Bad Floppy Drive???

03 October 2004, 17:16

Hi

I have an A1200 with internal HDD and have noticed recently that the Floppy Drive DF0 makes a few clunking sounds when there is no disk in it and the DF0??? appears on the workbench screen.
I loaded up a few games from floppy and they all booted 100% with no problems.

The drive clunks also when i have booted workbench from Floppy and the drive is empty.

This behaviour is erratic and sometimes disappears after several boots.I often leave the Amiga off for months at a time so could it be the drive behaving like this because it hasn't been used for a while or is it signs of a worn out/failing drive?

any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks

03 October 2004, 17:24

Are you sure it's not the normal disk checking *click* sound? Amigas do that when there are no disks in the drive and is normal. Even if it is not a normal click, don't open your drive unless it's not working, you can misalign or completely kill it.

From http://de.aminet.net you can search for utilities that disable that normal disk checking sound, but only under workbench.

03 October 2004, 18:05

I have had the machine for nearly 9 yrs and have always used a noclick command in the startup sequence script.Besides that i get the same probs when i boot workbench from floppy disc ie the df0??? icon appearing when i remove the floppy disk from the drive.

At least the drive still loads all disks when i boot from them (up till now so far)

Just wondered if the drive was on its way out - they are damn expensive to purchase now,buying a second hand amiga from ebay is often cheaper

RetroMan · 03 October 2004, 18:10

Check the little pins in front of the drive, maybe the disk recognition pin is stuck, so it allways thinks a disk is inserted, even if you get it out of the drive

03 October 2004, 18:16

Thanks - i'll give that a try

04 October 2004, 10:19

Retroman -

Would those pins be the two black plastic ones on the left hand side of the front of the drive?

thanks

04 October 2004, 12:11

Thanks - You were 100% correct,the little plastic sensor pin was a little sticky,everything is now working properly again.

Thanks for your great help

RetroMan · 04 October 2004, 20:10

No Problem

I allready had about 30 or 40 of those drives, it´s a very common problem

Jope · 05 October 2004, 08:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetroMan

it´s a very common problem

Yeh, especially if the previous owner was a smoker. The tar really clogs up those switches.

03 October 2004, 17:16	#1
Unregistered Posts: n/a	Bad Floppy Drive??? Hi I have an A1200 with internal HDD and have noticed recently that the Floppy Drive DF0 makes a few clunking sounds when there is no disk in it and the DF0??? appears on the workbench screen. I loaded up a few games from floppy and they all booted 100% with no problems. The drive clunks also when i have booted workbench from Floppy and the drive is empty. This behaviour is erratic and sometimes disappears after several boots.I often leave the Amiga off for months at a time so could it be the drive behaving like this because it hasn't been used for a while or is it signs of a worn out/failing drive? any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Floppy drive timings and NTSC floppy unreliability	mark_k	support.WinUAE	6	02 February 2013 22:03
Can I use external floppy drive as internal drive?	Mrs Beanbag	support.Hardware	6	12 December 2012 19:15
Noisy floppy drive or drive not reading properly HD disks?	Old Fool	support.Hardware	4	07 June 2010 15:09
Strange Amiga 1200 floppy drive... PC drive converted to amiga?	jbenam	support.Hardware	8	30 March 2009 19:24
A600 internal floppy drive, says all my disks have bad sectors on 891	Smiley	support.Hardware	4	01 May 2005 19:26

03 October 2004, 17:24	#2
oldpx Posts: n/a	Are you sure it's not the normal disk checking click sound? Amigas do that when there are no disks in the drive and is normal. Even if it is not a normal click, don't open your drive unless it's not working, you can misalign or completely kill it. From http://de.aminet.net you can search for utilities that disable that normal disk checking sound, but only under workbench.

03 October 2004, 18:05	#3
mbjb Posts: n/a	I have had the machine for nearly 9 yrs and have always used a noclick command in the startup sequence script.Besides that i get the same probs when i boot workbench from floppy disc ie the df0??? icon appearing when i remove the floppy disk from the drive. At least the drive still loads all disks when i boot from them (up till now so far) Just wondered if the drive was on its way out - they are damn expensive to purchase now,buying a second hand amiga from ebay is often cheaper

03 October 2004, 18:10	#4
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	Check the little pins in front of the drive, maybe the disk recognition pin is stuck, so it allways thinks a disk is inserted, even if you get it out of the drive

03 October 2004, 18:16	#5
mbjb Posts: n/a	Thanks - i'll give that a try

04 October 2004, 10:19	#6
mbjb Posts: n/a	Retroman - Would those pins be the two black plastic ones on the left hand side of the front of the drive? thanks

04 October 2004, 12:11	#7
mbjb Posts: n/a	Thanks - You were 100% correct,the little plastic sensor pin was a little sticky,everything is now working properly again. Thanks for your great help

04 October 2004, 20:10	#8
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	No Problem I allready had about 30 or 40 of those drives, it´s a very common problem

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)