Date   : Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:56:18 +0100
From   : "Ian Wolstenholme" <BBCMailingList@...>
Subject: Re: Floppy woes

If the drives you have are BBC 5.25" drives (rather than coming out of
PCs) then if there is no 40/80 switch on them, it is likely that they
are 40T drives as there weren't many 80T-only BBC drives without
a switch.

A 40T drive will catalogue even an 80T disc in DFS because track 0,
where the catalogue and free space map are stored, is in the same
place on a 40T and an 80T disc.

If you can't catalogue a known good disc then it's not just a 40/80T
issue, something else is wrong.

As a first step, dismantle the drives and make sure that the connectors
are secure.  If the drives have been in transit then quite often the edge
card connector on the ribbon cable comes loose from the drive board.

Even if it isn't loose you might want to unplug the connector and check
that the contacts on the ribbon cable and on the drive board are clean.

There are various formatters for the BBC B with 8271 disc controller
that you can type in yourself.  I did my own but it wasn't particularly
good and I know somebody on the list wrote a much better version
and I am sure he will come forward and point you to the appropriate
web link.

Best wishes,



Ian
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Charlie.Robson@...
To:  bbc-micro@...
Sent:  Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:22:52 +0100
Subject: [BBC-Micro] Floppy woes


This seems to be a good time to come out of the shadows as the disk drive
experts are out at play :)

I am having problems with my B (DFS 1.20) not wanting to read disks.

I have 6 x 5.25 drives on my desk, and nearly all the ones that spin up all
report disk fault 18 at 00/00. I suspect they're all 40T.

There is one promising drive that will go further and seek, but the seek
ends in the head twitching for a second and then giving the error 18 at
14/03.

I don't have the DFS utils disk so therefore can't format any floppies :(

I do have a number of 3.5" drives and appropriate cables but these all give
the same error. I have tried formatting and writing images using omniflop &
genuine DD disks without success.

A colleague lent me his twin 40/80 drives and they worked faultlessly. I
only have 2 floppies to work with - Elite & its backup disk. I suspect that
the floppies are 80T.

Can anyone offer me words of advice, a pat on the shoulder or failing that
a large g&t?

Thanks,

Charlie