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Conference 7.286::atarist

Title:	Atari ST, TT, & Falcon
Notice:	Please read note 1.0 and its replies before posting!
Moderator:	FUNYET::ANDERSON

Created:	Mon Apr 04 1988
Last Modified:	Tue May 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1433
Total number of notes:	10312

864.0. "Internal disk broken, any ideas?" by VISUAL::WEAVER (Dave, Image Systems Group) Thu May 17 1990 01:19

    My internal floppy on my Mega ST2 appears to be sick.  It doesn't
    seem to home when I change disks.  If I manually push it back, it
    will read the disks just fine, but it never seems to home
    automatically.  I am assuming this is some sort of problem with however
    the drive detects the media change.  Anyone have any ideas what might
    have happened.  I powered the machine down at the approach of a thunder
    storm, and left it powered off for several days.  I think there was a
    floppy in the drive when I powered off, which I removed with the power
    off.  I have never seen a problem like this before.  I am assuming that
    something mechanical got jammed, or whatever electronics control the
    head motion got screwed up.  If someone can recomend a chip to replace,
    I will attempt that.
    
    Does anyone know a supplier of these internal disks with the
    non-standard eject button?
    
    							Thanks,
    							-Dave

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
864.1	We're getting quite a collection here	PRNSYS::LOMICKAJ	Jeffrey A. Lomicka	`Thu May 17 1990 12:20`	10
	What a mess. Perhaps you can get together with Ray Wallace and Bruce Lichtenstein and get a quantity discount on real drives. I really hate it when people have to cut away at their case to repair the floppy drive. Have any of you that have done that (replaced the drive and cut the case to fit it) looked into moving the pushbutton and other plastic parts from the Atari drive to the new one? Mechanically incompatible at that level also?
864.2	Could be the sensor or a chip	OLDTMR::WALLACE		`Thu May 17 1990 13:39`	8
	It could be that the track 0 sensor is bad (an LED and a photodiod(?) which get interrupted by an arm on the stepper motor shaft). My drive has two pins on the circuit board that you can connect a VOM to in order to check the track 0 signal. If that checks out ok then is probably a bad chip in the ST (not sure if that signal goes to the sound chip or not, I can look it up in the abacus book). Ray
864.3	Another hacked case	ASDS::POWERS	I Dream Of Wires - G. Numan	`Thu May 17 1990 14:46`	10
	RE .1 (Jeff), I had recently replaced my internal floppy drive cause it went south, and bought a new unit which had a different eject button location. I did examine both units before hand to see if it could be done, and the eject mechanism was completely different on both units. As a result I had to hack up my case. Bill Powers
864.4		VISUAL::WEAVER	Dave, Image Systems Group	`Fri May 18 1990 02:53`	4
	I got a replacement drive from White Mountain Computer for $110. No case hacking required. -Dave
864.5	I'll cut anyone's case for half the savings you see from the cheaper mechanisms :-)	NORGE::CHAD	Ich glaube Ich t�te Ich h�tte	`Fri May 18 1990 08:51`	7
	My Atari is hacked so much anyway that I didn't mind cutting the case to fit in a new mechanism (in my case going from SSDD to DSDD). I look at it this way: I could have bought an Atari mechanism for $130+ (at the time) or I could spend $80 (at the time) for a generic mechanism and cut the case. Which would you do? Chad
864.6		PRNSYS::LOMICKAJ	Jeffrey A. Lomicka	`Mon May 21 1990 11:30`	1
	Me? I'd spend the extra $50 and keep my computer looking pretty.
864.7	you could give me the $50	NORGE::CHAD	Ich glaube Ich t�te Ich h�tte	`Mon May 21 1990 13:16`	5
	>Me? I'd spend the extra $50 and keep my computer looking pretty. My computer ain't pretty :-) Chad