MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
 Reply Share on Facebook
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By ThirdEye Tue Aug 30, 2016 6:23 pm
tapedeck wrote:
ThirdEye wrote:Yes. I did but it just shows 'no disk ! !', I'll open it up and check for loose cables like you said, hopefully it's that because it won't see the disks, or maybe I need a new one otherwise.

ok now we're getting somewhere. if it shows 'no disk' you are either selecting the wrong drive, your drive is bad / not connected, or ALL your disks are bad.

the first two are the most likely. you are sure it says 'floppy'? (i can't remember what it is supposed to say as i took the floppy out years ago)


Yeah, it just says 'Device: Floppy - Type: 2HD'. which is the type of floppy's I got anyway so yeah thanks, I should've been more specific in the beginning. I'll get on checking out the drive.
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By ThirdEye Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:22 pm
tapedeck wrote:
ThirdEye wrote:Yes. I did but it just shows 'no disk ! !', I'll open it up and check for loose cables like you said, hopefully it's that because it won't see the disks, or maybe I need a new one otherwise.

ok now we're getting somewhere. if it shows 'no disk' you are either selecting the wrong drive, your drive is bad / not connected, or ALL your disks are bad.

the first two are the most likely. you are sure it says 'floppy'? (i can't remember what it is supposed to say as i took the floppy out years ago)


Any idea if I'm supposed to open it from the bottom rather than the top to check the floppy drive connections? I took the top off but there's just the motherboard and stuff.
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By tapedeck Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:06 pm
ThirdEye wrote:Any idea if I'm supposed to open it from the bottom rather than the top to check the floppy drive connections? I took the top off but there's just the motherboard and stuff.

:lol: then yea probably the bottom
logic :mrgreen:
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By ThirdEye Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:02 am
Lampdog wrote:http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=136685

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=96078&start=60


Ah thanks for the help so far and the links! I took a look and gave everything a push in and a check over, it all seemed fine. Yet it still says no disk, so I'll take another look again and resit all the cables soon. Might have to go for a new floppy drive if nothing works, at least if it doesn't involve soldering. I checked out Iomegas but it seems like they break quick, and I looked at external CF/SD but they seem quite pricey and look kinda bare.
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By ThirdEye Wed Aug 31, 2016 11:56 am
If anyone knows of any good external CF/SD SCSI readers, or if if it's worth getting a Zip drive on the cheap, while I sort out my floppy situation fill me in! My OS is 1.12 if that matters.

I read that Artmix / Stratos Tech are good can't find much on it though.

:Sigh:
Last edited by ThirdEye on Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By ThirdEye Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:35 pm
Lampdog wrote:I would never go zip again.


Is there any other SCSI external drive that would be cool then? From what I've checked on the CF/SD card readers seem like a lot of hassle, and overpriced mostly.

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By JVC Wed Aug 31, 2016 4:41 pm
By judging from the original post, most likely you have faulty floppy drive on your 2000XL.
Most of new Floppy disks come pre-formatted, and 2000XL uses the same format that Windows 95/98/2000/XP use.
Windows can read 2000XL formatted floppies (because it is same formatted as Windows / DOS), so you can copy all data on floppies' to your PC, and copy to CF card.
I think Windows can access S950 floppies as well. (not too sure, can't S950 read/write on HD floppy disks?)
If you want to use floppy drive, just replace the drive on XL with new floppy drive.
But, I do recommend CF reader upgrade. Even cheap non-swappable CF card reader is much, much better than dealing with floppies.
Hot-swappable CF card reader is even better, but I've been happy with non-swappable CF card reader.
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By ThirdEye Wed Aug 31, 2016 6:10 pm
JVC wrote:By judging from the original post, most likely you have faulty floppy drive on your 2000XL.
Most of new Floppy disks come pre-formatted, and 2000XL uses the same format that Windows 95/98/2000/XP use.
Windows can read 2000XL formatted floppies (because it is same formatted as Windows / DOS), so you can copy all data on floppies' to your PC, and copy to CF card.
I think Windows can access S950 floppies as well. (not too sure, can't S950 read/write on HD floppy disks?)
If you want to use floppy drive, just replace the drive on XL with new floppy drive.
But, I do recommend CF reader upgrade. Even cheap non-swappable CF card reader is much, much better than dealing with floppies.
Hot-swappable CF card reader is even better, but I've been happy with non-swappable CF card reader.


Ah okay I did check all the cables inside and it seemed fine to me. I wanted to use floppy instead of CF/SD internal as I don't want to solder, and because of the s950 which can save and read floppy's, couldn't read it through my PC drive though, which is windows 10 OS if that's some kind of issue?

I'm guessing replacing the floppy drive is just a case of connecting the cables like in a usual PC, I read that the 2000xl has a special kind of floppy drive though somehow, instead of a regular cheap one?

If I wanted some kind of external SCSI connection too like CF/SD, is there any affordable method that isn't ZIP. As what I've looked at is usually overpriced for just a few board parts and a slot, and I can't find much a part from Artmix ones which seem highly priced, when it's literally an external card drive. :hmmm:
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By tapedeck Wed Aug 31, 2016 7:57 pm
if you really like the floppy workflow, the hxc emulator is an excellent modern upgrade.

avoid zip.

the cf readers are not overpriced, aren't they like $5? even at $100 they are one of the best upgrades you can do. if you aren't willing to put in the work / time / $ to maintain the machine, or you are dead set on integration with a computer, you might want to consider a more modern option like a 1000 or 2500. you've just got to do this stuff to get the old machines running well, and then they are still going to make you jump through hoops to use them with more modern equipment like computers.
User avatar

Re: MPC 2000XL Floppy disk Guru's help?!

By ThirdEye Wed Aug 31, 2016 8:15 pm
Wal Martian wrote:
ThirdEye wrote:I wanted to use floppy instead of CF/SD internal as I don't want to solder...


What were you planning on soldering?


I read somewhere about having to solder in the internal card readers, CF/SD ones, maybe that's only 2000's. So I wasn't planning on it.
Last edited by ThirdEye on Wed Aug 31, 2016 8:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
 Reply
Return to MPC2000xl, MPC2000