Problem with Power Mac floppy drive

[EvieSigma]

I needed to make floppy disks for one of my 68k Macs so I decided to try using my 9600 to do it. However, despite using 6 disks from 3 different brands, I wasn't able to initialize a disk successfully.

I'm hoping it's just dirty. If it is, how do I disassemble it to clean it?

 

[Forrest]

Were you using 800K disks or 1.4 MB disks? I think it's more difficult for Macs to initialize 800K disks due to the variable disk speed per track. 1.4 MB disks are initialized at a constant RPM on Macs and PC's.

 

[EvieSigma]

1.44MB disks. One box were even Mac formatted. But all of them failed to initialize, some with "cannot initialize because the disk is defective!" errors but most just a generic "the disk cannot be initialized" error.

 

[Forrest]

I've always used a cleaning disk that looks like a floppy, and you wet with cleaning solution (IPA and water).

 

[EvieSigma]

I have a 5.25" cleaning disk but not a 3.5", might not be a bad idea to get one.

 

[Dog Cow]

You can use any floppy as a cleaning disk. Just pour a few drops of isopropanol on both sides. It doesn't harm the magnetic surface at all.

 

[Zippy Zapp]

Take it apart and clean the heads gently with Isopropyl alcohol 91% and a cotton swab.  While you have it open clean off the rails and apply a bit of molykote, silicon oil or lithium grease to a cotton swab and lubricate the rails and the drive screw.  Put it back together and see if that fixes it up.

 

[EvieSigma]

My beige G3 floppy drive is also acting up, it thinks every disk is a 800k disk. Guess I've got some drive cleaning to do...

 

[Dog Cow]

My beige G3 floppy drive is also acting up, it thinks every disk is a 800k disk.

There's a switch to detect that extra hole in an HD floppy disk. Sounds like that switch is stuck down (closed), which would make the drive think that it's always an 800K disk.

 

[EvieSigma]

Well, post cleaning I still can't successfully initialize a disk with either drive, but the G3's floppy drive at least stopped thinking every disk was 800k. Both had some dust buildup that I cleared out and I cleaned the heads too but I still can't write a disk...