I think i killed 2 disk drives! help please!

[penfold_t_mole]

Testing origanal games on an amiga 500 then amiga 500+ 2 diff games same outcome. Both times the disk sounded bad in the drive and would not load then after that both the drives will not read any disks. The old not a dos disk error. Anyway i've done some reading and cant really see an easy way to fix them but surely a disk cant break a drive? I loaded x-copy from an external drive and then tried to format using the internal one and it will format but only if i dont select verify, if i do its just all 8's. Some help here would be great? Please someone come and tell me i havent just broke 2 amigas?

[xc8]

I had a similar problem with one drive... I put a sh*ty disk inside and the poor drive was trying to read it.. after this it could not read any other disk...

I think the problem is the heads went too far away (to the back of the drive)

____________________
|                    [] (eject button)
|       HHH          |
|m----'              |  (front)
|____________________|

HHH = the heads
m = motor

I moved the heads (with the machine powered-off) to the front , as I thought
the drive was trying to read the disk and pushed the heads over the limits to the back.. so the motor 'lost' the position of the heads of something like this..

ok.. it worked, but thats was in my case... not sure if you have the same problem..

Chris

[Loedown]

I've had CD units with similar issues, moving the laser assembly has sometimes been enough.

Paul

[penfold_t_mole]

Hi Chris its sounds like its exactly whats happened to me. I'm gonna try to do what you suggested. I'm a novice with anything like this so sorry if i sound a bit dumb but i do need to open the amiga up to do this? or do i put some sort of tool into the drive?

[xc8]

unfortunately yes... you need to open the amiga, and the drive too (there is a metal lid that covers the drive/heads).

No special tool, just a philips screwdriver to unscrew the lid of Amiga and probably the drive ( some drives have a clip-on lid so no screwdriver required).

Then you using your fingers you, you turn the shaft of the stepper motor to move heads on the front, far away from the motor.


Chris

[penfold_t_mole]

Ok, cheers chris will have a go now and then post back.

[penfold_t_mole]

lol, im no good at this sort of thing, im not sure ill get this back right. After 17 scews im finally into the inside of the drive, its interesting to see how it all works. I was just about to ask what the heads looks like but i think i got it. There was a thing that reads the disk was far back away from the actual disk ( when i put one in) i've moved that forward so its right over the disk. I hope this is correct. :-)

[penfold_t_mole]

I just tried to boot a disk and its still doing the same thing :-(

[fitzsteve]

I had the same problem in the past. A FDD head cleaning kit solved it, the bad disk in my case must have left residue on the heads. You could always try cleaning the head with a cotton bud and alcohol solution like that of a video head cleaner.

[fitzsteve]

also whatever got on my heads damaged a couple of my games so dont try any of your treasured disks in it till youve got it clean...

[xc8]

Originally Posted by penfold_t_mole

lol, im no good at this sort of thing, im not sure ill get this back right. After 17 scews im finally into the inside of the drive, its interesting to see how it all works. I was just about to ask what the heads looks like but i think i got it. There was a thing that reads the disk was far back away from the actual disk ( when i put one in) i've moved that forward so its right over the disk. I hope this is correct. :-)

I moved the heads far away on the end of the motor's shaft (direction to the floppy eject button), but pushed (rotated the motor's shaft) a little more to be sure the heads are on the end of the shaft....

One time I did this with the system live, I mean I put a disk and I noticed that the heads did not manage to 'scan' all the tracks of the disk, I moved to the start of the disk..

ok, I though the drive was f* up so I got the risk.. better don't try to this on 'live' system

chris

[rkauer]

Originally Posted by penfold_t_mole

<SNIP> Anyway i've done some reading and cant really see an easy way to fix them but surely a disk cant break a drive?<SNIP AGAIN>

Do you know "Daisy, Daisy" from C=64 era?

[fitzsteve]

I'd put money on it just being dirt on the heads, just give them a good clean with isopropyl alcohol and a cotton bud.

[penfold_t_mole]

Thx for all the advise guys. I'm gonna have another go at it today. Also i've ordered a cleaning kit from ebay so hopefully that will help

fkauer wrote "Do you know "Daisy, Daisy" from C=64 era?" nope whats that?

[Jope]

It is a drive music program. There's at least one for the Amiga too, that plays El Condor Pasa.

[cosmicfrog]

I remember daisy daisy on me old 1541 ahh thanks for that rkauer
I bet you got dirty heads as well

where you get your originals from ? how you been storing them

[Fingerlickin_B]

Did anyone mention how floppies can grow mould if left in the wrong conditions?

I'm too lazy to check the whole thread

PZ.

[prowler]

Originally Posted by penfold_t_mole

Both times the disk sounded bad in the drive and would not load then after that both the drives will not read any
disks.

In what way did the disks sound bad? Was there a squealing noise?

Originally Posted by Fingerlickin_B

Did anyone mention how floppies can grow mould if left in the wrong conditions?

If there was a squealing noise when the disks were spinning in the drive, then mould growth may well have been the cause of the problem.

Floppy disks stored in cold or damp conitions are susceptible to mould growth on the recording surfaces. The squealing noise is caused by the friction between these deposits and the layers of tissue between the recording surface and the disk enclosure. Such disks are often resistant to spinning by hand and may well be damaged beyond repair, but it is usually possible to revive the disk drive by cleaning the heads as has been described.

[penfold_t_mole]

Yes it was a sort of sqealing noise and yes i think the disks i used were from a job lot i bought that had just come down from someones loft. Thx for that.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

also whatever got on my heads damaged a couple of my games so dont try any of your treasured disks in it till youve got it clean...

The same thing happened to me .
The magnetic surface of some very old disks (branded Nashua) became "soft"/rotten, and some magnetic material got stitched to the drive heads.
I then ruined some (other) good disks when trying to read them...

The solution was: cleaning the heads with isopropyl alcohol (I had to rub them hard with one of those cotton sticks made for ears-cleaning use).
I then put a little paper strip between the upper&lower heads, kept the two heads pinched on the paper strip and pulled the paper strip towards the front of the drive. I had to do this three-four times.
So the remaining magnetic material was removed, and I could see it on the paper strip in the form of little brown stains .