General Category > Lisa Troubleshooting and Repair
400k floppy drive and floppy emu going crazy
Kelly king:
Everything was working well when all of a sudden the internal
floppy drive making noises running back a forth across the floppy.
The Floppy emu is acting strange also. I know it’s not the drive but
Something controlling it. Any ideas or how to reset drive mechanism
Controller. It’s a 2/10 should I just get a new 400k rom…no error codes
Thanks
sigma7:
--- Quote from: Kelly king on June 08, 2025, 02:59:48 pm ---Any ideas or how to reset drive mechanism Controller.
... should I just get a new 400k rom…no error codes
--- End quote ---
The controller is part of the I/O board.
If the ROM were bad, then the ROM version (shown at the right end of the menubar when doing the self-test) would likely not display correctly (eg. not /88 nor /A8), and you would get an I/O Board error from the self-test. So I think, probably not the ROM.
One potential cause is a poor contact at the card edge of the I/O board or chassis. Removing and re-inserting the I/O board a couple of times may help. If it doesn't, inspect the card and socket for foreign matter/corrosion, same for the wide card edge connector that joins the motherboard to the chassis.
On the 2/10 I/O Board, the IWM is in a socket at A1 (top left corner), if a poor contact has developed in the IWM socket, I suppose it may affect the floppy without generating a self-test error. Re-seating the IWM in its socket may help.
If you've been switching back and forth between a real drive and the FEMU, perhaps something was plugged in backwards at one point... I don't recall if this is possible (perhaps all the connectors are polarized), and I don't recall if the consequences are known.
Does the I/O Board work fine other than the floppy behaviour?
Kelly king:
The H/88 is on corner so it’s not rom. Thanks
Everything works Lisa os and MW+II..but I was switching between the two
many time throughout the night. Use the floppy drive for scsi drive and
Then using profile and widget. I was giving the drive a workout.
The floppy emu is just flashing different menus back and forth.
Kelly king:
Looked at the the boards moved things around no change.
sigma7:
--- Quote from: Kelly king on June 08, 2025, 03:54:48 pm --- How about replacing [the I/O Board ROM]
--- End quote ---
I think it is very unlikely to be the ROM. If the ROM were bad, it would most probably not work at all, rather than cause the FDC to generate correct but bizarre commands to the drive.
You could use BLU to dump the I/O Board ROM to verify it.
The easiest troubleshooting step is to try another 2/10 I/O Board, if you can borrow one. If you have to buy something, then perhaps first replacing the IWM is worth a try since it is in a socket and a lot less $$ than another I/O Board, but it is just a guess that it could be the issue.
edit: I thought it would be less $$ to get an IWM, but it appears they are not readily found. Perhaps and hoping one of the IWM reproduction projects will deliver in due course!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version