Disk drive tearing sound

lauri_t · 28 November 2005, 21:55

Hi,

I dug out my A500 and decided to play with it for a while just for fun. I noticed that the disk drive has a really ugly and tearing sound, much worse that I remembered and compared to my A1200. There is also some "resonance" (I am not sure if this is the right word to use). It sounds like the drive is in need of oil or something. The A500 was stored in a warm place and wrapped in plastic so i don't think it could have taken any damage during the approx. one half year it was stored.

Any suggestions in what to do? So long the drive has read all my disks without error but the sound is really disturbing me. I have a drive head cleaning diskette, could that help? I am not good at hardware tinkering so be very precise in your instructions, please.

Overdoc · 28 November 2005, 23:31

YOu could do 2 things:

1) Clean the drive heads with a q-tip and some alcohol. There is an upper and lower head - you cannot miss it when you open the drive.

2) Put a tiny, very tiny drop of oil on the spindle which moves the head.

After you have done this your drive should work more quiet and more accurate.

lauri_t · 28 November 2005, 23:52

I applied the cleaning disk but the sound remains the same.

Now when I think about it, the Amiga was a bit warm to the touch when i took it from storage. It had been stored ~30cm from a warm water pipe. Could this have somehow dried up the lubricant in the drive?

About putting oil in the spindle, I assume it means opening up the drive? Is there any special precautions I have to keep in mind while dismantling the drive? I am not experienced in these kinds of things, so is it this something difficult to do?

TjLaZer · 29 November 2005, 03:00

The drive is noisier than the ones on the A600/1200s that is for sure. Might be normal, does it work?

ElectroBlaster · 29 November 2005, 12:16

You can also get nasty noises from badly stored disk's! If the disk's magnetic coating gets dirty or mouldy they can make disk drives squeal like mad!

The a500 is well known for having a rather nasty sounding drive, more so with multidisk games and custom loaders.
It surely doesnt hurt to whip the drive cover off and clean the heads, splodge on some machine oil/grease to the spindle and to check where the disk enters the drive, the disk goes into a frame that has two metal tabs under neath! over time these tabs can bend downwards which can cause disks to get stuck. Also check the little plastic pins that tell the drive a disk in there and if its write protected or not! these can get really manked up with dust and sometime get stuck

lauri_t · 29 November 2005, 13:54

The disks have been stored in a covered disk box so that shouldn't be the problem. The disks' surface seems OK.
I might open the machine and give it a clean. It's not that I need the A500 because I can use whdload in my A1200. I just like the level-skipping trainers in some games (R-Type, the Turricans etc.) so that I don't need to play them from the beginning every time. A tip to the slave-writers

Of course it'd be nice to have a fully working machine because the machine is in very good shape and with practically no yellowing at all. BTW. the warranty seal is still in place too

Zetr0 · 29 November 2005, 17:55

Heys Lauri,

Worse case scenario you could aways change the FDD device for a new one

28 November 2005, 21:55	#1
lauri_t Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Turku, Finland Age: 39 Posts: 20	Disk drive tearing sound Hi, I dug out my A500 and decided to play with it for a while just for fun. I noticed that the disk drive has a really ugly and tearing sound, much worse that I remembered and compared to my A1200. There is also some "resonance" (I am not sure if this is the right word to use). It sounds like the drive is in need of oil or something. The A500 was stored in a warm place and wrapped in plastic so i don't think it could have taken any damage during the approx. one half year it was stored. Any suggestions in what to do? So long the drive has read all my disks without error but the sound is really disturbing me. I have a drive head cleaning diskette, could that help? I am not good at hardware tinkering so be very precise in your instructions, please.

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28 November 2005, 23:31	#2
Overdoc Commodore Collector Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Austria Age: 53 Posts: 944	YOu could do 2 things: 1) Clean the drive heads with a q-tip and some alcohol. There is an upper and lower head - you cannot miss it when you open the drive. 2) Put a tiny, very tiny drop of oil on the spindle which moves the head. After you have done this your drive should work more quiet and more accurate.

28 November 2005, 23:52	#3
lauri_t Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Turku, Finland Age: 39 Posts: 20	I applied the cleaning disk but the sound remains the same. Now when I think about it, the Amiga was a bit warm to the touch when i took it from storage. It had been stored ~30cm from a warm water pipe. Could this have somehow dried up the lubricant in the drive? About putting oil in the spindle, I assume it means opening up the drive? Is there any special precautions I have to keep in mind while dismantling the drive? I am not experienced in these kinds of things, so is it this something difficult to do?

29 November 2005, 03:00	#4
TjLaZer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tacoma, WA USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,919	The drive is noisier than the ones on the A600/1200s that is for sure. Might be normal, does it work?

29 November 2005, 12:16	#5
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,706	You can also get nasty noises from badly stored disk's! If the disk's magnetic coating gets dirty or mouldy they can make disk drives squeal like mad! The a500 is well known for having a rather nasty sounding drive, more so with multidisk games and custom loaders. It surely doesnt hurt to whip the drive cover off and clean the heads, splodge on some machine oil/grease to the spindle and to check where the disk enters the drive, the disk goes into a frame that has two metal tabs under neath! over time these tabs can bend downwards which can cause disks to get stuck. Also check the little plastic pins that tell the drive a disk in there and if its write protected or not! these can get really manked up with dust and sometime get stuck

29 November 2005, 13:54	#6
lauri_t Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Turku, Finland Age: 39 Posts: 20	The disks have been stored in a covered disk box so that shouldn't be the problem. The disks' surface seems OK. I might open the machine and give it a clean. It's not that I need the A500 because I can use whdload in my A1200. I just like the level-skipping trainers in some games (R-Type, the Turricans etc.) so that I don't need to play them from the beginning every time. A tip to the slave-writers Of course it'd be nice to have a fully working machine because the machine is in very good shape and with practically no yellowing at all. BTW. the warranty seal is still in place too

29 November 2005, 17:55	#7
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	Heys Lauri, Worse case scenario you could aways change the FDD device for a new one

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