User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:37 am

I'm just assuming it is for a couple of reasons. 1) it has the newer Amiga logo in the left corner of the case (not the Commodore one) - the one with the red square over the "i".

And all of the manuals use the same.

Plus when I opened the case to install the HD and accelerator board, a date stamp of 1995 was on the inside. Commodore was done by then already.

But to be clear I never have problems with reading disks just unformatted ones, which I can fix with the longer format command. But the symptoms sound similar.

I haven't ever been able to share a floppy between Amiga and PC, which I know is possible. I just haven't tried to work that out... Most of the apps I want to pull over are seemingly larger than 880KB. Maybe I'm being lazy.

User avatar
TenLeftFingers

Posted Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:44 am

I highly recommend installing a network card and creating an ftp or samba share on your PC. It makes it really easy to transfer stuff. But I guess the null modem cable does the trick for you.

I have a suspicion that if I were to get someone to format the disks for me they might be fine. So I guess I should consider that as an option before I go spending any holiday money on more repairs :)

PS: Any chance of an Amiga Love heart emoticon ? :)

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:20 am

Hm, so just the formatting is broken. That is truly weird. I'm not a hardware expert, but if you think of a floppy drive to work similarly as a record player (I do), I think when you format it has go to an extreme position to hit a particular zone on the disk. I wonder if yours has some sort of actual hardware malfunction.

You might be up for a free swap-a-roo with Amigakit, IMO, although their customer service can be a bit spotty.

A heart icon, hm? That's a brilliant idea. I bet it wouldn't be too hard. :)

User avatar
TenLeftFingers

Posted Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:00 am

Yes, it says it can't read or write cylinder 0. So I'll see how my 'neighbour' gets on.

One last suggestion (and it's only a suggestion); having a 'thank you' (or a heart in this case?) button on a post is a great way for people to show appreciation without vertical clutters of "+1" posts.
Last edited by TenLeftFingers on Fri Jul 03, 2020 5:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:08 am

Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll look into it. There's probably a MOD out there I can modify, or simply add to the current Smilies.

Good luck with your drive - sounds like a hardware glitch to me. Back in the day on the '64 they had floppy realignment programs. You could run them and they would scare the crap out of you, as they would turn your drive into what sounded like a motorcycle revving at high speed, with a very fast "knock-knock-knock".

Aminet has something like this (as a last resort, if you can't find a fix) to realign the drive manually:
Site/Info:
http://aminet.net/package/driver/media/TrackDiskSync

Download:
http://aminet.net/driver/media/TrackDiskSync.lha

Ideally, there'd be a software solution like I describe for the C64, where if it doesn't work nothing has really changed. But I recognize these drives are different than the 5 1/4".

Good luck!

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:09 pm

Well, it's not a Thanks button, but it's better than nothing for now. ;)

The heart feels a bit strong for things (I realize a "like" or thumbs-up counter next to the heart would make more sense). But here's for now <3

User avatar
TenLeftFingers

Posted Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:27 am

A very nice touch! I <3 it :) The internet can be a cool or even cruel place so a heart is a great thing to make available :)

Thanks for the links. The drive situation continues to play out - it seems it will require hardware modifications. I've done the motherboard (see attached) but don't want to try the floppy drive part myself. I'm looking into alternatives. I'll post back a summary of the problem and solution when (if) it all gets sorted :)

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri Mar 11, 2016 11:49 am

I've done the motherboard (see attached)
When you said that, did you mean to attach a pic/link?

Glad you like the Smilie.

I'm in process of building out a responsive Apps (games/utils) content management system, by the way. I have no intention of creating an exhaustive list, esp with budget titles. But the "big boys" deserve a place, I think, on this site for screenshots, data points and reviews (if any) that will be consumable across any/all devices going into the future.

Keep us posted on your machine. Glad that it sounds like you're making some progress. :)

User avatar
TenLeftFingers

Posted Thu Mar 17, 2016 4:18 am

Oops, I did mean to attach a picture - but I'm usually multitasking so I'm sure the mistake is mine :) I'm getting rid of this Escom board. They're not made for floppy lovers of the 21st century.





Return to “Member Intros”