Need Help With 1050 Drive

[8BIT 1337]

I mucked up.

 

I was backing up my disks using APE and my 1050 drive. I came across a disk that must have had some copy protection or a bad sector or something, and it was obvious that MyCopyR wasn't going to be able to finish the copy so I ejected the disk.

 

Now my Atari isn't recognizing the 1050 drive. When I try to access it using DOS (on a Diskette I know is fine) it starts the drive up (I can hear it moving and the light comes on), but it's not reading anything and I get the diskette error.

 

I've tried it as Drive 2 and Drive 1, both with APE running and without APE running, and I'm getting nothing.

 

Did I mess up my drive?

[conda]

I had the same exact problem a while back with a 1050. It turned out that the bad disk has something on it that was transferred to the read/write head. I cleaned the head and it has been fine ever since. That's where I would start.

[8BIT 1337]

I had the same exact problem a while back with a 1050.  It turned out that the bad disk has something on it that was transferred to the read/write head.  I cleaned the head and it has been fine ever since.  That's where I would start.

 

Good advice - thanks (it definitely makes the most sense). I'll start there for *sure*.

[Nukey Shay]

Yup...there's no chance that ejecting a disk being written would cause the drive itself to fail (tho it might mess up the data on the floppy). The 1050 sends out the data through it's read/write head onto the floppy surface...which is held close to the head by a felt pad on the opposite side. If no floppy is there...nothing is there to hold the data (besides a felt pad).

Try opening the drive and wiping off the head with alcohol/cotton as suggested. The felt pad can be lifted a bit higher to make this easier.

[classics]

That happens to me all the time. The disks that make a scratchy noise when turning are usually the culprits. Cleaning the head with a swab and some alcohol cures it.

[8BIT 1337]

Update: I cleaned the drive with some rubbing alocohol on Wednesday morning before going to work and gave it a try after getting home. Success!

 

I'm guessing that my dad must've done that to our drive while I was growing up because it never even *occured* to me that it could've simply been a dirty head.

 

My backup project continues!

 

(Funny story: I did think of hitting reset instead of pulling the discs but I didn't think the button was working. I'm using an XE to do my copying because of it's extra memory and what I thought was the Reset button was the Help button (my XE is elevated enough that I can't read the descriptions above those buttons, and I'm *way* more familiar with the XL layout than I am the XE layout). Needless to say I've 'found' the reset button on my XE now and it works great ).

 

Thanks again to all three of you!

[ZZTOP SOFT]

Whenever I rescue one 1050 of the flea markeks or simply I buy one

used, I put them under revision with DISKDIAG program, it allows to fit

the speed, to fit the track zero sensor, control the operation

of the stepper motor, review the communication, and also

review the heads works appropriately.

 

Find DISKDIAG on the net and try.

[8BIT 1337]

Good advice - thanks, I will give it a try!