Checking the head of 1050 disk drive with a multimeter

[spawnerbr]

Hi all. Wanna check if the head of my 1050 are not dead. Which wires on the head cable I can use to check the head with a multimeter? Thanks.

[TGB1718]

P6/J6 pins 1 and 3 then pins 2 and 4, see attached.

Disconnect and test for some resistance. on P6

 

[spawnerbr]

2 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

P6/J6 pins 1 and 3 then pins 2 and 4, see attached.

Disconnect and test for some resistance. on P6

 

 

Thanks for your reply. On 1+3 and 2+4 the multimeter does the "beep" sound. So, the head is functional?

[spawnerbr]

Just to add information here. Using my working 1050 XL Disk Drive. Using 200 Ohms on resistor scale:

 

1+3 gives 14.6

2+4 gives 02.6

 

On the bad 1050 Disk Drive:

 

1+3 gives 15.6

2+4 gives 02.7

 

So, the head is working.

[+kheller2]

Any symptoms you would care to share with the group?

[spawnerbr]

1 hour ago, kheller2 said:

Any symptoms you would care to share with the group?

When I turn on, the head moves and goes to the start point, but the mechanism still spins for 8 seconds with the read/write led on too. Then stops. Disk Drive disconnected. Only turning it on. I have a fully working 1050 that when you turn on, disconnected from the XL, it only blink fast the read/write led, move the head and stops. I connected this faulty 1050 on XL too and same behavior.

No floppy inside on the video. Just turning on the faulty disk drive.

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

was the door closed for both tests or open on one closed on the other?

[+kheller2]

What am I missing? That looks like a normal startup.  What are the problems?  

[_The Doctor__]

don't know, maybe he's saying connected it just spins until it times out?

does he have a fully working 1050 and then another 1050 that acts like it will work but times out? very confusing.

 

make sure both are set at id 1 and try booting them one at a time all by themselves on the chain

record what they do post both videos

 

it could be one drive has it's RPM's too high etc. as well

[Irgendwer]

13 hours ago, spawnerbr said:

I have a fully working 1050 that when you turn on, disconnected from the XL, it only blink fast the read/write led, move the head and stops.

That sounds more suspicious/unfamiliar to me than the other drive. Does the working drive contain a speeder/different firmware?

[spawnerbr]

[SOLVED] / EXPLANATION:

 

Got this "faulty" 1050 from a friend and tested with my working disks that I use on some Ataris.

When try to load some disks on this "faulty" 1050, I got BOOT ERROR message. First thing that I noticed is that the red led of the disk status on "faulty" 1050 is on for a long time, when cover of disk drive is opened. Comparing with my 1050, the red led from the faulty one is on for a long time and on my working 1050 don't (short duration for me). So, opened the "faulty" 1050, cleaned, pressed the ICs, checked the head with multimeter, assembled the wires and nothing changed about the led. Everything was done before connect the SIO on the Atari and test...

So, I turned on the working 1050 with the cover opened and now I recognized the the led is not so bright, very very low intensity, so when compared to the "faulty" 1050 looks like the led behavior is not correct. Then, connected the "faulty" 1050 on the XL, booted and the disks are booting now! Sometimes I have ERROR 144 when using a Disk Application, but I have to replace the belt cause it is dry and do some lubrication.

Thanks for all and sorry for the confusion.

[+kheller2]

Stock 1050s have a long spin time with door closed.  Ones that have been modified with a different ROM usually have that cycle much shorter.  Everything else sounds like dirty heads, belt or bad disks.