Problem with 1050 Drive - Boot Error

[shadowdoggie]

Hello. I have a working and a non-working 1050 drive. The non-working drive says Boot Error every time I try to load a working disk. When I look inside, I can see that the (sensor?) briefly tries to move forward, but instead 'clicks', writes Boot Error, 'clicks' again, writes Boot Error, about every 5 seconds.

 

 

I tried cleaning the sensor, which I believe is here correct (see pic)? That didn't seem to work. I've also tried to release the pressure off of the disk by not closing the drive door the entire way, but that didn't work either. These ideas I got from searching the forum.

 

Does this problem sound familiar to anyone? I'd really appreciate any help you can offer, but as you can see I don't know the names of the parts inside, so you may need to be 'extra' descriptive. Again, I appreciate any assistance you can offer.

[Stormbringer]

Did you clean the head (sensor) with rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab? I'm pretty sure the top piece puts the right amount of pressure on the diskette to be snug against the read head, you should close the latch all the way.

 

It could be a bad disk too...

 

I have on occasion put my finger on the mech that spins the disk to slow it down in case the RPM's are too fast... if that works then you might need to adjust the speed it spins at.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Stormbringer

[shadowdoggie]

Did you clean the head (sensor) with rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab? I'm pretty sure the top piece puts the right amount of pressure on the diskette to be snug against the read head, you should close the latch all the way.

 

It could be a bad disk too...

 

I have on occasion put my finger on the mech that spins the disk to slow it down in case the RPM's are too fast... if that works then you might need to adjust the speed it spins at.

 

Thanks for the response.

 

Yes, I did clean the sensor with a Q-tip and alcohol.

Releasing the door pressure was a solution that had worked for others with similar issues.

It isn't a bad disk because the disks work fine in my other 1050.

 

How do you know if the RPMs are too fast or too slow?

[shadowdoggie]

Any other suggestions anyone?

[+therealbountybob]

There is a 1050 diags disk (though I've not had much joy with this) it will tell you the RPM (there is a small adjustment screw) there are other speed check progs: One here from Page 6 you could download this and test it on the good drive but the other one will probably not read the disk so this might not help much. It might help to describe the 'click' more. Do you ever get any loading beeps at all on any disk before the boot error?

 

Am sure one of the hardware guys will help you out here soon

[Nukey Shay]

Maybe try this with a disk to check RPMs if you have no other drive. Adjust the timing screw as it runs to 288-292.

 

1 R=25

2 FOR I=203 TO 207:READ J:POKE I,J:NEXT I:DATA 104,32,83,228,96

3 GOSUB 9

4 P1=PEEK(18):P2=PEEK(19):P3=PEEK(20)

5 FOR I=1 TO R:GOSUB 9:NEXT I

6 Q1=PEEK(18):Q2=PEEK(19):Q3=PEEK(20)

7 B=P1*65536+P2*256+P3:D=Q1*65536+Q2*256+Q3

8 ? 3600*R/(D-B);" RPM":GOTO 3

9 POKE 769,1:POKE 770,82:POKE 772,0:POKE773,6:POKE 778,1:POKE 779,0

10 J=USR(203):RETURN

[shadowdoggie]

Maybe try this with a disk to check RPMs if you have no other drive. Adjust the timing screw as it runs to 288-292.

 

1 R=25

2 FOR I=203 TO 207:READ J:POKE I,J:NEXT I:DATA 104,32,83,228,96

3 GOSUB 9

4 P1=PEEK(18):P2=PEEK(19):P3=PEEK(20)

5 FOR I=1 TO R:GOSUB 9:NEXT I

6 Q1=PEEK(18):Q2=PEEK(19):Q3=PEEK(20)

7 B=P1*65536+P2*256+P3:D=Q1*65536+Q2*256+Q3

8 ? 3600*R/(D-B);" RPM":GOTO 3

9 POKE 769,1:POKE 770,82:POKE 772,0:POKE773,6:POKE 778,1:POKE 779,0

10 J=USR(203):RETURN

 

When I did this it turned up the volume of my TV and some man's voice yelled "Hey, I'm looking at porno over here!".

 

Seriously, I'm no programmer, and was happy just to find the " key on this old keyboard. I typed out each line and hit the break key after each line (assuming that's what I was supposed to do). When I got to the end and hit the Return key after typing :RETURN it locked my keyboard and nothing happened.

 

Think I may auction this one off to someone who has the time to troubleshoot the issues. Thanks to everyone for their replies.

[Roydea6]

LOL

[spookt]

Hi

 

When you say that you've cleaned the sensor, could you describe exactly what you've cleaned? The picture you post is in the ball park, but the part you have circled is the top of the head pressure arm. There is a cork / felt pad which pushes down on the top of the disk surface here. The sensor is underneath this, usually a white or light color with a dark line through it. When a disk is inserted it will be underneath the disk when looking down on the drive (ie it's not visible with a disk inserted).

 

Unforunately I'm at work so can't take a photo.

 

If you've cleaned the actual head and removed all traces of oxide then some better description of what the drive does at power up (without a disk inserted) and when trying to read a disk would help us troubleshoot it.

[shadowdoggie]

Hi

 

When you say that you've cleaned the sensor, could you describe exactly what you've cleaned? The picture you post is in the ball park, but the part you have circled is the top of the head pressure arm. There is a cork / felt pad which pushes down on the top of the disk surface here. The sensor is underneath this, usually a white or light color with a dark line through it. When a disk is inserted it will be underneath the disk when looking down on the drive (ie it's not visible with a disk inserted).

 

Unforunately I'm at work so can't take a photo.

 

If you've cleaned the actual head and removed all traces of oxide then some better description of what the drive does at power up (without a disk inserted) and when trying to read a disk would help us troubleshoot it.

 

Spookt - Thanks for the response. I actually have the disk drive up for auction now. I explained the condition of the disk drive in the auction description of course.

[Kjmann]

Maybe try this with a disk to check RPMs if you have no other drive. Adjust the timing screw as it runs to 288-292.

 

1 R=25

2 FOR I=203 TO 207:READ J:POKE I,J:NEXT I:DATA 104,32,83,228,96

3 GOSUB 9

4 P1=PEEK(18):P2=PEEK(19):P3=PEEK(20)

5 FOR I=1 TO R:GOSUB 9:NEXT I

6 Q1=PEEK(18):Q2=PEEK(19):Q3=PEEK(20)

7 B=P1*65536+P2*256+P3:D=Q1*65536+Q2*256+Q3

8 ? 3600*R/(D-B);" RPM":GOTO 3

9 POKE 769,1:POKE 770,82:POKE 772,0:POKE773,6:POKE 778,1:POKE 779,0

10 J=USR(203):RETURN

 

When I did this it turned up the volume of my TV and some man's voice yelled "Hey, I'm looking at porno over here!".

 

Seriously, I'm no programmer, and was happy just to find the " key on this old keyboard. I typed out each line and hit the break key after each line (assuming that's what I was supposed to do). When I got to the end and hit the Return key after typing :RETURN it locked my keyboard and nothing happened.

 

Think I may auction this one off to someone who has the time to troubleshoot the issues. Thanks to everyone for their replies.

 

Well I've never been much of a programmer, but I do know that you have to hit "Return" After every line and Not the break key. Speed is easy to check if you have another drive.

 

Just boot SmartDos with your good 1050. make sure your bad 1050 is connected as drive 2. format a single density disk in the good drive then insert it into the second drive and hit "S" for speed check. When it asks what drive to check simply press "2" for drive 2. from there it will show you the speed. if you are not seeing the speed and you don't hear a constant beeping (Reading) noise, then the speed is really far off (meaning the motor might be bad) or there are other bigger problems.

 

Where is you're auction? is there a link?

[Nukey Shay]

I thought he was being sarcastic...since I was addressing the general question of how to check drive speed, and not the OP in it's entirety?

 

But yeah, the [return] key after every line followed by run[return] to execute. Hit [brk] or [reset] to quit. IIRC, the program works whether or not a DOS is present.

 

/waits for additional sarcasm for spoonfeeding

[dafivehole]

I ran this program and I can hear my 1050 spin but the computer just beeps every three seconds.

 

Wait, now the following line appears:

8.80453922RPM

 

What does it mean?

 

Thanks,

Roger

[dafivehole]

It just dawned on me that I had a disk in the drive. As soon as I popped it out the number refreshes a lot quicker and after about 5 minutes its 322 or 321. Is there an easy fix for this with only one drive?

 

Thanks

[dafivehole]

It just dawned on me that I had a disk in the drive. As soon as I popped it out the number refreshes a lot quicker and after about 5 minutes its 322 or 321. Is there an easy fix for this with only one drive?

 

Thanks

[_The Doctor__]

@ dafivehole check try a new belt or 'choke' belt dressing... check drive motor regulator...

 

@ shadowdoggie use compressed air and blow out slits on left side of drive make sure drive is off and head is forward a bit blow out space above slit.. some time dust and dirt gets in the way of a weak track zero sensor... If the head is not stepping forward when and moving back it might be the track zero senor has died... usually it will step forward one tiny step at a time and never move back but sometime it will just sit there and no move at all.. so try power cycling a few times and let us know what happens... use a junk disk you don't care about and use no disk at all and tell us what you see...

[dafivehole]

I tried going CCW on the little screw on the blue square (VR2) but the RPM stayed at 321-322. I cleaned the head with some isopropyl (got some black gunk off it) and I got one disk to load properly... the other disks I tried to load are, I assume, bad?!?

 

Thanks,

Roger

[+bob1200xl]

If your drive is really running 320+, it isn't going to read anything. You need to get a reliable test for RPMs.

 

That said - when you turn the screw on VR2, the drive speed should change and you should hear the difference. You can get pretty close by turning VR2 slower than normal and then backing it up while you try to read a disk. As the RPMs go up, the disk will start reading sectors.

 

If turning VR2 does nothing, the 1050 is broke. There is no 'stop' on VR2, by the way. You can turn it forever even though it is a 10-turn pot.

 

aahhhh... I think shadowdoggie has left the building. (2010?)

 

Bob

[_The Doctor__]

Make sure to turn the correct vr..... bring the speed down to 288.

 

if the disks have been flattened sometime it makes them too tight to turn... try to widen the edge of the disk jacket without touching or bending the disk inside... I had several that were flattened and the disk would not spin until I reshaped the edge all the way around the disk.... now they work fine.. thinking back it was mostly mastertronic disks that I did this with but a few regular old disk at the bottom of the pile were flat edged as well.... I simply kept squaring the floppy disk edges off till they spun free again....

 

sounds like you will have to clean the head more than once if the disks are shedding oxides.... have replacement disks ready to copy them! you will want to image them and get em on a hard drive as well probably