Acorn Arcade forums: General: Floppy Drive - intermittent
| |
Floppy Drive - intermittent |
| |
hairydalek (20:26 4/7/2012)
sirbod (22:29 4/7/2012)
PaulV (00:50 5/7/2012)
hairydalek (20:19 5/7/2012)
|
| |
|
Paul Dunning |
Message #120766, posted by hairydalek at 20:26, 4/7/2012 |
Member
Posts: 55
|
HI,
I have a minor problem with my A310. The floppy drive is intermittently not detecting that a disk is inserted. It works sometimes, other times it reports that the drive is empty even though a disk is inserted. At these times, the drive kicks in (so power is getting to it, and bits are moving). I am suspecting that somewhere in the drive something mechanical is not responding properly to the presence of the disk. It seems that if I am quite firm with inserting the disk, I am more likely to get it to work.
Any suggestions of what I should be looking for? I’ve tried some compressed air in the drive bay, and brushing out dust and debris with a small paint brush, which seems to have helped a bit.
Thanks. |
| |
 [ Log in to reply ] |
| |
|
Jon Abbott |
Message #120768, posted by sirbod at 22:29, 4/7/2012, in reply to message #120766 |
Member
Posts: 402
|
Now that is just spooky, my A440/1 started having exactly the same problem today!
I've yet to strip it down to see if there's a problem with the wiring. |
| |
[ Log in to reply ] |
| |
|
Paul Vernon |
Message #120770, posted by PaulV at 00:50, 5/7/2012, in reply to message #120768 |
Member
Posts: 118
|
Some 3.5" drives have a little micro-switch in them to detect the presence of a disc. Usually this is somewhere in the region where a HD disc has it's little HD slot being open and in HD drives there are two pins on the micro-switch assy. One for disc presence and the other for HD disc detection.
If the switch is failing then getting hold of some Servisol Super 10 switch cleaner, giving it a quick spray and then actuating the switch several times may revive it if it's just dirt that is causing the problem.
I've just taken a photo of my A410/1 drive to show the position of the micro-switch and it appears it's of the two pin variety even though it's a DD drive... Did Acorn fit HD drives into Arcs regardless of their ability to read HD discs?
http://www.retro-kit.co.uk/user/custom/Acorn/32bit/A410-1/A4001-FloppyDrive-switches.jpg
EDIT: I should add. NEVER use WD40 to clean switches like this. Always use a proper switch cleaning solution.
HTH
Paul
[Edited by PaulV at 00:52, 5/7/2012] |
| |
[ Log in to reply ] |
| |
|
Paul Dunning |
Message #120779, posted by hairydalek at 20:19, 5/7/2012, in reply to message #120770 |
Member
Posts: 55
|
And after I posted this message, it started to work more reliably again. I think my cleaning with a brush probably helped. I'll seek out some proper cleaning solution.
My Archimedes only has one switch, not the double one yours has.
I was given the WD40 talk by a model railway enthusiast - it destroys plastic. |
| |
[ Log in to reply ] |
| |
|
Acorn Arcade forums: General: Floppy Drive - intermittent |
