Strange 1050 drive read issues

[sideburn]

Just now, kheller2 said:

So, a few things...

1) Using Archon might not be the best idea ..  copy protected disks might pose some issues.  Someone else should speak about that.

2) "diag disks"  do you mean 1050 Diagnostic Disk? That's great for running diags.. that isn't an alignment disk..

3) You need an alignment disk -- and there are ones made specifically for the Tandon mech.  [Others might also work, hence using a factory supplied disk like DOS 2.0 might be our only bet right now)

 

Ohhh right. Yes I meant the 1050 diagnostics disk. Track zero sensor. Right the alignment disks are impossible to find. So haven’t been able to properly check any of those signals noted in the service manual. I’ll try out the NOS DOS disk i have. Just realized I have one new in a box. 

[+kheller2]

4 minutes ago, sideburn said:

Ohhh right. Yes I meant the 1050 diagnostics disk. Track zero sensor. Right the alignment disks are impossible to find. So haven’t been able to properly check any of those signals noted in the service manual. I’ll try out the NOS DOS disk i have. Just realized I have one new in a box. 

And having said that.. one should read through this: 

 

 

[BillC]

6 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

does the happy mod require the jumpers to be orientated a certain way?

i know the USD does

No, the jumper settings don't affect the Happy upgrade since its firmware is on the Happy PCB.

[sideburn]

13 hours ago, kheller2 said:

And having said that.. one should read through this: 

Ahh yeah, Best Electronics of course may have one. 
 

I tried out the bad disk / clean head trick and yep I think that’s the issue. 
 

what about those 51/4” disk head cleaners? Wondering if those would be a bad idea on these single sided drives because the the felt piece rubbing on the cleaning pad. 
 

Both drives boot up the NOS Dos disk perfectly but I re-copies the 1050 Diagnostics disk anyway now that they’re aligned as good as I could get. 

 

 

[BillC]

17 minutes ago, sideburn said:

what about those 51/4” disk head cleaners? Wondering if those would be a bad idea on these single sided drives because the the felt piece rubbing on the cleaning pad. 

Some vintage head cleaning disks had a removable piece that covered the top access window of the cleaning disk.

[sideburn]

I just 3d printed a floppy disk cleaner, cleaned my bad and doomed floppy that had a bunch of programs I wrote as a kid and it revived it enough to where I was able to back it up to my SDrive-Max sd card! It’s bringing a bunch my old disks back. I’m amazed. 
 

Here’s a link of anyone wants to print one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4964437

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by sideburn