Re: disk II repair

[Ruth and Bob <hyadah@televar.com>]

Dakin Williams wrote:

>     This past Saturday, one of my Disk II drives seems to have finally
> broken.  Specifically, the switch which detects the write-protect notch
> seems to have failed:  all disks are reported to be write-protected, which
> prevents writing to the disk.
>
>     I took the cover off the drive and looked at the switch, but nothing is
> visibly wrong (ie no loose wires).  The button on the switch still moves up
> and down when pressed, and makes the expected 'click.'
>
>     Has anyone experienced a failure like this before?  Does anyone know
> where to get a replacement switch?  Or, can anyone recommend a shop that
> fixes Apple II drives?  I have a feeling that it might be cheaper to buy
> another used drive on ebay, but I'd like to look into fixing this one, for
> loyalty's sake.
>
> Dakin

Perhaps the write enable LED is bad. To get a write enabled logic, the LED
light path must be clear, (disk notch open etc.). If the led needs replacing,
then they are pretty easy to find. I have experienced blockage of the light
path due to mis-regestered disks while they were mounted in the drive and
giving them a little wiggle fixed it.
Hope this helps
Ruth and Bob