2 Sep
2011
2 Sep
'11
12:17 p.m.
Finally pulled out the TRS-80 Model II tonight with the intention of
actually working on it for once (shocker!) and trying to get it operational.
It powers up, drive spins, screen comes on, lights glow, etc. Insert
any one of about 20 8" floppies that I have that are specifically for
the Model Ii and.....
Nothing. Well. BOOT ERROR RS, which is translated as, "Disk not in
RadioShack format."
I'd believe it for one or two, but all of them? It seems unlikely,
although I could blame bit-rot perhaps. I'm hoping it has something to
do with the hardware instead.
Popping it open, the unit powers on and the drive head is dropped to the
spinning disk, then lifted, then dropped, then lifted, and the error
occurs. I cannot see if the head is close enough to the disk or not
(and I have *no* idea of the tolerances anyway) and am not sure how I'd
adjust it -- or drive speed, etc. if that's an issue.
So, anyone got ideas? There *is* a remote possibility that all the
disks I got were wiped either by the previous owner or in some sort of
magnetic disaster, but they're well-labeled and came from a working
haul, so I have to imagine that they're still good. Or at least, I'm
hoping they are. (The bits are damned near visible on these things,
after all.)
Your ideas and good guesses welcome and very much appreciated.
Nathan
--
*Nathan E. Pralle*
Computer Geek
www.nathanpralle.com
www.philosyphia.com
www.twitter.com/NPralle
4 Sep
4 Sep
1:40 p.m.
How are the disks? The media on old disks can sometimes flake off and clog
up the heads. You might have already checked this, but if you haven't my
approach would be to first give the heads a good clean and carefully examine
the disks for any visual symptoms of degredation (patchy looking areas
etc.). If any is seen, there is a good chance as soon as you spin that disk
again the heads will be re-covered with gunk.
Terry (Tez)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nathan Pralle" <nathan at nathanpralle.com>
To: "cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2011 7:17 AM
Subject: TRS-80 Model II Digging
Finally pulled out the TRS-80 Model II tonight with
the intention of
actually working on it for once (shocker!) and trying to get it
operational.
It powers up, drive spins, screen comes on, lights glow, etc. Insert
any one of about 20 8" floppies that I have that are specifically for the
Model Ii and.....
Nothing. Well. BOOT ERROR RS, which is translated as, "Disk not in
RadioShack format."
I'd believe it for one or two, but all of them? It seems unlikely,
although I could blame bit-rot perhaps. I'm hoping it has something to
do with the hardware instead.
Popping it open, the unit powers on and the drive head is dropped to the
spinning disk, then lifted, then dropped, then lifted, and the error
occurs. I cannot see if the head is close enough to the disk or not (and
I have *no* idea of the tolerances anyway) and am not sure how I'd adjust
it -- or drive speed, etc. if that's an issue.
So, anyone got ideas? There *is* a remote possibility that all the
disks I got were wiped either by the previous owner or in some sort of
magnetic disaster, but they're well-labeled and came from a working haul,
so I have to imagine that they're still good. Or at least, I'm hoping
they are. (The bits are damned near visible on these things, after all.)
Your ideas and good guesses welcome and very much appreciated.
Nathan
--
*Nathan E. Pralle*
Computer Geek
www.nathanpralle.com
www.philosyphia.com
www.twitter.com/NPralle
6:56 p.m.
I don't mean to state the obvious, but make sure this diskette is not upside down.
--- On Fri, 9/2/11, Nathan Pralle <nathan at nathanpralle.com> wrote:
From: Nathan Pralle <nathan at
nathanpralle.com>
Subject: TRS-80 Model II Digging
To: "cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Date: Friday, September 2, 2011, 12:17 PM
Finally pulled out the TRS-80 Model
II tonight with the intention of actually working on it for
once (shocker!) and trying to get it operational.
It powers up, drive spins, screen comes on, lights glow,
etc.? ? Insert any one of about 20 8" floppies
that I have that are specifically for the Model Ii and.....
Nothing.? ? Well.? ? BOOT ERROR RS,
which is translated as, "Disk not in RadioShack format."
I'd believe it for one or two, but all of
them????It seems unlikely, although I could
blame bit-rot perhaps.???I'm hoping it has
something to do with the hardware instead.
Popping it open, the unit powers on and the drive head is
dropped to the spinning disk, then lifted, then dropped,
then lifted, and the error occurs.???I cannot
see if the head is close enough to the disk or not (and I
have *no* idea of the tolerances anyway) and am not sure how
I'd adjust it -- or drive speed, etc. if that's an issue.
So, anyone got ideas?? ? There *is* a remote
possibility that all the disks I got were wiped either by
the previous owner or in some sort of magnetic disaster, but
they're well-labeled and came from a working haul, so I have
to imagine that they're still good.???Or at
least, I'm hoping they are.? (The bits are damned near
visible on these things, after all.)
Your ideas and good guesses welcome and very much
appreciated.
Nathan
-- *Nathan E. Pralle*
Computer Geek
www.nathanpralle.com
www.philosyphia.com
www.twitter.com/NPralle
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days inactive
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nathan＠nathanpralle.com -
terry＠webweavers.co.nz -
tosteve＠yahoo.com