And Ice (from the same coder ).

So yes it's normal to see it as NDOS. RI in commercial release is also NDOS

Please send me one KF dump, i'll check it

[Arnie]

In the Zone, Denis.

I'll start cleaning the disk, hopefully I'll get a working dump from the Kryoflux.

[dlfrsilver]

Please go straight to the cleaning, the 3 dumps have 10 errors each

[BarryB]

I've found wrapping a tissue around a cotton bud then wetting with IPA works for me, I open the shutter and gently clean what is visible then rotate the disk slightly to clean the next part of the disk until I've done a full revolution. I wrap another clean part of the tissue around the cotton bud depending on how much dirt/mold is on the surface! Then you just repeat for the other side!

I used to crack open the disk and clean in one go but that ruins the shell and gluing it back together doesn't always make a good bond, so now I clean disks through the open shutter, it's slow but keeps the disk intact and seeing as I only need to get a good dump from the disk and not actually use it, it's been a good method so far!

[Arnie]

That's exactly what I've done Barry. (but with eye cleaning pads)

Good News: I've got loads of gunk off the disk.

Bad News: It looks like a scratch is on both side 0 and side 1, near identical spot as well.

I don't know whether to try dumping with KFFree again or wait until my new floppy drive arrives and try with the Kryoflux.

I'll be stripping the A1200's floppy tomorrow to clean the heads.

[BarryB]

Definitely clean the heads, if you've put a dirty disk in chances are the heads will be dirty too and that dirt could also damage the disk as you've probably found out! I would use Kryoflux + PC drive to dump, you can clean the heads on the PC drive easier too.

I always visually inspect the surface of any disk I'm going dump by opening the shutter and rotating it slowly so I can see if there is anything on the surface, then clean it if there is! I had an 8 disk compilation recently and every disk had signs of mold on the surface so that was 16 sides to clean Once cleaned, every disk dumped and could use Disk-Utilities to create working IPFs from the dumps!

[jbenam]

The heads in both my drives are definitely dirty now, considering what Arnie said about removing lots of gunk!

I've got some really rare disks at home (one Danish program compilation and an Italian one) that give out a lot of read errors, so I will have to try this to dump them. Also I'm pretty sure that my A4000's drive is dirty as hell as well, since it started having a lot of problems after reading some of my old disks from the 90s.

Anyway I can confirm that the RI preview doesn't work on A1200, not even with caches disabled. Forgot to try with TUDE, now that I think of it. I had some limited success with some A500 games with it... It worked perfectly on my A500 though, so it's just that the protection isn't compatible with the A1200.

I've loaded one of the RAWs I made on WinUAE with a standard A500 config, and it did go further than the protection screen, I played a bit of the first level, actually. I think one of the RAWs didn't, so it has to do with the quality of the dump as well.

Anyway fingers crossed that the scratch won't compromise the dump

I've tried Barry's method of cleaning disks without opening them, but I couldn't get any good results, I would just get more errors Looks like I'm a bit unlucky when it comes to cleaning disks, I just hope I won't kill my rare floppies

[BarryB]

When cleaning you have to check the tissue/eye cleaning pad to see if there is dirt on it, if so move to a clean part of the pad or tissue then try again and check for dirt, otherwise you're just smearing more dirt over the disk!

The other reason you may be getting read errors is dirty drive heads, particularly if you've never cleaned the heads in your drives, it's time do it as a priority! Another reason may be the disks have been damaged by reading in a dirty drive or could be genuine bit rot with age.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by jbenam

The heads in both my drives are definitely dirty now, considering what Arnie said about removing lots of gunk!

I toooooold you, as soon as you hear the weird whistling, your drive is getting fucked.
HOpe you can fix them.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by Akira

I toooooold you, as soon as you hear the weird whistling, your drive is getting fucked.
HOpe you can fix them.

Yeah mate, I should've listened when I could I've got a cleaning disk back at home, might just bring that here! Does anyone know how effective are they?

http://www.retro-kit.co.uk/user/cust...sc-cleaner.jpg

[BarryB]

I'd really recommend you do it manually, just take off the top cover of the drive and use a bit of IPA on cotton bud and gently brush the heads, just don't press on. The bottom head is more sturdy than the top so brush the top head really gently.

The problem I find with the cleaning disk is you get dirt in the same place on the disk unless you have a program that moves the head while it's in! Never liked them so I do mine manually!

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by jbenam

.

I've loaded one of the RAWs I made on WinUAE with a standard A500 config, and it did go further than the protection screen, I played a bit of the first level, actually. I think one of the RAWs didn't, so it has to do with the quality of the dump as well.

All of your dumps work in WinUAE (default A500 with CE enabled)

Originally Posted by jbenam

.
Anyway fingers crossed that the scratch won't compromise the dump

Yeah, the gunk was hiding them.
Hopefully the Floppy drive should be here tomorrow.

BTW, I cleaned the heads of the A1200 Floppy and no gunk came off with the cotton bud, the drive works O.K.

[jbenam]

Well, that's some relieving news - it might mean my drives might not be as dirty as I thought Still, giving them a good clean up like Barry suggested won't hurt.

Ah, weird. I remember it not booting once. Maybe I'm thinking of my tries on the A1200...

[dlfrsilver]

Guys, there is a member called Bikerdude which is offering 200+ disk (he is in London).

Anybody wants to get them ? The offer is in EAB market place

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Guys, there is a member called Bikerdude which is offering 200+ disk (he is in London).

Anybody wants to get them ? The offer is in EAB market place

I saw that. I haven't got the room.

[Dastardly]

Sorry to hear this disk is being such a problem. I had no idea there were any issues with it as it has always played perfectly (as far as toy island anyway. Never got further than that!).

[Arnie]

I really don't want to post this but hear goes.

One pass through the Kryoflux after cleaning and the disk Image wont boot properly.

Tried the original disk in my A1200 and the worst is feared, the disk wont boot.

I bit the bullet and removed the disk from it's casing and gave it a thorough clean.
More gunk, I can't believe how dirty this disk is. On Inspection there appears to be shiny stripes in line with the reading window. These produce the most gunk but I don't want to go heavy handed to try and clean them further.

I've replaced the disk in a new floppy case and put it through he Kryoflux again. Really bad news, It's worse, wont even boot to the Rainbow Project screen.

SIGH! I really don't want to clean it again, it's just making matters worse.

I don't like giving up on this but It's starting to give me a bad feeling in my gut.
I'm sorry Dastardly but I feel that I've ruined your disk. I hope you can forgive me!

On a good note, the images JBenham made could be sent to the Kryoflux team to see if they can salvage anything. I can play these images in WinUAE so maybe all's not lost.

If anyone else has suggestions please chime in.

Dastardly, what would you like to do next (besides murder me).

[dlfrsilver]

well maybe dastardly could enlight us about the origins of this disk : is it a magazine disk, or was it a disk given at a particular occasion.

@Arnie : Please dump the disk with kryoflux, i'll see if i can do something with the original dump (since you cleaned it a bit more).

[Arnie]

Hi Denis,

I'll put the Stream/CTRaw in the zone for the best working dump. All other dumps are useless.

I've also discovered that the metal centre ring is moving slightly on the medium!