6 Feb
2003
6 Feb
'03
10:03 a.m.
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
6 Feb
6 Feb
10:08 a.m.
RH writes about an HP-85.
Eventually hope to hook it up to a floopy drive
Are you sure the HP-85 supports floopy drives?
Not many machines do. :-)
Reminds me of the classified ad for a "sloppy disk drive"
that Byte reprinted many years ago. Someone commented
that the hole in the wall attested to the breakthrough
in technology.
11 a.m.
Sure, the HP-85 supports floppy drives. I have a 9121 (dual 3.5" drive)
and a dual 5.25" drives that work fine with my HP-85. You will need a
Mass Storage ROM and an HP-IB interface but they work just fine.
The HP-85B have the MS ROM built-in. The 85B also has the capability of a
built-in Electronic Disc, if you add RAM cartridges.
RH writes about an HP-85.
Eventually hope to hook it up to a floopy drive
Are you sure the HP-85 supports floopy drives?
Not many machines do. :-)
Reminds me of the classified ad for a "sloppy disk drive"
that Byte reprinted many years ago. Someone commented
that the hole in the wall attested to the breakthrough
in technology. 
1:35 p.m.
At 01:05 PM 2/6/03 -0800, you wrote:
RH writes about an HP-85.
It depends on the model, the A model will support some drives including the 9121 and
82901 and the B will support additional drives since it has some of the extension ROMs
built in. The EMS ROM supports even more drives. Sorry but the details are fuzzy since I
haven't played with 85s in a while.
Joe
Eventually hope to hook it up to a floopy drive
Are you sure the HP-85 supports floopy drives?
Not many machines do. :-)
Reminds me of the classified ad for a "sloppy disk drive"
that Byte reprinted many years ago. Someone commented
that the hole in the wall attested to the breakthrough
in technology.
11:04 a.m.
I have fixed a lot of stall problems by just working with connections. I
believe stall is just what it suggests. Command sent to turn motor but it
won't turn. Could be mechanical blockage or contacts or lack of power.
I have fixed stall conditions by just reseating the connections. An
example that shows this is if you just disconnect the power connector to
the disk drive (two pin connection), you get a stall. After repairing
these drives, I have occasionally forgetten to make that connection and
get the stall.
Hope this helps.
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
1:35 p.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
7834
days inactive
7834
days old
5 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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eric＠brouhaha.com -
ipscone＠msdsite.com -
rhahm＠nycap.rr.com -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com