External Floppy Drive Connector

[BrettRogersUK]

Hi All,

I don't know if this is the right place for this so if not please remove and place in the correct area.

I've built a floppy drive cable to connect an external drive to my 1040STE. I followed this excellent tutorial by @rubber_jonnie.

https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... 92&p=57196

I bought my din plug already wired from Cool Novelties on ebay and added my own 34 pin IDC cable. I've plugged the cable into my atari and plugged the idc end into the floppy drive I took out of the atari when I fitted my gotek. The floppy I took out is an Epson SMD-380.

When @rubber_jonnie fixed my STE he also did the drive swap mod as well. When plugged in I can get the drive light on and the drive activity light comes on but its not reading any discs. The discs read perfectly when plugged in via the greaseweazle on my laptop.

The Atari just says the usual thing when it can't find or load a disc. Is there anything I'm doing wrong? I've also tried a 1.44mb drive as well (also runs through the greaseweazle) but that isn't even getting any drive activity or anything when plugged into the atari external floppy port. Nothing at all is happening.

If anyone has any ideas please feel free to chuck them my way.

EDIT: I have buzzed everything end to end from IDC to DIN and it all checks out, everything is connected as it should be.

[Badwolf]

If anyone has any ideas please feel free to chuck them my way.

If I were you I'd test it with the Gotek you know's working internally.

They're actually very forgiving, only need the 5V line and can even give you hints (like cable in upside down).

Cheers,

BW

[BrettRogersUK]

If anyone has any ideas please feel free to chuck them my way.

If I were you I'd test it with the Gotek you know's working internally.

They're actually very forgiving, only need the 5V line and can even give you hints (like cable in upside down).

Cheers,

BW

I have actually just got another gotek (bought it to use for my BBC Micro). I will try it this weekend.

It's just frustrating that the drive light comes on and tries to access the disc that's in the drive and then throws up the error message. I did test the drive before and it does only need the 5v to work so it's not that there's a lack of voltage. I've got it plugged in via a USB cable to a 5v 1A power supply.

Thanks anyway, I will give it a try with my new Gotek when I've flashed the Flashfloppy firmware.

Regards,

Brett

[Badwolf]

Thanks anyway, I will give it a try with my new Gotek when I've flashed the Flashfloppy firmware.

Does the external one work if the internal one is unplugged?

BW

[BrettRogersUK]

Thanks anyway, I will give it a try with my new Gotek when I've flashed the Flashfloppy firmware.

Does the external one work if the internal one is unplugged?

BW

This is something else I've got to test.

Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated.

Regards,

Brett

[rubber_jonnie]

Test with a known good drive as suggested.

What I would say is that I tested your STE with my external drive that the cable was based on and it worked just fine before I sent it back to you so I very much doubt it's the STE mainboard.

Double check the wiring to be sure and have a look under the microscope in the DIN plug for solder whiskers shorting pins out.

Also note that the red wire of the FDD cable must line up with pin 1 of the plug, usually identified by a small triangle on the 34 pin IDC plug.

If you've managed to get the plug the wrong way round it won't work.

If you're still having issues I will double check with my own working lead to make sure I haven't stuffed up my own tutorial in any way!!

[BrettRogersUK]

Test with a known good drive as suggested.

What I would say is that I tested your STE with my external drive that the cable was based on and it worked just fine before I sent it back to you so I very much doubt it's the STE mainboard.

Double check the wiring to be sure and have a look under the microscope in the DIN plug for solder whiskers shorting pins out.

Also note that the red wire of the FDD cable must line up with pin 1 of the plug, usually identified by a small triangle on the 34 pin IDC plug.

If you've managed to get the plug the wrong way round it won't work.

If you're still having issues I will double check with my own working lead to make sure I haven't stuffed up my own tutorial in any way!!

I will do all the things you mentioned. The main board is working a treat with the gotek installed. Just got to overcome this little obstacle and I'll have the best of both worlds.

I have checked that the red striped end goes to pin one of the floppy drive and it does. Like I say I get a drive light and drive activity light on the machine when clicking on the drive icon on the desktop it just doesn't being up the disc contents that I know are good as I can use the drive and disc on my greaseweazle.

I did notice that on your tutorial on the pics you have pin 32 coloured in Red (as not used) and I think you meant it to be pin 34 that's not used at pin 32 is mentioned on the other side next to a din plug pin.

Regards,

Brett

[rubber_jonnie]

@BrettRogersUK if you find any issues with the tutorial please let me know and I'll update, I just can't do it for about a week due to personal matters.

[BrettRogersUK]

@rubber_jonnie Just checking the wiring on the cable I made up. I may have wired it up wrong.

I've found another wiring chart that says that pin 8 of the ribbon connector should be connected to pin 4 of the din plug. Is this correct?

Looking at your diagram where you've flipped it to show the reverse (solder side of din plug) it would appear that pin 8 of the ribbon connector is in fact showing as being connected to Pin 5 of the DIN Plug in your diagram. If I am right about this then I have indeed wired my din plug up wrong.

It also means that your diagram of looking at the din plug from the rear is actually looking at the din plug from the front and vice versa.

[exxos]

These are my notes from 30 years ago may help... Or confuse even more... May or may not be correct...

Looks like din is 1-14 numbered then where each number goes on the FDC cable.

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