Thank you for restoring the 810. At 7:30 the reason it made that farty sound is because DOS 2.5 first tries to format in enhanced density which the 810 cannot do. So it then fell back to single density and that worked. I have an 810 that was also smashed in shipping so I may try M.E.K. or gorilla glue. Looks like MEK does a much better bond but is more visible.
@@offensivejerk Oh that's great to hear! No I haven't yet repaired the 810 case here. Did power it up and it behaved a little strange, needing a couple power cycles to properly power up. I did do a partial restoration of the case so it stays together enough to pick up the whole drive but it still has a big crack on the top. Definitely need to try MEK after your very positive experience with it! Had forgotten about MEK until your reminder. Thank you vm.
Tip: Don't turn on the 810 with a disk inserted and drive closed. There's no protection from a poweron surge to the write head which can corrupt data where the head is... (usually parked on track 39 when idle) Nice repair job. My eBay 810 case was smashed much worse than yours... but at least the mech still works! Too many small pieces to glue. Yours is the MPI mech (later 810's had a tandon mech) - and good you have the grass valley upgrades in there, which included a better power board, that top analog board, and a data separator daughterboard on the sideboard. (inside that metal shielding on the side board). Cheers!
Thanks for the tip, I didn't know any of that information. Reminds me of the Coleco Adam when you left the tapes in the drive and turned it on, the tapes would be erased. Is this one of the more desirable drives then with those upgrades? Is the MPI mech preferred over the Tandon?
Nothing really better/worse MPI/Tandon afaik, but I think the MPI mechs are more common, at least nowadays. Interesting to know thats all.. According to some writings at Best Electronics' website, the tandon door hinges could break easily. But they still sell replacement internal parts for fixing! Just no more cases.
Hey Guys, I am trying to get a drive to work for me. When I power it on, both lights come on, the spindle spins and the head goes in and out. Then one led turns off. as expected. However when I turn on my Atari 800, the drive just sits there. I have replaced the SIO cable and have tried the same thing with my Atari 400. I made a short video, so that you might be able to see what is going on, and what I might try to fix this issue. drive.google.com/open?id=1p_zILYZokFe7iiqqYIf-b6i2oKyNfdg5
Wonderful work! Can I ask, will a 1050 power pack work with a 810? I purchased an 810 off ebay and it has no power pack. I have a spare 1050 power pack? I love the design of the 810s - so 70s/80s brutalism. Also how to I get a DOS 2.0 disk? The drive I purchased has no support docs or info.
Back in the day, sometime in the 80's, I fixed an 810 by glueing a coin on top of the read head. I'd like to think my methods are a little more refined now.
I feel your pain, when it comes to ebay shippers. I had purchased an IBM 5151 monitor, and they packed it too tight, and the plastic was completely busted up. Anyway, I am working on an 810 drive right now, and I need to know how to load a disk. I do not think I have a bootable disk, but I may have a disk with some software on it, that I might be able to view. When I first turn on the disk, it does apaer to seek, but when I turn on the 800 system, nothing happens at all. There are 2 I/O ports, and I have tried both. I could have a bad cable, but it has been a lot of years, since I have worked on one of these old atari systems, so I do not know what I am doing, so I could use a little help.
Jeff Nay you need to have a disk that boots some kind of DOS before you can access a disk drive. You can’t read a disk with files on unless you boot dos. Basic can’t access disks. Also, it matters which Atari you are using. Later Atari models required you to hold the option key at boot time to load the disk.
Jeff Nay not really. You power the 810 on. Then put a disk in and then the drive seeks. Then you turn the Atari on. I think the drive already knows if the disk is bootable by the time you turn the Atari on. Which model is it?
Thank you for restoring the 810. At 7:30 the reason it made that farty sound is because DOS 2.5 first tries to format in enhanced density which the 810 cannot do. So it then fell back to single density and that worked. I have an 810 that was also smashed in shipping so I may try M.E.K. or gorilla glue. Looks like MEK does a much better bond but is more visible.
Did you get get it restored? I found the MEK method to work awesomely. It really fuses the plastic back together for a strong connection
@@offensivejerk Oh that's great to hear! No I haven't yet repaired the 810 case here. Did power it up and it behaved a little strange, needing a couple power cycles to properly power up. I did do a partial restoration of the case so it stays together enough to pick up the whole drive but it still has a big crack on the top. Definitely need to try MEK after your very positive experience with it! Had forgotten about MEK until your reminder. Thank you vm.
Tip: Don't turn on the 810 with a disk inserted and drive closed. There's no protection from a poweron surge to the write head which can corrupt data where the head is... (usually parked on track 39 when idle) Nice repair job. My eBay 810 case was smashed much worse than yours... but at least the mech still works! Too many small pieces to glue. Yours is the MPI mech (later 810's had a tandon mech) - and good you have the grass valley upgrades in there, which included a better power board, that top analog board, and a data separator daughterboard on the sideboard. (inside that metal shielding on the side board). Cheers!
Thanks for the tip, I didn't know any of that information. Reminds me of the Coleco Adam when you left the tapes in the drive and turned it on, the tapes would be erased. Is this one of the more desirable drives then with those upgrades? Is the MPI mech preferred over the Tandon?
Nothing really better/worse MPI/Tandon afaik, but I think the MPI mechs are more common, at least nowadays. Interesting to know thats all.. According to some writings at Best Electronics' website, the tandon door hinges could break easily. But they still sell replacement internal parts for fixing! Just no more cases.
Hey Guys, I am trying to get a drive to work for me. When I power it on, both lights come on, the spindle spins and the head goes in and out. Then one led turns off.
as expected. However when I turn on my Atari 800, the drive just sits there. I have replaced the SIO cable and have tried the same thing with my Atari 400.
I made a short video, so that you might be able to see what is going on, and what I might try to fix this issue.
drive.google.com/open?id=1p_zILYZokFe7iiqqYIf-b6i2oKyNfdg5
Very nice. I need to get my ebay damaged 810 out of storage and get to restoring that as well..
This reminds me that I think I have an 810 somewhere in the house… along with a couple of 1050s. Too bad I don't have my Atari floppy disks anymore.
Hopefully they turn up somehow
Wonderful work! Can I ask, will a 1050 power pack work with a 810? I purchased an 810 off ebay and it has no power pack. I have a spare 1050 power pack? I love the design of the 810s - so 70s/80s brutalism. Also how to I get a DOS 2.0 disk? The drive I purchased has no support docs or info.
Back in the day, sometime in the 80's, I fixed an 810 by glueing a coin on top of the read head. I'd like to think my methods are a little more refined now.
LOL, whatever works! I think I've heard of that trick for turntables.
What did you use to glue it together? What kind of material 810 is made of? ABS?
I used a chemical called MEK. It welds the plastic back together.
I feel your pain, when it comes to ebay shippers. I had purchased an IBM 5151 monitor, and they packed it too tight, and the plastic was completely busted up.
Anyway, I am working on an 810 drive right now, and I need to know how to load a disk. I do not think I have a bootable disk, but I may have a disk with some software on it, that I might be able to view. When I first turn on the disk, it does apaer to seek, but when I turn on the 800 system, nothing happens at all.
There are 2 I/O ports, and I have tried both. I could have a bad cable, but it has been a lot of years, since I have worked on one of these old atari systems, so I do not know what I am doing, so I could use a little help.
Jeff Nay you need to have a disk that boots some kind of DOS before you can access a disk drive. You can’t read a disk with files on unless you boot dos. Basic can’t access disks. Also, it matters which Atari you are using. Later Atari models required you to hold the option key at boot time to load the disk.
But it should at least try to boot off the drive, when I power up the system??
Jeff Nay not really. You power the 810 on. Then put a disk in and then the drive seeks. Then you turn the Atari on. I think the drive already knows if the disk is bootable by the time you turn the Atari on. Which model is it?
Atari 800 and an 810 disk drive.
Jeff Nay do you hear any sort of beeping when you power the computer up with a peripheral attached?
Good WORK !!!
thanks
hi mister i need help i have Atari XF551 dont read and motherboard its good for i have 2° clean and nop read =( plise help i dont now not read =(
Sorry, I don't know. Sounds like you've done everything I would have tried already.
@@offensivejerk ty =) any forum for question ? i have facebook (atari Chile) for help but its complication repair i need expert =) ty =)
@@MataMoscaPuq atariage.com is a good one
@@offensivejerk ty friends atari =)