Converted High Density Floppy

[Overdoc]

You have to put it to '0' for internal use, and to '1' if you want to use it in a external drive's case.
The RY/DC jumper has to be set to RY.
The MD/MS one has to be set to MS, if I am right ( not sure, though )

For PC you need to set it to '1' & DC. Not sure about the MD/MS ?!?

[scaf]

I have a chinon FZ-357. It's a HD drive.
Overdoc : How could it work in an A2000 that accepts only DD drives ?

I have also a DD drive : EPSON SMD-380.
If someone knows if it's compatible with a A2000 ............

I only want to add an internal drive as DF1.

[Overdoc]

Yes, the FZ-357 is used in HD mode when jumpered for PC use, but it will work as a DD drive when jumpered for Amiga use
The right jumper configuration for Amiga use is:

DS0, MM, RDY and TTL/C-MOS being set.

Also the SMD-380 is an Amiga drive At least I can remember that I have one in an A-500 Don't know if there are any jumpers except the DS0/DS1 one, though ?

I think if you want to use the drive as a second internal drive in an A-2000 then you must set it to DS1 instead of DSß, and also change some jumper on the mainboard. But since I never had an A-2000, I don't know much about it, but I am sure others know better

[scaf]

There is a jumper on the A2000 board :

J301
This jumper is closed to add a second internal floppy drive, open to leave the second floppy out of the main unit box. The Amiga expects an ID bit stream from each floppy drive; this lets it determine the drive type. External floppies have this ID circuitry on board, but as it's not an industry standard capability, it has to be implemented on the A2000 motherboard to save cost on internal drives. Leaving the jumper open prevents the Amiga from seeing the ID sequence.

I tried the FS-357 and the SMD-380 with each option enabled/disabled, DS0, or DS1... but it never worked

When the J301 jumper is off, nothing appears.
When on, DF1 always appear (even with no drive connected) and considered by the system with a bad disk inserted, even when no disk is inserted...

About the smd-380 : could you look your drive's configuration (if you remember which A500 have it)

Well.... if any1 has a idea how to make one of these fu****g drives to work, any suggestion is welcome....

The drive WORKS

Thank you VERY much guys!

The MS/MD switch should be set to MD
1/2/3/4 switch was actually 0/1/2/3, yeah misread it

All NDOS disks including jim power (that notmally doesn't work with a converted drive) works YIPPEEEE!!!

Let me tell you the story of this drive. I bought this one months ago and it was long forgotten. One saturday morning I went to the "junk-bazaar", the place people sell second hand furniture, electronics, basically any kind of junk. It was raining so many booths were closed, Only available ones did not have interesting things besides, everything was left under the rain. This drive was completely washed by rainwater. I paid 0.5$ for four wet drives

I washed them at home again to clean them Two drives died instantly, one is sony but it doesn't seem to read amiga disks and this is the last one.

[Overdoc]

@Burseg:

Hey, that's cool
I wa pretty sure the JU257-033P is an Amiga drive ( or a PC drive, but which will also work 100% in Amigas )
Now try locating more of these

@scaf:

You need to jumper the first internal drive as DS0, and the second one as DS1. Also, are you sure you jumpered the FZ-357 like I said ? Does the FZ-357 work when you replace it with your first internal drive ? ( for this jumper it to DS0 and leave 301 open )

I don't know much about the A-2000, because I never had one, but I think when you want to connect 2 internal drives then it is also important in which order they are hooked up to the drive data cable ! The drive ( which is jumpered to DS0 ) has to be closest to the board, and the second one ( DS1 ) has to be hooked up 'after' the first one.
Maybe this is complete bullshit, but I think I once heard something like that....

[scaf]

I jumpered the second drive (and the first one too) correctly. i checked many times...

But i didn't try the fz-357 as a standalone DF0:
(note : the first drive is a chinon FB-354)

I'll try your idea about the order of the drives on the cable. But I don't think it'll help because on the A2000 manual, there's a photo of the computer having 2 drives, hooked up the way i did.
Unfortunately, the only method to install a second drive described in the manual is "Ask your resseller to do it" .... ow....

Has any1 the description of the jumpers of the EPSON SMD-380 ?
there is the description of the pins (each letter for a pin) :

up -> G A A T 0 w 1
dn -> G R w D 2 w 3

where "w" is for "white". colored in white instead of having a letter.
ok : 0,1,2,3 are for the ID.... But the others ??????

[Overdoc]

The right jumper config for the FZ-357 should be a vertical jumper on the 3rd, 6th and 7th position, connectig upper and lower row of the pins. Additionally you need another horzontal jumper for the id.

I haven't had enough time to look for the SMD-380 A-500, yet, although I would like to know myself in which one this drive is built in

For Amiga you have to put a jumper on 'w' and 'R' for sure, because this one is for the ready signal. But I have no idea what the 'G' and 'A' are for ??? The 'T' could be a test pin, and 'G could be ground, but that is just a guess in the dark...

[scaf]

I think you're right for 'R'.
'R' should stand for RDY, D for DC.
But G as Ground.... why not ? but WHITE seems to be Ground, too...... So : why a letter G and not a White square ?

[Overdoc]

No idea, but the white suware seems to be there when you can set a jumper to either side of the white square, e.g. R-white-D, or 0-white-1.
What if you just set one jumper between 0 & white, and another one between r & white ?
I haven't had time to check my A-500s for the one with the Epson drive, yet. Problem is they are stored on the bottom of a shelf, but there is plenty of crap lying in front of them so I cannot take them out without removing al the junk first Anyway, I might do it tomorrow. Fortunately I can remember the Epson has a very hard eject button spring, so I might be able to recognize it by pressing the eject button instead of opening up all the miggys....

Also I suggest first try the FZ-357, because I know for 100% sure that it does work with the jumper config I told you. I know people who have this drive working in their A-2000 since they bought it, and I also tried an FZ-357 in a A-500 one time and it worked perfectly ( also with N-Dos disks ! ). Have you tried the cable swap, yet ? Also are you sure the drives are connected right ? If you connect on of them upside down it will start spinning and never stop as soon as you switch on the Amiga.

[scaf]

Well, i checked the connection several times, and they're ok.

For now, i'm a little tired of opening/closing my 2000, so i think i'll try it tomorrow or in 2 days.
I wonder if my drive isn't dead. I used it in a PC, changed for another one, and stored it in safety. But it's not sure it's all right.
Or could it be a problem with the A2000? why not?

[Amiga1992]

Originally posted by scaf
For now, i'm a little tired of opening/closing my 2000

Just leave it open until you fix it

[scaf]

Originally posted by Akira
Just leave it open until you fix it

I was sure some1 would say this
I thought to do it, but i've not enough space to store the box and the monitor.
While in use, the monitor is on the amiga, and my desktop (where is my PC, too) is too small for i could move it (the monitor).

And there is a lot of dust, where I live....

[scaf]

I couldn't wait and tried one more.

It seems the fz-357 is dead, but the smd-380 works (configured as DS0 as well as DS1).
But (there is a "but"), the diskchange don't work.
If it is known as DF1, i have to type "diskchange DF1:" for the system redetects the disk. Same if configured as DS0.

Now, I only need to activate the automatic diskchange.

[Overdoc]

@SMD-380:
Hmm, maybe the switch for disk detection is not working ?
When you look into the drive slot, there is 2 small pins on the left side. The right one of these 2 should be the disk detection sensor.
Try pressing it down manually ( e.g. with help of a screwdriver )without a disk in the drive. Does the drive start spinning then ?

@FZ-357:
Jumper the drive for PC like this ( 4 jumpers overall ):

horizontally in the lower row between pin 1 & 2, and 5 & 6
vertically on the 4th and 7th column

Signals DS1, MM, DC and TTL/C-MOS should be jumpered

Now connect it in your PC and check if it works. If it does, then you have done something wrong when connecting/jumpering it for Amiga.

[scaf]

I tried plugging the fb-354 (original df0) as DF1 and the smd as DF0, swapping the cable, changing the cable. The problem on the smd remains.
So, it don't comes from the mobo, nor from the cable.
Note the cable has a twist : pins 4-5-6 become 6-5-4.

@ smd-380 : Could the detection pin be not connected, even if present ?

[Overdoc]

Does the FZ-357 at least work in the PC, or in the Amiga as DF0: without any second drive ?

I checked my SMD-380 today, and the jumper setting is ok ( 2 Jumpers: DS0 & RD )
The pin normally is connected if it hasn't been disconnected for some strange reason ?
I think the switch is simply worn out or dirty inside. Happens quite often ! Try spraying some contact fluid into the switch, but only a very small drip is enough !!
Have you checked pressing down the switch manually, yet ? Does the drive start spinning ?

[scaf]

It seems my FZ is definitely dead.
The pc detects it, but, the heads have a problem : they can't find floppy sectors. Sometimes, they find them (it's very rare)
I found some info on the net : the fz-357 was for the PCs and the FZ-357A was for amigas. The one i have is a fz-357.

Thanks for checking your drive
The smd-380 don't start spinning while pressing the pin, although i cleaned it.
I read this drive was principally used in ataris, not in amigas ? (the board of the smd is a smd300dd).
About the RD jumper : where is it ? because i have the following : R-WhiteSquare-D. shall i jumper R-WhiteSquare ?

Washing it might not have been a good idea, my drive's motor stopped as smoke came out of it. It was an entertaining adventure anyway.