bakkers wrote:No i have done no cleaning of the drive. Just found the old amiga in my closet where it has been for 5-7 years since the last time.
I will try searching for how to clean the drive heads and rails. Hopefully it's something easy to do
It is pretty easy to do. It is not a guarantee, of course, but if after proper cleaning and lubrication it still doesn't work then you may have a bum drive.
As for cleaning the drive heads and rails, you usually just have to remove 2 or so screws and slide the metal cover off the drive. You shouldn't have to do anything more then that and you don't want to remove any screws that are related to the heads as that will mess up the alignment.
But the heads are easily cleaned with either a 3.5" cleaning disk and solution or a cotton swab with a bit of 91% isopropyl alcohol. Clean the top and the bottom head gently and see if there is any gunk on the head. The rails you can clean off also with a cotton swab and isopropyl. Then if you have some silicon grease or silicon oil you can dab a little on the swab and apply it to the rails. The head should slide freely on the rails. There is also a drive screw attached to the motor at the back of the drive. This drive screw can get dunked up and you can clean it the same way and use a bit of silicon grease or even white lithium grease if you have it. In a pinch I have even used vasoline petroleum jelly.
I have seen a few drives that did not work correctly until cleaned and lubricated this way so it is possible to restore it to working this way if that is what the problem is.