09.009 My 800K, 3.5 Disk Drive is no longer working on my IIGS. When a disk is inserted the drive tries to read it and then locks up the entire system forcing me to do a 3 finger reboot. Any suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Description
This article is from the Apple II Csa2 FAQ, by Jeff Hurlburt with numerous contributions by others.
09.009 My 800K, 3.5 Disk Drive is no longer working on my IIGS. When a disk is inserted the drive tries to read it and then locks up the entire system forcing me to do a 3 finger reboot. Any suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
If you have a SCSI interface card plugged into your GS, you may have run
into a bug which seems to affect setting up of the diskette port. (See the next
question and answer.)
Try cleaning the heads using a Head Cleaner Diskette, such as a paper
diskette + cleaning solution kit from Radio Shack. (See Q&A 004.)
In a few rare cases, a drive may actually have globs of dust inside which
end up interferring with its operation. You can shine a flashlight into the
slot to check for a heavy dust buildup. The safest way to clean out dust is to
open the case and the drive and remove the dust. However, you can try inserting
a small cheap plastic artist's paintbrush (slightly dampened) into the slot
and, with a flashlight, lightly sweeping around to pick up dust. ("Lightly"
means you do not push or snag on anything,
especially the R/W heads.) Blow into the slot and do another sweep with your
brush.
If cleaning does not seem to help, try wiggling the drive cable while
attempting to CAT a known-good, unprotected diskette in the drive. If wiggling
helps, you are likely to have a bad cable or a GS plug with a loose connection
to the motherboard.
Try formatting a diskette. A drive which can format and R/W diskettes it
has recently formatted but cannot read most other diskettes probably has heads
which have become misaligned.
Set your boot Slot to Slot 5 and try power-up booting a couple bootable
ProDOS diskettes known to be in good condition. If you can boot a variety of
disketts, including commercial game, etc. diskettes, the odds are pretty good
that your drive is okay.
A 3.5" drive that, after cleaning, cannot boot known-good diskettes is
likely to have screwed-up heads. However, it's a good idea to try unplugging
and re-plugging the drive (with the computer OFF) and, then, try another boot.
If you have a 5.25" drive attached, boot ProDOS from the 5.25" drive and
try some CAT's of non-protected known good 3.5" diskettes in the 3.5" drive. As
earlier, do the cable wiggling test while attempting the CAT's.
A very good test is to try out the drive on a friend's IIgs or IIc+. If it
continues to bomb, it is likely to have R/W heads which have become badly
misaligned, heads which are badly worn, or heads which have been partially
dislodged from the mountings. (The 3.5" drive's heads are held in place by
springy metal sheets. Unlike the mounting for the 5.25" Disk ][ head, these are
fairly delicate. If anyone has tried cleaning the heads by sticking in an
alcohol swab and 'swishing around', there is a good c
hance the head mountings are messed up.)
Shops which replace heads are fairly rare. I had this done a few years ago
and the drive still works fine. However the charge is around $80. It is cheaper
and easier to get a good 2nd-hand drive at a swap-meet. You can, also, look for
a bargain Mac drive and do a "transplant" as described by Steve Buggie in the
Winter 1996 issue of II Alive.
Steve Buggie is a good source of information on drive repairs. Check out
some of his recent posts to this newsgroup.
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