A typical failure of a 1541 drive with newtronics mitsumi mechanism is a magnetic head that has 1 of two R-W windings open.
In this condition if you try to read a disk the drive won't read it, and if you try to write into the disc the drive will destroy the magnetic integrity of the disk.....
If you have a drive with this problem:
find which side of R-W coils are open (the RED or the BLU one) and connect it (by a little wire) with the central point of the head: it's color is WHITE or it's the biggest wire (shield of the cable).
NOW THE DRIVE CAN READ!
REMEMBER: write operation will corrupt the disk.
The complete "Read & Write" solution for the magnetic head is more complicated and it's currently under development.
I found not possible (for my abilities) to operate inside the head for fixing the problem, and also modifying the 1541 board could be complicated and not easy to be done for some 1541s owners.
so my strategy is a simple interface to insert between the head and the board, an interface that emulate a good head at board side, using an "half head" on the other side....
I have already found a simple solution, but it is not satisfactory enough to be "THE SOLUTION":
the research has to continue,
stay tuned ....
In this condition if you try to read a disk the drive won't read it, and if you try to write into the disc the drive will destroy the magnetic integrity of the disk.....
If you have a drive with this problem:
find which side of R-W coils are open (the RED or the BLU one) and connect it (by a little wire) with the central point of the head: it's color is WHITE or it's the biggest wire (shield of the cable).
NOW THE DRIVE CAN READ!
REMEMBER: write operation will corrupt the disk.
The complete "Read & Write" solution for the magnetic head is more complicated and it's currently under development.
I found not possible (for my abilities) to operate inside the head for fixing the problem, and also modifying the 1541 board could be complicated and not easy to be done for some 1541s owners.
so my strategy is a simple interface to insert between the head and the board, an interface that emulate a good head at board side, using an "half head" on the other side....
I have already found a simple solution, but it is not satisfactory enough to be "THE SOLUTION":
the research has to continue,
stay tuned ....
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