New Problem With Amiga 500A....Floppy Disk No Longer Reading Disks At All....

[Nuisance22]

Hey everyone...

 I don't know if anyone will remember my recent thread regarding a faulty Joystick port and RAM problems etc. Well, all of this was rectified and the Amiga was working perfectly.....

 For about half an hour, then the Floppy Drive decided to not register Disks, let alone read them.

 This seems odd as it was working great one second, then completely stop the next. I tried cleaning all the pins that connect the drive etc just in case that was the problem but that didn't do a thing.

 Will it need to be replaced or is there a more simple explanation for this?

 Ideally I don't want to pay out for a new drive, but will if I must. This has been more hassle than it's worth so far. All I want to do now is get it in to working condition and sell it on as I simply don't have the time or knowledge to keep working on it and it seems a shame for it collect dust when someone else could appreciate and get more use out of it.

 Looking forward to your replies.

 Mike.

[Franko]

Is the drive making any sound at all, ie: clicking noises, heads moving, motor spinning etc..

[Nuisance22]

No, nothing at all. Not even the orange drive light is doing anything.

[Franko]

Could be a number of things in that case, don't know if you have a multimeter and are able to check for any voltages on the motherboards floppy power supply. Other than being able to check that, with either a meter or another floppy drive, it can be quite a number of different cause's. sorry not much help I can give here until you can check the power is ok.

[Nuisance22]

Ok, I am unsure if I have a multimeter or anything similar around, I'll have a look asap.

[Tenacious]

IIRC, some drives have a contact made when a disk is inserted.  Perhaps there is a loose bit of dust.

If you are going to sell it anyway, maybe the next guy will have much better resources to repair and maintain it.

[rkauer]

The Amiga (all models) made heavy use of the disk insertion switch, which is located on the left side of the disk window (near the write protection switch).

That switch commonly simply get stuck on or off, stopping the drive to detect if a disk is inside, or even detecting a "ghost" disk that isn't there.

 Simple solution: get a drop of isopropanol (also known as IPA, alcohol spirit and other names) on the switches (an hypodermic syringe will help) and actuate them a dozen of times, then let the alcohol dry for a few hours and test again. Chances are that this simple thing may cure the drive.