For discussion about setting up your studio and advice on the gear and equipment within it.
User avatar
By DJ ALX Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:58 pm
Hi,

Anybody has the Akai S950 Service Manual?

Ive bought a replacement drive for the S950, I power it up and I go to disk and it indicated "disk not mounted".
The Floppy LED is on and nothing seems to happen.

Any advice welcomed.
And the service manual is welcomed of course.

Peace
Last edited by DJ ALX on Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By *Pilchard* Tue Sep 06, 2011 2:06 pm
You will be lucky to find the S950 manual.
It's a sought after object of desire.

Is the floppy light on constantly?
If so, have you got the ribbon connector on the right way round? Just a thought.
User avatar
By DJ ALX Tue Sep 06, 2011 2:21 pm
*Pilchard* wrote:You will be lucky to find the S950 manual.
It's a sought after object of desire.

Is the floppy light on constantly?
If so, have you got the ribbon connector on the right way round? Just a thought.


Thank you for your concern.

Yes the floppy LED is constantly ON.

it seems that i have placed the ribbon correctly on the motherboard and the floppy drive, following the slight ridges on both ways of the connector.

Maybe it should go the other way on the floppy drive, with the ridge on the otherside?

Id have to try it the other way too.

The other thing that got me skeptical is that the drive's original power connector has 4 conductors but the floppy came with a connector with 2 conductors.

Maybe since its another drive and not the stock one, 2 conductors are needed to power it up and not 4 like the original?

Its a big hassle to open up the S950 again so i first need to get opinions before i try the 2 conductor connector and then the floppy ribbon upside down.

Any advice is highly appreciated.
User avatar
By *Pilchard* Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:00 pm
When you do decide to open it up, I would reccommend trying the ribbon cable the other way up first.
The constantly lit light is a usual feature of such a diagnoses.
Whatever it is, I hope you get it working soon :)
User avatar
By le rat Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:14 pm
Hello,

I put this picture on the S950Hxc topic

Image

I have very few knowledge about FDD but from what I read it seems some models need the 12V and others don't. Otherwise I think you can see numbers on the white connectors inside the s950.

Not related to the S950 but regarding the constantly lit LED on a drive, I had it in the past when mounting a FDD in a desktop computer. There was no way to guess the way it should be plugged and I plugged it the wrong side.
User avatar
By DJ ALX Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:21 pm
le rat wrote:Hello,

I put this picture on the S950Hxc topic

Image

I have very few knowledge about FDD but from what I read it seems some models need the 12V and others don't. Otherwise I think you can see numbers on the white connectors inside the s950.

Not related to the S950 but regarding the constantly lit LED on a drive, I had it in the past when mounting a FDD in a desktop computer. There was no way to guess the way it should be plugged and I plugged it the wrong side.


The connector from the new TEAC drive that i bought (s950 type) it utilizes only connection 3 and 4 so is it safe to guess that +12V is needed to get it to work?

Or should I leave the S950 original connector with both +5V and +12V and see what happenes?
User avatar
By DJ ALX Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:24 pm
*Pilchard* wrote:When you do decide to open it up, I would reccommend trying the ribbon cable the other way up first.
The constantly lit light is a usual feature of such a diagnoses.
Whatever it is, I hope you get it working soon :)



Before I use the voltage connector that uses pins 3 and 4 I will first flip the ribbon cable the other way.

Im tired of unmounting everything again and again. this has got to work with the next two tries.

I dont screw everything back together. I just put the PCBs toghether connected and all.
When it works im gonna screw it all together.

If it doesnt work I might sell it. I have memory expansion and SCSI board installed on it.

:D
User avatar
By le rat Tue Sep 06, 2011 11:29 pm
Next time you unscrew everything, check the new FDD reference and seek for information on the internet.

so is it safe to guess that +12V is needed to get it to work?


I'm not an expert but I think it should work with +5V. I'm not totally sure so you'd better check twice and be careful with what you're doing.
User avatar
By DJ ALX Wed Sep 07, 2011 5:53 pm
le rat wrote:Next time you unscrew everything, check the new FDD reference and seek for information on the internet.

so is it safe to guess that +12V is needed to get it to work?


I'm not an expert but I think it should work with +5V. I'm not totally sure so you'd better check twice and be careful with what you're doing.


I looked at various data sheets of this drive and the pins used are indeed 5V and it states that 12V not used.
So eiher connectors work and there is no danger of damaging anything if the floppy receives 12V on the other pins but those pins dont go anywhere.
Last edited by DJ ALX on Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By DJ ALX Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:02 pm
*Pilchard* wrote:When you do decide to open it up, I would reccommend trying the ribbon cable the other way up first.
The constantly lit light is a usual feature of such a diagnoses.
Whatever it is, I hope you get it working soon :)


I opened it up and I put the ribbon cable the other way and I put the 5V cable that came with the drive.

I put everythng back together (plus all the screws) and when i powered it on the LED was not constantly on.

Everything looked normal.

I put a disk in the drive, the LED wont turn on and the screen indicates "Disk Not Mounted".

Whats going on now? What can be possibly going wrong?
User avatar
By gertie Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:06 pm
ok disk not mounted is when you try to load a floppy and theres no floppy in the drive

forgive my previous post :oops:
By Clint Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:00 pm
Been thinking about this...

Anyone with an MPC60 will know the drama involved in replacing those old TEAC and MITSUMI drives.

Considering the S-950 is from the same manufacturer and the same time period as the MPC-60 (1988-1991+) I reckon the issues here may be exactly the same. Fortunately the solutions are well documented here:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=142896

You can't just throw a brand new floppy drive in there and expect it to work.

Also read this thread especially the last post by Get27.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=109299

Dude sells replacement drives thru his site here.

http://floppy.shugart.free.fr/page.php? ... /pa_en.htm

Click the 'Documentation' link for access to floppy drive specifications and schematics.