Atari XF551 - Error 173

[Moe]

Hello everyone,  I hoping some of you with more knowledge then me can help with my XF551.

 

Facts:

- My XF551 worked 3 years ago when I put it way

- The XF551 is the only disk drive I have.  I do not have any 1050(s)

- I have 2 different OS Disks  - DOS XE disk that came with the drive, and a copy of Top DOS

- I have 7 other blank (I think they are blank) Double Side Double Density Disks

- I have SDrive-MAX

 

When I took the drive out of storage the other day and connected it to my 800XL and tried to boot the DOS XE disk I received "BOOT ERROR" (the disk select was set to 1).  I then tried the Top DOS disk and also received BOOT ERROR.    I then tried two other SIO cables and tried the other SIO port.  I still received BOOT ERROR.

 

I then took the drive apart and moved the read head forward manually.  I then turned on the drive to see if the head would return to the zero track position.  I think it did.  It moved back and didn't bang against the end stops.  You can see this in action in this video "ZeroTrack.mp4"

 

Now that the drive was apart I checked the SIO pins solder joints.  They looked good under magnifying glass, but I still re-flowed the solder joints, just to be sure.  I also tested with multi-meter and I have continuity.

 

I cleaned the heads with a Q-tip and 99% IPA.  

 

I then connected my SDrive MAX and the XF551 to the 800XL.  I set XF551 to DISK 2 and load DOS XE into DISK 1 on the SDrive-MAX.  Once I booted into DOS XE I attempt to INITIALIZE one/any of the 7 blank DD disks I have.  When I do this the read head moves up and down the disk a few times then after 45 - 60 seconds of this it end with error 173.  It does this for all 7 blank disks I have.  You can see a example of this in video "Error 173.mp4".  I also tried to perform disk duplication with DOS XE with the SOURCE DISK 1 (SDriveMAX) and target XF551.  I also receive error 173 attempting this.

 

I also tried formatting the disks with SmartDOS and with DOS 2.5.  I received error 173.

 

It is a Mitsumi mech drive.

 

ANY IDEAS?  Could I just have bad luck and all 9 of my disks are bad (7 blank and 2 DOS disks)? Or do I have some other problem?

 

Any help or advice would be appreciated!

 

 

Thanks

Moe  

 

[_The Doctor__]

with power off move the head carriage assy fully towards the front of the drive. Then power on. wait  a moment and power off.

take and load your DOS XE and load w/ sdrive max

remove sdrive max, and with XF551 set as drive 1 plug it in to sio and turn it on

insert a disk with a write notch that is open

Press reset and then do an AT810 format

same procedure try a AT1050 format.

same procedure try  SSDD

same procedure try XF551

 

the reason is to see if there is an alignment issue or a sdrive issue or a disk density issue...

some disks can barely handle double density let alone double sided double density...

 

cleaning xf551 heads with a q tip is a bad idea if you don't know what your doing... the top head sits in a flat spring that can bend messing up contact with the disk... these attempts can give some insight as to whats going on

 

also where did the disks come from, HD disks won't work for sure.. what's the label say?

 

error 173 means no disk which is normally the door not closed all the way or a damaged or incorrect disk type.

Edited March 13, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[Moe]

Thanks for the reply Doc.

 

I performed all the steps, for each disk drive type (AT810, AT1050, XF551, SSDD).  All disks ( 7 of them) have their write notch open.

 

I received the same error 173 for each attempt.  On each attempt the head carriage assy moved all the way forward and backwards TWICE.  When the assy got back to the zero track position for the second time it would spit out error code 173 and stop.  This was the same behaviors for all disk drive types on all disks.

 

Any ideas?

 

 

Thanks

Moe

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

I have concern about the kind of disks you are using... what do the labels have written on them

 

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well,

I have several hundred A8 disks, all DSDD - most of them are still good allthough they are 30+ years old. Error 173 in most cases means that the disks are bad / damaged. When I format a disk and receive Error 173, I give it a second try, if it still gives Error 173, I know that the disk is bad and I can throw it away.

 

So I guess you simply have bad luck and all your 9 disks are bad. Try to get some DSDD disks that are known to be working (e.g. from a nice AA member here) and try to read/write/format them with your drive.

 

You may also look at the disks surface and try to see if there is some kind of mold or fungus on them (due to age/chemical processes or due to humidity).

 

(Another reason could be that some of your disks are HD or had been formatted on a HD drive - but I do not think that's the case here and you wrote above that the disks are DSDD.)

[Moe]

I have concerns about my disk as well.

 

Maybe I'll swing by Radioshack today and buy a few new boxes of disk ... LOL

 

Here are a few pictures of the 7 blank disks I have been using.  I looked at the disk surface and I can't see anything noticable wrong with them (no fungus, mold, layers of grease, etc)

 

 

 

[Moe]

I do have another batch of blank disk (about 40 of them) I got in a box of random old computer stuff a year or so ago, but I "believe"  they are HD disks, but there are no labels or marking to prove it.

 

Can anyone confirm that these are HD disks, and are useless for the XF551?

[Moe]

Also, as CharlieChaplin mentioned.  If there are any nice AA members that have some known good disks they are willing to part with them I would greatly appreciate it.  I'll happily pay the shipping cost plus some extra for your time and help.

 

I'm in Canada, so if any of my fellow Canadians have any disks, shipping will be easier.  If not, I'll accept help from anywhere in the world ?.

[_The Doctor__]

very little to go on as to what the batch of disk s in the later photo are.... there could be a very hard to see but legible ink printed info strip on the reverse side of the disk in the jacket sealing area that 'might' give some clues...

 

Are the disks rotating freely in their jackets ?

 

I've used a bulk eraser on disks that refused to play nice at some points in life... you might try the same...

 

If a known good disk makes it your way and reads but can not be written to or it ends up only reading one side of a disk, we might have some better clues.

 

You say you have factory provided DOS disks that also do not work?   This is a worry. That's not good. There is little to break other than the SIO solder joints in the XF551.  Something looks goopy on the ribbon cable... was there a spill?

Edited March 13, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[Moe]

Hey Doc,

 

Yes, the seven disks do rotate freely.

 

The other unidentified disks.  There are no marking or labels on the front or back of the disks or sleeves.  These disks don't have the paper/rubber ring in the center and the disk surface has a slight blue tint to it, rather then the brown on DD disks. 

 

I'm trying to find some NOS disks locally.  I'm also hoping an AA member might have some known good disks they are willing to ship me.

 

Now, if I do get some known good disks, and I still have the same problem with the XF551, any ideas what the issue might be?

 

Cheers 

Moe

 

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

What equipment do you have, DMM, Oscope, etc etc..?

[Moe]

Currently just a DMM, though I could be convinced to get a logic probe.  An oscilloscope is not really an option for me.

[_The Doctor__]

For the mean time, you could try a can of blaster/duster and making sure the tops and bottoms or the write protect sensor and the track zero sensor are clear of debri, if an chip is socketed on the XF main board, pull it/clean the pins and reseat it... there might be 1.

clean off the goopy ribbon cable and make sure none of the wires are stressed in the power of ribbon cables.

 

With the DMM about the only thing you can do is check some voltages.

With the drive attached all by itself to the Atari and set as D1: (on the back of the main pcb, not the drive mech (as some folks mess with the jumpers and shouldn't) The disk drive doesn't make any sounds of booting with the factory disks?

 

[Moe]

Hey Doc,

 

I found another batch of 8 unknown DD disks locally and I'm getting the same results.

 

- I have used a can of compressed air on it.

- There is one socketed chips.  I pulled it and re-seat it, but I did not clean the contacts.

- I will clean the ribbon and test for continuity with my DMM.  

- I have never touched the dip switch on the drive mech.

 

When I have the drive set to DISK 1 and I place the DOS XE (or Top DOS) disk in the drive then I turned on the 800XL, with (and without) Option held down,  the disk spins up and the green light is on.  The read head assy does NOT move.  After about 10 seconds I get a "BOOT ERROR" on the screen.  This disk continues to spin and BOOT ERROR is written to the screen every 5-10 seconds.

 

A couple of other things I noticed. 

When I attempt to Duplicate a disk with DOS XE (SDriveMAX -> XF551) I get a different error right away.  The disk doesn't even spin up.  I get error 139  "HARDWARE CONNECTION PROBLEMS Device NAK. DOS XE did not receive an acknowledgement from the device, usually because the device is connected improperly or turned off."  Could this be caused by the SDriveMAX, or could this be a another symptoms of the really issue?

 

Another thing, I tried was running the 1050 diagnostic disk against the XF551 (I know there different hardware, I'm just trying anything I can think of).  In the  1050 diagnostic disk they have an options perform "Track Zero SENSOR CALIBRATION".  When I run this against the xf551 the disk spins up and the app keeps writing "FORWARD" on the screen.  I have NO IDEA if this is useful, I just wanted to add it to the pile.

 

Also, I have found someone here in Canada that will make me two "good" DOS 2.5 disks with his 1050 and send me the disk to test, but I'm losing hope that its just my floppy disks.

  

[Moe]

I think I need to get a working 1050.  Having another WORKING drive would make this so much easier ... putting it on my shopping list

[_The Doctor__]

It's very possible the sdrive is getting in the way of other SIO devices. It depends on who made it and if the sio isolation mod was installed. That's why it's hoped that you would have the sdrive disconnect for some of this.

 

There would be another way to check it out as well though... if you hooked the XF551 up without any other SIO devices on the chain and use a DOS cartridge image on an AVG, Ultimate, or other such device There are few including SpartaDOS X to choose from and you would be able to try formatting etc from those.

 

A disk without DOS on it would act as you indicated but it might seek every so often as the drive looked for the boot sectors trying to switch density. The XF is very quite so you might not here much as it does it's thing, the SIO beep sound will be as normal though...

 

No SIO 2 PC cable or anything either?

Edited March 15, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[Moe]

The SdriveMax was made by https://thebrewingacademy.com/

 

On there site they make this statement about the SDrive

 

"NOTE:  These ALSO include the circuitry necessary to play well with other devices on the SIO chain!  Order with confidence!"

 

I have an AVG and an Ultimate-A8 cart.  I also have the files for SpartaDOS X.  I'll try this approach while I wait for the two "good" DOS 2.5 disks.

 

Thanks again for all your help and advice!

 

Moe

[Moe]

Still waiting for two known good disks in the mail ...

 

 

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

using sparta dos X, did you try to initialize the disk and format the disk?

it won't be able to read anything and the sectors may be blank until that is done

 

[Moe]

Just because I can and it was cheap I ordered a xf551 HyperXF - 5 1/4" ROM from https://www.8bitclassics.com/ ...

 

Moe

[manterola]

2 hours ago, Moe said:

Is there any way to check if the drive mech works on my PC?

Yes you can.. you need to change the DS0 to DS1 jumper. But still you will get to the point that you need floppy disks (in MSDOS format) to check if themech works.

If you have not done it yet, check the SIO connector soldering and pcb in those points. The mechanical stress of pluggin and unpluggin cables break those connection points .. that is the most common problem with xf551

[Moe]

Hey Doc,

 

I tried to initialize (format with SpartaDOS) the blank disks this evening, I had no luck. 

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

could also try a different sio cord.. just because...

 

[Moe]

Early on in the process I did try 2 other SIO cables, but I'll try again.  

[_The Doctor__]

no need, I just forgot if you did...