+OLD CS1 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 I am working with this CoCo 2 and FD-501 system. I swapped out the drive with a known-good unit and I am getting ?IO ERROR when I try to format or read a disk: DSKINI0 ?IO ERROR DIR ?IO ERROR PRINT FREE(0) ?IO ERROR Formatting appears to complete then errors out. Getting the directory or free space runs the head back and forth a few times then errors out. I suspect this cable may be bad but I do not have access to a spare this weekend to test. As I have done the physical stuff which comes to mind, is there anything I might be missing unique to the CoCo? Also, is this only a 35 track setup? Answer found here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 I am almost certain the problem is neither the drive(s) nor the cable, though I do not have what I need to test the latter. It will actually be simpler for me to change out the SN7416s for SN7406s as discussed here. What really grinds my gears is I threw out a bad TI floppy cable last week. It completely slipped my mind to keep the card-edge connectors. I could have at least used those for testing. Of course, before that (several years ago, to be fair,) I threw out a small box full of floppy cables with card-edge connectors. Now I have to buy the blasted things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 Sounds like the drive is out of alignment. That has always been my experience when format can not verify. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted January 29, 2018 Author Share Posted January 29, 2018 I also tried a known-good drive with the same results. The replacement SN7406s have arrived as have the parts I need to build new cables. I am going to go ahead and replace the ICs for better longevity. If that does not work I will try a new cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 It turns out I was testing with two bad drives: both the original drive and the testing replacement. I grabbed one I had been using with my TI tonight and all is well. The system is now posted in the Marketplace. I am offering the sell as-is or see if I can install a replacement drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Yeah, that sounded like the drive or cable. The 501 itself is pretty reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Yeah, that sounded like the drive or cable. The 501 itself is pretty reliable. Well, whoever gets this system gets the upgraded transceivers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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