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avatar_Neil79

Amstrad CPC 6128 - Floppy Drive Advice

Started by Neil79, 00:07, 03 August 15

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Neil79

After finally getting the motor to work, it now sounds like a dying animal, "weeeooooooaaaaweeeoaaaa" and will not load disks at all anymore. So my questions are.


1) Can I take the power cable out the back of the floppy drive and leave it out so it has no power, while still using the external HxC?


2) If I can take the power cable out the back of the floppy drive, can I completely remove the floppy drive, or does it still need to be attached?


3) Is there a way of replacing the drive with the HxC as an internal, I have the HxC SD S Floppy Emulator SLIM


Thanks
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CraigsBar

Quote from: Neil79 on 00:07, 03 August 15
After finally getting the motor to work, it now sounds like a dying animal, "weeeooooooaaaaweeeoaaaa" and will not load disks at all anymore. So my questions are.


1) Can I take the power cable out the back of the floppy drive and leave it out so it has no power, while still using the external HxC?


2) If I can take the power cable out the back of the floppy drive, can I completely remove the floppy drive, or does it still need to be attached?


3) Is there a way of replacing the drive with the HxC as an internal, I have the HxC SD S Floppy Emulator SLIM


Thanks


1. Yes, or you can simply not connect the 12v to your monitor
2. Yes, It'll work fine with it removed, just remember with an ABBA switch your HxC will still be Drive |b
3. Yes, although I think this will require some minor case cutting.
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Neil79

Quote from: CraigsBar on 00:51, 03 August 15

1. Yes, or you can simply not connect the 12v to your monitor
2. Yes, It'll work fine with it removed, just remember with an ABBA switch your HxC will still be Drive |b
3. Yes, although I think this will require some minor case cutting.


Fantastic!


Some more questions


4) Is there a step by step guide of fitting the slim inside the case, dos and don'ts?
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CraigsBar

Quote from: Neil79 on 00:58, 03 August 15

Fantastic!


Some more questions


4) Is there a step by step guide of fitting the slim inside the case, dos and don'ts?
Hi Neil, I cannot help with fitting instructions sorry. But I have just noticed my answer 2 is missing a word, obviously it should read "without an ABBA switch"
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Neil79

Quote from: CraigsBar on 10:15, 03 August 15
Hi Neil, I cannot help with fitting instructions sorry. But I have just noticed my answer 2 is missing a word, obviously it should read "without an ABBA switch"


No problem :)


Here's some more lovely pics
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Bryce

Looks all to be still in good condition, you just need to get it back together.

Bryce.

Neil79

Quote from: Bryce on 20:12, 03 August 15
Looks all to be still in good condition, you just need to get it back together.

Bryce.


Na motor is shot, sounds like an animal just about to die, woaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaehhhh  :laugh:
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Bryce

Send all the bits over, that's easily saveable.

Bryce.

Munchausen

Quote from: CraigsBar on 00:51, 03 August 15

1. Yes, or you can simply not connect the 12v to your monitor

Unless you have a drive that works from 5v only. One of my 6128s does this

Bryce

Quote from: Munchausen on 21:23, 03 August 15
Unless you have a drive that works from 5v only. One of my 6128s does this

Yes, but that's a mod. There were none delivered like that.

Bryce.

CraigsBar

Quote from: Munchausen on 21:23, 03 August 15
Unless you have a drive that works from 5v only. One of my 6128s does this
As do both of mine, But only because I have swapped the drives with ones from dead 6128plus machines. I was unaware that any CPC 6128's were fitted as stock with 5v drives. in which case what was the purpose of the 12v line at all on those machines, surely it would have been cheaper to assemble the computers without the cord, and fittings. A simple blank could have been placed over the hole in the case??


Craig
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Munchausen

Quote from: CraigsBar on 21:27, 03 August 15
As do both of mine, But only because I have swapped the drives with ones from dead 6128plus machines. I was unaware that any CPC 6128's were fitted as stock with 5v drives. in which case what was the purpose of the 12v line at all on those machines, surely it would have been cheaper to assemble the computers without the cord, and fittings. A simple blank could have been placed over the hole in the case??


Craig

I couldn't say, I only know that I have such a machine (I don't have an plus machines except a GX4000), and I bought it from someone who said it had been in a loft for 20 years, so I can only assume the drive hadn't been swapped. It does have the 12V line, and it does feed in to the floppy drive, but the drive doesn't use it! I only discovered this because my usual setup for using a 3.5" external drive is to disconnect the 12V line as you suggested - and it didn't work on this machine!

Munchausen

Quote from: Bryce on 21:26, 03 August 15
Yes, but that's a mod. There were none delivered like that.

Bryce.

There were! See my previous post.

gerald

Quote from: Munchausen on 21:41, 03 August 15
I couldn't say, I only know that I have such a machine (I don't have an plus machines except a GX4000), and I bought it from someone who said it had been in a loft for 20 years, so I can only assume the drive hadn't been swapped. It does have the 12V line, and it does feed in to the floppy drive, but the drive doesn't use it! I only discovered this because my usual setup for using a 3.5" external drive is to disconnect the 12V line as you suggested - and it didn't work on this machine!
Any chance you get the reference of the drive and your mother board ?

Munchausen

Quote from: gerald on 21:50, 03 August 15
Any chance you get the reference of the drive and your mother board ?

Sure. I'll have to dig it out from the back of the cupboard as it's the one I keep as my second spare because it is in insanely mint condition and still in the original box, so I basically don't even like to breathe on it! I'll try to post back here tomorrow.

Bryce

That would be a seriously good find if that's the case. The drive must have an unknown EME number :)

Bryce.

TFM

#16
I would sell my soul for a 3" drive with 5 Volt only.  8)  PM me if you want to do business!  ;D


EDIT: Sell, not see
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

CraigsBar

Quote from: TFM on 22:17, 03 August 15
I would see my soul for a 3" drive with 5 Volt only.  8)  PM me if you want to do business!  ;D
buy dead 6128 plus ;) I did, and all my 6128's are now 5v only.


OK it seems one of them was not as dead as I was lead to believe, in that it exists in @Bryce 's laptop ;) but basically that is the only way I know of getting a 5v 3 inch drive.


Craig
IRC:  #Retro4All on Freenode

TFM

Well, glad to say that our beloved Amstrad 8 bit computers are built pretty stable, and last longer that any other computer stuff.  ;) ;D
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Bryce

Quote from: CraigsBar on 23:38, 03 August 15
buy dead 6128 plus ;) I did, and all my 6128's are now 5v only.

OK it seems one of them was not as dead as I was lead to believe, in that it exists in @Bryce 's laptop ;) but basically that is the only way I know of getting a 5v 3 inch drive.

Craig

Did you manage to get the black faceplate onto the plus drives somehow, or are the still beige in a dark CPC case?

Yes, one of your Plus PCBs is in the Laptop (waiting for months to be finished)

Bryce.

Munchausen

Quote from: Bryce on 22:14, 03 August 15
That would be a seriously good find if that's the case. The drive must have an unknown EME number :)

Bryce.

Ok I've just opened it. The drive part number is EME-157, which is the same part number as the 6128+ drive. The motherboard is PT NO Z70290, MC0020C, Copyright 1985, so nothing new here, but I'm pretty sure that I swapped the motherboard with one of my other machines, so I don't think that helps.

The label on the motor of the drive says "27Mar90N1", which is interesting. The 6128+ was released in August 1990. Maybe this was a late produced 6128 that picked up an EME-157 because they ran out of parts? Or maybe the drive was replaced and they had run out of the older drives at that time? I guess I should go and check the motherboard version in my other machine next...

Before I put this away again, is there anything anyone else wants me to check?

Munchausen

#21
Quote from: Bryce on 08:30, 04 August 15
Did you manage to get the black faceplate onto the plus drives somehow, or are the still beige in a dark CPC case?

Yes, one of your Plus PCBs is in the Laptop (waiting for months to be finished)

Bryce.

Hmm, this comment made me realise - this EME-157 has a black face plate and it doesn't look as though it has been modded in any way to make that happen. So it must have been like that from the factory!

EDIT:
Some pictures:
View image: P8040094
View image: P8040092
View image: P8040091

CraigsBar

If you get a CPC drive with a thin mouth instead of the wide ones the faceplate is identical so a quick swap and the look perfect.
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Munchausen

Quote from: CraigsBar on 10:20, 04 August 15
If you get a CPC drive with a thin mouth instead of the wide ones the faceplate is identical so a quick swap and the look perfect.

Meh, dunno then.

Bryce

Quote from: Munchausen on 08:40, 04 August 15
Ok I've just opened it. The drive part number is EME-157, which is the same part number as the 6128+ drive. The motherboard is PT NO Z70290, MC0020C, Copyright 1985, so nothing new here, but I'm pretty sure that I swapped the motherboard with one of my other machines, so I don't think that helps.

The label on the motor of the drive says "27Mar90N1", which is interesting. The 6128+ was released in August 1990. Maybe this was a late produced 6128 that picked up an EME-157 because they ran out of parts? Or maybe the drive was replaced and they had run out of the older drives at that time? I guess I should go and check the motherboard version in my other machine next...

Before I put this away again, is there anything anyone else wants me to check?

Interesting. I don't think we have this info on the Wiki, it needs to be added somewhere appropriate.

Bryce.

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