How can I fix broken floppy drives?

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By Adam

Rookie (18)

Аватар пользователя Adam

29-06-2009, 04:59

I recently obtained a junker MSX 2 Philips NMS8250 from a friend who imported it from the netherlands or something, and received it with a broken case, and some flaky disc drives. The cart slots work fine, however both drives do not work. How should I go about replacing them? After they are fixed, I want mount the computer inside an old computer case, or maybe even inside the original xbox....

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By rolins

Champion (418)

Аватар пользователя rolins

29-06-2009, 05:20

I've replaced floppy drives on Panasonic MSXs before. Not too hard...all you're doing is matching pins from the MSX to the PC floppy drive. I'm sure it's the same with the NMS8250. Check out Han's page he has alot more info about this - http://msx.retro8bits.com/msxdrive.html

By Adam

Rookie (18)

Аватар пользователя Adam

29-06-2009, 06:45

What kind of drive do I need for a suitable, exactly the same, replacement? I want to be able to use original MSX discs. What's SCSI? Should I get one of those? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to anything >windows 95. I'm very new to the scene, and this is my first computer, and from I've seen, it's supposedly a fairly good one.

By Erikie

Champion (324)

Аватар пользователя Erikie

29-06-2009, 09:48

Hi Adam,

Why still using floppies if you can use an SD card too? I have those for sale if you are interested. It will emulate all kinds of floppy formats and you can play all games with it. No need to use the good old 3.5" disks any more Wink
Take a look here: http://www.msx.org/forumtopicl9831.html
For 52 euros I can ship out a complete working version in a casing to you.
If you are interested you can shoot me an email at evanson (at) quicknet nl

By Adam

Rookie (18)

Аватар пользователя Adam

29-06-2009, 23:42

I would rather not purchase anything, does there exist a suitable replacement that I can either obtain via some old computer, or possibly purchase a very cheap DOS one thats similar? I don't really want to pay very much, nor do I want to import some stuff from Europe.

I'm comfortable soldering, so converting the pins to the proper connections is not a problem, but the end goal is to be able to use original MSX discs, and I kno wif I just randomly bought a floppy, it would be the wrong one.

By Erikie

Champion (324)

Аватар пользователя Erikie

30-06-2009, 09:07

I bought just some cheap black PC drives and re-soldered the DS jumper. That is the biggest catch on using a PC floppy.
And make sure you use 720 Kb floppies or tape the HD hole on it. You could also disable the switch for the HD detection.

By RetroTechie

Paragon (1563)

Аватар пользователя RetroTechie

01-07-2009, 02:23

all you're doing is matching pins from the MSX to the PC floppy drive.
That's basically it. I've had people tell me there exist specific PC floppy drives that won't work on MSX - bullshit! Have done many drive replacements, dozens of different types PC floppy drives, never a problem to get it working if you know what signals serve what purpose. Heck, just for fun I had a 5 1/4" drive on the MSX once - that worked like a charm! Not very useful though... Smile

Some hints:

You should be able to use *any* 1.44M type PC floppy drive (the regular variety, stay away from SCSI or IDE types), but they're so cheap these days I would just get a brand new one, if you make the effort to replace an MSX drive with it. Get it working, and test, *before* you actually build in the drive & spend time to make things look pretty.

PC floppy drives these days *always* respond as drive B: (/DS1 signal), which is A: or B: drive is decided by the cabling (in contrast with factory-installed MSX floppy drives, that use the DS0/DS1 jumpers. I suggest you follow PC lead, and wire it up such that the cabling decides which drive is activated by the appropriate MSX signal. For example MSX signal /DS0 to activate the drive you want to use as drive A:

MSX may or may not need Ready signal (depending on MSX model & installed diskROM), and won't use/need Disk Change signal. Connect / disconnect / disable as needed.

The floppy drive may have a pin to enable/disable HD (high density) mode, or use a sensor, or combination. It might be wise to disable HD mode permanently if you're building the drive into an MSX.

All signals are open collector type - you can connect any signal to ground, or 'disconnect', but never put a voltage on it.

Jumpers may be just solder points on the circuit board - look for these:
DS0 - ignore
DS1 - used to select the PC floppy drive
RDY - Ready signal
DC - Disk Change signal
..HD... - may enable/disable High Density operation (not used, regular MSX floppies are Double Density)

I'd just go into the nearest PC shop, ask what exact type floppy drive(s) they're selling, download a datasheet for that type, check pinout & function, and then buy if it looks useable.

By Adam

Rookie (18)

Аватар пользователя Adam

01-07-2009, 05:47

Perfect, exactly what I needed. So, all I need to do is flip the jumper to put the drive in A mode, and get another and leave it alone? This particular model has two drives, though I don't understand the purpose of that.

By Manuel

Ascended (19273)

Аватар пользователя Manuel

01-07-2009, 11:21

Adam: how about using double disk space? Or copying files without having to deejay? Remember, this computer is from 1986 and has no hard drive! Tongue

By Repair-Bas

Paragon (1165)

Аватар пользователя Repair-Bas

01-07-2009, 12:01

If both drives do not work, then it is also possible the power supply is broken

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