6 Feb
2003
6 Feb
'03
10:35 a.m.
The HP-85 tape problems have been covered numerous times in this and other mailing
lists. You should search the archives for more details but briefly there are three serious
problems with the HP-85s. 1) the rubber drive belts in the tapes rot and fail to turn the
tape reels. This can cause the STALL error message. 2) The media falls off the tape and
the drive sees the clear tape and thinks that it's reached the end of the tape and
reports and EOT error. 3) The "rubber" drive wheel in the drive gets soft and
gooy with age and fails to drive the drive wheel in the tape cartridge. These can also
cause a STALL error.
Joe
At 04:03 PM 2/6/03 -0500, you wrote:
Hi,
I am the proud new owner of an HP 85. Printer belts a little ratty but works
fine.
However when I attempted to Rew/Load/Cat any of the tapes I received with it
I got a stall error.
I cleaned the capstan which is intact, and did not fall apart, as I
understand they tend to do. The tape motor spins fine when I pressed the
tape sensor button inside and hit Rew.
Finally after a bunch of attempts the tapes began to spin and I could
perform the Load, Cat and Ctape operations. I still seem to get fairly
frequent stall errors however. Do you think I need to replace the capstan?
Can you get them (or the printer belts)anywhere, or should I use the silicon
aquarium tube method mentioned in the archives? Any other thoughts
appreciated.
Eventually hope to hook it up to a floopy drive but need to find a mass
storage rom.
Also do you know of any good resources on the web for the 80 series as I
haven't found a whole lot.
Thanks,
RH