Hello hopefully someone can help diagnose an issue with my Unidisk 3.5" Drive (A2M2053) the smart version with onboard cpu is related to its IWM or something else? I suspect it may have been connected to a Mac by po who had mostly mac computers, the issue is it is not been detected by the LIRON card in our IIe? Have confirmed LIRON interface card works and mechanics of the drive function.
From my research the IWM in the drive is a PROM (model VLI VF4060-001 344-0041-B IWM PDIP28) can I use the IWM on the LIRON to test?
Wondering if anyone has had similar issues and managed to get it working again as these drives are not very common.
Thanks in advance!
I would want to try that Unidisk in a known-good IIc, or a IIGS to make sure the drive itself is not at fault (which it very well may be)
yes when i first received the drive (few years ago) was tested on both IIe and IIgs and both could not detect the drive? I then swapped out the board with the IIgs 3.5" (dumb drive) and the drive came to life, was working on the IIgs so the mechanism is functional.
I don't understand what this phrase means.
You swapped out what board? The internal Unidisk CPU controller with another internal Unidisk CPU controller?
Or did you put an Apple 3.5" Drive mechanism into your Unidisk?
Hi yes to test the mechanism of the unidisk 3.5 I used the controller board from the IIgs 3.5 drive (the mechanism is the same) and it functioned normally so definitely an issue with the unidisk 3.5 drives controller board with the built in cpu and IWM.
If you wanted to try the IWM from your liron in there, you could, but it wouldn't be easy. There's no room for a socket on that controller board, so this would involve a lot of desoldering and resoldering.
I have a Unidisk 3.5 which is similarly broken. I verified that the mechanism works, just like you did, so mine also has a problem on its controller board.
From mine I removed the IWM, the CPU, and the PROM. The IWM and the PROM are two separate 28-pin chips. I tested all these chips by putting them in other devices, and they all worked fine, so for me, I'm pretty sure the problem is actually with the Sony CXD1013 surface-mount chip. Unfortunately these are not obtainable anywhere as far as I know.