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From: jordan@hpfcdj.HP.COM (Steve J. Jordan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Help with my 5.25 drive
Message-ID: <29110018@hpfcdj.HP.COM>
Date: 3 Apr 91 21:43:22 GMT
Organization: Hewlett Packard -- Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 24

Need advice:

I have a non-apple brand 5.25 floppy connected to the Smartport on my GS
(along with my Apple 3.5.)  The 5.25 drive has worked fine for about 2 years,
and usually it still does.  The last month or two I've sporadically had
various 5.25 floppy disks stop working for no apparent reason (won't boot,
I/O errors, etc.)  My guess is that the 5.25 drive is occasionally trashing
my disks.  I figured my CPU board must be ok since my 3.5 drive (daisy-chained
to the 5.25) hasn't had any problems.  There isn't anything nearby that could
be giving off large magnetic fields to directly damage my disks, and I can't
think of anything else that might be causing the problem.

So, assuming the 5.25 drive is the problem, what should I do?  Are there
some tests I could run to check it?  I ran a drive speed test available on my
old Locksmith disk.  It looked fine.  Is it worth bringing to a dealer to
check?  Or will that cost as much as buying a new drive?  (I saw one in A+ for
$99.)  I can't seem to get the drive to fail while I'm watching it, so 
(with my luck) a dealer couldn't either (& still charge me.)  I'm starting to
wonder if it's trashing disks when I power-up & power-down my system with a 
disk in the drive.  Do all 5.25 drives properly handle powerup/down?  (ie. the
write-head should not be skipping around.)

Steve Jordan
jordan@hpfcdj.hp.com