Amiga 1000 disk drive read/write errors when monitor is on top

[hishamk]

I've recently pulled out my 1000 out of storage, stripped it up and cleaned it. It works like a charm except for the drive.

The internal drive was acting temperamental, giving read/write errors on perfectly good disks (tested on my 1200), so I made sure it was real clean. Took it apart and cleaned it up with isopropyl alcohol, including the heads and everything else in the mechanism that I could access. Before re-assembling everything, I did a quick test and everything seemed fine. All disks that previously spewed errors loaded fine without any errors.

Once I put everything back together, the read/write errors popped up again. I thought that perhaps the monitor maybe a little bit too much weight (14kg max according to the A1000 manual). Would be strange though if it is, since it's a C= 1084S. I weighed it and it came at around 11kg.

I placed the monitor beside the machine rather than on top of it anyway to see if this will sort things out and it did. No more read write errors. Everything is back to normal. :biglaugh:

The question is: I'd really love to have my monitor back to where it belongs (on top of the A1000). Is there anything that can be "fixed"?

[hishamk]

Monitor magnetic emissions could be it, I thought about that. I'll do some proximity testing tomorrow and let you guys know. The 1084S hasn't been switched on for more than 17 years until last week when I felt like going retro with the 1000 So maybe something's deteriorated over time?

As far as the cleaning goes, everything went back in, including all the shields, screws, etc. It's a stock machine btw, PAL, no daughterboard.

[hishamk]

Alrighty, the culprit is the 1084S's magnetics. I've tested it repeatedly by holding the monitor above the A1000 some 1-2 inches (without it touching the case), and it consistently causes read/write errors.

To shed some light, this 1084S is not the original monitor that was used with the A1000 when it was purchased around 1987, but a later model 1084 that was purchased circa 1991 and used with a 500.

According to BBOAH, it's a 1084S-D1 to be exact: http://www.amiga-hardware.com/download_photos/10842sd1_1_big.jpg

Underneath, I could see the underside of the circuit board clearly. There doesn't appear to be any shielding.

So it may be that good ol' chicken lips decided to cut costs and make even more shoddy monitors, ala the "Magneto" edition 1084S-D1 I've got, :afro:

I'll probably hunt down an early model 108x (if someone's got a nice clean one, preferably in the UK, I'd be much obliged ).

FWIW, my drive cleaning prolly added a few more years to the drive. One question though - I don't believe I've wiped off any grease that I've noticed, though would it be a good idea to spray certain areas with WD-40 or the like?