Floppy works, but LED always on

[nimbo]

Hey guys, have some freakiness going on with my floppy drive, and thought someone might have ideas?

I just replaced the drive in my Commodore A1200 rev. 1D1 with a drive purchased from Vesalia.de. While it's working just fine, the floppy activity LED is constantly on.
I also have an ACA1230/28 and a CF on internal IDE installed.

As stated everything works just fine, but that LED is bugging me. Any ideas as to why the LED stays on, and more importantly, whether it's cause for concern?
I should mention the drive has an onboard LED beneath the disk slot, which works as it should, flashing during operations and off when idle.

All suggestions welcome.

N

 

[davideo]

While it's working just fine, the floppy activity LED is constantly on.

Is the power LED on or off?

Dave G

 

[nimbo]

While it's working just fine, the floppy activity LED is constantly on.

Is the power LED on or off?

Dave G

Power LED is on. HD LED is also working properly.

N

 

[davideo]

I've had a similair experience with my 4000D and it turned out to be the ribbon connected wrongly.

Dave G

 

[nimbo]

I've had a similair experience with my 4000D and it turned out to be the ribbon connected wrongly.

Dave G

Hi Dave, thanks for chiming in. If the cable were incorrectly connected, would the drive still work?

N

 

[davideo]

I've had a similair experience with my 4000D and it turned out to be the ribbon connected wrongly.

Dave G

Hi Dave, thanks for chiming in. If the cable were incorrectly connected, would the drive still work?

N

It's a few years ago but I'm sure it did but I could be mistaken with a brain as old as mine

Might be worth checking.

Dave G

 

[nimbo]

I've had a similair experience with my 4000D and it turned out to be the ribbon connected wrongly.

Dave G

Hi Dave, thanks for chiming in. If the cable were incorrectly connected, would the drive still work?

N

It's a few years ago but I'm sure it did but I could be mistaken with a brain as old as mine

Might be worth checking.

Dave G

Aye, I just checked the cable, and it seems to be seated correctly on both ends. The LED is still on, so guess there's some other problem.

 

[rkauer]

Maybe Vesalia sold you a converted drive (hint is it have an on-board LED)?

That may explain the annoying behaviour. Nothing that really justify returning the drive, but hey!

 

[nimbo]

Maybe Vesalia sold you a converted drive (hint is it have an on-board LED)?

That may explain the annoying behaviour. Nothing that really justify returning the drive, but hey!

Yes, it's definitely not an original drive. I do wonder why it behaves this way, though, and whether it can be remedied. And I'm definitely not returning it, flashing LED or not, it's fully functional, which is the most important thing

N

 

[BLTCON0]

I do seriously doubt the actual replacement floppy has anything to do with the case LED behaviour, but to verify this too, reinstall the old floppy (assuming it's at least clicking and trying to read disks) and observe the LED's behaviour.

Assuming it's still dysfunctional:

Disconnect the LED cable from the motherboard and install a separate LED (rip it off some useless PC case!) on the FDD pin + ground. If the testing LED functions correctly, you know it's not the motherboard but the actual LED unit at fault.
So give it a thorough visual check and a good cleaning, check for shorts etc. If it doesn't get back to working, you can always replace the LED unit.
If you (don't want to replace the LED unit OR it's the motherboard at fault) AND you must have a working FDD LED, then at the very least you can desolder the floppy's own LED and wire the pads to the LED units FDD LED so it replicates the floppy's own LED behaviour.

This won't replicate the original LED behaviour though, because I think the case LED follows the motor selection signal while the floppy's own LED follows actual data transfers. Could be wrong, but I think this discrepancy exists.

And the LED being constantly on is absolutely no cause for concern.

Regards
Nikos

Hey guys, have some freakiness going on with my floppy drive, and thought someone might have ideas?

I just replaced the drive in my Commodore A1200 rev. 1D1 with a drive purchased from Vesalia.de. While it's working just fine, the floppy activity LED is constantly on.
I also have an ACA1230/28 and a CF on internal IDE installed.

As stated everything works just fine, but that LED is bugging me. Any ideas as to why the LED stays on, and more importantly, whether it's cause for concern?
I should mention the drive has an onboard LED beneath the disk slot, which works as it should, flashing during operations and off when idle.

All suggestions welcome.

N

 

[nimbo]

I do seriously doubt the actual replacement floppy has anything to do with the case LED behaviour, but to verify this too, reinstall the old floppy (assuming it's at least clicking and trying to read disks) and observe the LED's behaviour.

Assuming it's still dysfunctional:

Disconnect the LED cable from the motherboard and install a separate LED (rip it off some useless PC case!) on the FDD pin + ground. If the testing LED functions correctly, you know it's not the motherboard but the actual LED unit at fault.
So give it a thorough visual check and a good cleaning, check for shorts etc. If it doesn't get back to working, you can always replace the LED unit.
If you (don't want to replace the LED unit OR it's the motherboard at fault) AND you must have a working FDD LED, then at the very least you can desolder the floppy's own LED and wire the pads to the LED units FDD LED so it replicates the floppy's own LED behaviour.

This won't replicate the original LED behaviour though, because I think the case LED follows the motor selection signal while the floppy's own LED follows actual data transfers. Could be wrong, but I think this discrepancy exists.

And the LED being constantly on is absolutely no cause for concern.

Regards
Nikos

The floppy's own LED is behaving as the original, as far as I can tell, and I had actually thought of routing that signal to the case LED. However, I'd much rather have everything working as it's supposed to, so will try out your suggestions. Thanks for the ideas!

Regards,
Nick

 

[Skope]

Strange. I have this problem only it's with my CF reader (acting as DH0: from internal IDE port). HD led is constantly on. Also rev 1D1.

 

[nimbo]

Strange. I have this problem only it's with my CF reader (acting as DH0: from internal IDE port). HD led is constantly on. Also rev 1D1.

That is weird. My CF reader is set up like yours, but it too has an onboard LED, though this one works simultaneously and in the same way as the case HD LED. Guess you could try Nikos' suggestions as well?

 

[Skope]

I got a new CF-reader today (a nifty 2.5" HD-sized with 2 CF slots from Delock that sits in the HD cradle) and just installed that. Problem is gone now.

Old one was one of those sketchy plug-directly-on-motherboard ones.

 

[AmiNeo]

Just to confirm... On a PC, a reversed floppy cable will leave the floppy light displaying permanently on but the drive will not work properly. You could always try flipping the cable upside down on one side and see if it goes away (If it fits, sometimes theres a blocked pin) but if the drive is working properly I wouldnt worry.