freemonk Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 (edited) Hi, Today, my Atari 1050 Disk Drive stopped working. One minute it was working perfectly fine, but then i went to boot up another disk and nothing. This is what it is doing: When I turn the Atari 800 XL on with the flap up on the drive and with no disk in it, it will throw up lots of fast continuous 'BOOT ERROR' messages as it normally would. When I turn the Atari 800 XL on with the flap down on the drive with or without a disk, it will do nothing for 1-2 seconds, beep on the TV screen, then show 'BOOT ERROR', another 1-2 seconds, beep on the TV screen and then 'BOOT ERROR' again. I've opened the drive up and cleaned the little Octogen shapped drive head with a Cotton Bud / Q-Tip and some rubbing alcholol and got a bit of dirt off, but that hasn't helped one bit. Has anybody on here got any idea what the problem could be? I'll be gutted if my drive is knackered (which it sounds like it is!) Thanks for any help you guys can throw my way. Lee [EDIT] - I've since cleaned the heads again to be on the safe side, and now it reads a disk or two, but all the rest that were working before now show up a continuous 'BOOT ERROR' messages, whilst the drive is clearing reading the disk. I have no clue what's going on. Edited November 11, 2011 by freemonk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylev Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 freemonk, It sounds like the drive timing may have come out of adjustment. If you have a copy of Dos 2.6f (or any other dos with a drive timing option), try booting this dos and checking the drive speed. It should read 288 rpm. If it reads something else, this can be adjusted via a pot on the drive board. It will have to defer to the hardware gurus on this forum to give you the specifics. I haven't done this adjustment in over 20 years. Sorry I can't be of more help. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freemonk Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 Thanks Kylev, I tried to book up a Dos 3.0 disk, and at first it was reading it, then boot error...loading...boot error...loading...stopped. I then reset it, and now it's back to the slow 'BOOT ERROR' with the disk in or out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freemonk Posted November 13, 2011 Author Share Posted November 13, 2011 (edited) Hey Guys, I'm on the brink of ordering another 1050 drive from Ebay, but before I do I just want to ask if anyone has anymore ideas on how to fix this issue. I've left the top of the drive open to check what the drive is doing. It spinning the disk ok, and the drive head is moving freely up and down when switched on and off and when entering a disk. When I switch the power on to the Atari 800XL though, nothing happens. The drive head doesn't move, even though th disk is spinning. Just really slow slow 'BOOT ERROR' messages. Any help would be great. Edited November 13, 2011 by freemonk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox-1 / mnx Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Chances are you may get help if you wrote it all down in the right place. This is the "Atari 5200 / 8-bit Programming" sub-forum, which has nothing to do with broken disk drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npturton Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 t could well be that the drive has lost track zero, I had a utility that you could use to adjust the track zero sensor, this spun the disk continuously until you managed to adjust the head track zero correctly, then the disk would read again Just my 2 peneth ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Could be the pressure pad has worn away causing it to grip the disks too hard? - try taking the pressure off by holding the drive lever a bit open (5'o clock position) and see if more disks boot up. If so open the drive up and rough up the pad a little - or if it's worn down level with the plastic mount replace it with one from an old cassette and some double sided tape. Careful when removing the bits, it's fiddly. There is a detailed article on this in one of the later Page 6 magazines - found it! Issue #75 ("Don't Dump Your Drive" page 12) Also found an article on 'Quietening your 1050' Page 6 - Issue #72 Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazpants1 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Hi All, I have a drive that i've tested with the 1050 testing disk and it says my drive is too slow. I've looked at the field service manual and it says to adjust the VR2 pot to 2083ms. Does anyone know how this is done? I have a multmeter if that helps. Ta Daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Hi All, I have a drive that i've tested with the 1050 testing disk and it says my drive is too slow. I've looked at the field service manual and it says to adjust the VR2 pot to 2083ms. Does anyone know how this is done? I have a multmeter if that helps. Ta Daz I believe that if the cover is off and the VR2 pot can be adjusted. Use your adjusting tool and dial the pot while the testing disk is reading until the test is at 288 RPM. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazpants1 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Hi rdea6, Thank you for the information but my 1050 diagnostic disk just runs a bunch or tests and says pass or fail. Is there another program that tells you what the speed the disk is running at? If so could you possibly let me know what it's called? Ta Daz I believe that if the cover is off and the VR2 pot can be adjusted. Use your adjusting tool and dial the pot while the testing disk is reading until the test is at 288 RPM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazpants1 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Oh hold on i've found it. My version wouldn't let me use the option two as if kept freezing out. I have dug out a second copy that seems to work and i've found the option for testing the motor. I'll give it a go and see if i can get it right. )) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 SDX33A1.ATR SPARTADOS 33A.. RPM.COM. So just format a diskette with spartados and copy atr to real disk.. or run from D2:.... I think that RPM only tests D1: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazpants1 Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Hi rdea6, Thats great thank you loads, i'll give this a go and see what speed i'm running at. Thank you again for all your help, it's really appreciated. Daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 If you don't have 3.3A, then most all versions of "Smart Dos" have an RPM checker. (Widely available.) Set to 287. -Larry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazpants1 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Thank you Larry, i've got the file i need now from rdea6 so i'm going to give it a go and see if i can get it to work. Thanks everyone again for your help, really appreciated. Daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santosp Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Thanks Roy. Today also test my 2 1050 drives, for first time after the total refurbish. Also checked with the diagnostic cartridge and floppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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