Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
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By SimonInAustralia Thu Oct 09, 2014 11:27 pm
Just tested it on mine.

It does not automatically recognise that the disk has been changed, while in the load/save screen.

I have to go out of the load/save screen, and back into it, or choose select disk, and re-select the floppy disk, to make it re-read the disk and show the contents of the newly inserted disk.

Does it work like that for you, if you go out of the load screen, and back in, does it re-read the disk and show the contents of the newly inserted disk?
By infinit Fri Oct 10, 2014 12:13 am
No, even when I try to re-read the disk it doesn't work. I've even tried loading a program from the floppy when I boot the MPC. When I finish loading the first floppy it says it's missing a file, I then insert the second floppy and continue to load but it will not load the files on the second floppy.

This is on the "Cant't find file" screen, it has the option for <Disk in, load> Or <Skip File> which is displayed under the Soft Keys. I insert the second disk but it will not load.

With the second floppy inserted, if I hit <Skip File> it will read...

"This file is internally corrupted and can't be loaded: it's internal type ID doesn't match its 3-letter name extension."
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By SimonInAustralia Fri Oct 10, 2014 2:07 am
No, that is the factory memory/RAM.

That comes as either a 2MB or 8MB memory board.

It is often removed when normal computer type memory, SIMM modules, are inserted in the 2 slots to the left of it, one or two two upright PCBs plugged into the main MPC PCB.

If it is working at all without that factory memory board, it would have some sort of memory in the SIMM slots.
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By SimonInAustralia Fri Oct 10, 2014 5:07 am
It is a pity that Rohan/mpc3000le is no longer around, he might be able to tell us how the disk change functionality works in the MPC3000, and where to start looking for a solution.

From a search on the forum, it seems that a few people have had the same problem in the past, but nobody found (or at least mentioned that they had found) a solution.

It must read the directory of the first disk into memory, and should re-read that directory information when the second disk is accessed, but doesn't seem that it is.

No idea how that actually works internally.


A couple of things to try...

Maybe reset the MPC parameters, press the Other button, then the Init PAR (F1) button, make sure that Initialize: ALL PAR FILE DATA is selected, and press Do It (F1).

Maybe try removing the memory modules (SIMMs), and put them back in, if you have two SIMMs installed, try testing it with just one SIMM installed, then take that out and test again with just the other SIMM installed. Be careful removing the SIMMs, if you do, as it is easy to break the SIMM slot if not done carefully/correctly. You need to gently push the small metal tabs on the sides of the slot outwards, and pull the top of the SIMM module towards the front of the MPC, then lift it out.

Other than that, no idea, a new floppy drive might fix it, but without knowing exactly how the disk change function works in the MPC, and considering that it does not seem to use a disk change signal from the floppy drive, it might also not make any difference.
By NikBo Sat May 30, 2015 3:22 am
infinit wrote:Did some research but couldn't find any answers. Looking to see if their is a simple solution to this problem, when i load a floppy on boot with the mpc300 it loads fine, the problem is trying to load a second floppy disk. It will still display all the information from the first disk, this also hurts me when I'm trying to save several things to multiple disks.

Has anyone else experience this problem? If so what is the fix, I'm thinking about replacing the floppy altogether. Yes I have a zip drive but it's broken at the moment so floppies are my only way to save my work.


Affirmative...Got the same problem here with my floppy. After I while, he starts showing me "Error message" like my files were corrupted and/or the disk. I solve the problem by installing a CF card reader...No more load/save problem.

But unfortunately...Fixing this create another issue.
Now I got a loud SMPTE signal through the headphone jack...Sooo loud that the headphone jack is totally unusable.