Floppy fail on 1200 but floppy is good?

19 October 2008, 17:03

Hi, new to this but not the Amiga. Had a 1200 for a long time but floppy drive suddenly does not read disks. Tried drive in friends Amiga 1200 and it works fine, appreciate any help. What is wrong and how can I repair. (I prefer Amiga to emulation). Thanks, fingers crossed.

rkauer · 20 October 2008, 03:05

Bad cable or even a loose pin on the motherboard.

cosmicfrog · 22 October 2008, 11:04

welcome Pigarm

dose your friends drive work in your amiga ?

and dose he want to join the best place around for amiga info ?

Ed Cruse · 22 October 2008, 16:03

Did you try cleaning the heads? They get dirty after awhile.

Has the computer been dropped? I had a situation at a school where several 1200s where pushed off their desks on to the floor. I think it knocked them out of alignment, no matter how much I cleaned the heads and greased the mechanism they just wouldn't work right. It appeared the closer the heads were to the outside of the disk the better they worked. When they got about 1/4 the way across I'd start getting errors. I finally had to replace the drives. In case you're wondering there were no hardrives.

I was really surprised by how fragile the drives were.

jimbob005 · 22 October 2008, 20:49

@Pigarm
i have a disk drive here and cable £10 posted

amigakit.com · 22 October 2008, 21:07

Welcome!

Photon · 22 October 2008, 21:23

Also, one of the two PIO/"CIA" chips could be bad. Don't have a clear picture of an A1200 motherboard in my mind, but if it uses the same chips it could be the same thing I had on one of my A500s. If a parallel or serial port also fails, it's a chip.

alexh · 22 October 2008, 22:25

I know you said it WAS working... but if you are mistaken and it has never worked you should know that some Amiga floppy disk drives are incompatible with certain A1200 motherboards.

The motherboards were modified to use Panasonic PC drives and without reverting the modification you cannot use an ordinary Amiga floppy drive. (And Vice versa)

23 October 2008, 11:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmicfrog

welcome Pigarm

dose your friends drive work in your amiga ?

and dose he want to join the best place around for amiga info ?

Thanks for reply - Yes definately works

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Cruse

Did you try cleaning the heads? They get dirty after awhile.

Has the computer been dropped? I had a situation at a school where several 1200s where pushed off their desks on to the floor. I think it knocked them out of alignment, no matter how much I cleaned the heads and greased the mechanism they just wouldn't work right. It appeared the closer the heads were to the outside of the disk the better they worked. When they got about 1/4 the way across I'd start getting errors. I finally had to replace the drives. In case you're wondering there were no hardrives.

I was really surprised by how fragile the drives were.

Not tried cleaning heads - is it easy to do? definately not dropped. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbob005

@Pigarm
i have a disk drive here and cable £10 posted

Thanks, what make/model?
how do I pay?
Are yopu any where near me (Stafford)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by amigakit.com

Welcome!

Nice site - new drives on Ebay too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photon

Also, one of the two PIO/"CIA" chips could be bad. Don't have a clear picture of an A1200 motherboard in my mind, but if it uses the same chips it could be the same thing I had on one of my A500s. If a parallel or serial port also fails, it's a chip.

Thanks, tried friends drive and it works ok, worth bearing in mind for future though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

I know you said it WAS working... but if you are mistaken and it has never worked you should know that some Amiga floppy disk drives are incompatible with certain A1200 motherboards.

The motherboards were modified to use Panasonic PC drives and without reverting the modification you cannot use an ordinary Amiga floppy drive. (And Vice versa)

Amiga 1200 is older version, now tested with friends FZ-354 and it worked so drive fault.

Thanks for all your replies friends - I now have 2 x 1200 with faulty floppy drives (just bought another). Can anybody give me a guide on which floppy drives are compatable with the 1200. I will start my own list too ad publish here. Thanks again.

jimbob005 · 23 October 2008, 12:42

i think i may have 2 floppys around here

james

im not far from tamworth

jimbob005 · 23 October 2008, 12:52

ok just looked ones out of an a1200 and the over out of an a600 bouth will fit in the a1200 ones a mitsumi and the over is a panasonic

pm me if you want them i will recheck they are working but they was when i started my 1200 in the an a600 case

james

Ed Cruse · 23 October 2008, 16:47

The easiest way to clean heads is with a cleaner disk. The best way is to take the drive apart and use a swab soaked with alcohol. The swab should be of a glue-less type. Q-Tips use glue to hold the cotton on.

Several times now I've had problems with the head movement mechanism. After about ten years or so the greese gets old and dirty and becomes very thick, making it difficult for the heads to move properly. What I've done is remove as much of the old greese as possible and apply new greese. So far this has worked well.

19 October 2008, 17:03	#1
Pigarm Posts: n/a	Floppy fail on 1200 but floppy is good? Hi, new to this but not the Amiga. Had a 1200 for a long time but floppy drive suddenly does not read disks. Tried drive in friends Amiga 1200 and it works fine, appreciate any help. What is wrong and how can I repair. (I prefer Amiga to emulation). Thanks, fingers crossed.

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20 October 2008, 03:05	#2
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Bad cable or even a loose pin on the motherboard.

22 October 2008, 11:04	#3
cosmicfrog The 1 who ribbits Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: leek, Staffs, UK Age: 56 Posts: 3,557	welcome Pigarm dose your friends drive work in your amiga ? and dose he want to join the best place around for amiga info ?

22 October 2008, 16:03	#4
Ed Cruse Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Las Cruces, USA Age: 71 Posts: 351	Did you try cleaning the heads? They get dirty after awhile. Has the computer been dropped? I had a situation at a school where several 1200s where pushed off their desks on to the floor. I think it knocked them out of alignment, no matter how much I cleaned the heads and greased the mechanism they just wouldn't work right. It appeared the closer the heads were to the outside of the disk the better they worked. When they got about 1/4 the way across I'd start getting errors. I finally had to replace the drives. In case you're wondering there were no hardrives. I was really surprised by how fragile the drives were.

22 October 2008, 20:49	#5
jimbob005 Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: swadlincote, uk Age: 43 Posts: 226	@Pigarm i have a disk drive here and cable £10 posted

22 October 2008, 21:07	#6
amigakit.com Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: www.amigakit.com Posts: 2,015	Welcome!

22 October 2008, 21:23	#7
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	Also, one of the two PIO/"CIA" chips could be bad. Don't have a clear picture of an A1200 motherboard in my mind, but if it uses the same chips it could be the same thing I had on one of my A500s. If a parallel or serial port also fails, it's a chip.

22 October 2008, 22:25	#8
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	I know you said it WAS working... but if you are mistaken and it has never worked you should know that some Amiga floppy disk drives are incompatible with certain A1200 motherboards. The motherboards were modified to use Panasonic PC drives and without reverting the modification you cannot use an ordinary Amiga floppy drive. (And Vice versa)

23 October 2008, 12:42	#10
jimbob005 Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: swadlincote, uk Age: 43 Posts: 226	i think i may have 2 floppys around here james im not far from tamworth

23 October 2008, 12:52	#11
jimbob005 Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: swadlincote, uk Age: 43 Posts: 226	ok just looked ones out of an a1200 and the over out of an a600 bouth will fit in the a1200 ones a mitsumi and the over is a panasonic pm me if you want them i will recheck they are working but they was when i started my 1200 in the an a600 case james

23 October 2008, 16:47	#12
Ed Cruse Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Las Cruces, USA Age: 71 Posts: 351	The easiest way to clean heads is with a cleaner disk. The best way is to take the drive apart and use a swab soaked with alcohol. The swab should be of a glue-less type. Q-Tips use glue to hold the cotton on. Several times now I've had problems with the head movement mechanism. After about ten years or so the greese gets old and dirty and becomes very thick, making it difficult for the heads to move properly. What I've done is remove as much of the old greese as possible and apply new greese. So far this has worked well.

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