Any Atari800MacX users using Lion yet?

[Any Atari800MacX users using Lion yet?]

goldenegg,

Thanks for the offer, but it only seems to be occurring on a 2009 MacBookPro with a Nvidia graphics. He also has a MacMini, and has no issues there. I don't know if it is specific to his graphic controller, or something about his system. I'll see if I have any issues when I switch (we have 2010 and 2011 MacBook Pro's, a Mac Mini, and a Mac Pro), or if any other users see an issue, let me know.

 

Thanks,

Mark

 

 

I have a mid-2009 Macbook Pro 13", running Lion, and I have problems with the atari display window freezing whenever I go to "insert" an Atari floppy image (.atr). All I have to do is click on the "insert" button on the virtual drive and the open dialog box comes up. If I hit cancel, or if I select a floppy image, either way, the atari display window is now stuck, frozen, but the emulation is still running as the sound continues. My macbook pro has Nvidia graphics.

 

Atari800MacX runs just fine in Lion on my 24" 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo iMac.......which has ATI graphics.....

[Atari 1050 Drive problem]

Swap the mech from the "bad" drive into a known good 1050 and see if the behavior continues.. If it does, then the motor could be weak like you suggest (Though Ive never5 seen this happen).

 

If the mech works fine on another 1050, then theirs a problem with the 12v power circuit on that 1050. (7812 regulator, caps, diodes) or the spindle motor speed control circuit could be breaking down under a load. The 1050 service manual has tests for all this stuff.

 

 

I do have another 1050 back up in Seattle (at my parents) that probably hasn't been turned on since 1987. I'm going up there next week and will bring it back with me and do the mech swap to see what happens.....

 

thanks everyone!

[Atari 1050 Drive problem]

Did the "round thingy" that touches the floppy, (when you close the latch) freeze? take the cover off and try moving it with your fingers...

 

Well, when I close the latch without a disk inserted, the "round thingy" does rotate. But when I put a disk in, it rotates but very slow, like the motor is struggling to spin the disk. I took the cover off and can spin it with my finger, also can spin the lower half of the spindle (the part that the belt attaches to). Both rotate just fine at a high speed with no disk inserted. Again, only after inserting the disk, it slows down and sometime stops.

 

 

sounds like it needs a new belt, this is a very common problem... the belt is 'slightly' stretched so it can spin without a disk no problem, but with a disk, there is resistance, and the belt isnt 'tight' enough to spin it...

 

to 100% confirm this flip the drive mechanism over with a disk in it and see if the motor output shaft is still spinning at the same speed once the door latch is closed...

 

sloopy.

 

At first I thought it could be the belt, but I have watched the motor output shaft and when I insert a disk and close the door latch, the motor shaft itself slows down and/or will stop. Take the disk out and close the latch and the motor shaft spins at regular speed.

 

 

sounds like it needs a new belt, this is a very common problem...

 

I always get a bit nervous about statements like that. I have never had a 1050 needing a new belt... so now I think: when is this problem going to happen to my 1050's :S :S :S

Is it really a common problem? I thought the belts in 1050's are from a certain quality they last (almost) forever. When I type this I say to myself: hey rubber will never last forever... but ok.

 

@topicstarter

 

Are you using the same disk for testing all the time? Perhaps the floppy disk you are using is fysically bad (too much friction).

 

Do you have sio2pc or ape or something like that (i Mean: are you able to boot from another thing/device). There is a 1050 diagnostic tool. It will measure the drive speed and allt hat.

 

I have tried with multiple disks (tried 3 or 4, including disks that worked at first). I do have an SIO2PC on order, so once I get it I will look for the 1050 diagnostic tool you refer to.

 

Hi,

Is it just one disk that has a problem Did you power it down for a while and try it again on the other disks that worked

 

No, I tried 3 or 4 disks and they all did the same thing. It's been powered off all night now, so I'll try it again today and see what happens.

 

 

P.S. Guys, I really appreciate the responses here......I've been on this emulation/vintage computing/vintage gaming craze now for a while. Having a blast revisiting the computers I grew up with. An Atari800XL was my first computer....learned how to program on it when I was 13. I'm kicking myself now for trashing all my floppy disks (I was encouraged, by my S.O., to "clean" out my closet and get rid of all the "useless junk").

[Atari 1050 Drive problem]

Did the "round thingy" that touches the floppy, (when you close the latch) freeze? take the cover off and try moving it with your fingers...

 

Well, when I close the latch without a disk inserted, the "round thingy" does rotate. But when I put a disk in, it rotates but very slow, like the motor is struggling to spin the disk. I took the cover off and can spin it with my finger, also can spin the lower half of the spindle (the part that the belt attaches to). Both rotate just fine at a high speed with no disk inserted. Again, only after inserting the disk, it slows down and sometime stops.

[Atari 1050 Drive problem]

This is my first post in these forums. I've read through a lot of other 1050 drive problem threads....also have downloaded service manuals for it. Most of the problems I read about are voltage, sensors, and stuff, and not about my particular problem....at least I don't think.

 

I ordered a 1050 drive off ebay. Listing said it worked, and indeed after hooking it up today, it worked for about 10 minutes, lol. It was reading disks fine, until it came to one disk where it seemed it encountered an unreadable sector or some sort of disk error and it started making that repeating noise like it's stuck trying to read the same spot over and over. I figured, eventually it would stop and give me some sort of error on the screen. It stopped alright, it stopped spinning. Now the drive is completely unusable.

 

I took the cover off to investigate. When you power it on without a disk inserted, everything starts up normally, it all looks good, the drive activity light lights up briefly and turns off. If I flip the latch closed (still no disk inserted), the disk spindle rotates at a nice brisk speed. However, if I insert a disk, and close the latch, it doesn't spin, or it spins very very slowly and the speed is erratic, sometimes going a little faster and slowing down again.

 

First thought was the belt, but I can confirm the belt is not slipping. It appears to me that the motor cannot overcome the friction of spinning the disk at the appropriate speed. So on the screen, i just get boot error.

 

Has anyone seen this before? Could it be that the motor is just no good anymore? Or could it be a voltage issue? I guess I'm wondering if I can even fix it. I'm pretty good when it comes to computers and fixing things, but i don't have the tools to test for voltage output and such.