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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: kickstart on October 23, 2009, 04:15:16 AM

Title: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: kickstart on October 23, 2009, 04:15:16 AM

I decide to rebuilt my a1200 back from the closet and i have a problem (maybe a silly one but makes me crazy). I have two a1200 and commodore and escom, both seems fine and runs good but no one recognize disks, booting with a disk into the fdd and happens nothing, inserting a disk on workbench all are displaying like DF0:unreadable.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Title: Re: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: kickstart on October 29, 2009, 09:13:28 PM

Im still with the same problem... at this moment i cleaned the disk drive heads with isopropilic alcohol and still the same, disk inserting, disk drive make some clicks and kickstart screen appears again.

Yes is a crappy problem but when is in all of my machines becomes a mistery, if anyone can help... thanks.

Title: Re: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: Moto on October 29, 2009, 09:19:11 PM

I had two identical working A500s that were in the closet for a long time.  I have the same problem now.  One of the 3.5" drives doesn't read disks any longer.   My prediction is that the drive lost it's calibration over the years.  It probably got knocked around a bit (poor Amiga).  Is there a way to recalibrate these drives?  Is it worth it versus getting another drive?

Title: Re: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: kickstart on October 29, 2009, 09:26:06 PM

My disk drives havent a hard use but like you say the drives were inactive for a long time.

Title: Re: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: Acill on October 29, 2009, 09:29:24 PM

You need to keep in mind the age of these things. You can look for one of those disks that you put in that cleans the heads and removes any junk, but my guess is they are just to old and sat long enough to tarnish some.

Title: Re: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: dougal on October 29, 2009, 10:28:50 PM

You could try opening up the drives and cleaning them out properly .

If that fails , your other options are to either buy a cheap replacement from somewhere like ebay or amigakit.com or else try converting a pc drive to an Amiga one .

The second option is not always possible , depends on the drive , but i have been somewhat successfull on 2 or 3 drives .

Title: Re: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: kickstart on October 29, 2009, 10:35:16 PM

I can clean it more deep... Where can i find some info about converting pc drives to amiga?

Title: Re: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: Karlos on October 29, 2009, 10:53:27 PM

Quote from: kickstart;527770

I can to clean ir more deep... Where can i find some info about converting pc drives to amiga?

Maybe this will help? http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/PCFloppy2Amiga (http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/PCFloppy2Amiga)

Title: Re: a1200 fdd problems
Post by: Damion on October 30, 2009, 04:20:29 AM

Quote from: Moto;527744

I had two identical working A500s that were in the closet for a long time.  I have the same problem now.  One of the 3.5" drives doesn't read disks any longer.   My prediction is that the drive lost it's calibration over the years.  It probably got knocked around a bit (poor Amiga).  Is there a way to recalibrate these drives?  Is it worth it versus getting another drive?

I've used this tool (http://aminet.net/package/driver/media/TrackDiskSync) successfully to save a few drives.