Some Spectrum +3 questions!

[BarryB]

So i've just dug out my Spectrum +3, it had the drive belt replaced a year or so ago and is working so far. I've connected it to my 8833 MKII via RGB and made a cable last year with RGB connector/audio flyleads so it plugs into the back of the 8833 MKII RGB/Audio so sound/video are supplied by one cable!

Questions are:

1. Which is the best soundfix? Think my board says Issue 2 on it! Any other fixes that should be done?
2. Connecting an external Amstrad FD-1, what cable and how to safely? Read that the edge connector is labelled wrong in the manual and that a PC drive cable will fit but the wrong way around unless the polarising key is removed. Also read that the 5v connector needs disconnecting inside the drive!
3. Software question. Have a +3 disk Live Ammo compilation that refuses to load, says disk has been changed for both sides, some users on WOS have this issue too, so anyone know why this happens, have saved hi-scores corrupted the disk?
4. Connecting to a Kryoflux, anyone done this and what cable did you use?


Thanks!

 

[wmsteele]

1. I installed this... https://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?3079-Post-here-everytime-you-get-something-new!&p=724899&viewfull=1#post724899 available for a few £'s works perfect in a +3, well worth the time & effort.

2. Very easy, as you say remember to remove the +5 connection from the drive, easy to do just unclip the connector. Use an old school floppy cable to connect, without any twists, the cable I've used had multiple connectors and a twist, I removed all the additional connectors which also removed the twist, works fine. Notch in the connector prevents it from connecting the wrong way.

3. Disk could be faulty or the drive speed my be out. Drive speed issues can be fixed on most 3" drives, cant remember the exact details but you run SamDisk (I think) and monitor the drive speed, this can be adjusted using a small screwdriver and rerunning the check (Google for the exact procedure).

4. Kryoflux, haven't used, connecting an external Amstrad drive to a PC is straight forward, again make sure 5v connector is unplugged and set PC bios to 320k drive, you can easily write back disk images with SamDisk, works fine for CPC and Spectrum +3 disks (even if protected).

 

[BarryB]

Cheers fella!

1. That mod looks to go to the 3.5mm jack, I use the peritel/RGB socket so that mod wouldn't work for me, needs to be one of the resistor/cap fixes methinks?
2. I have a cable I use with my Kryoflux for my 5.25" drive, has a connector before the twist but currently looking for an FD-1 so when i get one I can try that.
3. Never thought about drive speed, unfortunately my PC has no floppy connector so can't connect it to test!! Any Speccy progs to test the speed? Also, when trying to copy the disk it seems track 0 has bad/missing sectors!
4. Same as above, no FDC in my PC

 

[wmsteele]

1. You can easily change or adapt the 3.5mm jack to suit your requirements.

2. That should do the trick!

I keep an old XP pc running just so I can access floppy drives, in fact I'm thinking about connecting a 3" drive permanently. As far as I know the drive speed can only be monitored via a PC, not sure if any equivalent software for the Spectrum was available. Protected tracks can cause read errors when copying, although I thought protected tracks were usually at the end of the disk, not sure, could just be a faulty disk.

 

[BarryB]

My works PC has still has an FDC so can use that if needed! Anything I should know about connecting the internal drive to a PC FDC and powering it up?

Ordered the soundfix, let's see how easy it is to hook up to the RGB socket