Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
IBM P/N 90X6766, Alps P/N DFL713A01A
Anybody have any working units? Face plate is not necessary. I need two of them.
Anybody have any working units? Face plate is not necessary. I need two of them.
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WTB: 1.44meg PS/2 Floppy Drive
- Thread starter Anonymous Coward
- Start date
90x6766
90x6766
I have a 90X6766 (an IBM ASM part number), and it has a 40-pin card-edge connector. I have this in a PS/2 model 50, but this will also work for other models like 30, 70, and others. What are the model numbers of your PS/2? And is there an FRU part number listed on your 90X6766?
90x6766
I have a 90X6766 (an IBM ASM part number), and it has a 40-pin card-edge connector. I have this in a PS/2 model 50, but this will also work for other models like 30, 70, and others. What are the model numbers of your PS/2? And is there an FRU part number listed on your 90X6766?
Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
It's actually not for a PS/2, but for an IBM AT. I have a real IBM 720k floppy drive in there and would like to replace it with a 1.44meg part. IBM never officially released a 1.44meg drive for the AT, but the PS/2 part should fit into the proprietary 5.25" bay converter and operate correctly. The 3.5" drive option for AT and XT is not common, but it is essentially a PS/2 drive with a fancy plastic bezel.
Terry Yager
Veteran Member
Uhhhh...I don't think so. The drives for the AT are actually industry-standard, whereas most of the PS/2 models use a drive with a proprietary interface connector that carries power to the drive. Better check again...
--T
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Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
I'd take photos for you, but I just finished putting the AT back together and I feel tired (it's a heavy beast). You can trust me that it's not a standard drive, have you ever seen one before? It uses a proprietary connector which slides into an adapter to hook up to a standard FDD ribbon cable. As far as I can tell it's identical to the 3.5" drives in IBM 5140 convertible and PS/2 model 30 and 50. Late model IBM ATs shared some parts in common with the early PS/2s (especially in europe), including keyboard, VGA adapter, VGA display and 3.5" floppy drive.
Damnit. You're not going to believe me until I take pictures and provide an FRU, are you? Hang on....
Damnit. You're not going to believe me until I take pictures and provide an FRU, are you? Hang on....
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Are you sure a PS/2 floppy drive will work in an AT?
Are you sure a PS/2 floppy drive will work in an AT?
I didn't know these PS/2 diskette drives were compatible in IBM AT PCs. It sounds like you're not completely sure that 90X6766 will work in your AT. Why do you think this particular part number will work? There are other PS/2 diskette drives of different sizes (with different ASM part numbers) that have the same 40-pin card-edge connector. 90X6766 is the largest in physical size that I know of.
Are you sure a PS/2 floppy drive will work in an AT?
I didn't know these PS/2 diskette drives were compatible in IBM AT PCs. It sounds like you're not completely sure that 90X6766 will work in your AT. Why do you think this particular part number will work? There are other PS/2 diskette drives of different sizes (with different ASM part numbers) that have the same 40-pin card-edge connector. 90X6766 is the largest in physical size that I know of.
Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
Have a look:
My particular drive is made by Toshiba, model BP505930-3. There is very little information available on this drive online, but I have the Alps equivalent in my 5140 and the two are interchangable. I don't have the alps drive FRU at the moment, but one time I looked it up and it came up as a PS/2 drive.
In the photos it's hard to tell, but it's a full height 3.5" drive, and except for having a black top, it looks exactly like a first generation PS/2 drive.
There are a few logic chips on the adapter board that converts the drive to use standard floppy controller. I suppose it's possible they could hinder operation of a 1.44meg drive, but we won't know until we try.
My particular drive is made by Toshiba, model BP505930-3. There is very little information available on this drive online, but I have the Alps equivalent in my 5140 and the two are interchangable. I don't have the alps drive FRU at the moment, but one time I looked it up and it came up as a PS/2 drive.
In the photos it's hard to tell, but it's a full height 3.5" drive, and except for having a black top, it looks exactly like a first generation PS/2 drive.
There are a few logic chips on the adapter board that converts the drive to use standard floppy controller. I suppose it's possible they could hinder operation of a 1.44meg drive, but we won't know until we try.
MikeS
Veteran Member
So why do you specifically need/want the Alps drives, or even PS/2 drives at all for that matter (instead of 'standard' drives)? I assume you have the adapters?
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Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
Actually, I don't specifically need the ALPs drive. That just happens to be a very common one that I know the part number for. An equivalent is fine.
I have many standard 5.25" to 3.5" bay adapters and I was using a Teac 1.44meg drive in such a manner in the AT for quite a long time. However, I would like to have the authentic look of the real IBM drive, but instead fitted with a 1.44meg unit. Have you seen my AT? I'm pretty nitpicky abouit it, right down to the colour of the PCBs.
I have many standard 5.25" to 3.5" bay adapters and I was using a Teac 1.44meg drive in such a manner in the AT for quite a long time. However, I would like to have the authentic look of the real IBM drive, but instead fitted with a 1.44meg unit. Have you seen my AT? I'm pretty nitpicky abouit it, right down to the colour of the PCBs.
Not the same connector
Not the same connector
Attached is a picture of the 90X6766 connector. As you can see there are more pins on this PS/2 floppy drive than on the one from your AT. It looks like your drive has 34 pins, but the PS/2 floppy drives from models like 50 and 70 are 40 pins (20 on top, 20 on reverse). So I can't imagine you being able to simply plug in a PS/2 diskette drive into an AT.
Not the same connector
Attached is a picture of the 90X6766 connector. As you can see there are more pins on this PS/2 floppy drive than on the one from your AT. It looks like your drive has 34 pins, but the PS/2 floppy drives from models like 50 and 70 are 40 pins (20 on top, 20 on reverse). So I can't imagine you being able to simply plug in a PS/2 diskette drive into an AT.
Attachments
Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
You must have been looking at the wrong connector. Don't look at the adapter hooked up to the drive. The drive itself is a 40 pin unit (I counted).
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Terry Yager
Veteran Member
Correct! You'll also note that the drive itself has no power connector, hence the proprietary adapter. It's just not absolutely necessary to use the weird PS/2 drive, when generic sleds/adapters are far more common.
--T
Terry Yager
Veteran Member
1.44 MB diskette drives for the AT
1.44 MB diskette drives for the AT
My mistake; I didn't realize that was an adapter. So I guess you can install those edge-connector PS/2 diskette drives into the AT. Did IBM offer a 1.44 MB diskette drive as an option for the AT? I wonder if there are 1.44 MB diskette drives made specifically for the IBM AT.
Do you need these drives shipped to China?
1.44 MB diskette drives for the AT
My mistake; I didn't realize that was an adapter. So I guess you can install those edge-connector PS/2 diskette drives into the AT. Did IBM offer a 1.44 MB diskette drive as an option for the AT? I wonder if there are 1.44 MB diskette drives made specifically for the IBM AT.
Do you need these drives shipped to China?
Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
As far as I know IBM never released a 1.44meg drive for the AT, and I don't even know that they ever *officially* supported 3rd party drives either (though the BIOS does support them in the later versions). Though it wouldn't surprised me if it had crossed their minds. Have you ever heard of the SkyRocket AT? Supposedly a 10MHz AT that was canned because it would have competed against the PS/2. Had they actually released it, I'm sure it would have had a 1.44meg drive.
Anyway, thanks for the e-mail. I'll follow your lead. I live in China, but I'm back in the US for a little while.
Anyway, thanks for the e-mail. I'll follow your lead. I live in China, but I'm back in the US for a little while.
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He has a PS/2 drive with an adapter to convert it to a PC standard drive and power plug. PS/2 drives are hard to come by in working condition.
I had a hard time finding a replacement PS/2 drive just like that one (1.44MB with the drive light on the top left and the fat eject button), luckily the guy who game me some PS/2 had spare drives and gave them to me so my PS/2 80 is working again.
You might get that one working if you replace the old caps.
I had a hard time finding a replacement PS/2 drive just like that one (1.44MB with the drive light on the top left and the fat eject button), luckily the guy who game me some PS/2 had spare drives and gave them to me so my PS/2 80 is working again.
You might get that one working if you replace the old caps.
Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
If I can replace the caps and get it working, then that's a hell of a lot better than the situation I have with my dead matsuSHITa drives.
Anonymous Coward
Veteran Member
I'm not having good luck with the drive I got. Actually, I'm not having good luck with any of my PS/2 3.5" drives, including the ones installed in my 5140. I suspect they may all have misaligned heads, as I've tried several things to get them working:
-checked the "track 0" sensors
-replaced electrolytic capacitors
-reglued the foam head guards
-used floppy cleaning kit
All of my drives neither read, nor write. However, none generate errors at post. When attempting to format, the an error about not being able to find "track 0" is generated.
I'd like to try one of these alignment kits, but it sounds like you need a scope to do it. Anybody in here with a kit and a scope in the U.S. that could align my drives?
-checked the "track 0" sensors
-replaced electrolytic capacitors
-reglued the foam head guards
-used floppy cleaning kit
All of my drives neither read, nor write. However, none generate errors at post. When attempting to format, the an error about not being able to find "track 0" is generated.
I'd like to try one of these alignment kits, but it sounds like you need a scope to do it. Anybody in here with a kit and a scope in the U.S. that could align my drives?
Druid6900
Veteran Member
There are completely digital alignment packages out there that don't require a scope.
They aren't cheap, but, they are out there.
The only drives I ever had to use an analogue alignment system and scope to do were old 8" drives and I gave that up when one of them chiseled the oxide off my "spiral" disk.
Since I don't get much call to align 8" drives, I never bothered getting another one since they, also, are usually not cheap.
They aren't cheap, but, they are out there.
The only drives I ever had to use an analogue alignment system and scope to do were old 8" drives and I gave that up when one of them chiseled the oxide off my "spiral" disk.
Since I don't get much call to align 8" drives, I never bothered getting another one since they, also, are usually not cheap.
MikeS
Veteran Member
-----
"Can't find track 0", or "Track 0 is bad"?
Alignment problems are pretty rare unless there's been tinkering or SERIOUS abuse. Clean heads manually (and CAREFULLY), lube the rails, blow out dust and check config. And make sure the disk is good!