#broken 2088
9 messages in this thread
I just installed a 2088 bridgeboard that I got from one of our friends on
line. I just can't get the Msdos prompt. The error message tells me that A
drive is bad. I purchased another drive, and it too gives a "bad drive"
message.
One symptom is that the 5 1/4 drive light never turns on. Here is the
screen at it's failure-
lpt1 at 0378h Ram 512 Bytes OK Janus Handler Version 2.63 Janus Library
Version 33.1
Drive A: bad
Error. press F1 key to continue
Boot disk failure. Type key to retry.
What do I do now? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
This is my set-up… 2500 w/6 megs. Trumpcard Pro. Toaster. FFV.
Thanx,
Paul
–pt–not seattle– 😉
Paul,
have you checked the floppy cable orientation? Sometimes it's easy to get
it turned around.
David
Yes, I checked the cable and bought a new one just in case. Does this mean
the 2088 board is definitily bad? I awould like to assume the seller
wouldn't sell a deffective board.
Try removing the board, cleaning the contacts with solvent and reseating
the board.
…Dave
Paul,
Check the obvious things:
a. While the data cable may be plugged in, is the power plug
plugged into the 5.25" drive?
b. If plugged in…is there power on the plug?
Don
All the power connectors are passing the right voltage. I did try reversing
the cable to the drive. The drive lite did come on but stayed on at all
times as the drive spun and still showed "Drive A: bad".
Are there any other hardware or software incompatabilities with the 2088
other than the "too much ram" syndrome? Disabling 2 megs with a jumper
change should be ok, no?
Yup…presuming the disabling worked…and I presume it did since
you were able to even start the boot on the bridgeboard.
Well…there's certainly the possibility the drive is really bad.
Then there's one little trick I had to use a few times…it's a pain..but
it worked>
With everything off, and NO disk in the BB's drive, reach in from
the side or back with something like a long q-tip (the stick end…not the
cotton end) and move the heads towards the center of the drive. Push on
the head assembly, not the heads themselves! Don't ask me for an exact
reason why this works on some drives…I don't know…I only know it
"fixed" 3 supposedly broken drives.
I always used to have that type of problem with my old C= 1541 drive,
whenever I powered down with the heads past track 35 it would require a
manual reset to unlock it (although it was the opposite direction from the
one you're saying).