User`s guide

A 3.5" drive that, after cleaning, cannot boot known-good diskettes is
likely to have screwed-up heads. However, it's a good idea to try unplugging and
re-plugging the drive (with the computer OFF) and, then, try another boot.
If you have a 5.25" drive attached, boot ProDOS from the 5.25" drive and
try some CAT's of non-protected known good 3.5" diskettes in the 3.5" drive. As
earlier, do the cable wiggling test while attempting the CAT's.
A very good test is to try out the drive on a friend's IIgs or IIc+. If it
continues to bomb, it is likely to have R/W heads which have become badly
misaligned, heads which are badly worn, or heads which have been partially
dislodged from the mountings. (The 3.5" drive's heads are held in place by
springy metal sheets. Unlike the mounting for the 5.25" Disk ][ head, these are
fairly delicate. If anyone has tried cleaning the heads by sticking in an
alcohol swab and 'swishing around', there is a good c
hance the head mountings are messed up.)
Shops which replace heads are fairly rare. I had this done a few years ago
and the drive still works fine. However the charge is around $80. It is cheaper
and easier to get a good 2nd-hand drive at a swap-meet. You can, also, look for
a bargain Mac drive and do a "transplant" as described by Steve Buggie in the
Winter 1996 issue of II Alive.
Steve Buggie is a good source of information on drive repairs. Check out
some of his recent posts to this newsgroup.
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010- Sometimes the 3.5" drives on my GS do not function
correctly. This started after adding a SCSI interface
card. Is there a fix?
This problem seems to crop up from time to time, especially when a SCSI
interface is present and when no device is connected and recognized on the SCSI
chain. (For example, you may have only a Zip Drive connected to your SCSI
interface; but, it is not powered ON or no Zip disk is inserted.)
Evidently, something (e.g. a register or softswitch) involved in the usual
GS power-up routine relating to on-line devices gets messed up. Arranging to
have some active, on-line device on the SCSI chain (or removing the SCSI card)
seems to help reduce frequency of the problem.
A nearly certain fix is inserting a 3.5" diskette into Drive 1 before or
just after power-up. This usually forces recognition of 3.5" diskette drives and
enables correct functioning.
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011- Both of my Disk ]['s come on when booting! How can I
fix this?
Basically, it sounds like Drive 2 does not know when to stay OFF. There are
three fairly high-probability places where a glitch may cause this to happen: