AtariST 1040f Floppy Drive

[zippper4]

Hello

I'm new to the Atari Community, so i'm a total newbie about it!

So i found that old Atari ST 1040f that my dad use to play with like 30 years about. (at least)
And so i clean it up from the inside and the outside, keyboard, unplugged and replugged things etc. (Still a little bit yellowish but i don't know how to get rid of this.)




So now everything is fresh and sane again.

Everything seems to work fine the atari itself, the external Hard Drive, the mouse, The screen with the sound EXCEPT for the floppy drive that seems to fail to read floppy for some reasons, it says "Check your floppy A:" etc.
I read here and there that it's a common problem for these machines and that the floppy drive dies at some point. I try to clean the head but it didn't work. I tried every bunch of floppy that i have ( 100 or 200 maybe mostly original games and copy) but no one seems to work.

I found somewhere people who manage to fix the issue by modifying a PC floppy drive with a solding and all, i would like to do this, i have this old PC floppy drive that i can modify for the Atari ST.





I understand that it has something to do with the "DS0" and the "DS1" pin but i'm not sure, could you guys tell me what to do with it please?

Thank you

[DoG]

The 0-ohm resistor on DS1 needs to be desoldered and then soldered on to DS0 instead.

[zippper4]

Thanks for your anwser!

Ok so you mean like this?



That's all? Is there anything else i should know before doing this and turning the atari on

[rob12770]

that ATARI. SC1224 monitor is very sought after, your a lucky dawg :O)

[joska]

So i found that old Atari ST 1040f that my dad use to play with like 30 years about. (at least)

...

I read here and there that it's a common problem for these machines and that the floppy drive dies at some point. I try to clean the head but it didn't work.

The STF had what is called "the big button" floppydrive. If you remove it from the case you'll probably notice that it's thicker than your newer PC floppydrive. Also, the PC drive won't fit without modifying (or "totally f**k up" - don't do it!) the case. It's good chance that the only thing wrong with your floppydrive is a disintegrated drivebelt. Look up your drive on the net, you can almost certainly get new belts from eBay.

If you decide to go for the PC drive anyway I urge you to find a solution where you don't have to f**k up your STF. Also, please note that the floppy cable will have to be connected upside-down compared to the original drive. Oh, and all you need to do to that drive is to move that jumper/0Ohm resistor as indicated in your picture.

Btw that monitor is a really nice find. These are superb colour monitors, take good care of it.

[tzok]

Not all STFs had the long floppy button. None of the STf floppy drives I know had the belt to drive the floppy disk. I know only a very early ST external floppy drives (SF345) to have a such belt driven, single sided, floppy drives.

[joska]

I have an Atari drive with beltdrive (missing the belt) in my stash, it came from a 1986 1040STF with TOS 1.00. You may be right that it's single-sided, I have never checked. But this is the only beltdrive Atari-drive I have, so you are probably right in that they're uncommon.