Re: apple IIc external drive??

[Paul Grammens <pgrammen@sonic.net>]

Megatron wrote:
> 
> Remember me? I wrote a month ago asking about an apple IIc with an external
> 3.5 floppy drive. I got a response but since then have found out that the
> drive used to work fine on this computer about 6 months ago.

OK, that eliminates the possibility that the external disk is the wrong
kind.

 So the problem
> is we cannot get the computer to recongnize the drive. sometimes it spins
> the drive and sends an error saying something like " drive returned errors"
> or "cannot access drive" 

There could be a problem with the IIc, or the external drive, or the
connection between the two, or the floppy disk.

The best way to sort this out is with a known good IIc and drive- try
connecting the drive to the good IIc, or a known good drive to your IIc,
and use a known good floppy. If you don't have access to another IIc
and/or drive, all I can suggest is cleaning the connector pins on the
floppy cable, and repeatedly connecting and disconnecting the cable,
then screwing it down tight in the hopes of removing any crud or oxides.
You could try leaving it on for a while too. Old computers that sit for
long periods can benefit from being turned on for a while. Beyond that,
there is not much you could do. It is pretty easy to pick up IIc's and
floppy drives cheap at flea markets, garage sales, goodwill, etc, so
keep that in mind. 

-Paul


we are using appleworks I am unsure of the ver. but
> I assume it's the same ver. he used when the drive was working. all the
> cables are hooked up, and tight. If you have any ideas please reply. As I
> said in my last post I'm not familiar with apple. I never used one.
> Jamie