3.5 inch floppy disk drive troubleshooting

[Keith Pendergrass]

I posted the message below to the BitCurator Users group, reposting here for wider distribution. I'd appreciate any suggestions or thoughts.

Keith

Hi all,

We bought three 3.5 inch floppy disk drives (NEC FD1231H) prior to the pandemic for use with our Kryoflux board to replace a failed drive and I just got back into the office to test them out. For all three, when I apply power to the drives I get a continuous, high-pitched buzzing and Kyroflux cannot communicate with the drive. I’ve confirmed that there are no issues with the Kyroflux board (it works fine with our 5.25 inch drive), and have swapped out all components (board, data cable, Molex/Berg connecter, PSU) with the same result. The behavior is the same whether or not a disk is in the drive. My assumption is that something is wrong with the motor or drive unit, but as all three exhibit the same behavior I'm concerned that I may have caused it.

Does anyone have any suggestions for additional troubleshooting or ideas of what the issue may be? I'm hoping to understand what is wrong with these ones (especially if I was the cause) before I go and purchase more.

Thanks.

Keith

[Diane Bedard]

Check the manufacturer's specified power draw...  you may have cables that are under/or over supplying the needed power.

Di

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[Keith Pendergrass]

Thanks for the suggestion, Diane. I've confirmed that the FD1231H requires 5 volts, which is what the PSU I have supplies.

Keith

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[Peter Bubestinger]

Hi!
Have you tried a different PSU?
High-pitched buzzing sound usually indicates an issue with capacitors in switching PSUs...

So you may measure 5V but they may not be "clean".

Just my 2¢ :)

Good luck!
Peter B.

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[Ben Fino-Radin]

How about amperage?

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Ben Fino-Radin
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[Keith Pendergrass]

Diane, Peter, and Ben,

Thank you for your suggestions pointing me back to the power supply. I had initially tested two PSUs with the same high-pitched buzzing result, and had moved on to troubleshoot other areas. Turns out both PSUs are likely failing. I got a new one and all three drives now work as expected.

And in case anyone is curious, I couldn't find amperage specifications for these drives. I'm using a 5v 12v/ 2 amp PSU.

Thanks again for the help.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/digital-curation/CANLv9hgreGMOJBpbDctbgxVifWT8CdGmzrSzfpej6k41tq901g%40mail.gmail.com.