Help! Is my disk drive dead?!

[King Atari]

I'm an absolute complete novice when it comes to the ST line, the consoles were always my area. As far as the computers go, I only have limited experience with the older machines. I did a search, but didn't find much help, please forgive me if this has been covered.

 

Anyway, yesterday, I picked up a pretty impressive lot at a thrift shop: 520 ST, a monitor, mouse, joystick, and an absolute ton of software, for $25. There's a lot of stuff there, so hopefully I got a good deal (the lady even threw in a couple non-Atari related items at no extra cost). I get home, set it up, and after a little bit of experimenting, the system was up and running. Problem is, whenever I put a disk in the internal harddrive (no external one at all here), and click the Drive A icon, it takes a moment before giving me a 'not responding' message. The drive sounds like it's trying to do something, and I've read these ST drives were pretty quiet in the first place, but I don't know. I tried a few different disks and got the same message each time.

 

Am I just missing some simple step to get a disk running? I figure the drive is just plain dead, but like I said, I have almost no experience with these computers, so I wanted to check in here with the experts before giving the machine up as a lost cause (I won't trash it, though, I do like having it. I just wish that, you know, I could actually play it !).

 

Sorry for what's probably a really stupid question to all of you. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

[Christos]

Seems like the drive is dead yes.. or it may be that you inserted a game? In that case it might be that the game is in a format other than the standard one. Try booting with the disk inside the drive and holding the alt key. If the disk is bootable it should be apparent..

[+poobah]

If it is an external SF3xx Drive with a big trapezoid shaped eject button, it likely has a loose or broken drive belt.

 

Open the plastic case.

The drive mech inside will have a metal shield on the bottom.

Remove the shield

You should be able to see and examine the belt.

[King Atari]

Seems like the drive is dead yes.. or it may be that you inserted a game? In that case it might be that the game is in a format other than the standard one. Try booting with the disk inside the drive and holding the alt key. If the disk is bootable it should be apparent..

 

Yes, the only disks I tried were games. I tried a few different ones (OutRun, Rolling Thunder, Gauntlet, a few others), all with the same result. Would inserting a program disk (paint, print, whatever else I have), and then clicking the Drive A icon give a different reaction than trying a game? What will holding the ALT key bring up with a game disk?

 

Also, if it turns out that the internal drive is dead, could I get an external drive and use it only, or would it always be considered Drive B?

[Christos]

I have no idea whether the games you tried are filed or not.. Anyway, as you might know the ST's OS uses a filesystem similar (but not exactly the same) to MSDOS. Some programs decided not to use it and use their own proprietary way to writing data to the disk which is not accessible by TOS. These games will require autobooting which is what holding alt key while booting ensures.

On your external drive questions, I honestly wouldn't know since I never used an external drive, but before getting to these extremes it may be worth the effort to try and find a compatible pc drive, such as EPSON or SONY MPF920. They will need to be set as ID0 but it will most certainly spare you quite a bit of money.

[ppera]

It may be drive failure, but not for sure - possible that error is on mainboard . FDC chip or something else... Even foppy cable, connectors may cause error.

 

Replacing drive with some other (PC floppy drive) is not big deal. But you must set it as drive A for Atari.

As some floppy drives have no jumpers.... see this:

http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=14049

[+poobah]

It may be drive failure, but not for sure - possible that error is on mainboard . FDC chip or something else... Even foppy cable, connectors may cause error.

 

Replacing drive with some other (PC floppy drive) is not big deal. But you must set it as drive A for Atari.

As some floppy drives have no jumpers.... see this:

http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=14049

 

Now that I re-read your message, I see you have a 520 with an internal drive (1040 style case).

Odds are, ppera is right... that last 12 (yes 12) 1040s I have come across, all but one had a failed internal drive.

 

If you can find an Epson SMD-340, the faceplates will switch, otherwise, you'll have to modify the case opening.

Fortunately, most older PC mechs will work.

[King Atari]

Ah, I never thought about being able to replace the drive entirely. Makes sense, though; STs can read PC disks (but not vice versa), correct? There's plenty of old 3.5" drives down here that I know work.

 

I'll try the ALT boot tonight, I have a suspician that the drive is just out of commision, though. Everything otherwise appears to work fine (from a complete newbie standpoint).

 

Thanks for all your help guys!

Edited November 28, 2008 by King Atari