Jump to content
IGNORED

More disk issues


Opry99er

Recommended Posts

I continue to have disk woes on my TI.

 

I have reseated all cards and the flex cable, I have powered down and back on numerous times, and I CANNOT get this figured out.

 

I lost all the data I had on DSK2. Then I ran a DM2 test and it showed that the disk was not initialized. So, when I go to initialize, I get errors 31 OR 32

 

31- Record not found on input

32 Cyclic Redundance Code Error on Input

 

 

I am unsure why I am getting these errors... The more problems I have with my disk system, the more I think my disk controller card is bad, or at least somewhat compromised.

 

Strangely, DSK3 functions with no problems, and DSK2 functioned without errors up until about an hour ago. My kid's programming efforts were on DSK2. :(

 

Anyway, I am going to check all connections inside my external box to make sure something's not awry there. This whole problem started a year ago or so when my 5.25 disks started corrupting and not reading in DSK1. Then now DSK2 (3.5") is flaking out in basically the same way.

 

 

I am up for suggestions, fellas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd guess it is less likely that your controller is bad, because the other drives obviously work properly. Most controllers cannot handle more than one drive; the switch between drives is handled externally on the board. Rather, the drive seems to become faulty. Try to exchange the hardware (DSK2<->DSK3). In the best case, the floppy disk itself is bad.

 

Error 31 seems to be a failed verify, i.e. the controller was looking for a particular sector but could not find it on the track. This could be caused by a CRC error in the header. Error 32 may be a CRC error in the data part. CRC errors are those where some bits are wrong in a data block that is guarded by a CRC checksum, as are the sector headers and the sector payloads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent info. Thank you.

 

I have tried to initialize other disks as well with the same result. I do have an extra 3.5" drive I can try out.

 

I had this same issue (or one similar) on my 5.25 drive back in Denver... That is what led me to believe it was a controller issue.

 

I will take my external box apart tonight and see if there are any obvious issues... If not, I will swap the drive and see if that fixes it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know whether this would cause the problems you are having; but, I have a couple of TEAC FD55BR 5.25" drives that were mounted on their sides in one of my PEBs. There is a sheet-metal shield (looks like stainless steel) that is foam-tape mounted on top of the upper head. The foam or the mastic holding things together deteriorated over time and the shields started slipping off of the heads. One actually fell off. Again, not sure this would cause your problems.

 

...lee

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I had the same issue on a newtronic-drive, but it worked for a long time without this shield/plate, had no prob.

(but it was fallen down in that way that there was no problem:) )

 

Some thoughts on the problem here:

 

I would try to isolate the issue.

Means, use a new cable, and if possible one (spare/new) drive only, for a test.

And make sure that the floppydrive has working resistors/terminators set.

 

If you are sure that cable and drive are definitely OK, so the problem should come from the controller.

If you don´t have another controller or PEB for a test, you could - at least - reseat the controller to slot 7 in the PEB.

But please be sure to wait with pulling the controller for 2 minutes after pulling the power.

And you could check the pins on the controller, for condition & contact.

 

Maybe you have too much power-consumption for your PEB´s powersupply (2 drives running) ?

(what you can determine if you run with 1 drive only)

 

One time I had 2 drives which needed a head-cleaning the same time.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a 5.25" drive in my PBox. I have a separate box that is powered that runs teo 3.5 drives.

 

I have not made any changes to my setup in 4 years except to add an HDX mod to my rs232.

 

The media was my first thought as well, Tim. A year or so ago, I bought a couple new unopened boxes of 5.25 disks to see if that was the issue. Those had the same issues.... Just all of a sudden losing formatting or the drives failing to read them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

A year or so ago, I bought a couple new unopened boxes of 5.25 disks to see if that was the issue.

 

Silly question, I'm sure, but they are not HD floppies, are they? You need to use double density or lower floppies -- HD diskettes will appear to work sometimes and fail others in a lower density drive because they require a stronger magnetic drive to write properly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, and not a silly question.

 

They were DSDD, which I formatted to DSSD. They would sometimes initialize and save my programs... Would work great for a few days and then errors would start popping up and then the drive would no longer read the disks. That is when I cleaned the drive and cleaned all contacts, checked connections, etc.

 

Then we moved, so I never really resolved the issues.

 

Now I am 'home' and I am trying to get my ish in gear.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try swapping consoles. I have found with my P-Code card that with the "shiny pretty console" it fails about half the time - weird errors and such. If I swap it out with "ugly scratched up console" it works like a champ every time. I have had strange problems in the past that seemed like it should be PEB centered but turned out to be the computer itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A new symptom (or maybe not new, just newly discovered)

 

I have tried loading programs from 3 or 4 5.25" disks... All of them Catalog fine, but when I try to load and run them, I have missing characters, strange stuff on the screen, and an all-around mess. I thought (initially) it was a disk problem, but I tried 4 disks that contained XB games and programs, and all would load, but none would run because of the missing colons, strange spaces, etc.

 

This could be related to the issues I have been having.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Get the buffers in the Flex interface changed, and, while you're at it, the buffers in the console, too (they're at the side, right next to the expansion port).

 

These machines are also at the age where the originally fitted capacitors are going to fail. We're seeing that in the ZX Spectrum world - degrading TV output signal. Changing the caps in the RF modulator instantly fixes the problem. I would not be surprised if the various smoothing caps fitted both in the console, and in the expansion cards, are beginning to fail.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've been pretty lucky with the TI so far, but yeah, it's happening. Unfortunately it's a bit of trial and error to pin down the fault... I'd agree with Willsy that it's starting to sound like buffers. You might be able to prove that if you have both a spare console and a spare flex cable interface, and see if they work differently against the PEB.

 

Get the buffers in the Flex interface changed, and, while you're at it, the buffers in the console, too (they're at the side, right next to the expansion port).

 

These machines are also at the age where the originally fitted capacitors are going to fail. We're seeing that in the ZX Spectrum world - degrading TV output signal. Changing the caps in the RF modulator instantly fixes the problem. I would not be surprised if the various smoothing caps fitted both in the console, and in the expansion cards, are beginning to fail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeh, just this weekend, as I am trying to piece together an older pc system, capable of doing single density, so that I can rip what TI disk, I can, popped a cap. Nice fizzle, let out the working smoke.

 

If you buy a can of capacitor smoke off eBay you should be able to pour it back in to repair it. ;-)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...