bizarro 1571 error

[gsteemso]

Hi there everyone.

I have a 1571 (not a 1571-II) that failed during transport (there was no head protector when I moved it across Seattle in my backpack). It powers up normally, and is able to tell when it has a disk in it or not (it fails with the normal 74 DRIVE NOT READY when you try to load something without a disk inserted). The really weird stuff starts when you insert a disk. As the disk enters the drive mechanism, the spindle begins to spin, and continues for about 3 seconds regardless of the disk's continued presence. if the disk is left in until the spindle stops and then removed, it does it again.

If I try to load something from a known good disk, the drive spins and the stepper motor whirrs in a complex intermittent pattern for about 20 seconds. Most of the pattern fragments are "3 whirrs -- whirr whirr" or "5 whirrs -- whirr whirr" with the odd 4 or 6 whirrs to mix it up. All the whirrs are about the same length -- about half to 2/3 of a second. At the end of this cycle, the error light flashes and the error channel produces a READ ERROR in the 20s (I got both 20 and 27 while trying to compose this message).

Attempting the "I" command while the drive has no disk in it gives a 21 READ ERROR. Ray Carlsen's 1541 repair document recommends this step to unconfuse the drive if the head is stuck past track 18, but either it has no effect on a 1571 or it has no bearing on my problem.

I tried writing to Mr. Carlsen directly about this, as I don't know of anyone else knowledgeable, but there was no answer (I suspect my letter ended up in his spam filter). Does anyone have any ideas?

G.

[megabit]

Go to this site http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/ckb.cgi?mode=all and look at article 233. They are referring to a 1571 drive in a C128D, but the 1571 stand alone will be affected the same way.

[gsteemso]

You know what the trouble turned out to be? The little sled thingy that carries the heads was stuck and not moving back and forth. The stepper motor encountering severe resistance was the source of the odd whirring sounds. Does anyone know what I can spray in there to lubricate the rails without gunking up anything else?

[Andrew Wiskow]

Hi there everyone.

I have a 1571 (not a 1571-II)

Have you ever SEEN a 1571-II?  Because if you have, then I think you're the first...

-Andrew

[BigDumbDinosaur]

You know what the trouble turned out to be? The little sled thingy that carries the heads was stuck and not moving back and forth. The stepper motor encountering severe resistance was the source of the odd whirring sounds. Does anyone know what I can spray in there to lubricate the rails without gunking up anything else?

Don't spray anything in there!  You'll contaminate the heads and every disk that gets inserted.  The rails don't need to be lubricated, just cleaned.

[gsteemso]

Have you ever SEEN a 1571-II?  Because if you have, then I think you're the first...

I've never seen one in person, but I could have sworn I saw a photo of one online somewhere. ICVWBW.

[gsteemso]

Does anyone know what I can spray in there to lubricate the rails without gunking up anything else?

Don't spray anything in there!  You'll contaminate the heads and every disk that gets inserted.  The rails don't need to be lubricated, just cleaned.

OK. How do I do that, just wipe them and hope for the best, or can I use any sort of degreasing agent? I originally asked because the 1571 owner's manual says something vague about a special molybdenum lubricant.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

Does anyone know what I can spray in there to lubricate the rails without gunking up anything else?

Don't spray anything in there!  You'll contaminate the heads and every disk that gets inserted.  The rails don't need to be lubricated, just cleaned.

OK. How do I do that, just wipe them and hope for the best, or can I use any sort of degreasing agent? I originally asked because the 1571 owner's manual says something vague about a special molybdenum lubricant.

Clean the rails with cotton swabs (aka Q-Tips) and isopropyl alcohol (aka isopropanol, which is not rubbing alcohol).  Isopropanol is sold as denatured alcohol solvent in places that sell paint.

The lubricant referred to is a molybdenum disulphide compound in fluid form that is difficult to obtain through retail channels.  There used to be a product called Globo M2000 Quad oil that was suitable for the purpose, but I haven't seen it around in quite a few years.  In all likelihood, cleaning is all that is required.  Just be careful and be gentle with the mechanism.

[Andrew Sutton]

After you clean the rails with rubbing alcohol, I would then spray Liquid Wrench Super Lubricant (with teflon) on a "Q-Tip" and wipe it on the rails. This should help lubricate and prevent oxidation. You don't need alot of it, since the lube would become a "magnet" for dust.

[Andrew Wiskow]

I've never seen one in person, but I could have sworn I saw a photo of one online somewhere. ICVWBW.

You may be thinking of the 1572, which reached the prototype stage, and was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1985, but was never released to the public.  It was a dual-drive version of the 1571.

The 1571-II, however, is something that no one knows anything about, except that it's included on the label for most 1541-II/1581 power supplies.  In theory, a 1571-II would have been a 1571 with an external power supply.

-Andrew

[Andrew Wiskow]

I did a quick search, and I found this photo on a German site of what a Commodore 1572 looks like:



-Andrew

[RobertB]

I did a quick search, and I found this photo on a German site of what a Commodore 1572 looks like...

Hmm, come to think of it... it looks like a modded C128DCR.

              Truly,
              Robert Bernardo
              Fresno Commodore User Group
              http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[Andrew Wiskow]

Here's another photo (a real one, not a graphic like above), showing a 1572 with a 1571 on top of it for comparison:



I wonder where these prototypes ended up...  It'd be nice to have a cleaner photo of one...  Maybe some shots of the innards, too. 

-Andrew