XF551 Fix

[ICANHASDANNO]

I recently "inherited" a bunch of Atari 8-bit computer stuff from my father. I used to love playing with it as a kid, but it's sat in storage for a bit until I finally hounded him enough into giving it all to me. I got a 400, a few 800's, 800XL's, a 65XE, two 1050's, an Indus GT, and a XF551.

 

I'd like to use the XF551 as the drive (and probably mated with the 65XE, just cause I like how they look together), but I've noticed the drive is acting funny. When trying to read a disc it jumps back and forth between what I assume is position zero and a second position, without ever stopping or reading anything. Sometimes I get Boot Errors, sometimes it just repeats this loop indefinitely.

 

I've read here on this problem a bit before posting, but I don't see anyone else describing a problem similar to mine. I checked the board with the SIO's and AC supply on it, but the solders look good (to me) and I didn't see any cracking or wear in the board itself.

[Charlie_]

I recently "inherited" a bunch of Atari 8-bit computer stuff from my father. I used to love playing with it as a kid, but it's sat in storage for a bit until I finally hounded him enough into giving it all to me. I got a 400, a few 800's, 800XL's, a 65XE, two 1050's, an Indus GT, and a XF551.

 

I'd like to use the XF551 as the drive (and probably mated with the 65XE, just cause I like how they look together), but I've noticed the drive is acting funny. When trying to read a disc it jumps back and forth between what I assume is position zero and a second position, without ever stopping or reading anything. Sometimes I get Boot Errors, sometimes it just repeats this loop indefinitely.

 

I've read here on this problem a bit before posting, but I don't see anyone else describing a problem similar to mine. I checked the board with the SIO's and AC supply on it, but the solders look good (to me) and I didn't see any cracking or wear in the board itself.

 

Do the 1050 drives work? Also are you sure the disk(s) you are using is good? I would try cleaning the drive head.

Edited April 26, 2011 by Official Ninja

[ICANHASDANNO]

I recently "inherited" a bunch of Atari 8-bit computer stuff from my father. I used to love playing with it as a kid, but it's sat in storage for a bit until I finally hounded him enough into giving it all to me. I got a 400, a few 800's, 800XL's, a 65XE, two 1050's, an Indus GT, and a XF551.

 

I'd like to use the XF551 as the drive (and probably mated with the 65XE, just cause I like how they look together), but I've noticed the drive is acting funny. When trying to read a disc it jumps back and forth between what I assume is position zero and a second position, without ever stopping or reading anything. Sometimes I get Boot Errors, sometimes it just repeats this loop indefinitely.

 

I've read here on this problem a bit before posting, but I don't see anyone else describing a problem similar to mine. I checked the board with the SIO's and AC supply on it, but the solders look good (to me) and I didn't see any cracking or wear in the board itself.

 

Do the 1050 drives work? Also are you sure the disk(s) you are using is good? I would try cleaning the drive head.

 

 

I've run a cleaning diskette through it twice already, and cleaned the head with a q-tip and alcohol one of the times I had it open. The 1050's I've only tested on the 800XL's, all of which had various faults so far. I haven't tried cleaning them out or anything yet though.

[fibrewire]

As i'm looking for an XF551 myself, what's the average price to pay for one of these drives?

[AtariGeezer]

As i'm looking for an XF551 myself, what's the average price to pay for one of these drives?

 

I've seen quite a few on ebay go for over $100 loose, but I did pay $40 for one that was listed in the wrong category

[MEtalGuy66]

Sounds like a bad track 0 sensor.. when they start to fail, it makes the drive act like that..

[ICANHASDANNO]

Sounds like a bad track 0 sensor.. when they start to fail, it makes the drive act like that..

 

 

Any chance I can acquire just that part? Would it even be worth it, or would there be alignment problems?

[MEtalGuy66]

No need to mess with the allignment..

 

You just replace the sensor, and it should start acting right.

 

Unfortunately, noone sells that sensor. You can take the sensor off, pop it apart, and replace the actual LED and photosensor inside it, if you are really careful..

 

Or, if you cant do that, you could spend a little more cash and just replace the drive mech:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 110663402105

[ICANHASDANNO]

No need to mess with the allignment..

 

You just replace the sensor, and it should start acting right.

 

Unfortunately, noone sells that sensor. You can take the sensor off, pop it apart, and replace the actual LED and photosensor inside it, if you are really careful..

 

Or, if you cant do that, you could spend a little more cash and just replace the drive mech:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 110663402105

 

 

Well if I can do that I can probably just pick up some replacement bits from Radio Shack and have at it.

 

For the record, what would mess up my alignment? What SHOULDN'T I take apart? I'm kinda confused about this. For example, the carriage that the head rides in on the rails I wouldn't dream of taking apart, but could I remove it from the two rails to clean the heads easier? On the 1050's it's not a big deal, I can easily get at them to clean but the Mitsumi drive doesn't really give me a good angle of attack on the thing.

 

Thanks everyone for all the help so far. I'll take the sensor apart and see what replacements I can get.

[MEtalGuy66]

If you do that, you will not get the allignment back without some pretty serious equipment..

 

The problem you are describing is caused by the track 0 sensor. Fix that first.. Theres nothing magic about cleaning the heads.. You can do that easily without disassembling anything..