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From: 6080733@PUCC.BITNET (Gavin Bell)
Newsgroups: net.micro.cbm
Subject: Re: 1541 diskdrive questions
Message-ID: <1103@PUCC.BITNET>
Date: Sun, 28-Sep-86 13:39:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: PUCC.1103
Posted: Sun Sep 28 13:39:05 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 30-Sep-86 19:41:27 EDT
References: <140@kulcs.UUCP>
Reply-To: 6080733@PUCC.BITNET
Organization: Princeton University Computing Center, Princeton, New Jersey
Lines: 40

In article <140@kulcs.UUCP>, luc@kulcs.UUCP (Luc Van Braekel) writes:
 
1)  Is there a bug in the drive OS [regarding SAVE@]...
Yep, there sure is a bug, and it apparently shows up in almost every drive
Commodore has ever made.  It is pretty obscure, but nasty-- it can even
hit you if you scratch the file and then immediataly resave (it has
happened to me).  What happens is you get a weird file in the directory,
consisting of bits of other files (I think...) which is impossible to
get rid of without a lot of knowledge about DOS and a disk doctor program.
I hear you can avoid the problem by ALWAYS specifying the drive number
in your commands (i.e.   "s0:file"   save "0:file"), but I make it a practice
to re-initialize the drive after scratching any file ( "s0:file" ...
"i0" ... save "0:file").
 
>2) I frequently have read-errors when trying to save files when my
>   diskdrive has been on for, say, more than 2 hours.  After switching
>   it off and letting it cool for a few minutes, everything is OK
>   again.  Any solutions ?
 
I used to have problems with drive over-heating, too.  Try either
taking off the top cover and metal shielding of the drive (keeps
mine nicely cool even during hot California summers) or buying
an inexpensive muffin-fan and sitting it on top of the drive (they
can be bought for < $15 at some electronics dealers).
 
>3) I heard that the annoying clicking sound of the 1541 drive has
>   something to do with the head positioning on track 1.  Does this
>   mean that if you don't use track 1, the drive won't click ?
>   I noticed that there's a lot of clicking before bad reads.
 
The clicking on track 1 is the drive head hitting the end-position
stop-- the clicking before a bad read is the drive head moving around
trying to find the right track.  A good "disk doctor" program will let
you adjust the end-stop to stop any clicking, and will also let you
re-align the head so your read errors should go away (all this with
just a phillips screwdriver, too.)
Frederick J. Bear  (I have too much hair-- SCARE Fred Bear!)
 
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