Re: Rotting 5.25 floppies

["Bill Garber" <willy46pa@comcast.net>]

"bloomer_au" <bloomer@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message 
9b65c737-e4bd-4592-8875-78b9039b1515@u12g2000prd.googlegroups.com">news:9b65c737-e4bd-4592-8875-78b9039b1515@u12g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks for the advice guys.
> 
> To clarify one point:
> 
> "> Last night, after I played some Savage Island Part I, I put in a
> > different 5.25, and it did the screwing my drive routine.
> 
> I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this...  Do you mean that after
> running this disk, disks that previously worked stop working? "
> 
> Yes, that is what I mean :) The Scott Adams disk ran fine multiple
> times, but then I put this 2nd disk in. The 2nd disk wouldn't boot and
> I got 'check startup device!', and then when I went back to the Scott
> Adams disk, it wouldn't boot either. That suggested to me the
> mechanism of the 2nd disk introducing some crud into the drive. I had
> experienced this same pattern of trouble before with several 5.25s,
> one standalone and a kind of duodisk thing (unsure of brand) attached
> to an Apple II clone. So the pattern has been - disks work, then after
> a particular disk is put in (not the exact same one mentioned in this
> example) nothing works. Then after a clean or three, maybe I get to
> the point where the first disk is okay to be run again. Or maybe
> nothing ever works again. And my disks have been stored very well as
> far as I can tell. 

That is illogical, Captain. If the first disk was introducing anything into 
the drive, as you say, then it would "crud" itself out of business, as well. 
It sounds more to me that you need to disassemble the drives, clean all 
of the rails, check connections, and relube, then reassemble them. They 
may also need extensive calibration. You can check speed by loading 
Copy II Plus's speed check program, and remember to use a blank, 
preferably new, disk when performing this test. For Track(0) testing, 
try booting several original system disks, if you have them, and also you 
can format a few disks on a known good, clean drive, and try reading 
those in the suspected drives. DO NOT MESS with the head adjuster 
unless you really know what you're doing. If it's not off, it will be after. 

I am always available for the above if you don't feel comfortable doing 
so yourself. All I require is shipping back and forth, and whatever you 
may feel worthy of a donation for my time. 

Bill Garber from GS-Electronics
http://www.garberstreet.com