Atari 1050

[Bill Lange]

I have two Atari 1050 drives. One works perfect ... I actually booted up Ultima I durning the week.

 

The other one turns on, but doesn't boot. The 800Xl just boots to the test screen.

 

Has anyone had this problem? Is it an easy fix? Can the Happy upgrade that I see on eBay fix it?

 

Thanks

Bill

[Bryan]

1st off, you've made sure it's set to drive 1, right?

 

If the drive doesn't respond at all (no BOOT ERROR on the screen), then you've had some sort of communication failure with the drive. Does the drive act normally when you turn it on and put in a disk (i.e. does the drive spin for a few seconds, then stop)? If so, at least you know the processor is working.

 

-Bry

[Bill Lange]

Both drives have their switches set for drive #1. I just switch drives using the same power cable and io cable so I know those are not the problem.

 

When I turn the drive on, it growls for a couple of seconds and then just cycles through spinning for a second then stopping for a second then spinning then stopping ...

 

WRL

[analmux]

Be aware that the 1050 has 2 drive switches, where one is placed behind the other. You can set the drivenumber from 1 to 4 (at least my 1050 has this feature)

 

Be sure both switches are in the right position.

 

-----

mux

[Bryan]

When I turn the drive on, it growls for a couple of seconds and then just cycles through spinning for a second then stopping for a second then spinning then stopping ...

 

WRL

 

That means it failed the self-test. Something needs repair. The growling noise might mean the head is jammed.

 

If you feel up to it, you could take the top off and see if the head moves, and CAREFULLY see if you can move it forwards and backwards by hand with the power off.

 

-Bry

[Bill Lange]

I removed the five screws (the sixth one is missing) and took the top off. It is quite dusty. I powered it up and the head move toward the back of the drive, but when it gets to the end of its movement, it looks like it is trying to move a little more. Maybe the head is mis-aligned somehow. With the power off, the head move back and forth freely. I am going to get a can of compressed air to clean it out a little bit.

 

WRL

[bjk7382]

Don't the zero track sensor in those fail easily? I have seen them in lots of two on ebay a lot saying that it is a common problem.

 

I have no idea, but that could be it.

[Bryan]

Yep, you've lost the Track 0 sensor.

 

-Bry

[deathtrappomegranate]

It does sound like that.

 

eBay user "chips_tech" often has these for sale. I've used their parts to repair a few 1050s.

[Bill Lange]

OK, I'll order a couple of those and see what happens.

 

Thanks

Bill

[Bill Lange]

I don't see any of the zero track sensors on eBay, but found some at B&C

 

PRA048 TRACK 0 SENSOR TANDN 1050 12.00

PRA047 TRACK 0 SENSOR WORLD 1050 12.00

 

 

 

WRL

[Bryan]

Just look on the side of your drive mech. to see if it's Tandon or World Storage. Most are Tandon.

 

-Bry

[Bill Lange]

deathtrappomegranate: Thanks for giving me "chips_tech" handle. I found their handle on ebay, email them and they put up a Atari 1050 Disk Drive Track Zero Sensor for me, which I quickly purchased.

 

Subject: Congratulations! You are the buyer for "ATARI 1050 DISK DRIVE TRACK ZERO SENSOR (2)"

 

Thanks for the help everyone. I let you know how it goes when the parts arrive.

 

Bill

[Bill Lange]

I received the zero track sensors today and soldered in a "new" one, but I still can seem to get it to work.

 

Oh well.

 

WRL

[_The Doctor__]

I was talking with someone about this old thread... it should have been an led and a sensor... not just a sensor.... either the led can be burnt out or the sensor could stop detecting... so you needed to replace both sides of the sensor.... the emitter and the detector.

[1050]

You can double check the infrared LED with a cell phone camera to see it producing output. If you got light then you don't need to replace that particular part. With the current limiting resistor in the harness itself, the LED was almost bulletproof as back biased it just shuts off. IIRC it was always the phototransistor detector that got fried and quit working. Camera viewfinder also good for reading remote control codes if you want to let the inner geek out to play some. And there is nothing special about the phototransistor detector, visible or IR versions work in either use, so don't hold out for an IR one if you have one for visible light it will also work fine with IR.

 

The 'Gotcha' for this part on the 1050 was to NEVER plug in that connector such as the entire line of jacks were all lined up - this is the position for guaranteed track zero sensor burn out. Track zero jack must be installed where it is out of line with all the rest of the jacks or you've just blown the phototransistor. I only did it once. Got lucky and found just the right size phototransistor in a broke down VCR in the tape loading mechanism, have NEVER seen another the right size since. Just tried the inner geek game with my cell phone camera - still works but the codes are so tight these days it looks like a steady pulse of light, in the old days you could count them off like morse code, honest.

[+Stephen]

You can double check the infrared LED with a cell phone camera to see it producing output. If you got light then you don't need to replace that particular part. With the current limiting resistor in the harness itself, the LED was almost bulletproof as back biased it just shuts off. IIRC it was always the phototransistor detector that got fried and quit working. Camera viewfinder also good for reading remote control codes if you want to let the inner geek out to play some. And there is nothing special about the phototransistor detector, visible or IR versions work in either use, so don't hold out for an IR one if you have one for visible light it will also work fine with IR.

 

The 'Gotcha' for this part on the 1050 was to NEVER plug in that connector such as the entire line of jacks were all lined up - this is the position for guaranteed track zero sensor burn out. Track zero jack must be installed where it is out of line with all the rest of the jacks or you've just blown the phototransistor. I only did it once. Got lucky and found just the right size phototransistor in a broke down VCR in the tape loading mechanism, have NEVER seen another the right size since. Just tried the inner geek game with my cell phone camera - still works but the codes are so tight these days it looks like a steady pulse of light, in the old days you could count them off like morse code, honest.

I may have ruined a 1050 I was trying to fix

[_The Doctor__]

I used to take a magic marker to the jacks to prevent putting them in wrong.... all green facing me meant good to go..