• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Formatting MFM drives

L

luckybob

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
1,346
Location
denver
I have a literal pile of 30 MFM drives and I have had success with about half of them. I'm having some issues with a few and I'd love some help/info please.

I'm currently using a 286/12 with a Seagate ST22M MFM controller. some drives give me error codes when I goto format and subsequently test them.

Errors like this:



Is there any sort of manual to these errors? I'd wager some of the drives I can't format are in fact okay, but misconfigured. And if the error code is telling me the head is dead, (or similar) that would save me time faffing about with the drive.

thanks!
 
What a friendly error message.

I'd suggest trying SpeedStor instead of the BIOS formatter: http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/software/speedstor.htm

First, make sure it works ok with a known good drive. Then see what it has to say about bad ones. It also supports a few tests that might give you an idea of the actual problem.

Typically, BIOS formatters are quite dumb. They don't detect surface errors, so errors they do report are probably more serious. Such as drive not reporting ready, failing to seek track zero, general seek failure, and so on.
 
Some drives are probably dead.

But some common booboos that can lead to obscure messages can be:

- oxidised connectors (fixed by a clean/rub is isopropyl or contact cleaner)
- cables with oxidised or bent bins that don't quite make good contact
- drive select is set wrong
 
As far as drive select and termination goes, I've been able to do that properly. Lucky for me, most of these drives are well documented. A few aren't, such as IMI, Atasi, CDC and Paraim. You never realize just how spoiled you are with new hardware. Silk screening jumper settings on the PCB was a real game changer!

For example I have 2 miniscribe 3012's, and one seems the logic board is gone. But the jumpers are the same, so when #2 worked fine, it was relatively easy to eliminate the cable, and controller as the issue.

My goal here is to weed out drive beyond repair. if that 7.74 error code translates to "head write error" it would be simple to mark the drive as defective and use it as parts. If the error code is something with the logic board, then I have a better chance of fixing it. I have a few drives that have some road rash, so a broken trace or severed connection is not out of the realm of possibilities.


@SpidersWeb: also nice 286 love the green screen! You've had as much fun with old drives as I am!
 
If the drive spins down by itself, there's either a problem with initial recalibration of the seek mechanism, or the spindle isn't getting up to speed. Usually the drive activity LED (hook one up if you don't have one on the drive) will give you a clue with short and long flashes, repeated.
 
oh that just started. Also, the volume got adjusted down by youtube quite a bit. I can hear this thing through my garage wall. It is grinding so loud I don't think it can get to speed anymore.
 
Don't give up on the bad ones luckybob. I almost did with a drive of mine, an ST251-1, but came up with a "solution" you won't believe.

The drive was bad, and I had labeled it so. It would low-level format okay, and then format with many bad sectors. But then when I went to use it, it was 2 or 3 accesses before a got a hard drive error. She just would not perform.

I tried low-level, FDISK, and reformat thru several cycles. It was toast.

But before casting it off completely, I thought I'd try "desperation measures." First the cover came off, revealing a 1/8" thick band of silver at the rim where the topmost head had tried to dig an irrigation ditch. There was another lesser gouge further in. That explains the bad sectors all right.

Finding no other obvious squirrels, I did a bad thing. I reassembled the drive, flipped it over and put just the tiniest drop of 3-In-1 oil on all three pivot points--the platter bearing, the stepper motor bearing, and the arm pivot. I dabbed the oil up almost immediately with a tissue.

Yes, I said oil. "Blasphemy!" you say. I agree. But what the heck, I was playing with certified garbage anyway, what more could I lose?

Tried one last time to format-FDISK-format, and it worked as before. Loaded up a couple of floppies worth of data. Still working. Loaded up a multi-floppy set I use to initialize a new machine. Ran out of room on the drive.

So I started debugging my .BAT facilities to account for the reduced space, spending about half an hour at it before it dawned on me, "Hey, this is the 'bad' drive!" She's working brilliantly.

You might argue that it's just a matter of time, and I agree, but the tiny amount of oil seems to have fixed up what I assume were timing issues due to inconsistent platter spin.

The sound of the drive has not changed perceptibly. But I have changed the "Bad" sticker to read "Many Bad Sectors" instead. The drive is back from the dead.
 
Oh I completely agree! Nothing is going to be trashed. At this point it is just a go/no-go for sale. People on ebay don't want to dick around with a failing drive. I can keep the ones that "don't sell" for myself, and then hopefully fix them to a useable state. Out of all the drives I have, the Miniscribe 6053 really stands out for me. images: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-MiniScribe-Hard-Drive-Model-6053-/253290648188 (that seller is nucking futs, btw) I just really like the asthetics of the drive.
 
Taking advantage of the thread: I have 2 drives: a ST-225 and HH612-C they were working 2 weeks ago (I even installed Xenix on it) but all of sudden both stopped working at the very same time. I suspected the cable, but it has continuity on all lines. The ST-225 turns on, spins, but the green light does not activate. (turning off the computer - IBM5150 the green light flashes once. The HH612-C, turns ons and does activate the green light but I get the 1701 error no matter what with both drives.

The controller is a WD1002-WSX. Could it be the controller ? Is there any test I could perform on it ? My PSU is 130W.
 
If you like, you can post the correct manufascturer and model number of each drive where you haven't documentation. I have some historic text files and MS-DOS based database apps having a lot of settings for harddrives of the 1980's and early 90's. So I can check there. Maybe with the correct settings some more harddrives could be rescued.
 
Retro Canada said:
Taking advantage of the thread:
Click to expand...
A dedicated thread is always best. Oldies like me are easily confused reading intertwined threads.

Retro Canada said:
I have 2 drives: a ST-225 and HH612-C they were working 2 weeks ago (I even installed Xenix on it) but all of sudden both stopped working at the very same time. I suspected the cable, but it has continuity on all lines. The ST-225 turns on, spins, but the green light does not activate. (turning off the computer - IBM5150 the green light flashes once. The HH612-C, turns ons and does activate the green light but I get the 1701 error no matter what with both drives.
Click to expand...
The 1700 is generated by code in the XT-class controller's BIOS ROM. See [here] and [here].

Retro Canada said:
The controller is a WD1002-WSX.
Click to expand...
Confirm the model number. WD1002-WSX does not register with me.

I see that you used "WD 1002-S" in your other post.

Retro Canada said:
Could it be the controller ?
Click to expand...
Yes, a possibility.

Retro Canada said:
Is there any test I could perform on it ?
Click to expand...
Most XT-class MFM controllers have a self-test ability, but it is pretty crude. Each manufacturer determines what they test. For example, some may be just testing the controller's microprocessor only.

One way to activate the self-test is to use SpeedStor software per: Select 'Diagnostics' then select 'Controller'. Expect to see "Internal Controller test - PASSED" at screen bottom.

Retro Canada said:
My PSU is 130W.
Click to expand...
Verify that the +12V is correct. In theory, a low +12V should stop the PSU generating a POWER GOOD signal, stopping the computer from starting, however, some clone PSU's generate a dummy POWER GOOD signal.

Something else. Was a failure coincident with a configuration change of the 5150? For example, a card added/reconfigured that now causes a resource conflict with the HDD controller.
 
Confirm the model number. WD1002-WSX does not register with me.

I see that you used "WD 1002-S" in your other post.
Click to expand...

It's a WD1002-S WX2, sorry for the typo.

Verify that the +12V is correct. In theory, a low +12V should stop the PSU generating a POWER GOOD signal, stopping the computer from starting, however, some clone PSU's generate a dummy POWER GOOD signal.

Something else. Was a failure coincident with a configuration change of the 5150? For example, a card added/reconfigured that now causes a resource conflict with the HDD controller.
Click to expand...

No added card. This PSU was the one that came with this machine. Both HDDs were installed in this machine. Although I had to repair the PSU as it had a cold solder on PCB. I will check the power good and controller
 
I was told a number of years ago to always run old drive vertical. Things that come lose with age inside the drive can end up in one of two places. One is the filter most have to catch flying material and the other is on the disk surface. A flat surface is more likely to have something stick to it.
Dwight
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top