Re: Apple IIgs not recognizing 3.5 drives

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Obsbedia2 writes ...
> 
> this is weird...
>    two Apple IIgs computers at school suddenly stopped recognizing their 3.5
> drives.  It was as if no power was making it to the drive, even to eject a
> disk.  I tried other 3.5s, but the same thing occured.
>    today, I tried new computers--same thing,
>    then I tried new drives--some worked and some didn't--but the ones that
> didn't later did
>    satisfied with any working set up, I was ready to pack it up when
> suddenly the 3.5 drives weren't being recognized again.
> 
>    I've checked the control panel and set SLOTS to SCAN or DRIVE 6 or
> DRIVE 5. 5.25 inch drives always work.
> 
>    Again, except for the monitors, keyboards, mice and cords, these are
> unrelated components.  Slot 5 is never set to MY CARD and none of the units
> seem to be set up for a network.  In fact, the original two  //gs computers
> were working fine for about 5 months.
> 
>    Any ideas on what to do next?  These computers are working fine with 5.25
> drives.
 ....

     As you and James say, it is odd that two computers in a school should
suddenly act this way.

>>
It was as if no power was making it to the drive, even to eject a disk.
<<

     If you mean that pressing the eject button would not eject diskettes on
drives on both of the computers; and, yet, 5.25" drives connected to the same
ports work, then, things are definitely weird.

o- When you say eject does not work, do you mean the 3.5" drives on both
computers do not eject disks when the eject button is pushed? If not, are you
talking about doing an eject from the GS System Finder?

o- Did you test the 3.5" drives from both of the bad systems on a known-good
IIgs?

o- Were the 3.5" drives you swapped in known to be good drives? Were they
tested on a known-good IIgs after being connected to the bad systems?

o- When you tested the 5.25" drives on the bad systems, were they plugged into
the 3.5" drives or directly into the Disk Port. 

o- Are there any networking or similar kinds of Slot cards in the defective
machines?

o- Were the two bad machines on the same power line? Were the machines
connected to the power line via a surge suppressor or UPS?



Rubywand