128d internal floppy help - high pitch sound

Jbak
Guest

128d internal floppy help - high pitch sound Jul 14, 2015 23:23:44 GMT via mobile

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Post by Jbak on Jul 14, 2015 23:23:44 GMT

Hi forum,

I spent all day cleaning my loevely new 128d.
Floppy drive is having troubles.
No green light comes on, makes a few sounds when you first turn computer on.
Then try to load a game and it searches, makes high pitched screech from the drive while spinning.

Opened it up and all looks pretty good (new to 128d and com) looks good TO ME.

I did notice a tiny square bit of clear plastic that was floating loose near the head so i removed it.
The other thing i noticed is the head seems to be back to far to read the disc?
Is this normal? The head can slide back and forward with a wheel that connects via a metal bit of tape (sorry for my vague description) should this be in a particular place?
Adjusting the speed/alignment, do you keep the unit open.. Power it up, and try not to touch power?

Can you replace the internal drive? Could you use a 1541?

Thanks any advice would be fantastic.

Jbak Guest	128d internal floppy help - high pitch sound Jul 15, 2015 0:34:48 GMT via mobile Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Jbak on Jul 15, 2015 0:34:48 GMT Sorry just noticed i posted in wrong thread

hydrophilic
Global Moderator

Posts: 794

128d internal floppy help - high pitch sound Jul 17, 2015 9:17:26 GMT

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Post by hydrophilic on Jul 17, 2015 9:17:26 GMT

I've disassembled several 1541 and 1571 disk drives, and never found a "bit of clear plastic... floating loose."
So this sounds like a bad sign...

The "metal bit of tape" does control the drive head... on the C128, when you first power-up, drive 8 should move the head all the way to the "outside" (farthest from the center spindle). But when you request a DIRECTORY, the head should move to the "center" of the disk (half-way between the outside edge and the center spindle).

For alignment purposes, you need either an "alignment disk" or an oscilloscope (best = both). You can read more about alignment on Ray Carlson's website, personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/

I don't think you can replace 1571 with 1541 mech... at least not without a hardware hack for the "track 0" optical sensor (and if you use the rare CP/M - MFM disks, also the disk "spin whole" optical sensor). I really wish I could find a drop-in replacement for 1571 drive (I have had many problems too)...

Sorry if that is not helpfull... all I can say is most common problem (for me) is "twisted" drive head... look at how the top head sits on the disk (when a disk is inserted in the drive). The head should be perfectly balanced... that little black plastic lever should NOT touch the drive rail... if the head is twisted, that black lever will be either touching the drive rail, or "floating" high above the drive rail.

Err, I guess that doesn't make much sense... guess I need to post some photos!!

I'm kupo for Kupo Nuts!
∇ • hydrophilic ≠ 0

robertb
C128 User

Posts: 1,129

128d internal floppy help - high pitch sound Jul 21, 2015 7:27:25 GMT

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Post by robertb on Jul 21, 2015 7:27:25 GMT

Jbak wrote:

> ...makes a high pitched screech from the drive while spinning.

There should not be screeching noises from the drive.

> I did notice a tiny bit of square plastic that was floating near the head so I removed it.

Yeah, that plastic was part of the mechanism. It looks as if needs to be repaired by Ray Carlsen.

Still in Las Vegas after CommVEx,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

Commodore 128

128d internal floppy help - high pitch sound

Post by Jbak on Jul 14, 2015 23:23:44 GMT

Post by Jbak on Jul 15, 2015 0:34:48 GMT

Post by hydrophilic on Jul 17, 2015 9:17:26 GMT

Post by robertb on Jul 21, 2015 7:27:25 GMT

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