Re: Focus Drive //e woes

["John" <zzzjoki@yahoo.com>]

I've used a couple of Focus drives through the years.

As you probably know, the drives used on Focus cards have a bit of
"history" with failure. I've had 2 of 2 go bad. One is hanging in
there, barely. I turn the machine on daily just to keep the mechanical
parts working and charge the NiCd on the clock card. It's like starting
an old car or mower over the winter.

This system starts with the //e logo and a spinning HD. I hear the HD
seek sound (flutter), but it won't boot. A pattern repeats several
times (maybe 5-10), and then the floppy drives will attempt to boot. If
that fails the system sits there indefinitely. I don't see any error
messages, however.

If the //e was unused for several months, it took hours of fiddling. To
automate this, I  made a boot floppy which reset the system (some BIOS
call). This begins the HD seek behavior again. Eventually the HD boots,
and after this therapy it boots "reliably" in about 7-14 minutes every
time (if the //e only sits for a few days between use).

So, mechanical problems are not uncommon for Focus drives and, in some
cases, "warm up therapy" may help.


William Katz wrote:
> So I decided to turn on my Apple //e computer two days ago, after having
> it sit on my desk for about ~2 years.
> Everything seems to work except one part... my Focus Drive //e!! :(
>
> I turn on the //e, and for the first one or two seconds, it sounds like
> the Focus Drive will boot up (I can hear the hard drive whirring), but
> then the computer just sits there with the 'Apple //e' title on the
> screen.