[Coco] Floppy drive

[Robert Gault]

Diego Barizo wrote:

> I recently bought on e-bay 2 drives for the CoCo.
> 1 is a FD-501, the other a 502
> But the luck that kept me without a floppy for the last 20 years is 
> still there.
> None of them works
> With the 502 controller, the disks won't even spin after a DIR command.
> With the 501 I always get an IO ERROR.
> I tried with different drives and cables, including a drive that, when 
> hooked to my PC, reads the floppies without any problem.
> I've also tested them in a CoCo2 and in a 3.
> Can anybody give me some hope???
> 
> Thanks,
> Diego
> 
> 
Get a cheap VOM and check the voltages at different points in the 
drives. Look for blown fuses, fried circuits, loose connectors, etc. 
Make sure the ribbon cable is good either with the VOM or testing with 
known good drives.

If the drives actually spin, check the RPMs and adjust to 300 as needed. 
Look for dirt in the drives and whether the head will slide easilly 
along the support rods (power off of course). Lubricate if needed.