1040 STf FDD soldered

[RetroNinjaNV]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the ST series and wound up with an 1040 STf. Is it correct that the floppy cable is soldered to the mobo? That just seems rather odd to me. I had planned to replace the FDD with a Gotek, yanking on the cable only destroyed the cable and connector. Sigh. Now my plan is to de-solder the 34 pin and replace it with a 34 pin header that I can add and remove the FDD cable as needed. Is there anything else I should know about this before I start?

 

[invisible kid]

So I was just looking at mine(1040STF), and it does appear so. On mine the top part of the connector broke off, and I just see the ribbon cable pressed into the pins, lol. I very lightly lifted up and it didn't seem to budge, so I just left it alone, don't even want to look at it funny, heheh.

[TGB1718]

Yes, the 34 way connector is soldered to the mobo, complete lack of foresight by Atari.

Most people use an extender, but as you've already broken it, you'll have to do the fix

 

[djglish]

I had replaced a cable on a Mega ST by removing the top cover of the connector and press fitting a new cable down onto the pins.  This worked.  Unfortunatley a while ago I wanted to replace the cable again and messed the pins up.  Let us know if you are able to replace the connector end with a male floppy drive pin connector.  If you find the right one I might try it on my MB.

[ojanhk]

I have replaced the connector on a few ST motherboards using IDC 34 pins sockets. Something like this: https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/Omron-Electronics/XG4C-3431?qs=hnUcNC2tU0qoaN8qO9n9Zg%3D%3D

 

Just be careful desoldering the existing cable: half of the pins are connected to a huge ground plane, so it’s a pain to desolder. Cutting the plastic first and then desoldering each pin gives better results.

[RetroNinjaNV]

Done! This was not that bad. I was hesitant to cut the original connector into pieces. While I completely agree with the 'ease of desolder' thinking I did not want to mar the mobo. I was also initially concerned that it may not be a standard 34 pin connector - some crazy Tramiel cheap-out. I did use a desoldering vacuum gun so it was pretty straight forward.

[RetroNinjaNV]

On 12/31/2023 at 3:19 PM, djglish said:

I had replaced a cable on a Mega ST by removing the top cover of the connector and press fitting a new cable down onto the pins.  This worked.  Unfortunatley a while ago I wanted to replace the cable again and messed the pins up.  Let us know if you are able to replace the connector end with a male floppy drive pin connector.  If you find the right one I might try it on my MB.

Personally, I'm amazed your pressing the ribbon cable worked. I would not even have tried that, good to know in a pinch.

 

[invisible kid]

Nice job! I will probably do this soon. Do you happen to have a link to the part? I can find on my own, but sometimes it's nice to order the same known working item.

[RetroNinjaNV]

Thankfully it's a standard dual pin header. Nothing special. I ordered a bunch of them some time ago. They usually come in 50 or 100 pin lengths. From there you just snip it down to the size you need. I may have ordered it on eBay or Amazo. While there are outlier mods it seems 98% of all ribbon cables use this standard - FDD/SCSI/40 pin IDE/VGA/serial.