6128+ disk drive manuel ???

[Kris]

Hello all,

I'm looking for the service manuel for the drive of a 6128+; I didn't find it in the documentation.
Should be different from the 6128 (power only needs 5V ...) ?

Many thanks in advance

[Bryce]

Hi Kris,
      the service manual for the Plus is here: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/manuals/Service%20Manual%20Amstrad%20Plus.zip

It's very different to the normal 6128, not just the 5V supply. What's wrong with your Plus? Or do you just want to have the manual for reference?

Bryce.

[TFM]

Hello all,

I'm looking for the service manuel for the drive of a 6128+; I didn't find it in the documentation.
Should be different from the 6128 (power only needs 5V ...) ?

Many thanks in advance

Just in case.... I tried for years (years ago!) to get a replacement drive for the Plus. Impossible! But it can be replaced by a 3.5" drive.

[Kris]

Hello guys,

I was looking for some speed to set up the drive; I have used the same than a 6128old and it works, so that's fine.
Thanks for your help.

[Bryce]

A 6128 drive works fine with the Plus, with a little trickery, you can even convert it to 5V only, so you don't even need to add a second supply. The only thing that's wrong is the colour, but you might be able to use the plastic from the broken Plus drive.

Bryce.

[Kris]

I know that but it was not my problem this week end Now my drive is working well and no need to change it....

@Bryce: I can add to your comment that a 6128 drive is more reliable than a 6128+; I have seen many Plus drive dead compare to old drive.

[Bryce]

I've only ever owned one Plus Drive and it has never needed to be repaired, so I can't comment on that, but then again, none of my 6128 or FD-1 drives have ever broken either.

Bryce.

[MacDeath]

I've only ever owned one Plus Drive and it has never needed to be repaired

Provided they were most probably the last 3" disk drive ever produced so the most recent... alos provided the PLUS range were not used a lot by most of their users...

Nothing abnormal here...

[TFM]

CPCog and CPCPlus 3" drives are not only different in their needed voltage. The electronics is pretty different, you can sense this by software. And this is the reason, why some games have problems to save (f.e. highscores) on Plus 3" drives. Thank's for killing my Gauntlet disc...

[redbox]

I never knew this about the 3" drives in the Plus, but to tell you the truth I didn't ever have any problems with mine.

I did get a 3.5" replacement for one of my Pluses though and it's surprisingly easy - mainly just cutting the connector ribbon in the right places and adding a little switch for side selection.  The drive is a model not listed on the Wiki too, so I'll have to take some photos and upload them.

I do have the "busy" light always on problem though, but it only crashes if you type CAT with no disc in the drive.

[SyX]

I do have the "busy" light always on problem though, but it only crashes if you type CAT with no disc in the drive.

You need to "Ready fix" the drive, if you handle well with the soldering, put your drive model and i will try to find you how to recover the Ready signal

[redbox]

You need to "Ready fix" the drive, if you handle well with the soldering, put your drive model and i will try to find you how to recover the Ready signal

Thanks SyX - will take some Photos when I get back to work.

[SyX]

I'm glad to help, i don't have the skill to fix my 3" 1/2 disk drives, but i have researched a lot in Amiga pages, because it's vital to be able to load the 99% of demos and games in this machine

[Bryce]

Soldering a "Ready" bridge onto a 3.5in drive is simple if you know where it needs to be placed. You should also change the drive to DS0 if it has that jumpered too, so that you can make/use an ABBA switch.

Bryce.

[SyX]

In the all the floppy drives that i have (Sony MPF920-E, Samsung SFD-321B and NEC FD1231H), i need to solder a wired in a pin of a very small chip and move a mini-resistance, that's too much for me 

[TFM]

Soldering a "Ready" bridge onto a 3.5in drive is simple if you know where it needs to be placed. You should also change the drive to DS0 if it has that jumpered too, so that you can make/use an ABBA switch.

Bryce.

Never ever set the "Drive Ready" constantly to "active", else some software will not run any longer.

[Bryce]

Hmm, strange. I converted two or three, but they always only needed a 0R link (looks like an SMD resistor, but is actually just a link) from one set of contacts to another. You don't even need to use the 0R you removed, you can bridge the contacts with an piece of wire. I'll check the name and type, in case anyone else has the same one lying about.

@TFM: I'm not talking about bridging the signal pins. I mean setting the drive to send a ready signal when (and only when) it really is ready.

Bryce.

[TFM]

@TFM: I'm not talking about bridging the signal pins. I mean setting the drive to send a ready signal when (and only when) it really is ready.
Bryce.

Yes! You are very right! That's very important! That ready signal must work properly.

[SyX]

One of the sites that i have used for researching is this.

Everything is very clear there, but my bigger nightmares are moving the mini-resistances from DC to READY and need to solder a wire to those square chips with a lot of pins, i remember your trick that i must not apply the solder tip more than 2 seconds or i'm risking to destroy the chip (is the reason why i haven't made the Amsdos interrupt already ).

[Bryce]

That mini resistor you are talking about is the 0R Link. It's only a bridge, not a resistor. You could replace it with any piece of wire, but it's very difficult to damage anyway. The wire to the IC is a bit more difficult, but the drives I used didn't need that. One second, I'll go and check the exact type....

Ok, they are Mitsumi D359T5, quite a common drive in cheap noname PCs. The only changes needed are the two small bridges, no wires to ICs and the two bridges are far from any component you could easily damage. The bridges are well marked on the PCB with DC, RDY, DS0 and DS1.

There's a good picture of what needs to be done here: http://www.pitsch.de/stuff/amiga/tepe/mitsumid359t51.jpg

Bryce.

[SyX]

Then i really wouldn't need to remove the 0R Link; for example, i could be so simply how scratch the track at the exit of the 0R link, connect with a wire the entry with the disk drive pin 2, and make the READY bridge with another wire.

And for A++, i only need to disable the HD sensor (usually another track to scratch) and make another bridge to change the drive at DS0.

Thanks Bryce!!!

[Bryce]

Removing the 0R is much simpler than scratching a track and easier to reverse later if you want to use the drive on a PC again later. I would recommend removing it.

Bryce.

[redbox]

Here is my 3.5" drive inside my 6128 Plus.

The ribbon cable has been cut as required and a side switch added, but as I said earlier the drive light is always on and using the drive with no disc in crashes the Plus.

It says on the sticker it's a HP D2035-60152.

[Bryce]

Flip it over, remove the metal shield and take a photo of the PCB. Then we can work out where the ready bridge needs to be move to.

Bryce.

[SyX]

Removing the 0R is much simpler than scratching a track and easier to reverse later if you want to use the drive on a PC again later. I would recommend removing it.

I have converted the Samsung SFD-321B, only had to remove the 0R from the DC and make a pair of bridges between the entry solder point label as DC (Disk Change) and the disk drive pin 2; and the other between the entry solder point of RDY (Ready) and the disk drive pin 34 (instead of solder again the 0R).

The disk drive works perfectly (i have used a tester to check that these bridges were correct, too ), although i don't feel the disk drive any different and my 3" internal drive always was very shy to show me its led , what additional test could i make to see if i fixed correctly???

@redbox:How Bryce said, we need to see the PCB to recommend you the solder points Ahhh, and really your disk drive is an ALPS DF354N020A