Amiga 1200 disk drive/boot problem

[leema1290]

I've had my Amiga 1200 for years, and it no longer wants to load anything: I put a floppy disk into the drive, the drive doesn't notice, and continues the insert disk request. This is very annoying! I have been unable to play any of my Amiga games for about 7 years. I would really like to know what's wrong/if it is fixable/any UK places that fix Amigas

[motorollin]

You could try a floppy drive cleaning kit, or an can of compressed air to remove any dirt from the disk heads. Failing that you might have to dismantle the drive and clean the read head with some rubbing alcohol. If none of that works, then you will probably have to replace the drive.

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moto

[amigakit]

We can provide a repair to your Amiga- contact us here:

http://contact.amigakit.com

[leema1290]

Thanks Motorollin, I can handle the compressed air, but would not want to hurt it by taking it to pieces myself!

[motorollin]

Ok well try the compressed air and see if that works. If it doesn't make any difference then contact Amigakit and see if they can repair your drive. If not they can provide you with a replacement.

--
moto

[jasper]

It could be the little plastic disk read/write sensor pin in the drive thats sticky,(its in the left hand side of the drive where you put the floppy disc in)i had that problem once and solved it by the use of a small amount of meths.

hope this helps

[orange]

I would ignore motorollin advice if, as you said, "the drive doesn't notice" at all inserted diskette. I doubt dust would cause that much damage.

Does drive click at all when empty? check power if it doesnt.
Do you hear heads moving or motor rotating when diskette is inserted? if not the problem might be in sensor that detects diskette has been inserted, its in corner, together with write protect sensor, IIRC.
If heads move, they could be misaligned, its common problem. there is a software on aminet for calibrating them but I'd advise replacing the drive.

www.vesalia.de can provide you with replacement too, it costs 19.9 euros.

But the best/cheapest solution would be to modify the FDD cable slightly and connect cheap, easily obtainable PC floppy drive. aminet has instructions, and posts here from past.

edit: bah I'm getting slow..

[leema1290]

It clicks when empty, whirrs for a few seconds when disk is inserted, then clicks again

[orange]

I guess the sensor is ok then..

[melange]

It's probably just dirty heads.  Get a floppy disk drive cleaner (Wet type) and put it through lots of times to be sure.  Some say you shouldn't over clean when using cleaning disks, but at this stage you have nothing to lose.  If the oxide build up on the heads is solid and has formed a lump, this will cause big problems.  The solution is to remove drive and clean manually, however because you don't wish to take it apart, I suggest heavy cleaning with a cleaning disk.  Be patient and put it thru lots of times using the cleaning fluid as per disk drive cleaner's instructions.

If no change send it to Amikit.  :-D