Strange problem with an A2000 diskdrive

[BoingBoss]

Hi amiga1260,

The drive is a Chinon FB-357 rev.c.

The Chinon FB-357 is a high-density disk drive.  If it is the one made especially for the Amiga 2000 Series computers then you have a very rare disk drive indeed.  The Amiga 2000 Chinon FB-357 HD disk drive has a present day value of over $250.00 and is the rarest of the HD Amiga disk drives.  I sold one on eBay for $95.00 plus S/H and this is only because I did not have a reserve set on it.  I have seen these drives sell for over $250.00 on eBay.  You got lucky, dude.   :-D

I use Kickstart 1.3.

The Chinon FB-357 disk drive usually will only work with Kickstart 2.04 or above.  Kickstart 1.3 does not support high-density disk drives.  If you want to use Kickstart 1.3 then you will have to get yourself a Chinon FB-354 disk drive or an older Teac disk drive.  I sell new Teac drives for the Amiga for only $250.00.  These are very high quality disk drives and is what I use in my own Amiga and Atari ST computers.  My Amiga 500 Tower has two (2) Teac disk drives.   :-D

[BoingBoss]

Hi amiga1260,

I try the diskdrive in an A1200 and it wasn't possible to read hd disks. And gives the same problem. I'm going to sent it back to my dealer.

Your Amiga 1200 has Kickstart 3.0 or 3.1.  Some Amiga 2000 Chinon FB-357 disk drives only worked with Kickstart 2.04.  They did not work with Kickstart 3.0 or above.  The drive that I sold for $95.00 on eBay was like this.  It worked great in my Amiga 2000HD, but would not work in my Amiga 2500.  There was nothing wrong with the drive, just Commodore's software.  I will trade you a new Amiga 2000 disk drive (still in box) for your Chinon FB-357 drive.  Pmail me.   :-D

[BoingBoss]

Hi spirantho,

Incidentally, what are the normal HD drives in A4000/030s? Surely enough of them were sold (like mine) that they're not that rare....

The High-Density disk drives for the Amiga 4000 are not rare, but the ones for the Amiga 2000 are very rare.  There is a difference between the two drives.

[BoingBoss]

Hi Cyberus,

But games never came on HD disks did they? So what's the problem?

You are right.  I personally only use DS/DD disks and have hundreds of new boxed DS/DD disks sitting up in my closet.  I am still buying them too whenever I see them on eBay or in store close-outs.  Since I plan to keep and use my Classic Amiga and Atari ST computers for the next 30+ years I am stocking up on disks and spare parts (SCSI hard disks, SCSI CD Rom drives, Amiga Chinon and Teac disk drives, chips, keyboards, mice, etc).  This way I will always be able to repair my own vintage computers.   :-D