I recently added a Kaypro 10 to my collection, but it seems to have met with some rough handling in shipping. If anyone can shed some light on the problem described below, I would REALLY appreciate it (any Kaypro experts out there?) When I first fired it up, it booted from the hard drive right away. However, as soon as I tried to access the HD further, all I got were "Bad Sector" errors. Since then, the computer will no longer boot from the HD, and I can't access any information on it ( not a good sign :-( ). Using CP/M, I have tried to re-format the drive with no luck; all I get are "Verify Errors" as it tries to format. So much for the theory that the heads may have gotten knocked slightly out of alignment! Re-seating all connectors on the drive and controller didn't help either. I have pulled the drive from the computer and hooked it up outside the case. It does spin up to normal operating speed, and I can see the head stepper motor responding in a normal fashion when I attempt to access the drive (formatting, parking the heads, pulling a directory, etc.). None of the linkage to the heads seems damaged or broken; in fact the entire computer is in excellent shape and has not been abused. The hard drive activity light (which is controlled from the drive itself) also seems to respond normally. No untoward noises seem to come from the unit when it is operating, although I do hear some metallic "singing" during the last second or so just prior to the drive coming to a complete stop on power down. I'm not sure if this is just the brake mechanism, or if it is the heads against the platters (I do park the drive prior to powering off, though). Based on the above, I am assuming (wrongly so?) that the controller is probably working OK. It is a Western Digital WD1002-HDO. My hunch is that either the drive electronics or the drive itself have failed. Are there any other tests I should by trying? Am I correct to assume that it is the drive which has failed? The drive is a Tandon TM502 (10MB, MFM, 5 1/4" platters). If the drive cannot be salvaged, I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has a replacement drive, or knows of a source for same. I would like to keep the same make and model drive if possible, but an equivalent model would be fine too (as I'm sure Non Linear Systems used more than one make of drive in the Kaypro's). Any help is much appreciated! Grant Zozman gzozman(a)escape.ca

Ok, couple of points..my Kaypro 10 did the same...just up and died, What may have happened is that the faulty sector allocation table is full, this will not allow the system to map out any extra errors. However all is not lost ANY 10-20 meg MFM drive will do, however you will only be able to access 10 meg of the drive (the parameters are in the boot roms). Hope that helps Oh BTW there is a new set of roms available (can't remember where) that will allow you to get at more of the HD (possiblly in partitions) Cheers k.j.whitehead(a)massey.ac.nz Keith Whitehead Electronics Technician Electronics Services Institute of Fundimental Sciences Massey University Palmerston North New Zealand 5301

Thanks for all the help so far :-) To address the questions people have asked: I have a program called FORMAT06.COM supplied on the original CP/M Autoload disks for the Kaypro. It seems to do a high level format (similar to DOS's FORMAT command). However when I run it, I get "Verify errors", so it does not seem capable of overcoming the problems the drive has. I do have PUTSYS and PUTOVL, and have executed them. Interestingly enough, they don't report any errors. However, as Don Maslin noted, these should be run after the drive is formatted, so at this point I don't think these utilities can solve my problem. In any case, I would suspect that if this was the only problem, I would still be able to pull up a directory of the hard drive (I can't); I just wouldn't be able to boot from it. Some have mentioned that the Tandon drive I have is not original, and that I should look for a Seagate (ST225 has been recommended), Shugart, or Microscience drive. Would I be able to use any 10MB MFM drive in place of the Tandon TM502? I am wondering specifically about physical size, location of mounting screws, and the connectors used. If someone has a good working drive (or knows where one can be sourced), please let me know. I am willing to pay a fair price for one. Bill and Allison, you mentioned that I might attempt a low level format. Barring physical damage on the disk, this sounds like the most likely cause of my problems; maybe the heads got bumped slightly out of alignment in shipping, and therefore cannot find the servo tracks any longer. I would like to try a low level format, but am not sure what the utility would be called. I have searched all the CP/M disks I have, and have turned up no programs which would indicate that they do a low level format. Would this utility have been supplied with CP/M? None of the books I have on CP/M mention anything about low level formatting (although most of them are too old to cover hard drives!). Any ideas on where I can find this utility would be welcome! If someone has a copy on a floppy, I would be more than willing to pay a fair price for your efforts to get a copy to me.