[Coco] Help with floppy disk setup - first time user

[Arthur Flexser]

For some reason, your CoCo is not seeing the Disk Basic ROM that
should be inside the controller.  Some possibilities are:

1.  The controller isn't plugged all the way into the CoCo.  Probably
unlikely, but try removing it and pushing it back in.  With power off,
of course.

2.  The controller's contact surfaces are extremely oxidized.
Oxidation is a common problem, but usually is not so severe that a
disk ROM is not detected;  more commonly it causes disk IO errors.  A
pencil eraser applied until the contact surfaces are shiny fixes this,
though some argue that cleaning solutions are kinder to the contacts
over the long haul.

3.  The disk ROM is either blown or missing.  Opening up the
controller to check for the chip's presence only requires removing a
single screw, which is often hidden under the label--find it by feel
and puncture the label at that spot--and popping it open.  The disk
ROM, a 24-pin chip, can be identified by its Tandy copyright message.
Or you may have an EPROM in there instead, which will have a quartz
window on top, possibly covered by somebody's handwritten sticker.  If
there's a chip in there, check to make sure its notch is facing the
same direction as that of other similarly oriented chips.  (If it is
facing the wrong way, the chip is almost certainly blown.)  If all
appears normal, try removing the chip and reinserting it to dislodge
any oxidation on the pins.  Also check to make sure no pins are bent
under.

Art


On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 7:48 PM, Blake Patterson <blakespot at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Jan 31, 2012, at 7:37 PM, Robert Gault wrote:
>
>>
>> If you plugged the disk controller into the Coco3 and the drives are connected to the controller with a ribbon cable, the drives should work. There aren't many reasons why the drives would not work under these conditions. But we will need more information.
>>
>> 1) When you turn the system on with the controller connected, do you see Disk Basic rather than Extended Basic?
>
> No.
>
>> 2) What is the model number of the controller? That will identify whether the controller needs a 12v supply that the Coco3 does not have.
>
> Disk Drive FD-500
>
>> 3) When you enter a disk command, does any drive start spinning? Are there any error messages?
>
> ?SN ERROR
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> bp
>
>
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