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Amstrad CPC6128 - New  Drive Belt

 

Step 1:

Before you start please read all the small text above.

 

Unscrew all screws from the underside of the 6128 and place them on a flat surface remembering where each screw came from (as they are mostly different sizes.)

 

Don't forget the 2 black screws to the side of the disk drive!

Step 2:

 

Turn the 6128 over so that the front of the machine is facing you and open like a book - lifting the top cover from the right hand side and opening to the left.

 

Be careful not to damage the keyboard and LED power cables located on the left of the machine (1.)

 

Step 3:

 

Locate the 2 screws to the left of the disk drive (one of these has a black "earth" cable attached - Carefully remove both screws are store in a safe place.

 

Step 4:

 

Locate the parallel and power cables on the back of the drive and carefully remove them. The power cable may need to be pried off using a small flat head screwdriver (take care not to damage to socket!)

 

The parallel cable should come off fairly easily if pulled by the plastic plug (take note of which way round the parallel cable is plugged in.)

Removing these cables frees the drive from the 6128.

 

Step 5:

 

Depending on the model of your drive there will be 2 or more screws in various positions holding the PCB to the underside of the drive.

 

Locate these screws and remove them with an appropriate screwdriver. Store the screws in a safe place (for more information on screw positions and drive PCB layout check the 3 Inch Drives support page.)

 

Step 6:

 

Carefully raise the front edge of the PCB away from the drive chassis - be extra careful not to damage the power LED which is slotted into the plastic face of the drive.

 

Unplug the LED power cable as shown in the photo to the left. This will give you more room to move the PCB away from the drive chassis and make it easier to install the new drive belt. 

 

Step 7:

 

The inside of the drive looks like the diagram to the right. There is a big plastic wheel (1) and a small metallic wheel (2) which is connected via a rubber belt.

 

Be sure to remove any old belt fragments that may be inside the drive before installing the new one.

 

Loop the belt around the plastic wheel (1) first - making sure that the belt is not twisted.

 

Now stretch the belt around the metallic wheel (2) ensuring that there are no twists in the belt. Also make sure that the belt is fully on the wheels.

Step 8:

 

Reassemble the disk drive using the information above in reverse order. When re-fixing the PCB be mind full not to bend or damage the power LED to the front of the drive.

 

When re-fixing the disk drive inside the 6128 make sure both the parallel and power cables are attached and that the parallel cable is the right way up! Also ensure that you re-attach the "earth" cable to the drive chassis when you replace the 2 screws.

 

Step 9:

 

Pop a disk you know to be in good working order (with some files stored on it) into the disk drive.

 

First do a simple catalogue test on the drive - type CAT at the command line and press the Enter / Return key.

 

If all goes well the disk drive will come back to life and display the contents of the disk on screen like the photo to the right.

 

 

Problems?:

 

Drive makes a horrible noise or very little noise. There is a read error message on screen.

The drive belt is not properly attached or has come off completely - re-attach the drive belt. (also try another disk in the drive!)

 

Drive does not respond at all

Check that the power cable and parallel cable is attached and also that you have plugged in the drive power cable in the front of the monitor.

 

My Computer Crashed!

The parallel cable has been re-attached the wrong way round! Re-attach the parallel cable.

 

Drive tries to read a few times but then returns a read error message.

Problem is probably not with the drive belt. Read heads may need aligning - check the projects page for information.

 

 

 

 

 

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