TEAC FD 235 HF floppy drive in MPC60

A couple of months ago I bought an mpc60 in great condition apart from the floppy drive which is broken. I wanna replace it asap. When I got it I read all the threads on here regarding floppy drives but I can't remember everything I read and don't wanna plow through all of them again.

I read somebody on here replaced their mpc60 drive with the one from their xl. Since I still got that lying around I'm gonna try that tonight unless somebody tells me that that drive doesn't work. I'm afraid that that will only be a temporary sollution since I think the floppy drive of my xl was about to die.

I've read that the TEAC FD-235HF floppy drives are compatible with the mpc60. Are all those TEAC FD-235HF drives compatible or is it only very specific part numbers that are compatible? If all of them are compatible, I'll just order myself a new one.

In the meantime I plowed through the other threads again and came up with:

* TEAC FD-235HF A529
* TEAC FD-235HF 3240
* TEAC FD-235HF 6554
* TEAC FD-235HF 6573

* Sony MPF520-1 (with OS 3.10)

* Mitsumi D359T3

* Alps DEP723D14B

Unfortunately all of those seem like a b*tch to find in europe...

Buy an external Amiga floppy drive from eBay and remove it from the casing and fit. This drive will be a true DD drive. You only need the jumper that sets the drive number which from memory was correct already. They can be had for $10 on ebay.

Worked for me

Thanks for the tip.

I've only recently bought this mpc. When I opened it, I noticed the floppy wasn't even connected so I hooked it up. When I tried formatting a DD disk (not a modified HD) I got the error

Disk is write protected

(or something like that), which wasn't the case.

So I tried replacing the floppy drive with the TEAC 8549 floppy drive. I only tried once with the jumper settings from the diagram on the first page of the faq. When I fired up the mpc and tried to format a disk I got the error:

There's no disk in drive

(or something like that). I still gotta try to turn around the IDE cable since I read something about that in a thread on this forum.

I also found an old mitsumi floppy drive but I don't think that'll work since it hasn't got jumpers and the model number is higher than another model that's supposed to work in the 60.

If everything fails I'm gonna try your tip.

I also noticed that there's some hum coming from the mpc when I turn it on. Is the mpc60 noisy or should I investigate what might be causing this?

I wasted a fair bit of time trying different drives before I went down the amiga route... got it working in minutes after that.

I tried some drives and jumper settings over the last few days but they don't seem to work.

The IDE cable was missing so I'm using a standard computer floppy IDE cable. I suppose that doesn't make much difference since I've checked for an mpc floppy IDE cable online and the stores that sell IDE cables only have computer IDE cables, not those gray and blue mpc ones. I noticed that it makes a difference how you plug it into the floppy drive so tonight I'm gonna try every drive again because I probably missed some configurations. I just don't wanna spend extra money if it's not really necessary.

I've noticed that I always get the 'There is no disk in drive' error when the IDE cable is plugged in the wrong way. When it's plugged in the right way I get the 'The floppy disk is unusable because the area reserved for the directory table is damaged' (or something like that).

I've checked ebay and there are some external floppy drives for sale. Does it matter which one or will any external amiga floppy drive do?

I tried to use the two different jumper settings from the FAQ/BIBLE on the floppy drive from my xl (TEAC FD-235HF 8549) but no success. I was wondering if that particular drive is even compatible with the 60 since some people said they have it working with those jumper settings. Anybody have any info on the TEAC FD-235HF drive from the xl that they used in their 60? Was that the 8549?

If I can't find a sollution tonight I'm gonna order the amiga floppy drive than.

Still no luck...I'm ordering an external amiga floppy drive from ebay...

Couldn't find any info on the jumper settings of the 8549 TEAC drive on the net and I'm not gonna try all the possibilities.

MIne pretty much was identical to this one...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Slimline-Amiga-External-Floppy-Disk-Drive_W0QQitemZ140135988372QQihZ004QQcategoryZ98928QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

they work because they are double density and also because they can be jumpered to alter the drive number.

If when you install it the light is on or the time or the drive spins continuously you have the ribbon cable in upside down.

Let me know how you get on.

Thanks again. I kept an eye on ebay over the last week but didn't wanna buy a 'slimline' disk since I figured that wouldn't fit my 60. Am I wrong with this assumption? The ones I didn't bid on were internal ones though. Maybe this one is just slimline because of the casing itself being smaller but the disk itself might be a standard 3.5".

I've emailed some ebay sellers, online electrical/computer stores, route66 and VST with some questions about drives. Apart from VST I didn't get a reply from anybody. Dave at VST was pretty quick with a reply which I appreciated alot. It's against his business ofcourse but he told me my old floppy from my xl won't work in the 60.

I did some further research on the jumper settings of the TEAC drives and I'm gonna try some settings again since I now have a better understanding of what jumper does what exactly. When I tried some settings last week I just tried settings I found online (from the faq/bible and some other threads on mpc-forums).

None of those worked but it might have to do with the drive being broken since the last couple of times I used it in my xl it made a weird noise with certain disks. Either way, even if that floppy drive works, I'll probably need to replace that pretty soon anyway.

Okay, so I ordered this DD amiga floppy drive from ebay which arrived today.

I removed the casing and it turned out to be a sony mpf420-1 floppy drive. I tried it in the mpc60 but again...no success...

It contains a jumper block so I'm gonna try and find jumper settings for this one. Hopefully I can find some jumper settings that work in the mpc60.

It seems this one is compatible with an ASR though. So it probably is a HD drive that's been jumpered to act as a DD drive to work with an amiga.

Back to the lab...*sigh*

Ok, so till 2 am I tried different jumper settings.

The drive came jumpered as follows: 1-6 12-13 10-15

It turned out that the jumper 10-15 sets the drive to DS1 (There is no disk in drive).

Changing this jumper to 5-10 sets the drive to DS0 (Area reserved for file directory is damaged).

I think the jumpers 7, 8, 12 and 13 have something to do with DD/HD detection or settings.

I've tried different jumper settings but so far no luck.

I seriously hope that it's not a floppy disk drive controller problem. I'm trying to find somebody nice with an mpc60 with a working floppy drive in Belgium so I can try to see if that one works.

Right now I'm thinking of getting the scsi kit and the os update from roger linn.
But than I would still need an external scsi hard drive like

http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/9Gb-AKAI-DR4-DR ... dZViewItem

And that's not all. I'm probably gonna have to buy a scsi to usb adapter to be able to hook up the hard drive to my laptop to transfer the os update.

scsi kit + os update :: 450$
scsi hard drive :: 135$
usb scsi adapter :: 65$
--------------------------------
650$ or 475€

Pfffft...I'm seriously getting fed up with this piece of shit.

I don't even think you can even get a SCSI board right now cause they are back ordered I think from Roger Linn.

Rub it in why don't you...

If I understand correctly, I'd still need a working floppy drive to install the scsi board no? The scsi board requires OS 3.1. But how the f*ck am I gonna install that if I don't have a working floppy drive...

I'm just gonna order one from VST I think. If I'm not mistaken, they've dropped their prices on floppy drives for the 60 from 135 to 90 or something.