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[alby p]

Hi all, new to the forum and hoping someone can help me out! I've searched the forum and can't find anything relating to my problem.

I've just picked up an SWC sms3201 and it's fine when reading disks and loading/running games. The problem is that it seems unable to write to any disk in the drive. It won't format, rename or delete although it goes through the procedure and will even verify a formatted disk. Also, when I try to backup SRAM I get a FAT ERR message (The unit obviously needs a new SRAM battery so I'm not sure if that could be the problem there).

I've swapped out the floppy drive for a spare I have and it behaved exactly the same with the replacement drive so I don't think it's that. I've had to format the disks on PC in Win XP (and a couple in DOS) and wondered if that might be causing trouble but it surely wouldn't stop the SWC formatting the disk?

Any ideas? All help gratefully received!

[madman]

SRAM battery would only matter if you turned the unit off, it would erase the SRAM. Also...I think it just writes whatever is in the SRAM memory, so even if it's garbage it should write to the disk. It's possible it could be the cable or connector, in terms of one of the write lines being messed up. Not sure if it could be the controller chip since it sounds like it reads OK.

[alby p]

Thanks for replying. I was thinking it might be the cable. I'll check it for continuity tonight when i get home.

[alby p]

OK. Checked the cable and connector with a meter and everything seems fine there (although I'm no expert). Also tried another floppy drive that I know reads/writes and still no joy.

I've tried copying files with the SWC and it reads them into memory but just throws a FAT ERR message when it tries to write to the new disk.

I only want the thing to write so I can back up the SRAM data - it's really frustrating. I'm beginning to think it may be the floppy controller chip.

Still, it's a good excuse to cough up for a DX

[Mystic_Merlin]

AFAIK the components involved in the FDD operation are the crystal, the floppy disk controller, the IDE cable and the FDD itself so you should troubleshoot / test all of of these. My guess would also be a defective connection on the write lines since it's reading properly.

If your main purpose is just to save the SRAM, it might be easier to use ucon64 to dump SRAM content through the parallel port.

[rodneyk]

Hi Alby,

Can you check the PCB to see if there are any splatters anywhere from battery chemicals?

My suspicion is that there are some broken PCB tracks because of chemical spill. It could be a connection between the custom chip and the FDC controller chip or a connection between the FDC controller chip and the Floppy connector where you plug the cable onto the SWC PCB.

If there is any splatter try to use a soft scrubbing cleaning item (from non-metallic material) and use some normal vinegar to softly and carefully remove the splatters. After cleaning rinse off all vinegar and thouroughly dry the PCB. Make sure everything is super dry. (use an air compressor or hairdryer after drying off) When you can see the PCB underneath after cleaning the spots you can use a magnifying glass or multimeter to check if the tracks are broken. Also, the damage could be underneath a chip which will make it more difficult to repair because it will require desoldering and re-soldering of the chip.

Feel free to post some photos if you find any splatter, the photos might indicate where the damage might be.

[amptor]

one problem that you are having is that you are using windows xp, don't do that

use windows 95/98/me/ms dos 5.0/6.0/6.xx

try that and see if it resolves the issue. on swc dx, the windows NT kernel is incompatible with this copier and causes lots of random strange issues with games.

also don't use an operating system emulator, boot into the actual o/s. windows xp, windows vista, windows 7, windows 2000, windows nt, windows server, etc will take full control of the floppy drive at the kernel level so you'll need an operating system that is booted into that uses pure dos at the base.

[madman]