I figured I may as well post my experience with this, because it seems there is very little information otherwise about these things.
I have a D9060, which did not work when I bought it. I bought it from someone who claimed the LEDs didn't light up all the way, and the fan and hard drive sounded too slow.
So, the first thing I found was that it is designed for 240VAC, and was plugged into 125VAC (cord still attached).
Upon connecting it to the proper power source, I found that I could get "73,cbm dos v3.0,00,00,0" at startup. Upon issuing any valid command, the unit would hang. If I issued an invalid command, I would get the appropriate "syntax error" message. So I presumed that communication between the two 6502s on the "DOS board" was broken. (I have since learned that a loss of communication between the "DOS board" and the "SASI board" can cause this)
Finding both CPUs running in valid address space, knowing that the IEEE-488 interface 6502 was working correctly, and having quite a bit of experience with other hardware containing bad 2114 static RAMs, I shot-gunned the problem and replaced all eight 2114s. Now, I could get the drive to successfully report "0,ok,00,00,0" after issuing "i" or "uj" commands. Upon trying to retrieve the cATALOG, lOAD any files, or issue "v", I would get read errors.
I could hear the drive seeking. In fact, upon execution of "v", it would seek quite a few times before failing. Always, read errors, usually in what must be the directory track.
Having checked everything else to my satisfaction, I got gutsy and issued "n:lxx,mw". It sounded like it was seeking properly, and about 15 minutes in, my ?ds$ command returned, blank. In my experience, this is what happens if you turn off a drive in the middle of whatever it's doing. So, I raced to the other room (the controlling computer and D9060 are in different rooms) to find the power LED extinguished, and the activity LED still on, the drive motor and fan still running, but no sign of seeking.
I found that the 5V supply gave up the ghost. I haven't nailed that down yet, but it seems either the center tap from the transformer is open, or, I have two rectifiers with high ESR (but both seem to check good). I'll deal with that later. In the mean time, I disconnected the rectifiers and connected a 5V bench supply to the filter capacitor, to make sure the capacitor and regulator circuits are still functioning properly. I have the D9060 power supply disconnected, and I'm powering the SASI board and the Tandon drive with a small PC-type switching supply.
One thing I had noticed earlier was that the six socketed 82S137 chips on the SASI board get VERY hot during operation. So whilst I had everything apart, I did a quick internet search for 82S137s, and found them to be RAMs (wrong!). So I pulled them, and cleaned the pins and sockets, just because I could. Because I thought they were RAMs, I didn't pay any attention to which socket they were in. That was a big mistake. They are PROMs.
After only 25 iterations I got lucky and got the PROMs back where they belong, or so it seems. If I get an opportunity (I won't...) I'll read these PROMs and see if I can get something that doesn't run so hot. Also, I wonder if this is common, and if so, maybe these SASI boards are prone to fail due to overheated PROMs.
So, now, I am back to square two. Upon power-up, I get "73,cbm dos v3.0,00,00,0". If I issue "i" or "uj", I get "0,ok,00,00,0". If I do anything else, I get "74,drive not ready,00,00,1". I figured at this point I had nothing to lose, so I issued "n:lxx,mw" again. It seemed to be seeking along nicely for the first few minutes. It has been running for an hour and a half with no sign of progress, and I don't hear it seek anymore. But, if it doesn't seek very often, or does so quietly, I won't hear it. I'm in a different room, and there's a large box fan over the top of the D9060 keeping it cool.
I have no idea what a reasonable time is to complete a format. I don't know how I'll know if it finishes, unless it finishes successfully.
I have a D9060, which did not work when I bought it. I bought it from someone who claimed the LEDs didn't light up all the way, and the fan and hard drive sounded too slow.
So, the first thing I found was that it is designed for 240VAC, and was plugged into 125VAC (cord still attached).
Upon connecting it to the proper power source, I found that I could get "73,cbm dos v3.0,00,00,0" at startup. Upon issuing any valid command, the unit would hang. If I issued an invalid command, I would get the appropriate "syntax error" message. So I presumed that communication between the two 6502s on the "DOS board" was broken. (I have since learned that a loss of communication between the "DOS board" and the "SASI board" can cause this)
Finding both CPUs running in valid address space, knowing that the IEEE-488 interface 6502 was working correctly, and having quite a bit of experience with other hardware containing bad 2114 static RAMs, I shot-gunned the problem and replaced all eight 2114s. Now, I could get the drive to successfully report "0,ok,00,00,0" after issuing "i" or "uj" commands. Upon trying to retrieve the cATALOG, lOAD any files, or issue "v", I would get read errors.
I could hear the drive seeking. In fact, upon execution of "v", it would seek quite a few times before failing. Always, read errors, usually in what must be the directory track.
Having checked everything else to my satisfaction, I got gutsy and issued "n:lxx,mw". It sounded like it was seeking properly, and about 15 minutes in, my ?ds$ command returned, blank. In my experience, this is what happens if you turn off a drive in the middle of whatever it's doing. So, I raced to the other room (the controlling computer and D9060 are in different rooms) to find the power LED extinguished, and the activity LED still on, the drive motor and fan still running, but no sign of seeking.
I found that the 5V supply gave up the ghost. I haven't nailed that down yet, but it seems either the center tap from the transformer is open, or, I have two rectifiers with high ESR (but both seem to check good). I'll deal with that later. In the mean time, I disconnected the rectifiers and connected a 5V bench supply to the filter capacitor, to make sure the capacitor and regulator circuits are still functioning properly. I have the D9060 power supply disconnected, and I'm powering the SASI board and the Tandon drive with a small PC-type switching supply.
One thing I had noticed earlier was that the six socketed 82S137 chips on the SASI board get VERY hot during operation. So whilst I had everything apart, I did a quick internet search for 82S137s, and found them to be RAMs (wrong!). So I pulled them, and cleaned the pins and sockets, just because I could. Because I thought they were RAMs, I didn't pay any attention to which socket they were in. That was a big mistake. They are PROMs.
After only 25 iterations I got lucky and got the PROMs back where they belong, or so it seems. If I get an opportunity (I won't...) I'll read these PROMs and see if I can get something that doesn't run so hot. Also, I wonder if this is common, and if so, maybe these SASI boards are prone to fail due to overheated PROMs.
So, now, I am back to square two. Upon power-up, I get "73,cbm dos v3.0,00,00,0". If I issue "i" or "uj", I get "0,ok,00,00,0". If I do anything else, I get "74,drive not ready,00,00,1". I figured at this point I had nothing to lose, so I issued "n:lxx,mw" again. It seemed to be seeking along nicely for the first few minutes. It has been running for an hour and a half with no sign of progress, and I don't hear it seek anymore. But, if it doesn't seek very often, or does so quietly, I won't hear it. I'm in a different room, and there's a large box fan over the top of the D9060 keeping it cool.
I have no idea what a reasonable time is to complete a format. I don't know how I'll know if it finishes, unless it finishes successfully.
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