'dead' 1050 drive, then found loose small PCB inside

[iainjh]

Hi

 

So I have acquired a 1050 drive. Doesnt seem to respond to my 800xl at all, no boot errors, the power light comes on but doesnt respond in any other way

 

a few observations and questions if I may please ask for help?

 

There's lots of hard "glue" around the big 3 caps at the rear of the board that I assume is leaking electrolyte (?)

 

the 3 caps are 2 x 35v 6800uF, 1 x smaller 25v 4700uf. Are there any other caps I should change or just those? I had measured 12v and 5v on each of the voltage regulators, but the glue stuff-can that only be electrolyte?

 

No wonder it didnt work though, I took the rf shielding off and found a loose 3" x 2" pcb rattling around inside! has a 6502, an eprom and a few other ICs (see pic).

 

what is this board?

 

which way around should it be re-fitted! eprom to back,or front?

 

 

thanks for any help

 

Iain

Edited April 26, 2013 by iainjh

[+bcombee]

The hard glue isn't likely electrolyte, but instead a molding compound that's often used to hold caps in position during manufacturing and shipping. Usually, electrolyte looks more gray or brownish.

[atari8warez]

There's lots of hard "glue" around the big 3 caps at the rear of the board that I assume is leaking electrolyte (?)

 

That's normal, it's a glue not the electrolyte. These caps usually just dry out over the time, haven't seen a leaky one so far.,

 

the 3 caps are 2 x 35v 6800uF, 1 x smaller 25v 4700uf. Are there any other caps I should change or just those? I had measured 12v and 5v on each of the voltage regulators, but the glue stuff-can that only be electrolyte? No wonder it didnt work though, I took the rf shielding off and found a loose 3" x 2" pcb rattling around inside! has a 6502, an eprom and a few other ICs (see pic). what is this board? which way around should it be re-fitted! eprom to back,or front?

 

The Toshiba chip is a 65K RAM, white labeled chip is an EPROM and then you have the 6502, The board is probably some sort of speed upgrade which may or may not have worked to start with. I would suggest trying the drive with it's original ROM and RAM chips first (which are probably not included with your purchase, but can be obtained from Best Electronics or B&C Computervisions, or may even be donated by an Atarian who has some extras). Large capacitors look healthy and they wouldn't be my first targets for replacement although I can't be 100% sure by just looking at the photo.

 

I'd also double check the cable connections, from the photo above they look OK but we cant see them clearly. There are also two other connectors that aren't on the photo. Make sure they are inserted properly, in the right pin direction and not missing a pin. They have no keys, so inserting one in the wrong direction is very easy and may cause the drive not to function or malfunction

Edited April 26, 2013 by atari8warez

[1050]

The electrolyte you speak of is actually regular old hot glue, they mounted them like this so that the big boys weren't vibrating on their very substantial legs which tend to work loose from the solder as it is due to thermal excursions and that tends to ruin the voltage doubler circuit that they are a part of. They double the input at 9 Volts AC to 18 DC and that is is then fed to the voltage regulators. You have already confirmed that these circuits are working with a voltage check, good on ya.

 

I suspect what you've got is a happy clone upgrade, the eprom would go to the rear - IF the empty socket has machine legs sticking down that would go in the empty eprom socket on the motherboard. And then the empty socket stays empty, otherwise all bets are off, I didn't suggest a thing.

 

The eprom on this board is NOT the 1050 eprom that you would need in order to revert this drive back to stock standard condition.

 

The offset plug shown below needs to remain offset or you will back bias your track zero sensor and then it's time for a new one, no second chance!

http://www.atariage....images&img=3710

 

Contact cleaner on the drive select switches in the back often allow an old drive like this to start responding correctly, I'd plug in the board and give it a try...

[iainjh]

Thank you all

 

Yes it has long pin legs for the bigger socket. And Ta for the offset plug into!

 

Ill try it tonight, and will report back

 

Thanks again

 

Ps if it is a happy clone, my assumption is that it doesn't need any special software to work - it just speeds up the drive and sio etc, correct?

 

I've not got any disks so ill write a few out from my (old , 5.25 equipped), hopefully by then know if the drive is at least responding

 

Ta

Edited April 27, 2013 by iainjh

[atari8warez]

Thank you all

 

Yes it has long pin legs for the bigger socket. And Ta for the offset plug into!

 

Ill try it tonight, and will report back

 

Thanks again

 

Ps if it is a happy clone, my assumption is that it doesn't need any special software to work - it just speeds up the drive and sio etc, correct?

 

I've not got any disks so ill write a few out from my (old , 5.25 equipped), hopefully by then know if the drive is at least responding

 

Ta

 

Some DOS make use of the Hi-Speed features of upgrades like US Doubler and Happy. So you won't need anything extra but those DOSes. SpartaDos and SDX can use US Doubler and Happy (I believe) drives in high speed mode. MyDos is another one. I also like Hias's hi-speed OS which is a OS replacement on the Atari and can use Happy and USD enhanced drives. Hias's OS is included with U1MB and SIDE upgrades, it is also available on disk and replaces the Atari OS SIO routines by patching them with the hi-speed code from the disk, in this case even ATARI DOS will run in higher speeds when accessing SIO drives.

Edited April 27, 2013 by atari8warez

[BillC]

Thank you all

 

Yes it has long pin legs for the bigger socket. And Ta for the offset plug into!

 

Ill try it tonight, and will report back

 

Thanks again

 

Ps if it is a happy clone, my assumption is that it doesn't need any special software to work - it just speeds up the drive and sio etc, correct?

 

I've not got any disks so ill write a few out from my (old , 5.25 equipped), hopefully by then know if the drive is at least responding

 

Ta

A Happy 1050 will operate almost like a stock 1050 without special software/drivers plus adds true DD mode, although some copy protected software may refuse to run. With high speed drivers data transfer is much faster, and the Happy software allows copying of much copy protected software.

 

The software disk images are available through a link in this message: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/110298-happy-software/#entry1333437

[atari8warez]

The offset plug shown below needs to remain offset or you will back bias your track zero sensor and then it's time for a new one, no second chance!

http://www.atariage....images&img=3710

 

You sure about this. I remember connecting that plug in reverse a few times back in the early days but haven't had an issue after I re-inserted it correctly. Maybe I was just lucky??

Edited April 27, 2013 by atari8warez

[iainjh]

thank you all, now its plugged in, and the right way around it now seems to work perfectly. The diagnostics declare it as a happy.

 

I initially wrote a disk from writeatr.exe on an old pc, the a 'doh!' moment and i did it over aspeqt as I should have from the beginning (One thing that struck me as on about writeatr.exe is doesn't write 90k SD atr's, (?))

 

I am now playing with mydos and the happy disks, thanks again!

 

Thx also for the sio patch info, I will look into getting a patched eprom blown (fingers crossed my xl has sockets... errr...). I'll search atariage for some info on that unless anyone on this thread has done the same and can instantly point out if its problematic or worthwhile??

 

cheers

 

Iain

[atari8warez]

This may help

[atarifan49]

That board in the 1050 is a Duplicator Board. It was a clone/knockoff of the Happy Enhancement for the 1050. The RAM chip on the board is a 64k bit or 8k byte. Jim Patchell was the engineer behind making of the board. He got involved with some guys in New York state who marketed it - they were not very business savy.

 

Here's some history on it.

 

Glenn

[Mathy]

Hello Glenn

 

The 1050 Duplicator wasn't a clone/knock-off of the Happy Enhancement. It was a similar device though. Happy sold a "Cheer-Up" upgrade, to turn the 1050 Duplicator into a Happy 1050. IIRC Jim Patchell sometimes visits AtariAge, so maybe he can tell you more.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

[+Larry]

He used to have a web site, so you might be able to search here and the web and find some useful info.

 

Here's a start...

 

http://www.digitpres...s_patchell.html

 

Here's a better one...

 

http://www.oldcrows.net/~patchell/atari/duplicator.html

 

-Larry

[1050]

You sure about this. I remember connecting that plug in reverse a few times back in the early days but haven't had an issue after I re-inserted it correctly. Maybe I was just lucky??

In your case it had to have been another plug? I have done that with no repercusions, but not on that offset plug. When you reverse bias a PN junction current doesn't flow so well so most times no damage, but when you forward bias a junction there is no limit on the current flowing except for the source supplying it and that lets the magic smoke out real quick. I won't lose a third or be responsible for anyone else blowing theirs. In one case I just used the whole drive for a parts junker and in the other I was lucky enough to find an exact replacement photo-transistor in a junk VCR so I used it. Haven't seen another transistor small enough to possibly fit inside the Atari case for the track zero sensor ever again, I was very much looking forward to an alternate source for the track zero sensor, instead it was just that one shot deal.

 

While it's possible that later models of the sensor have a beefed up transistor that doesn't let go of the smoke so easily, I still won't own any part of the next burnt out track zero sensor - mine or anybody else's. I would have also needed some IR light in order to lose my smoke, but I must have had some from somewhere at just the wrong moment the channel got changed on the TV or sat receiver?

 

Spell check seems to be off anymore and I have no idea how to turn it back on, but that was handy to have working. Makes me look like not such a maroon.

 

In my original post I was going to suggest that an alternate to contact cleaner for the drive number select switches might be WD-40 and I actually have used it for just that purpose when I was away from home and it seems to work just as good as. Just as a tribute to our first skirmish.

 

I was also going to mention that the board was definitely NOT a DTI duplicator board as I have a couple of those and it's layout is just not anything similar at all. And I'd like to take the time now to remind everyone that Jim Patchell stopped in here quite a ways back to tell everyone that he was going totally blind soon due to disease and wanted any last requests to post data to his site while he could still see to do that. By now he probably knows Braille as well as he knew assembler back then, best of luck Jim if you are reading this.