dmurdoch@watstat.waterloo.edu (Duncan Murdoch) (09/05/89)
My 3 year old 360K Panasonic floppy drive suddenly decided this afternoon that it was one-sided. Format pauses when it tries head 1, track 0, then does a 180K format entirely on head 0. Other programs report read errors on old disks when I try to read them. Is this a common failure? Is there likely to be a simple fix for it? Removing and reattaching the cables didn't help. Duncan Murdoch
a550@mindlink.UUCP (Craig Cooksey) (09/05/89)
sounds like a head problem. Tried cleaning it?? A cleaning disk mite cure it, if not, the head mite be worn excessivly. Some places offer a floppy drive service as well.
inc@tc.fluke.COM (Gary Benson) (09/07/89)
In article <438@maytag.waterloo.edu> dmurdoch@watstat.waterloo.edu (Duncan Murdoch) writes: > My 3 year old 360K Panasonic floppy drive suddenly decided this afternoon > that it was one-sided. Format pauses when it tries head 1, track 0, then > does a 180K format entirely on head 0. Other programs report read errors on > old disks when I try to read them. > Is this a common failure? Is there likely to be a simple fix for it? > Removing and reattaching the cables didn't help. > Duncan Murdoch I don't know how common the failure is, but the fix should be quite easy. A double-sided drive is like a stereo: if one channel goes out, to troubleshoot, you compare the circuits gozintas and gozoutas. The place that the signal gets lost points pretty clearly to the faulty components. In a disk drive, besides the heads and their associated wiring and connectors, there really is not much shared circuitry. Both heads undoubtedly have an amplifier, but the precompenation circuitry and decoding logic (to convert what is coming off the heads to a "real" data stream from frequency modulated) is more than likely common to both sides. Some bit of hardware (one or two transistor circuit) will have to select the head and steer the data being read there to the decoding logic, but none of these present major troubleshooting problems to someone with a little experience. For one side out in a dual-sided drive, you should expect about 1 hour's time at the shop rate + perhaps 1/2 hour for alignment + parts. They'll do the alignment even if the problem is not the head, and it's a good idea: the margin for error in a disk drive is quite a bit smaller than in, say, an audio casette player. Good luck - let us know what it turns out to be! -- GaryBenson_-inc@tc.fluke.COM-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-Tell the girls to slice the ham thin -J.C. Penney