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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment.

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Old 17th Jun 2020, 7:32 pm   #1
crackle
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Default DELL Latitude XPI CD M133 ST

Hi
I am struggling with the floppy drive on this computer.
It will boot from HD OK but it has stopped reading most floppy discs. However it will boot from a 720k disk with DOS 5 on.
I want to get it to recognise 1.4Mb disks. The bios reports a 1.4Mb drive.

Any ideas please.

Thanks
Mike
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Old 18th Jun 2020, 11:42 am   #2
crackle
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Default Re: DEL Latitude XPI CD M133 ST

I suspect the problem maybe the heads alignment and or an issue with the motor controlling them.
I have tried to clean the heads and they do look in good condition.
Maybe the 720k disc alignment is less critical than the 1.4M
Are these drives known to have issues after many years?

Thanks
Mike
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Old 4th Jul 2020, 11:44 pm   #3
PSU/15939
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Default Re: DEL Latitude XPI CD M133 ST

A 720k disc is single sided. One of your drive heads isn't reading properly.

Denatured alcohol and a Q-tip might help.
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Old 5th Jul 2020, 1:06 am   #4
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Default Re: DEL Latitude XPI CD M133 ST

Quote:
Originally Posted by PSU/15939 View Post
A 720k disc is single sided. One of your drive heads isn't reading properly.
No, a 720k 3.5" disk is double sided, double density - 80 tracks per side, 9 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector MFM.

This looks like a Pentium-era machine, I'd guess Pentium 133 based on the model number but someone who knows more about Dell could confirm. It'll have a 1.44 MB (DSHD) drive. Having no issues with a 720k disk could mean an alignment issue - that would be confirmed by trying to format and use a blank HD disk. If it works, there's your problem.

The way forward is probably to replace the drive if possible, or if not use something like an HxC or Gotek floppy emulator.
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Old 11th Jul 2020, 8:53 am   #5
PSU/15939
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Default Re: DELL Latitude XPI CD M133 ST

My Mistake - it's been a while - I have a few floppy drives from laptops of that era and they were a lot smaller in height than the desktop drives. If you have the outside dimensions I may have one that fits.
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