🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1990Sep29.161104.26684@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu>, norlin@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Norman Lin) writes:
> I recently acquired a Tandon full height, 80 track, 96 TPI double sided 5.25"
> diskette drive for $5.00.  At that price it was difficult to refuse.  I was
> told that it was in working condition.  When I connected it as drive "a" to
> my IBM AT clone and booted from my hard drive, I got the error message "Drive
> 0: Seek failure."  The disk drive DID, however, exhibit the usual power-up
> grind as the head moved from one end to the other.  But it just gives me
> the seek failure at boot time, as well as whenever I try to read a diskette
> from it.  Perhaps I have some jumpers set incorrectly, but I wouldn't know.
> Does anyone have any information on how to get this drive working?
> \\  /./\\\  /./\\\  /====|Norman Lin/norlin@129.15.20.2|===/./\\\  /./\\\  /./
> \\\/./  \\\/./  \\\/./===| norlin@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu|====/  \\\/./  \\\/./

i've had similar problems with old drives, and drives that have not been in use
for a length of time. quite often the problem is that the oil on the guides
along which the read/write heads move dries up and acts like glue, preventing
the heads from moving in and out. the solution: put some light grade oil on the
guides (usually two polished metal rods, about two 1.5" long, running from
front to back of the drive), then, with power removed, move the head assembly
back and forth a few dozen times to work in the oil. it might also be an idea
to oil the bearings in all the motors as well.
  to get at all this stuff in the tandon drive, it is necessary to remove the
board on the top of the drive; two screws, one on each side, near the front of
the board, you only need to unplug the plugs at the front of the board (that go
to the heads), and hinge it at the back. good luck.

Robert Rozee  (ROZEE@ELEC.CANTERBURY.AC.NZ)
EEE Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.