Wierd 520 ST problem....

[Retro Rogue]

Having a wierd problem with my 520st that maybe someone out there knows about.

 

Here's the background -

 

It's a 520 st I purchased back in '86 (first with TOS in ROM) with 2 SF314 drives, and used until '94 when it first crashed.

 

What happened was, I was playing Dungeon Master and left the room. Came back and there was nothing but a green screen (same color as the desktop). Wouldn't go away, even upon reboot. I reset all the removeable chips and still no luck. So, off to storage it went.

 

Fast forward to last year. I decided to dig it out and try it once more. I popped, cleaned and reset all the removeable chips again. Bingo, it starts Drive A now (the master SF314) and goes to the desktop. But....

 

There are no drive icons on the desktop, just the trashcan and the menubar. The light stays on, on the master drive as well. I've tried hooking up each drive on it's own, and I checked both drives internally and everything seems in order (no broken parts).

 

What's wierd is even if the drives were bad, shouldn't the icons still show up on the desktop? I've never heard of TOS/GEM doing a selective display like this.

 

Anyone have an answer on how I can finish brining back my ST from the dead?

[Inky]

Uhh.. I think if a drive is bad that the icon won't stay on the screen, though I'd have to verify this.

[Retro Rogue]

quote:

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Originally posted by Inky:

Uhh.. I think if a drive is bad that the icon won't stay on the screen, though I'd have to verify this.

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Someone told me once before at least the A drive icon should still be there. It just won't work when clicked on, but should still be on the desktop. As I said, there was never a problem before with the drives, and they look in almost new condition. They were working when I packed them away, and the motor band and such is still intact and in good condition.

 

That's why I'm wondering if it's a problem with one of the chips on the ST motherboard.

[Hulsie]

Having experienced some drive faults before, I know that the drive A, drive B, and trash icons should still be there, even if the drives are bad or not present. However, I've never heard of anything like this! I'll dig out my 520 manual and see if it says anything about a situation like this.

 

So this whole thing happened while you were out of the room? Damn, that's eerie!