Date   : Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:36:51 -0500
From   : julesrichardsonuk@... (Jules Richardson)
Subject: Disc error 00

Dominic Beesley wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> after a drying out period I tried my first disc drive (3 1/2") this one
> span up but fairly quickly reports disc error 00 on known good discs
> whether reading / writing / formatting.

Assuming you haven't just got software / cabling problems...
> 
> I'll take the lid off tonight for a clean. I don't remember hearing it seek
> but that could be because its already on track 0?

On 5.25" drives a good test is to manually move the heads to a different track 
and then check if seek back to 0 works - can be a bit harder to do with 3.5" 
drives though as there's typically a worm drive for the head :(

> Where should I look first? Are there any sensors that are likely to have
> got mucked up?

Switches *could* be full of water still (and if it's yucky / 'hard' water 
might need dismantling to clean the contacts). Generally I leave anything 
that's got wet in the airing cupboard for a week to make sure it's dried out, 
then dismantle anything "mechanical" in nature to clean/oil as necessary.

It's quite possible that there are just deposits on the drive heads and that 
they need a clean. I'd give that a try first. Isopropyl alcohol's the normal 
stuff to use, but vodka works surprisingly well in an emergency :-)

cheers

Jules