Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pacbell!sactoh0!mahaun
From: mahaun@sactoh0 (Mark A. Haun)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: 1.2 MB floppy drive permanently "not ready" -- help!
Keywords: floppy disk drive broken 1.2 MB
Message-ID: <1135@sactoh0>
Date: 12 Jul 89 03:09:13 GMT
Organization: SAC-UNIX (Public Access), Sacramento, Ca.
Lines: 45

I own a 12 Mhz 286 clone (Computer Products United 286/12) with a
single 1.2 megabyte floppy drive in addition to my 20 megabyte hard
disk.  Lately, the floppy drive has been malfunctioning in an odd
(and unfortunately, intermittent) way.

My problem is this:  often I will try to access a disk in the
drive, and it will act exactly as if no disk were there and the
drive door was open, giving me the usual "Drive not ready -- Abort,
Retry, Fail?" message.  Thinking that perhaps the problem was a
simple one (a stuck mechanical switch hooked to the drive-closing
arm, etc.), I opened up the computer, poked around a bit, and then
powered up with the case off to observe the drive working.  No
matter how much I tried, I could not get it to malfunction!!!  It
worked perfectly through many tests with many different disks.
Hoping the problem was gone, I put the case back on, hooked up all
my cables, and guess what... same problem!

Is there anyone (surely there must be) on the net with experience
in repairing 1.2 MB floppy drives (or anyone else, for that matter)
who could tell me what might be causing the problem and if I should
try to fix it myself or take it straight to the repair shop?  This
problem is really driving me insane and I would greatly appreciate
any pointers or suggestions about what I should do.  Here are some
additional facts about the problem, in case they matter:

1)  The problem used to be very intermittent, and could sometimes
    be cured simply by opening and closing the drive door a couple
    of times.  Now the drive almost never works, and when it does,
    it's usually shortly after I turn it on in the morning.  After
    being on several hours, it *never* works!

2)  Using 360K disks versus 1.2 MB disks seems to have no
    significance.

3)  *Everything* about the drive (it's noises, delays, etc.) is
    exactly the same as if there were no disk in the drive and the
    door was open.  The read/write head doesn't even try to read
    the disk, because it thinks there isn't one to read.

Thanks in advance for any tips or suggestions you might have...

-- 
(    Mark A. Haun KJ6PC    )(  SAC-UNIX, Sacramento, CA         )
(   PACKET: kj6pc@wa6nwe   )(  UUCP: ...pacbell!sactoh0!mahaun  )
(  AMPRNET: kj6pc@kj6pc.ampr.org [44.2.0.56]                    )