spencerhm

Hmm, that's interesting. This could be a high likelihood. I'll many people have done this not realizing. It's been a habit of mine for YEARS to JUST turn a device off before unplugging anything!!!! Thanks Bill

Hmm the sandpaper/credit card idea sounds great! I'll try it next time followed by the isopropyl and tooth brush.

Ok I took out the 6532 in the non-working unit and put in the C010750 chip - it still didn't boot. So it is possible to be one of the other three chips underneath the metal shield? Thanks

Thanks Bill. I'll swap them out in the next day or two.

Would it be ok to swap it out for the 6532 chip in my 1050 unit not working??? There are three other chips that could be bad??? Thanks

Rybags, oops here's the pic . . . Spencer

Hello Rybags. Ok I took the 6507 chip out of the working unit and put it in the unit not booting - no difference. Then I left the 6507 in the unit not booting and was going to add the 6532 chip from the working unit but the working unit does not have a 6532 chip; it has a 8402 chip, so I didn't try it because I wasn't sure if I should've. I've attached a pic. Also I left the 6507 chip from the non-working unit in the working unit and it booted. So what I know now is the physical floppy drive and the 6507 chip from the non-working unit do in fact work. Is the 8402 chip an update of Atari or what? Also the chip controller chip in the working unit I cannot read the text printed on it, so I do not know what it is. And those shields on the logic boards ya just don't have a lot of turns on those metal legs do ya? I don't know why the shield is there, but I put it back anyway; however one leg broke while turning to lock it. I would be thankful for more thoughts. Thanks, Spencer.

Yeah myatari.com said the same thing re: the power supply. I'm working myself up to doing the chip swap; just a bit wary cause stuff can happen. So when I get the courage to remove chips on my working drive, do you recommend I swap the other three chips from my image? Thanks!

Hate to say it but the "gotta own a disk mentality" isn't likely to go away in a longgg time, and maybe never. It's sort of passed on from generation to generation, but OF COURSE many like the online gaming/streaming. A smart business will provide both but not necessarily equal shares but based on desires of a product imho.

What's the best method for cleaning the cart slot? Thanks

Yeah I remember the days when playing games over modem (very slow actually) but not all the graphics either. Is this what this is about??? Even in the olden days it never was my cup of tea. I'd always want to play games on my PC!!!! So this Windows app. I wonder is it an interface for the PC to the PS world to play the games online or do you get the actual games to install/play on the PC? It says "A minimum 5Mbps connection is required to use PS Now on any device." If it's online games I wonder the costs of any membership. I'd guess the Windows app would be free (if it's just an interface). I do not know. Never been a PS or Xbox guy.

Does anyone have any 6507 or 6532 chips available to sell? myatari.com has them, but the fella is a very busy guy with his farm and it may be awhile for him to get time to get them out. I'm one of those that want it now. myatari.com has them for $5. I'll be glad to pay a little extra for working chips and pay the shipping (zip 30259), so if anyone has them I am very interested. AND don't want to spend $50 for a "parts" only 1050 from eBay! Those chips could be bad. Thanks Spencer. P.S. I removed the chips from my non-working drive and reseated them and it still didn't fix the problem, and now I at least know the physical drive works when I put it in the working unit. Guess I'm just VERY cautious (paranoid) to try swapping out chips from a working unit to put them in a non-working unit. If I had plenty of these chips on the shelf than no worries if I should break a pin - just grab another. P.P.S. I did talk with Bruce (myatari.com) and he's a nice fella. He said what Rybags said, probably these two chips.

Didn't get a chance to swap chips yet; I did take the drive out of the unit not booting and put it in the unit that is working and the drive booted. Apparently it's likely to be one of those socketed chips. This weekend I try swapping out one chip at a time starting with the 6507 and 6532. Found these two chips at myatari.com but couldn't find the others from my system. I've attached a pic of the five socketed chips on my 1050 drive. Thanks for your help! Spencer

Yes that's perfectly clear - thank you!!!

Hello all. Recently bought a 800XL (runs perfectly) with two 1050 drives. When testing each 1050 individually one boots DOS 2.5 fine and I tested several options from the menu: format, lists directory, duplicates disks, etc. as D1 fine. I tested the other drive and it will not boot DOS 2.5 as D1; I cleaned the head with 91% Isopropyl, blew it out with practically no dust; checked the PCB and nothing is leaky or busted. Didn't check underneath the metal box on the board yet. The power supply is ok. If I hook up the good 1050 and boot DOS and THEN disconnect the good drive and then hook up the one that isn't working (menu still on the screen) I then choose the Format option and it appears to format the disk (head moves forward and back on the rails) but I get ERROR 140. Looking that up it appears "This means that communication from the device to the computer is garbled. This is a very rare error and it is fatal." What can fix this? Is there something a lay person can do to fix this or have it shipped out to be repaired or buy a logic board to replace the one inside the drive? Does it mean the logic board is bad? Is the drive good? Anyone have experience with B & C Computer Visions Atari Sales and Service? Thanks, Spencer.

Larry I believe I missed your post before I left mine about 10 mins after yours. I'm using two stock 1050 drives, and I just started reading the 'newbies' piece and saw the write up on SIO2PC. I can use either pure DOS or my favorite Win7 box. Ultimately it doesn't matter as long as I can download .ATR files, put the on diskettes to run on my 800XL. I'd also like to image my new Atari DOS 2.5 diskette I received yesterday using the SIO2PC solution I'm guided to buy. So if you can recommend one for either Win7 or MS-DOS I will check it out, but I need to finish reading the 'newbies' piece. Thanks, Spencer.

Ultimately on my newly bought 800XL with two stock 1050 drives I originally wanted to create images of what diskettes I buy, but what I've seen is EVERYTHING is already imaged. My thought was why create them when hundreds of people have already done this and offer them for free. So I guess I do need a SIO2PC solution to get the .ATR files I download from a PC to diskettes for my Atari. Anyone suggest one in particular that's fairly straight forward and isn't for advanced users only? If you have a URL that would be great. I did receive a copy of DOS 2.5 for $17 with a manual in new condition. I was amazed at the condition of both items, and I did make four copies, but diskettes do die eventually. So I also would like to use the SIO2PC solution to image this DOS 2.5 Master disk. I know most folks probably use emulation but I am older school and like the real McCoy. I guess one day I'll have to use emulation when all of my diskettes stop working, but not till then. Regards . . .

I am using AtariDsk to format in 800XL.

I'll run your test pgm. on my IBM 5150. Thanks

Greetings all. First, thank you for this website and all you are offering the public FREE. I am new to Atari but been in IT since '81, but my long years in IT needs some help with the vintage fella Atari . Never had the pleasure of Atari 800XL except with the 2600. I have a problem I am hoping to get help with. I downloaded some .ATR files, particularly the DOS2_5 ATR and the VisiCalc ATR from AtariMania and I found the "writeatr" program to write them to disk but it fails every time no matter if I use SS/DD, DS/DD or HD diskettes in either a HD 5 1/4" drive or a 360KB drive on an old IBM 5150 - same results. I used another MS-DOS pgm. to format them in the 800XL format on my 5150. Can anyone please help me? Results when I run the "writeatr" program: => writeatr -b dos25.atr <Return> The -b means drive b: > Selected Atari disk drive type 360K DS/DD/5.25 > The selected Atari disk drive type is not compatible with your floppy drive. The above message confuses me because my old IBM is a 360K DS/DD drive. I tried versions 0.92 and 0.92b writeatr from HiassofT's Atari 8bit world Is there another image writer I should be using? Thanks

Thanks Kyle22 and Fuji-Man! I bought a copy of Atari DOS 2.5 from ebay and will give it a try when it comes. I found it in an ATR file from Atarimania but didn't have any luck creating disks from the image(s). I'll create a new post on that topic.

Got the 800XL with two 1050 drives; the console works fine, and is very clean; ran the built-in tests and they all passed. Found the manuals online and I learned how to change drive numbers, but didn't see anything on error codes. I do not have the Atari DOS diskette that came with the unit, but found a .BAS program to format diskettes. Not sure if it properly formatted the diskette or not because I tried to save a BASIC one line program to the diskette and it reports: => ERROR- 130. I type: => SAVE "D1:MYFILE.BAS" and keep getting the "ERROR- 130" message. Any help would be appreciated as to what this error means. And if the drive needs to be re-aligned or the speed set correctly is there any program/documentation on how to do this? Both drives were surprisingly clean; blew the drives out and hardly nothing came out; clean the heads. Not a hardware tech, so any ideas will be great!

Greetings all. I may have missed it, but what is Matthew's website URL? Thanks

I am in need of a 5 1/4" disk drive (single or double sided) and a digital data drive. I can't repair them, so if you have any good ones for sale I am very interested. If you're interested I have an Color Computer 2 in excellent condition I can give for part of the cost for these items. Also I am looking for a copy of Family Feud. Thanks Spencer.

Well I just pre-ordered one from Toysrus. $51.34 counting tax and s/h. Wanted in on the first show.