Cannot format a disk
Attempting to format a disk, it produces the following error right from the start (~2 sec after issuing the command and hearing the head move):
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21 READ ERROR 00 00
Running the Performance Test from the Commodore 1541 disk and also the World of Jani suite produces the following errors. These errors represent multiple runs of the program and, as you can see, the errors are always similar but not always the same:
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WRITE TRACK 1
21 READ ERROR 1 0
UNIT IS FAILING
READ TRACK 1
21 READ ERROR 1 0
UNIT IS FAILING
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21 READ ERROR 20 6
21 READ ERROR 1 0
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21 READ ERROR 0 0
20 READ ERROR 17 0
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21 READ ERROR 0 0
CLOSE FILE
71 DIR ERROR 18 1
Attempting to write a small, 2-line BASIC program to a disk formatted on a different C64 produces the following error:
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25 WRITE ERROR 16 01
It's able to read most disks
- User-formatted disks containing various progs can be read without any issues.
- Curse of the Azure Bonds (commercial disk) can be read without issue every time.
- Pool of Radiance (commercial disk) fails to read 9/10 times. I actually have two commercial copies of this game and both exhibit the exact same behavior. I think the success/failure rate may be related to the built-in fast-load feature for this game but I haven't done enough testing with it enabled/disabled to be sure.
I cleaned the head and also tested and confirmed continuity across all pins of the head.
I've looked at Ray Carlsen's fix1541.txt document and also SAM's Commodore 1541 Troubleshooting and Repair Guide but I'm still stumped as to what the problem could be. It reads most of the time, but not all, and it's never able to write anything. Yet, the continuity on the head is good...but I'm not sure that completely rules out head issues. Any suggestions?