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amstrad pcw 8512

Started by caver99, 09:48, 06 July 21

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caver99

i have the 8512 with dual drives.
both belts replaced.
neither will read, format or do anything with floppies
i have recapped the boot drive as well, cleaned the drive, the heads and re-lubed the mech.
there is no movement on the work drive so not loose, it does seek to track 0 when accessed
i am able to get the system to boot with a gotek but want the genuine floppy system as it was.
with the gotek i know the system is working and the drive controller is working.

GeoffB17

Sorry, but must ask a few silly questions as you don't give enough info.

You say the drive seeks track 0, but is the disk spinning?

When the system bas booted, and you try to read a disk, what actually happens.   What message do you get?

If it's 8512, then the A: drive was a SS drive, and the B: a DSDD.   You may have both sorts of disks.   What is the drive formats now (with Gotek there)?  The A: drive will access A: disks ONLY, the B: drive may read A: disks.

Do you have tested boot disks (A: only).   If you try to boot from a boot disk, what happens?

We'll start from there, and see where we get.

Geoff

caver99

[size=0px]You say the drive seeks track 0, but is the disk spinning?[/size]
yes the drive is spinning and the head moves when trying to access the disk[/size][size=0px]When the system bas booted, and you try to read a disk, what actually happens.   What message do you get?
it comes up with the errors, unable to locate track 0 or no disk found.If it's 8512, then the A: drive was a SS drive, and the B: a DSDD.   You may have both sorts of disks.   What is the drive formats now (with Gotek there)?  The A: drive will access A: disks ONLY, the B: drive may read A: disks.
i have cf2 single sided disks which are not formattable in b: but they are readable by the b driveDo you have tested boot disks (A: only).   If you try to boot from a boot disk, what happens?
if i try and boot from the a: drive the screen just stays the normal colour and then beeps, if i fit my gotek as a: and boot from that the pcw boots fine and i am able to load disckit and swap the gotek for read a: drive


i have since bought 2 replacement drives from ebay an A: and B: drive and they work as they should, ity is a problem with the original drives that were in the pcw 8512.[/size]

GeoffB17

Sorry to hear that.

Still, it seems that the actual PCW, and your disks, are all fine.

It is, however, a hell of a coincidence for BOTH drives to fail in the same way at the same time?   I wonder if they might be repairable?

Just one note for your reference.   The CF2 and the CF2DD disks came off the same production line, back in the day.   Random batches were picked off the line, and tested for CF2DD operation.   Those that passed were labelled as CF2DD and sold as such (at a higher price).  There's nothing to stop you doing the same with any CF2 disks that you have.   If they work, then great!   If they do not, then format them back as CF2.

Geoff

tjohnson

Does the drive have a little tab on the back, I think there is a repair video on Youtube from Noel about the problems with these types of models.

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