El Destructo Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 I pulled my souped-up XF551 (contains XF Dual and format-the-flip-side upgrades) out of mothballs only to find it spins disks but won't read them. The R/W head just bonks against one end of its track. Assuming the controller circuitry is OK, I can fix it by simply replacing the mechanism, right? I've read that it's an ordinary (although very old and probably hard to find) PC 360KB drive mech. Will any mech do, or is there a particular kind/brand I should look for? Please help, I want to read/write 360KB floppies at triple speed again Thanks, -El D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Any old half height 360k floppy drive will work. Just make sure the card edge and power connector are on the correct sides. There are some drives out there that have the two swapped around. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doncleth Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Does anyone know of any website that shows a step-by-step instruction (with photos) on how to do this fix? TIA. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doncleth Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 Hi guys, Sorry for being pesistent. :-) Can anyone give a "for dummies" instruction on how to replace an XF551 mech? Looks like I'm going to have to do it as my drive always returns a BOOT ERROR message. TIA, Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 Just open the drive by removing the screws on the bottom of the case. The top of the case will come off. Remove the data edge connector and power connector from the rear of the drive mechanism. Unscrew the four screws, two on each side of the drive mechanism, that hold it in place. Lift out the drive mechanism and replace with a new one. Re-attach the four mounting screws and then re-attach the edge connector and power connector. Close the drive and replace the screws on the base. This is from memory, hope its complete enough Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doncleth Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Thanks Steve. You've got a good memory coz that's how I actually removed the mechanism. Now the next task for me is to go to the weekend swap meet and get an old 5.25 disk drive. Cheers, Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 I can't wait to see if this works! Than I would have a reason to get an old 5.25 disk drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doncleth Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 I'll let you guys know if this works. BTW, is there an easy way to distinguish a 360k or a 720k drive 5.25" drive? If I can't find a 360k drive, can I use a 720k drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Destructo Posted March 9, 2004 Author Share Posted March 9, 2004 No such thing as a 720K 5.25" drive, they're either Double Density ("DD", 360KB) or High Density ("HD", 1.2MB). I've never seen inside an HD drive, so I couldn't tell you the difference. I can authoritatively say that it won't work in the XF551. Anybody know of a source for cheap (free) half-height 5.25" drives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doncleth Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hi guys, I finally managed to get a 5.25" floppy disk drive mechanism (they are very hard to find) but unfortunately after hooking it up with the XF551, I'm still getting the dreadful BOOT ERROR. Now for the questions: 1. What causes a BOOT ERROR? 2. Are there other ways to fix it other than replacing the mechanism? Regards, Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hi guys, I finally managed to get a 5.25" floppy disk drive mechanism (they are very hard to find) but unfortunately after hooking it up with the XF551, I'm still getting the dreadful BOOT ERROR. Now for the questions: 1. What causes a BOOT ERROR? 2. Are there other ways to fix it other than replacing the mechanism? Regards, Don try www.myatari.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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