Hi, I'm new here, and new to the idea of old computers, so please forgive me if I ask questions that have already been answered.
In the process of applying "keep/toss/donate" to the mountain of stuff in the basement and attic of my house, I came across my unintentional collection of old computers. I have 2 Apple IIe's, a Commodore 64 and VIC-20 and a Timex Sinclair. So far I've found they all work but I haven't tried the Timex yet. They are the earliest history of my computer life and the flood of memories that came from using them again after so long was amazing.
But...
I have 3 1541 drives, but I can't get any of them to do anything but LOAD. When I try to format a new disk, everything seems okay until I try to SAVE to it; no luck.
Among the disks that I found was one that track-checks a disk. After I format a new disk, I run the check program and all three drives show track errors for the last 3 tracks- the error code in the program indicates "missing sync bit".
I took the covers off the drives and noticed that the faulty tracks were the ones closest to the hub, so I thought it might be that the head drive system, which is at the end of its travel there, might be sticky or something, due to not being used for more than 20 years, but everything looks clean and bright and there doesn't seem to be any mechanical difficulties, although the disk drive does seem to hesitate now and then.
All the stuff including the disks was stored in a dry, relatively dust-free place (the attic) and there are no obvious discrepancies.
Any ideas?
Thanks for your help.
Eddie
In the process of applying "keep/toss/donate" to the mountain of stuff in the basement and attic of my house, I came across my unintentional collection of old computers. I have 2 Apple IIe's, a Commodore 64 and VIC-20 and a Timex Sinclair. So far I've found they all work but I haven't tried the Timex yet. They are the earliest history of my computer life and the flood of memories that came from using them again after so long was amazing.
But...
I have 3 1541 drives, but I can't get any of them to do anything but LOAD. When I try to format a new disk, everything seems okay until I try to SAVE to it; no luck.
Among the disks that I found was one that track-checks a disk. After I format a new disk, I run the check program and all three drives show track errors for the last 3 tracks- the error code in the program indicates "missing sync bit".
I took the covers off the drives and noticed that the faulty tracks were the ones closest to the hub, so I thought it might be that the head drive system, which is at the end of its travel there, might be sticky or something, due to not being used for more than 20 years, but everything looks clean and bright and there doesn't seem to be any mechanical difficulties, although the disk drive does seem to hesitate now and then.
All the stuff including the disks was stored in a dry, relatively dust-free place (the attic) and there are no obvious discrepancies.
Any ideas?
Thanks for your help.
Eddie