NAMSS Gamer Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 So I received my Amiga 500 refurbished from Retro Passion today and I wanted to go ahead and install my pre-configured Gotek drive in place of the original floppy drive. Here's where the problem was. The Gotek was installed and powered on good and the computer, but it seems like the Gotek wasn't responding to my USB drive not loading even if the drive did recognize the files in my USB drive and then after I removed my bigger floppy cable after having already removed the original shorter floppy cable because it was too short, it turned out that I accidentally broke off a pin for the floppy connector on the motherboard as I was trying to remove the cable with the bigger cable. I need serious help with this. Can anyone tell me how to replace a pin or the entire connector of the floppy drive at the Amiga motherboard? Here are pictures to show you what I'm talking about: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylaffer Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 Unfortunately the only way I can think of is to desolder the header and solder a new one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAMSS Gamer Posted October 7, 2022 Author Share Posted October 7, 2022 3 minutes ago, larrylaffer said: Unfortunately the only way I can think of is to desolder the header and solder a new one. But one question I have to ask is where I can find a new floppy header for the Amiga motherboard? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus2097 Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 That's not a broken pin, you'll find that pin is missing from many Amiga floppy headers. It's for keying so that you don't connect the cable incorrectly, and is designated as that on the schematic. You'll notice that the hole in the cable connector is filled with a plastic blank, not a metal pin. Panic over 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAMSS Gamer Posted October 7, 2022 Author Share Posted October 7, 2022 1 minute ago, Daedalus2097 said: That's not a broken pin, you'll find that pin is missing from many Amiga floppy headers. It's for keying so that you don't connect the cable incorrectly, and is designated as that on the schematic. You'll notice that the hole in the cable connector is filled with a plastic blank, not a metal pin. Panic over So I just put in the original floppy cable and there the Gotek would recognize my USB drive? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus2097 Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 Should do. Just bear in mind that the end of the cable at the Gotek probably fits either way around, and it won't work if it's connected backwards or misaligned. If the Gotek itself is showing the USB drive as connected on its screen, then the issue probably isn't the USB drive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 Am I seeing things, or is lower-leftmost pin pulled up from the board? If that is the case, then heating that solder pad from the other side and pushing the pin back in, a little touch-up solder, and it should be fine. However, if you have pulled up a pin then you might have also detached a trace from the mainboard. Otherwise, @Daedalus2097 is correct: the missing pin in the upper-right is the key pin, to prevent you from putting properly-keyed cables on wrong. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylaffer Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 13 minutes ago, Daedalus2097 said: That's not a broken pin, you'll find that pin is missing from many Amiga floppy headers. It's for keying so that you don't connect the cable incorrectly, and is designated as that on the schematic. You'll notice that the hole in the cable connector is filled with a plastic blank, not a metal pin. Panic over This is very interesting! Is this just on the amiga 500 @Daedalus2097? I have messed with a few a1200 and a4000 and I have seen this missing pin. On the contrary I have seen the missing pin + cover on the cable header on IDE interfaces (on different position of course). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus2097 Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 (edited) 17 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said: Am I seeing things, or is lower-leftmost pin pulled up from the board? If that is the case, then heating that solder pad from the other side and pushing the pin back in, a little touch-up solder, and it should be fine. However, if you have pulled up a pin then you might have also detached a trace from the mainboard. Otherwise, @Daedalus2097 is correct: the missing pin in the upper-right is the key pin, to prevent you from putting properly-keyed cables on wrong. Oh, that's a good spot, I didn't see that one. It's most likely bent from being slightly out of line and then forced further when the cable was reattached at some point. That's a signal-carrying pin (/RDY), and without it the drive won't be recognised. That needs to be carefully straightened and the cable carefully fitted to make sure it mates properly, but chances are it'll work fine. The plastic base of the connector usually prevents the damage going any further. 16 minutes ago, larrylaffer said: This is very interesting! Is this just on the amiga 500 @Daedalus2097? I have messed with a few a1200 and a4000 and I have seen this missing pin. On the contrary I have seen the missing pin + cover on the cable header on IDE interfaces (on different position of course). Yep, that's a standard part of the Shugart floppy specification. Sometimes it's ignored and you have all 34 pins available in both connectors, but the pin isn't used for anything then (and keyed cables won't fit of course). In particular for very cheap devices (e.g. the Gotek) and cables (most Amigas I've seen have unkeyed cables), it's cheaper not to have them keyed as they don't have that extra manufacturing step. The pin is definitely missing from the A600 and A1200. I'd assume from the other Amigas too, but my memory isn't that sharp with other machines as I haven't spent quite so much time inside them with a soldering iron Edited October 7, 2022 by Daedalus2097 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAMSS Gamer Posted October 7, 2022 Author Share Posted October 7, 2022 (edited) Well guys, I used the original cable and fixed the bent pins and the Gotek did work and recognize my USB flash drive with AUTOBOOT (like I can now boot to Flash Floppy), but unfortunately the cable was too short and the RF shield that came with my Amiga couldn't completely go down without the ribbon cable coming loose and off my Gotek. Should I remove the top RF shield entirely? Edited October 7, 2022 by NAMSS Gamer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus2097 Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 The RF shield isn't really needed and many people with expanded machines simply ditch them. So it should be fine, but if you have a longer cable it should just be a matter of fitting it correctly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAMSS Gamer Posted October 7, 2022 Author Share Posted October 7, 2022 UPDATE: After removing the top RF shield and reassembling my Amiga computer, I got my Gotek to fully function to the point of loading games. Think I'll go ahead and close this thread if possible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 The only thing the RF shield does mechanically is provide a little more support for the keyboard. But other than that, you should not have any problems leaving it out. Threads never close unless they get out of control. Thread necromancy is an art form around these parts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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