Another PEB another Problem haha

[INTVCruise]

Hello guys, I got another cheap PEB, mostly because it came with some extra cards I didn't already have. All the cards seem to work, but the Disk Drive does not move at all. I used a disk manager II cartridge to try and initialize a disk. The disk controller card lights up and sends signals to the disk drive because I can see the red light on it turn on as well, but this thing doesn't move an inch in any direction. Sometimes the disk drive doesn't light up at all (maybe 25% of the time), but most of the time it does? The drive is in very bad condition physically and I also suspect that the disk drive cable is not the original one as it is not notched like an original cable. What could be the cause of the drive malfunctioning? I do have another PEB that fully works but I'd rather not switch out cards/cables and mess something up unless there is no real danger in doing so. I bought this for the extra optional cards I didn't already have so I don't really care if it ends up working or not/just part out the duplicate cards. But if there is a chance it's something pretty simple/easy to fix I wouldn't mind. 

 

Here are some pictures I took... BTW this is how the cards came plugged in. 

 

 

[horizon2374]

I can tell you that's one of the oldest 5.25" drives I've ever seen. That flat door cover is probably from 1979-80, I believe it was used in some the original TI external drives (PHP1850C) as it is shown in the manuals that accompany it. That being said, your termination pack and resistor packs look like they are setup properly. The fact that your drive cable is not original shouldn't be an issue as it looks like it is not twisted in any way. But that drive is OLD. The belt is probably gone - check underneath the drive and inspect the condition of the belt, I'm almost certain it is probably frayed or stretched beyond repair. Repairs are not easy on these drives. Replacement belts are somewhat hard to come by. If you are able to find a replacement belt, next step would be to lubricate the 2 rails that the head moves back and forth on - the stepper motor won't function if properly if rails are not lubricated properly. To get to the rails, you may have to remove the top board out of the way or find your way in with a q-tip. Best advice would be to find a replacement drive - preferably a TI disk memory drive from Shugart. But keep in mind a lot of these drives have issues, and unless they were well-cared for, stored properly, and/or used within a respectable amount of time, most of them fail in some way. I hope this helps!

[INTVCruise]

1 minute ago, horizon2374 said:

I can tell you that's one of the oldest 5.25" drives I've ever seen. That flat door cover is probably from 1979-80, I believe it was used in some the original TI external drives (PHP1850C) as it is shown in the manuals that accompany it. That being said, your termination pack and resistor packs look like they are setup properly. The fact that your drive cable is not original shouldn't be an issue as it looks like it is not twisted in any way. But that drive is OLD. The belt is probably gone - check underneath the drive and inspect the condition of the belt, I'm almost certain it is probably frayed or stretched beyond repair. Repairs are not easy on these drives. Replacement belts are somewhat hard to come by. If you are able to find a replacement belt, next step would be to lubricate the 2 rails that the head moves back and forth on - the stepper motor won't function if properly if rails are not lubricated properly. To get to the rails, you may have to remove the top board out of the way or find your way in with a q-tip. Best advice would be to find a replacement drive - preferably a TI disk memory drive from Shugart. But keep in mind a lot of these drives have issues, and unless they were well-cared for, stored properly, and/or used within a respectable amount of time, most of them fail in some way. I hope this helps!

Hi horizon. I believe you are very right. So I took the broken pebs disk controller card and put it in my working one and it worked perfectly. The old drive is super beat up. I will attempt to look at it but it had like zero movement after messing with it a little bit. How much does a replacement 5.25 inch floppy normally go for by chance? 

[horizon2374]

Prices vary widely - as cheap as FREE or at least $50 on eBay. Can go upwards of that. Try to find one that is tested - that's hard enough in and of itself! 

[INTVCruise]

1 hour ago, horizon2374 said:

Prices vary widely - as cheap as FREE or at least $50 on eBay. Can go upwards of that. Try to find one that is tested - that's hard enough in and of itself! 

Yes, that seems to be very true. Well at least the disk controller card works which can be a huge PIA to get. I'll probably just end up parting this PEB out unless I can find a disk drive for cheap. 

[+Ksarul]

Also, the direct-drive, half-height 360K drives show up a lot more often than the older full-height drives do. You'll only get 180K with them with the TI-branded controller, but you'll have a better chance that they still work. Bonus is that if you succeed in finding a double-density controller, this will double your available disk size. Two will fit into a PEB as well (you need a power splitter cable and a 34-pin cable with two connectors at the drive end), as long as you keep as far away from Qume drives as possible--they draw too much power and two of them may blow the fuse in your PEB. A single Qume drive is fine, as long as its belt is still good, but then it should be the only drive in the PEB. Drives from pretty much anyone else use a bit less power and so are safe to use as a pair in the PEB (IIRC either early Epson or Kodak drives were close to the limits there too, but they wouldn't nerf your PEB either).