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From: guest@hpsmdca.HP.COM (Guest Account)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: HELP! Broken floppy drive?
Message-ID: <139610001@hpsmdca.HP.COM>
Date: 11 Feb 91 19:22:56 GMT
Organization: HP Product Generation Processes
Lines: 28

I'd like to ask the net for help with an internal 800K floppy drive on a 
Mac SE.

Whenever I put a disk in the computer it displays the "initialize floppy?" 
dialog box.  At first I thought I had a bad disk ... then I tried inserting
several other recently used "presumed good" disks and they all give the same
"initialize?" dialog box.  I tried putting in a new disk and telling it to go 
ahead and initialize.  It tries for a second, then says "initialization 
failed!".  I doubt that all the floppies could suddenly go bad all at once,  
since they're stored in several different locations around the room. 

This is my sister's computer; she uses it to work at home.  My four year old 
nephew, unfortunately, seems to have taken a liking to the Mac, and has 
learned how to turn it on.  My suspicion is that he may may tried to insert a 
floppy into the drive the wrong way, forced it, and damaged the insides.  
My sister says she's noticed the drive making "funny noises" recently :-(.  
Is this idea consistent with the symptoms mentioned above?  I've brought in my 
own "presumed good" disks and gotten the same results.  What else could cause 
these problems?  Does she need to replace the drive, or is there a simpler fix?

By the way, it's a Mac SE, about two years old, running System 6.0.5.

Please respond by e-mail to the address below.

Thanks!!!

Bill Leong
bill@hpsmdcb.hp.com