1571 troubles
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From: Mark Smith on 12 Mar 2006 04:06 Hi there, I've an issue with the 1571 drive inside my C128D ... it quite happily uses disks single sided, but 90% of the time I get a "bad disk" message when I format double sided. I took the top off the C128D and watch what it does when formatting, side 1 goes through with no problems, but 2/3 the way through side 2 the head while pause and then the error message pops up. This a sign of a misaligned drive ? Whats a good tool to re-align both sides ? Also can you replace the mechanism with a PC part ? Thanks Mark
From: billdeg on 12 Mar 2006 08:00 Dumb question - have you cleaned the heads? If not, use 90%+ isopropol alcohol solution. There are resources on the web for how to do this, be careful! Also the standard statement - make sure everything is plugged in and pressed in properly. It may be out of alignment, but I have never heard of trouble formatting only the 2nd side of a disk as a result of alignment issues. but these disk drives are famous for fun and exciting problems. Does the formatting problem happen at the same point everytime, or some time during the format? From your comment it looks like the answer is yes. Do you have "1541 1571 drive alignment" software? Using this I have been able to fix a 128D without tools. At least you can get a better picture of what's wrong. It could just as easily be the drive speed. Definitely you can't use a PC part. Let me know.
From: John Selck on 12 Mar 2006 08:06 On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 14:00:37 +0100, billdeg <billdeg(a)aol.com> wrote: > Do you have "1541 1571 drive alignment" software? Using this I have > been able to fix a 128D without tools. At least you can get a better > picture of what's wrong. There is no software solution to this. You need a screwdriver, an alignment disk (or alternatively a known good aligned disk) and an oscilloscope + lot's of patience. What the software might have done is move the head out of the track 36-41 area back to "normal" 1541 area, but it is not possible to align the drive via software.
From: billdeg on 12 Mar 2006 08:23 yes but with "1541 1571 drive alignment" you can at least see what the computer thinks is wrong. I have used this many times to get an idea of the problem before resorting to a screw driver.
From: Papabear on 12 Mar 2006 12:16
billdeg wrote: > Dumb question - have you cleaned the heads? If not, use 90%+ isopropol > alcohol solution. There are resources on the web for how to do this, > be careful! Also the standard statement - make sure everything is > plugged in and pressed in properly. > > It may be out of alignment, but I have never heard of trouble > formatting only the 2nd side of a disk as a result of alignment issues. > but these disk drives are famous for fun and exciting problems. Does > the formatting problem happen at the same point everytime, or some time > during the format? From your comment it looks like the answer is yes. > > Do you have "1541 1571 drive alignment" software? Using this I have > been able to fix a 128D without tools. At least you can get a better > picture of what's wrong. > > It could just as easily be the drive speed. > > Definitely you can't use a PC part. > > Let me know. > I had a similar problem back in the 80's- The cable to the R/W head on side 2 was faulty- once it moved past a certain point, the connection would break. It sat with a local tech for a year before he gave it back to me- he never figured it out. Finally got it fixed at another place, who'd seen such things before. -Urson Bear |