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From: cscullio@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (Chris Scullion)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st.tech
Subject: Me and My Soldering Iron
Keywords: ST Disk Drive Repairs
Message-ID: <18489@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM>
Date: 8 Apr 91 12:28:15 GMT
Distribution: comp
Organization: NCR Engineering and Manufacturing Atlanta -- Atlanta, GA
Lines: 22

I've got this 520ST hanging around, gathering dust because the floppy drive is
broken.  Thought I'd ask around and see if I can get enough info to fix it. 
Here's the problem... turn on the computer, floppy (internal, single sided)
light comes on (can't tell if the motor spins)... won't read the floppy ...
after typical delay (40 seconds, I think), desktop appears, but the floppies
give error message when I try to open them.  What I know for sure:

1. The drive mechanism itself is OK (replaced it with a known working drive)
2. The floppy I'm testing with IS formatted (done on my 1040ST)
3. The 520STFM used to have a RAM upgrade which failed (probably unrelated to
this problem).

My guess is the floppy disk controller chip.  My next step will be to desolder
it and replace it (I suppose it's easy to identify).  Any other suggestions
would be most welcome (I've tried re-seating all the chips I could find).

Thanks
cscullio@ncratl.AtlantaGA.ncr.com

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Chris Scullion   | NCR Corporation 2651 Satellite Blvd., Duluth, GA 30136 |
| (404)623-7352  | VoicePlus 751-7352 | cscullio@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM |