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Philips VG 8235 disk drive

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By Gorgane

Resident (62)

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09-05-2005, 21:07

Hi! I'd just like to know that how hard is it to repair or replace the built-in disk drive in this computer? I'm asking this because i am planning to buy two on these machines and neither of them reads the disk properly, or so i've been told. What is the most common problem with these drives anyway? The drive belt?

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By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

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09-05-2005, 21:14

that drive has no belt... most common problem is the original drive being single-sided.

By jalu

Master (158)

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09-05-2005, 21:49

An original 8235 drive DOES have a belt, so it could be just the belt. Problem is indeed that it is single-sided and so quite useless for almost all commercial MSX2 software.

By Gorgane

Resident (62)

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09-05-2005, 22:00

I somehow remembered that these drives are single sided. I gues that the seller doesn't know that either and the drives might actually work, but he only has double sided disks. Are these drives easy to replace with DD drives? What kind of drive must the replacement be? I have old PC and Amiga drives stored somewhere.

By Sonic_aka_T

Enlighted (4130)

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09-05-2005, 22:18

I guess PC drives would work idd... They do for most other MSX models. You prolly would have to fit a new diskrom though...

By meits

Scribe (6571)

meits's picture

10-05-2005, 12:36

Sonic's right there... Ask repairbas for a diskrom... If I'm not mistaken, he has DD drives in stock as well...

By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

BiFi's picture

10-05-2005, 13:46

I thought the VG8235 required some more modification than just replacing the drive and diskrom.

By meits

Scribe (6571)

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10-05-2005, 14:54

As far as I remember (might be wrong), it's just the diskrom... But Bas knows all...

By Repair-Bas

Paragon (1176)

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17-05-2005, 19:29

You have to change the diskrom, the drive cable, a little modification on the main-board and the best is to to change the power supply.
Old drives work on 12 v and 5 volt, the new ones only on 5 volt, so if the the drive is working you can see it on the screen.

By Gorgane

Resident (62)

Gorgane's picture

18-05-2005, 17:24

You have to change the diskrom, the drive cable, a little modification on the main-board and the best is to to change the power supply.
Old drives work on 12 v and 5 volt, the new ones only on 5 volt, so if the the drive is working you can see it on the screen.

Sounds a bit too complicated for me as my soldering skills are close to nothing and i only seem to have old HD-drives taken from PC's right now. Getting a new power supply would probably be quite hard too. But, this doesn't really matter as i mainly use MSX machines to play cart games, so i don't really need a disk drive anyway. Is it possible to use an external disk drive with this thing or will the built-in controller screw it up?

By Haakie

Supporter (6)

Haakie's picture

23-05-2005, 19:02

You can use a external drive without problems. Only the drive-letters can get mixed up.

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