Re: 5.25" drive problem

[Wayne Stewart <waynes@intergate.ca>]

Ken Tucker wrote:

> I just got a 5.25" drive cleaner, and that didn't make any difference at
> all.
>
> I haven't been able to read, write, or format/init any DS/DD (old and new).
> I finally got Copy II Plus 9.1 on a bootable 3.5" drive so I could check the
> drive speed. The drive speed varies between 0 and 230 all over the place.
> I've adjusted the speed control and it doesn't seem to make any difference.
> I've got the drive fairly clean, have taken most of it apart, and have
> examined the chips, belt, etc. Everything *looks* good, but then again I'm
> not a drive expert. It looks like the disk is spinning fine, the belt looks
> like new, and the motor seems to spin without effort... So I guess whatever
> is wrong is going to elude me. Unless anyone has any other ideas, I suppose
> I'll trash this and get another!

To check the speed with Copy II Plus the drive has to be able to read and write

to the disk. If it can't then the speed  varies wildly up and down. The most
likely
reasons are a dirty head or bad floppies. Unfortunately Copy II Plus doesn't
check to see if it can read or write to the floppy or if there's even one in
the drive.
If you pull the floppy out of a drive in the middle of the speed test or run
the test
with no floppy in the drive you'l get get drive speeds ranging anywhere from 0
to
300 and changing wildly every half second.

    Wayne