Mega Speedy format error

[Panther]

I finally installed my Mega Speedy in one of my 1050 drives, and most of the functions work great! It's super fast, reading and writing, and I was able to flash some of the empty firmware slots. Unfortunately, the one thing it doesn't seem to want to do is format a disk. I've tried various modes and densities and no matter what, it errors out (144) when trying to format a disk.

[Rybags]

Is the error straight up or after doing part or all of the format?

 

If it's straight up then you probably have a bad write protect sensor.

If it's after 40 steps out, 40 steps in then it's likely there were bad sectors detected during the verfiy process.

 

Most Doses and formatting programs handle the process pretty poorly. A single bad sector will fail the entire operation when in theory a disk could be formatted with some bad areas which could be quarantined from being used.

Though that said, bad sector during format is usually a sign of failing media and the problem would likely get worse.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Rybags

[Panther]

Whether it occurs on the verify cycle or not depends on which mode I run. In Mega Speedy mode for example it happens immediately. I think it's in stock mode that it will step 40 times then give an error. It's not the write protect sensor, in fact it's not the drive mechanism at all. It reads and writes just fine, it's only formatting that has an issue. I've used different media, even a disk tested with another drive.

[Panther]

Fixed. Tracked it down to a broken trace leading to TP11.

[Panther]

Exodus loads in 11.5 seconds in Mega Speedy mode. This even beats Happy mode at 12.9 seconds. =B>

For comparison, stock 1050 mode takes 26.8 seconds.