I've just bought an XF551 drive, but id doesn't work. I need your help to find out (if possible) what is wrong with it:
- when I turn it on, the head goes to the initial position
- when I turn the computer on, the disk spins up, but the head doesn't move and after ~10 secs I got a "BOOT ERROR" message.

I checked the computer with another drive: OK
I checked the cable with another drive: OK
I checked the disks with another drive: OK
I also cleaned the heads.

Four questions:
- What else should I do to find out the source of the problem?
- Is it possible to connect a 5.25" drive of a PC to the electronics of the XF551?
- Does it worth to repair it?
- Who can repair it?

Thanks in advance,
Jozsi

Only a short idea: is the drive set for drive one correctly? At the backside of the drive, you´ll find a dip switch for selecting drive 1 to 4.

hmm, you wrote, that it spins up, so it should be right.

A normal drive can´t be used. Atari has something changed onto the pcb.

The FloppyDoc perhaps can help you to repair it.

Another idea: Did you buy it in the US? American Floppies are rotating in another speed then european. I think 288 rpm instead of 300 (or vice versa?). Perhaps some disks can't be read.

Hello Bunsen

All XF551s run at 300rpm. All 1050s run at 288rpm. Independent of the country they were intended for or the country they are used in.

Greetings

Mathy

pps hat geschrieben:Only a short idea: is the drive set for drive one correctly? At the backside of the drive, you´ll find a dip switch for selecting drive 1 to 4.

hmm, you wrote, that it spins up, so it should be right.

A normal drive can´t be used. Atari has something changed onto the pcb.

The FloppyDoc perhaps can help you to repair it.

Yes, the drive is set to "drive 1"

Bunsen hat geschrieben:Another idea: Did you buy it in the US? American Floppies are rotating in another speed then european. I think 288 rpm instead of 300 (or vice versa?). Perhaps some disks can't be read.

I bought it here in Hungary. According to the seller, it should work.

Mathy hat geschrieben:Hello Bunsen

All XF551s run at 300rpm. All 1050s run at 288rpm. Independent of the country they were intended for or the country they are used in.

Greetings

Mathy

Hi Mathy,

I bought one XF551 in the USA and my atari has problems to read disks with it. It sounds like "beep - brrrrr - beep - brrrrr - beep - brrrrr" instead of "beep beep beep beep". I thought it is because of the differences in rotating speed. Any suggestions?

Greetings
Gunnar

Hi Gunnar,

I think your US-XF have other problems. The speed is the same like german XF.

@ jvas
Is the drive jumped to DS0 (drive select) ?

Greetings,
Steffen

PacMan hat geschrieben:Hi Gunnar,

I think your US-XF have other problems. The speed is the same like german XF.

@ jvas
Is the drive jumped to DS0 (drive select) ?

Greetings,
Steffen

Yes it is jumpered to be the first drive. The drive spins up when the computer boots and I get the "Boot error" message. I think this was not the case if it was jumpered not to be the first drive. I'll check that again.

Afaik,
approx. 80% of faulty XF drives have problems with non- or malfunctioning SIO connectors. Check the SIO traces on the pcb and if nescessary use a soldering iron to fix them...

a few XF drives I had some time ago had also problems with extremely buggy OS versions (Atari did various OS versions for the XF) and some of them did not work at all. Replaced them with a good working OS-Eprom and voila... they booted fine again...

greetings, Andreas Koch.

CharlieChaplin hat geschrieben:Afaik,

...

a few XF drives I had some time ago had also problems with extremely buggy OS versions (Atari did various OS versions for the XF) and some of them did not work at all. Replaced them with a good working OS-Eprom and voila... they booted fine again...

greetings, Andreas Koch.

You mean the OS of the XF? Where can I get the latest OS rom?

jvas hat geschrieben:

CharlieChaplin hat geschrieben:Afaik,

...

a few XF drives I had some time ago had also problems with extremely buggy OS versions (Atari did various OS versions for the XF) and some of them did not work at all. Replaced them with a good working OS-Eprom and voila... they booted fine again...

greetings, Andreas Koch.

You mean the OS of the XF? Where can I get the latest OS rom?

Funny thing:
The original OS in my XF551 can handle an 3.5" drive. At least I could format it, I could duplicate DOS 2.5 to it and I could boot from it. Can anybody explain this?

The drive uses (standaard) 40 tracks (of the possible 80 tracks.)
To use all 80 tracks (for 720k format), you need to change the OS.

Cheers,
Sijmen.

So,
when the OS in your drive handles a 3,5" disk (with 80 tracks), I guess that is why it does not work with a 5,25" drive correctly. You know, there are quite some differences between 3,5" and 5,25" drives (besides the size and the tracks)... If you want to boot a 5,25" disk with this drive you have to change the OS again...

But if you want to boot 3,5" disks and this does not work correctly, maybe a) thats because your 3,5" drive assembly is not jumpered as drive 0 (not to be confused with the XF dip-switches) or maybe b) it is a HD drive or maybe c) you are using HD disks. the floppy controller of the XF accepts only DD, but you can sometimes (alas, not always!) get rid of this problem if you put a write-protect notch onto the HD hole of the HD disk and/or jumper the HD drive asembly as DD... But maybe it is just another problem I don`t think of right now... so these are just some loser tips of an unexperienced user... -Andreas Koch.

CharlieChaplin hat geschrieben:So,
when the OS in your drive handles a 3,5" disk (with 80 tracks), I guess that is why it does not work with a 5,25" drive correctly. You know, there are quite some differences between 3,5" and 5,25" drives (besides the size and the tracks)... If you want to boot a 5,25" disk with this drive you have to change the OS again...

Yes, but the seller told me that the drive worked with the 5.25" mech for him. That's why it is strange to me

CharlieChaplin hat geschrieben:But if you want to boot 3,5" disks and this does not work correctly, maybe a) thats because your 3,5" drive assembly is not jumpered as drive 0 (not to be confused with the XF dip-switches)

Or by twisting the cable as in PCs

CharlieChaplin hat geschrieben:or maybe b) it is a HD drive or maybe c) you are using HD disks. the floppy controller of the XF accepts only DD, but you can sometimes (alas, not always!) get rid of this problem if you put a write-protect notch onto the HD hole of the HD disk and/or jumper the HD drive asembly as DD...

Yes, there are two holes on a HD disk. One for write protect and one for HD indicator. If the HD indicator is covered, the drive consider the inserted disk as a DD disk. This way I could replace the 3.5" drive by a new Sony HD drive in my ST/MegaST. HD drive with a HD disk with covered HD indicator acts as a DD drive with a DD disk. That's only my experience.

CharlieChaplin hat geschrieben:But maybe it is just another problem I don`t think of right now... so these are just some loser tips of an unexperienced user... -Andreas Koch.