Got 2 5.25" and 2 3.5" floppies. Found a copy of Copy 2+ 8.3 which bots fine. however, I can't format 3.5" floppies with it. It see's the drive fine and I have 1 5.25 and 1 3.5 connected. It tries to format the floppy and it just sits there. The drive light comes on and nothing seems to happen. I've tried both drives. Same thing. How long should it take to format a 800K 3.5" ? The 5.25" drives work fine, but the 3.5" ones attempt to read the discs but not format them.
Suggestions?
I have an 2 GS.
Thanks.
Formatting 3.5" floppies
November 1, 2014 - 12:31pm
#1
Formatting 3.5" floppies
Oh when I try and catalog the 3.5" disc, I get i/o error track $11, sector $0. so this is the boot sector right? I have NO 3.5" floppies with any software.
3,5 drives at IIGS can only handle DS,DD disks...
Maybe you tried HD Disks ?....
Write protect tab in correct position ( notch closed ? )
wait a while for error message or completion message....
3,5 disks take a while to get completely formatted...
speedyG
I placed tape over the HD discs. they should work.
What settings should I have in the control panel? since both disc drives are apple 3.5" disc drives which settings for slot 5 should the control panel be?
Connecting he drives? 3.5" and then 5.25" drives correct?
What setting for boot up to scan for scan in the control panel?
Hello Doug,
taping the HD disks works in less than 5% of all disks...
in 95% HD Disks won´t work - regardless of what you are doing....
Use only real double sided double density disks !
speedyG
ok found a couple of non HD disc. double density. same issue.
What settings should my control panel have for slot 5? right now it says smart port, slot 6 is disk port and startup slot is set to scan.
I've read that the 3.5" needs to be the 1st disk on the chain, then the 5.25" ones.
Just want to get the 3.5" disks working.
it appears that the system see's the disk drive but not the software.
settings are correct....
formatting realy takes time ( sometimes up to 4 or 5 minutes ! )
if the disks have been previously MS-DOS formatted sometimes such disks make trouble and only get usable again if they are erased with large real magnet...
if formatting is performed you will hear silent ticking ( stepping ) of the drive....
( but of course not if you besides have ACDC running at the stereo with full power ...)
if formatting realy ends with error message ( and please really wait till message is displayed !)
there might be problem with the drives themselves....
try formatting with copy II plus and select there for the 3,5 drives slot 5 ! Slot 6 represents the 5,25 drives...
speedyG
ok just added both 3.5" disk drives to mu mac classic. it saw the drive both times and it formatted the disks without problems. so i know the drives work. if i plug the 3.5" in first, the system just hangs at boot up and the drive light comes on and it just sits there. how long should i wait for the 5.25" to then boot if it's the next drive in the chain?
Sorry for asking this but is there an empty diskette in your 3.5" drive when you are (re)starting your computer? Does your 5.25" drive work properly with this computer if only it is connected to the 2gs? Have you tried with a 3.5" drive only, too?
The 3.5" kicks out any disk it has in it when rebooting. 5.25 works fine. connected 3.5" only, system hangs on boot up. can't get to control panel at all.
with bootable disk in first 5,25 drive and no disk at boot in 3,5 drive set
in option menu change instead of "scan" at boot drive the slot 6 as bootdrive..... this should work and then
when in copy II plus you still may choose the 3,5 drive as drive in slot 5.
maybe in next hours someone else in USA will continue replies ... here in Europe i´m today entering bedroom for sleep today.....
sincerely speedyG
Do you have another GS computer to try with?
Which model of 3.5" disk drive are you using? Check this page for compatibility with GS...
http://209.197.125.92/drives.html <-- should be vintagemacworld.com, but my DNS seems to not find it by name right now...
No, only the one unit. only 1 GS
I have 2 of these drives: Apple 3.5" External (A9M0106)
Then there must be some (hardware related) problem with your //GS motherboard.
found the system test sequence. Held down ctrl, option, open apple and reset. system goes into a test phase. it comes back System Good. no matter what I set the control panel to, the system tries to boot with the 3.5" and just sits there. drive light on, but nothing happens.
Can someone who has a 3.5" and 5.25" disk drive, tell me how their system is setup, which drives are plugged into what, in which sequence and what settings they have on their control panel please.
This is getting frustrating.
Control panel settings: set slots 5 and 6 to Smart Port and Disk Port respectively. But to test most effectively, remove all cards from your IIgs, and plug in one A9M0106 alone. Turn the power on. It should fail to boot within the first few seconds, and get the little Apple symbol racing left and right across the screen.
If after removing everything but the drive, and setting the control panel to all defaults you get a solid light on your drive and no activity on the GS... something hardware-related is wrong. If it behaves exactly the same way with both drives (testing one at a time) it's highly likely it's the GS mobo; but it's not impossible that both floppies are damaged in a similar way, too.
Tried this. plugged in the 3.5" drive, system tries to boot, just hangs with 3.5" drive led on. it just stays at this state.
Both drives do the same thing. system hangs once they are plugged in. When connected to the 5.25" drives, 2 drives show up in copy 2+ on slot 6. I booted an older version of the software and changed the drive slot to 5 drive 2. no activity. slot 5 drive 1 didn't show any activity either.
Both 3.5" drives work fine on my Mac Classic. I can format the disks and they work fine. So this tells me that the drives aren't a problem.
I"m going to try and seat all the roms on the motherboard just to be safe.
What would I expect to pay for a new motherboard? $30?
made sure all the roms are seated, and noticed C61 capacitor is possibly leaking. C11 or C6 looks the same. These are 1000 microfarad 16 volt caps right? I'll replace both of them and the battery. 3.6 volt battery right? Can I use 3 1.5 volt batteries instead on a external battery holder? I would much rather prefer that then to re soldering one on the motherboard again.
Tested the 3.5" again, same issues.
http://www.reactivemicro.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_36_25&products_id=45
Any suggestions on what to troubleshoot next to get this system to see the 3.5" drives?
I know they work since the work on my mac classic.
Anything I should check else?
Wild Guess: Check the contacts on both the connector on the disk drives and the Smartport. The male connector pins should be silver without rust. If there is rust, then the only long term repair is to use a wire brush to remove the rust and make sure you get at the copper layer, then coat the pins with solder using a high powered soldering gun, solder, and flux. Then you clean it with isopropyl alcohol.
On the female connector on the Smartport, you would need some special tools to clean it out physically, so most people would use a spray cleaner instead.
All connections are clean and free of rust.
Look for motherboard/computer replacement. //GS are still cheap in the US. This motherboard needs to be diagnosed by experienced professional.