A600 internal floppy drive doesn't read or write disks anymore.

[arkpandora]

Hi,

As I have almost no technical knowledge, I take the liberty of asking you some advice.  I guess such a problem is common, but I haven't found any "educational" answer...

My A600 internal drive does not work anymore.  While I was testing some of my old original games before selling them, the floppy drive didn't recognize one of them : the spinning floppy disk was making a lot of friction noise, and the drive was sounding as if the disk was not formatted.  I then tested some other reliable formatted disks : all were readable on an external floppy drive, but not on the internal drive, which now always sounds as if the disks are not formatted (by emitting the typical two spaced clicks).  Formatting a disk doesn't work anymore either.

Do you think that my drive is definitely broken ?  Or might it be out of alignment, or have been "soiled" in some way by the disk that induced the problem ?  Compared to a normal disk, this floppy disk's surface shows very slight stains or clouds when looked under the light.

What should I do in order to identify the problem and try to solve it ?  Is it worth beginning by buying a floppy drive cleaning kit ?

Thank you for any help !

[Tomas]

Definitely try cleaning it.

[arkpandora]

Thanks : I will.

Do you recommend any special cleaning fluid ?

[amiga92570]

Try taking the cover off the drive when you clean it. Older drives tend to accumulate a lot of lint on the drive screw for the head. You can blow it out with a can of air and than take a cue tip with alcohol and clean the heads. Usually works unless the belt is broken, or some component burned out but that is unusual. The drive heads rarely get misaligned on the newer drives.

[arkpandora]

Thank you for your "educational" answer.

I have just tried cleaning the drive with a simple "cleaning disk" damped with an isopropyl alcohol solution... and it works !  This is the first time I find this simple method effective.

Thanks again !

[amigakit]

Two options:

Floppy disk drive cleaner:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=276

Brand new A600/A1200 floppy drive:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=294

[SuperTurbo]

ohh... I wouldn´t recommend buying a floppy cleaner, I managed to make my A600 floppy break with one of those a long time ago...

[ajlwalker]

If I recall some disks can develop fungal growth over time.

Perhaps this then dirtied up your heads.

[arkpandora]

Not only do we receive taylor-made answers, but at the same time the right sales representative is ringing at the door.  Long live Amiga.org !  And long live Amiga...

Thank you : I already know Amigakit.com, and will remember you.

[arkpandora]

Yes really, more disks have created me drive problems recently.  But the other problems could be solved in a strange way : by simply inserting a disk using a "fastdir" routine.  I still don't understand why this have saved the life of my drives, but anyone with an explanation is welcome !

[Andeda]

In your case i would prefer to buy a new floppydrive, there is nothing more irritating than a faulty floppy..

[arkpandora]

My A600's internal drive is not the only drive that has been altered by some of my floppies : the problem that Fastdir solved showed itself on two external drives also (a 3 1/2 and a 5 1/4 !).  So I guess these floppies are at fault rather than the drives.

[Daedalus]

Yep, old floppies can ruin a drive pretty quickly - fungus can grow on the media if they're stored in even slightly damp conditions and that can come off on the heads, meaning they can't read or write any more. Also, the media itself can come off the plastic substrate and cover the heads, making them useless until cleaned gently with alcohol and cotton buds. This seems to be especially the case with cheap 'n' cheerful floppies...

[arkpandora]

Thanks : I wasn't aware of that problem.

Can it however explain my strange but recurrent "Fastdir" cure, which happened several times ?  The problem happens after inserting a bad disk (which usually shows unusual wear), like the problem I started this thread with, but the drive's symptoms are different : instead of the double drive click which signals an unrecognized disk, here disks are recognized, but unreadable (the drive only signals read/write errors).  In every case I got the problem solved by inserting a disk that uses Fastdir.  Then, like magic, the drive works again with any disk.  Without any cleaning or manual intervention.  Does anyone understand this phenomenon ?