Help with a floppy disc
| # | Post |
|---|---|
| 1 | Need a floppy disc copied as it comes up with a memory error. Just trying to find out what the problem is. Is anyone be able to make a copy off my original one. Would prefer around the Tauranga area but can courier it out to you if need be. differentthings - 2021-08-29 18:13:00 |
| 2 | What comes up with a memory error and under what circumstances, (what are you doing when this happens) ? What is the disk for ? Edited by nice_lady at 6:54 pm, Sun 29 Aug nice_lady - 2021-08-29 18:50:00 |
| 3 | https://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/MessageBoard/Messages.as You might have posted this here also. The more info you can come up with the better. nice_lady - 2021-08-29 18:55:00 |
| 4 | Are you saying the machine comes up with this 'memory error' when its started and if so what place/part does the floppy play in that ? nice_lady - 2021-08-29 18:56:00 |
| 5 | As soon as you start it up. It's in a old wheel alignment machine (private use for my race car). I've ordered another floppy disc drive and going to replace that but I think it's in the disc. Was working when I put it in storage and got it out a year later and now it doesn't work differentthings - 2021-08-29 18:57:00 |
| 6 | It dose a self check when you start it up and comes up with the memory error. You can't go any further after thst differentthings - 2021-08-29 18:59:00 |
| 7 | memory error more likely refers to an issue with the memory in the machine. Do you have to start the machine with the floppy in it ? nice_lady - 2021-08-29 19:01:00 |
| 8 | differentthings wrote:
Is this with the floppy in it ? nice_lady - 2021-08-29 19:01:00 |
| 9 | This message was deleted. differentthings - 2021-08-29 19:15:00 |
| 10 | Ok what I'm trying to ascertain is what you are doing - EXACTLY- when this message appears. And what's the exact message. nice_lady - 2021-08-29 19:49:00 |
| 11 | You might want to remove your phone number its against Trademe rules to put up contact info. nice_lady - 2021-08-29 19:51:00 |
| 12 | This is what the manual says. differentthings - 2021-08-29 20:12:00 |
| 13 | It won't let you go any further after that differentthings - 2021-08-29 20:13:00 |
| 14 | That's referring to the ram memory in the machine. It's possibly failing or failed.I doubt it's got anything to do with the floppy disk at all. Ram for such an old machine might be very difficult to find. nice_lady - 2021-08-29 20:19:00 |
| 15 | Ram is a physical memory stick in the computer in the machine. nice_lady - 2021-08-29 20:20:00 |
| 16 | Ok thanks. Is that something that you can fix differentthings - 2021-08-29 20:30:00 |
| 17 | It can be fixed -maybe. Firstly you have to definitely determine that the problem is the ram. Then you have to find out if the ran is removable. Worst case it's soldered onto the circuit board. Probably the first place to start would be a repair manual for that machine. nice_lady - 2021-08-29 20:46:00 |
| 18 | You can't 'fix' ram. You only replace it. nice_lady - 2021-08-29 20:47:00 |
| 19 | Take all the ram out except slot no.1 and see if it has the error message. If not remove that stick and fit another one, and see if it has the error message. If not remove that stick and fit the next and try that. Try them all until you find the faulty ram stick. muppet_slayer - 2021-08-29 20:51:00 |
| 20 | I have my doubts the OP will manage that. It appears there's two slots -maybe. Then again it's could be soldered on. It'll be very old ram possibly simm ram hard to find. nice_lady - 2021-08-29 21:03:00 |
| 21 | C0 and C1 RAM, sounds like individual chips to me, on a hunch. I.E. soldered on or possibly(hopefully) socketed, either way very likely replaceable. A photo of the motherboard would reveal all. Edited by ronaldo8 at 9:17 pm, Sun 29 Aug ronaldo8 - 2021-08-29 21:15:00 |
| 22 | Differentthings I’m picking this is a very early alignment machine - what year approximately? Generally if it’s pre - pc based hardware late 80,s early 90’s it will be purpose built. Ram most likely going to be 16pin discrete ic. Generally it will be in headers so you can lever it put and push it back down into the header will wake it up. Could be bad external issue ie clock ref etc, memory is still readerly available If it’s a later machine where they used pc hardware it might be a bit easier. The floppy disk just holds the alignment/ parameters as I understand it. shakespeare6 - 2021-08-29 21:23:00 |
| 23 | Ok thanks. It's probably something that I can't do. I don't even know what a ram is let alone what it looks like lol. It's from the late 80's to mid 90's at a guess. differentthings - 2021-08-29 22:00:00 |
| 24 | To post photos: Go here: https://www.trademe.co.nz/MyTradeMe/MyPhotos.aspx Upload a photo Click on 'view photo' Paste it into a thread nice_lady - 2021-08-29 22:59:00 |
| 25 | This has got me weirdly interested now, a bit of archaeological nerd fun. Any kind of battery on the board will almost certainly be kaput by now, that may be another avenue, electro caps will also likely be long dried out as well. All cheap stuff however. Edited by ronaldo8 at 1:16 am, Mon 30 Aug ronaldo8 - 2021-08-30 01:08:00 |
| 26 | The OP Really needs Friendly old time tech nice_lady - 2021-08-30 05:39:00 |
| 27 | Time to update the machine I'd say, floppies are dead. lythande1 - 2021-08-30 08:16:00 |
| 28 | My suggestion is to contact the agent for the company, here you go: Paolo Molinari gyrogearloose - 2021-08-30 09:02:00 |
| 29 | IMG20210830101141.jpg differentthings - 2021-08-30 11:09:00 |
| 30 | differentthings wrote:
LOL you didn't follow my instructions above. What you have done there is not any kind of way to post a picture. I repeat: To post photos: Go here: https://www.trademe.co.nz/MyTradeMe/MyPhotos.aspx Upload a photo Click on 'view photo' Paste it into a thread nice_lady - 2021-08-30 11:14:00 |
| 31 | gyrogearloose wrote: differentthings - 2021-08-30 11:16:00 |
| 32 | the one thing I have noticed is that the keyboard letters don't all correspond with the letters that you press. About half of them are right , but z comes out as q etc. differentthings - 2021-08-30 11:26:00 |
| 33 | it's set to a different locality. nice_lady - 2021-08-30 11:29:00 |
| 34 | differentthings wrote: Here's some guy offering copies of the diskette, the description has a warning: "DO NOT try to read/modify the disk on any Windows/Linux/Mac machine. They cannot read the information and will modify the data while trying and ruin the disk! I cannot stress this enough!" https://www.ebay.com/itm/264867582127 edit: which makes me wonder whether the write-protect switch needs to be in the 'write-enabled' position so that the machine can update some usage counter. Is there a switch on the diskette? You haven't moved the switch? Edited by gyrogearloose at 1:42 pm, Mon 30 Aug gyrogearloose - 2021-08-30 13:39:00 |
| 35 | The OP said it was some kind of memory error message but they have yet to be exact about that. They couldn't even say if the machine needed the floppy in it to start up. nice_lady - 2021-08-30 14:01:00 |
| 36 | gyrogearloose wrote: can't help thinking there is some ulterior motive to that big bright warning he has. king1 - 2021-08-30 14:29:00 |
| 37 | The guy says the diskettes were copy protected and he uses an undisclosed technique to copy them: https://basichumanunit.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/floppy-woes/ . Sounds quite believable for the 90s. Looking at the screens on Google Image search these machines could be old DOS PCs or some old embedded OS. OP you might find a PC hardware repairer that could take it on but they would need to be fairly old school and capable of low-level electronics repair. It would likely take quite a few hours of work even if it is fixable, so probably not economic. Edited by drsr at 3:41 pm, Mon 30 Aug drsr - 2021-08-30 15:35:00 |
| 38 | differentthings wrote: Did someone, as you do, find a stack of diskettes and put them into a Windows machine to have a look what was on them? As noted in the wordpress article linked above, if you put the diskette in a regular machine it (apparently) writes a zero byte file and Hunter seem to have gone to some trouble to copy protect their software and perhaps that disk will never work again. gyrogearloose - 2021-08-30 16:09:00 |
| 39 | I've got a bunch of ancient ram here if you want some. It seems to be SIMM ram. How many megabytes you want? My HP 5Si uses it, so I could test it before I send it up. I also have a machine with a floppy drive too, runs XP and Linux. tygertung - 2021-08-30 16:15:00 |
| 40 | However I am in Christchurch. tygertung - 2021-08-30 16:16:00 |
| 41 | If you can open up the side of the machine and have a look at what sort of ram it has. tygertung - 2021-08-30 16:16:00 |
| 42 | drsr wrote: I remember one technique was to put a hole in the diskette to deliberately cause reads and writes to fail so the disks couldn't be copied. When you ran the software it would write to the hole and check that it failed, else give an error. Edited by gyrogearloose at 4:22 pm, Mon 30 Aug gyrogearloose - 2021-08-30 16:21:00 |
| 43 | The discussion is a bit academic really. Until the OP returns to tell it's IF the disk is indeed in the machine when the error happenes. Personally In think it sounds like faulty ram picked up during the startup self check nice_lady - 2021-08-30 16:27:00 |
| 44 | Sorry I'm back. I started it up without the floppy disc in it and it throws up another fault code so the original error is nothing to do with the fdd. I'll put some photos up soon. differentthings - 2021-08-30 16:56:00 |
| 45 | https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1600232397.jpg sorry will have to do these one at a time differentthings - 2021-08-30 18:00:00 |
| 46 | https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1600236450.jpg differentthings - 2021-08-30 18:02:00 |
| 47 | https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1600237746.jpg differentthings - 2021-08-30 18:03:00 |
| 48 | https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1600240239.jpg differentthings - 2021-08-30 18:04:00 |
| 49 | https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1600241417.jpg differentthings - 2021-08-30 18:05:00 |
| 50 | https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1600243697.jpg differentthings - 2021-08-30 18:07:00 |
