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Powerbook 180 - Floppy drive irreparable?

As what I can only assume to be the result of a dodgy repair job I made when I was a teenager, for a long time now my Powerbook 180 has been unable to read any and all floppy disks I give it. Fortunately, the drive isn't completely unresponsive - when a disk is inserted, the drive will attempt to read the disk and tick over for a minute. While results vary from disk to disk, if it decides it likes the one that's inserted it might even appear on the desktop. However, when I try to open it, the machine states the disk to be unreadable and presents the option to format it. Doing so, after another wait, will result in a failure. Is there any chance I might be able to repair this issue, or will I need to replace the part altogether?
 

Andy

Well-known member
Maybe an obvious question that you've already done, but have you tried cleaning it with a cleaning floppy? It sounds like the drive is mostly working, but maybe the heads are dirty.
 
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