[comp.sys.amiga.hardware] Help with bad internal disk drive needed

bwill@athena.mit.edu (Brian F Williams) (03/05/91)

	I saw a post recently where a 500 user complained that his drive 
would not always cold boot, but would usually warm boot correctly.  He was 
advised that the problem was most likely a mis-aligned drive.  My 
internal 500 drive appeared to be working fine until one day it simply would
not boot up.  After many, many tries, it worked, but since then it hasn't 
worked again.  I can hear the drive clicking and when I insert a boot disk it
sounds as though it thinks the disk is a non-dos disk, i.e. it doesn't read
anything off the disk.  Is this a mis-aligned drive, and if so, is there any
way to adjust it myself?  I noticed that I can't even remove the screws from 
the case, because they're star-shaped.  Unfortunately, my 500 is not under
warranty any more, and there aren't any dealers or service shops in the area.

Thanks.
	Brian Williams	
internet: bwill@athena.mit.edu
uucp    : mit-eddie!mit-athena!bwill
bitnet  : bwill@athena.mit.edu

cs441215@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs441215) (03/05/91)

Safe Harbor has an ad in Amigaworld for OEM (Chinon) drives specifically
for the A500.  They're $90.  My local dealer wanted $150.

I have an epson drive in my 500 which failed from day one; but, I thought,
and people on the local BBS convinced me, that I was doing something wrong,
like removing the disk too soon. Ha!  So, I just let my warranty run out like
an idiot!!

That's pretty irrelevant, huh?  Guess I'm a little bitter :)

-Larry

dah@zoot.avgrp.cr.rok.com (Dave Haverkamp) (03/07/91)

In article <1991Mar4.210511.12010@athena.mit.edu> bwill@athena.mit.edu (Brian F Williams) writes:
>	I saw a post recently where a 500 user complained that his drive 
>would not always cold boot, but would usually warm boot correctly.  He was 
>advised that the problem was most likely a mis-aligned drive.  My 
>internal 500 drive appeared to be working fine until one day it simply would
>not boot up.  After many, many tries, it worked, but since then it hasn't 
>worked again.  I can hear the drive clicking and when I insert a boot disk it
>sounds as though it thinks the disk is a non-dos disk, i.e. it doesn't read
>anything off the disk.  Is this a mis-aligned drive, and if so, is there any
>way to adjust it myself?  I noticed that I can't even remove the screws from 
>the case, because they're star-shaped.  Unfortunately, my 500 is not under
>warranty any more, and there aren't any dealers or service shops in the area.
>
>Thanks.
>	Brian Williams	
>internet: bwill@athena.mit.edu
>uucp    : mit-eddie!mit-athena!bwill
>bitnet  : bwill@athena.mit.edu
>
   Try swaping the 8520 chips and see if the problem goes away.  If the
problem moves to your serial ports etc. then replace it.  Be sure you
are properly grounded agianst static when moving the chips.  Another thing
you could do is swap your internal disk drive with one from a 1010.  If the
external drive works fine... and then doesn't work internally, it was your
internal drive.
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
David A. Haverkamp                    Collins Commercial Avionics Division
                                      Rockwell International   MS 124-211
INTERNET: dah@zoot.avgrp.cr.rok.com   Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52498