800k Floppy from hell

[mloret]

Hello! I have an 800k drive that I can't seem to get to read and write a reference disk successfully.

I have a drive that I can't get to work properly. Here's what I've done...

1. Disassembled, cleaned (99 IPA) and relubed ejection mechanism
2. Cleaned heads with 99 IPA
3. Per the Dead Mac Scrolls, I repositioned the 00 Track sensor
4. When that didn't work, I replaced the 00 Track sensor and lined up with hash mark on floppy frame
5. Got the drive to initialize disks and read/write those, but will still not read disks initialized in another drive
6. Did the realignment procedure outlined in Dead Mac Scrolls, loosening, turning, and tightening the stator motor housing and trying again. Tried this many times. No dice. I don't have an oscilloscope so I am having to do the alignment procedure by hand. Because it intializes disks and reads the ones that it has initialized (just not any reference disks) I conclude that the heads and track are fine it's just a matter of alignment. But I can't seem to get anything other than "This Disk is Unreadable, do you want to initialize."

What am I missing? Maybe I'm doing the alignment procedure wrong?

 

[Kai Robinson]

Welcome! You may find this guide from our Resources section helpful:

https://tinkerdifferent.com/resources/zero-track-alignment.37/

 

[mloret]

Thank you! This is quite helpful!

 

[JDW]

Hello! I have an 800k drive that I can't seem to get to read and write a reference disk successfully.

I have a drive that I can't get to work properly. Here's what I've done...

1. Disassembled, cleaned (99 IPA) and relubed ejection mechanism
2. Cleaned heads with 99 IPA
3. Per the Dead Mac Scrolls, I repositioned the 00 Track sensor
4. When that didn't work, I replaced the 00 Track sensor and lined up with hash mark on floppy frame
5. Got the drive to initialize disks and read/write those, but will still not read disks initialized in another drive
6. Did the realignment procedure outlined in Dead Mac Scrolls, loosening, turning, and tightening the stator motor housing and trying again. Tried this many times. No dice. I don't have an oscilloscope so I am having to do the alignment procedure by hand. Because it intializes disks and reads the ones that it has initialized (just not any reference disks) I conclude that the heads and track are fine it's just a matter of alignment. But I can't seem to get anything other than "This Disk is Unreadable, do you want to initialize."

What am I missing? Maybe I'm doing the alignment procedure wrong?

Very sorry for my delayed replied. I've been spending every waking free moment on my SE Reloaded video, but I wanted to make a little time this morning to review your case.

You've done a lot. The only similar case I've ever had, doing all that in vain, was a case where a single cleaning of the heads didn't work. But when I took a magnifying glass to view the head, I could see see yellow crud affixed to it. I gave it another 3 very thorough cleanings with 100% IPA (careful not to bend the heads and only using a swap), and finally it started reading/writing disks reliably!

If after doing such a thorough head cleaning you still have trouble, then I'm afraid it really is a misaligned drive problem. But you absolutely want to make sure all your other drives really are reliable before you start comparing with them. In fact, it's best to use original disks, not copies you made. Any original system disks or games would be great, because you know they were created with a drive that had no alignment issues. And if you still have trouble with those disks, then you know your problem drive still has an alignment problem.

What if you have no original disks? Well, you could buy one. But if you can't do that, then you need some stable from of reference to know that disks made on your other drives really were created with drives that had their own heads properly aligned.

That blasted Track 00 sensor is really a nightmare to get properly aligned because SONY had all the professional tools to achieve that, whereas we are concocting the best secondary solution. And because even the tiniest shift can cause misalignment, it's a very time consuming and frustrating process.

Please let us know how you get along in light of this.

 

[retr01]

Hmmm. (crosses off 800k SE from my list and writes "SuperDrive SE") Yeah, I think I better avoid 800k drives like the plague. Or is it rare?