Looking for a floppy drive fo the original X68K model

[saturndual32]

Hello, i am looking for a floppy drive fo the original X68K model. I just bought the unit a few months ago, and recently bought a video adapter from BlueBMW (awesome guy!), so i finally got to try it out, but it turns out both floppy drives are dead.
Anyone got a spare one to sell me?
Thanks!

[eidis]

Have you tried replacing capacitors on the floppy drives ? They still might work after some refurbishing.

X68000 Floppy Drive Capacitor Replacement
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:advanced_floppy_driver_repair

Eidis

[saturndual32]

Hello.
Yes i changed the caps on one of the drives, but i got the same result. Besides i suck at soldering, it took me half a day to swap the caps of only one drive, and after seeing that it still didnt work, i felt so dissapointed, that i didnt try it with the other drive. Maybe i will try it againt tomorrow (sunday).
Thanks for the reply!

[eidis]

 Hi!

Don't give up, yet. Try cleaning the heads with medical grade alcohol (80% spirit ?). I had some success resurrecting one 3.5" floppy drive and PS2 laser that way. Sometimes the heads are contaminated with hardened dirt which does not come off easily and does not look suspicious to the naked eye.

P.S. Are you absolutely sure that you are trying to boot from confirmed good floppies ?

Eidis

[saturndual32]

Yeah, i will try cleaning the heads, thanks for the tip.
About the disks, the person whom i got them from tested them, besides, the seller of my X68K had warned me that the floppy drives werent working.
Thanks!

[BlueBMW]

Note that the floppy drives in the original 68k are a little different than the drives in later models so you will have to find drives from another original model 68k to replace yours.  I may have a pair, Ill just have to dig for them.

[kamiboy]

What degree of not working are we talking about here?

Does the eject function still work? Does the drive spit out disks as soon as you pop them in or does it not respond at all.

If it responds does it spin the disk and attenpt to read, or does it spit out the disk without even spinning it?

Have you made sure the switch on the back for floppies is set to 0/1 rather than 2/3?

[saturndual32]

Hi BlueBMW, if you have the drives, i want them. I will PM you later.

kamiboy, the eject button works fine. I put the disk on, and at times it spits it out inmediately, other times it reads it for like 20 seconds, then spits it out. Both drives do exactly the same thing. Darn it its gonna be a busy week, i wont be able to check out the switch in the floppies you mention until saturday. Thanks for the tip.

[a24tanabe]

Hello everyone.
I try to repair several X68000s and have a little know-how about it.
Of course I have to study more and more,but please let me a question.

Did you maintain PSU?
Bad powersupply causes FDD trouble.In worst case,it will destroy FDD.
If you didn't maintain PSU,you must maintain it first of all.

[eidis]

By the way, check if your floppy cable is not broken. I once had a broken cable and the X68000 refused to boot. Test it by inserting a disk and wiggling the cable while the floppy is trying to read a disk. If at some point it starts to work, you will need to replace the cable. Please also note that both floppy drives need to be connected in order to boot.

Eidis

P.S. You mentioned that one of the floppy drives was recapped. The 1uf capacitor is bipolar.

[saturndual32]

I dont think a changed any 1uf cap, i think i missed it.
Darn it!, so many tips to try, cant wait until its weekend to try some of them.
Thanks for the support guys.

[kamiboy]

Change all the caps. There is guide online somewhere that shows where they are located. Ten to one that if you change them all the drives will work.

[a24tanabe]

Hello.

If you have little time to check it,you can send me drives so I can check it.
But I live in Japan,so shipping charge may be high.

Please think about this choice.

[saturndual32]

Hello, i really have not had any time to check on the drive this past week. Thanks for the offer a24tanabe, but i think shipping costs would be too high to send them to you, and then back here, to Mexico!

Last night i disassembled and cleaned up a non working AMIGA CDTV floppy drive, and now it works perfect. If only the X68K drives would have worked after i cleaned them, darn it!

[saturndual32]

Hello, sorry for bringing this back up, but i am still looking for one extra floppy drive for the original X68K.
I got one driveworking all right, but the only 2 games i have, are multi disk titles, so i havent been able to play anything on this system in about 2 years of owning it!!

[kamiboy]

Forget about the floppy drive, not a good investment of time or money. Bite the bullet and get a flash drive setup going since it future proofs your system.

[saturndual32]

I know kamiboy, but i look at the guide to do so, and kinda get intimidated .

[kamiboy]

Well, the one that involves internal mods can be intimidating. But I believe you can buy a SCSI card for your unit and connect it externally. Just need to hunt down a few obsolete connector cables.

In any regard, if you get intimidated by complications such as these you chose the wrong platform.

[Martymcfly]

Just a heads up, there are a couple on ebay right now. Not my auctions.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sharp-X68000-Internal-Floppy-Drives-Works-/331614174519?hash=item4d35bebd37

[saturndual32]

Yeah, thanks for the heads up Marty!

[BlueBMW]

Note that original model X68000s have slightly different drives than the later models.  I think Pro are different too.   Ace, Expert, Super, XVI and 030 all have the same drives though.  Original models have a few extra connectors (I'm guessing for the rear eject button etc)

[saturndual32]

Yeah, thanks for the info BlueBMW. Actually it was you who sold me the only working drive i got. I have been trying to put together a PC with a 5 1/4 drive, to write some single disk games and finally get to play on the machine, but i have had trouble getting a working PC drive locally.

[BlueBMW]

When I dig out my parts box I'll see if I have any more original model drives.  I honestly cant remember if I have more.

[saturndual32]

Note that original model X68000s have slightly different drives than the later models.  I think Pro are different too.   Ace, Expert, Super, XVI and 030 all have the same drives though.  Original models have a few extra connectors (I'm guessing for the rear eject button etc)

So a floppy that came with a XVI HD isnt compatible with the original X68K?. I just ordered one of this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sharp-X68000-Internal-Floppy-Drives-Works-/331614174519?hash=item4d35bebd37

I guess i will have to cancel the deal...

[NFG]

The original X68 has a reversed connector in a different position, among other things.  It's not compatible, or at least, not without a lot of work.  The PRO drives have a large, heavy metal chassis which is unique to this model.  All the other models (bar the compact) use the same drives.

[saturndual32]

Yeah, thanks Lawrence. I will have to call the deal off  .