Posted By
Plus4User
on 2018-09-08
11:07:35
|  commodore 1551 - device not present
I recently bought a 1551 which was working fine for some time. Now when I try to access the drive I get the "device not present" error message.
The drive is still spinning briefly when I turn it on, and when I turn on the computer. When I insert a floppy it is still centered correctly by the drive.
I performed the test described here and got the desired result (so I guess the paddle should still be working). I had a brief look inside the drive and everything looked fine, the power supply seems to work fine.
Can anyone point me in the direction what the problem could be or what to do next? I could try to get a working 1551 and swap the board, but they are hard to find.
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Posted By
Stinaris
on 2018-09-08
17:35:02
 | Re: commodore 1551 - device not present
These bloody drives are "driving" me nuts.
I have 1x 1551 and 2x1541 and they all stopped working with the same issue.
However when I got device not present error I cleaned up the terminals of the cartridge port and the cartridge port connector with isopropyl alcohol. That sorted it for me.
Now I think all 3 drives heads need demagnetisation!!!
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Posted By
Plus4User
on 2018-09-09
11:00:53
| Re: commodore 1551 - device not present
I have cleaned it pretty well, didn't work for me unfortunately...
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Posted By
George
on 2018-09-09
13:45:42
 | Re: commodore 1551 - device not present
I have one too...they are pretty fragile and not very reliable (i think due their age). Mine worked for a time than problems pop/up. Now it doesn't work at all. I bought a sd2iec and left the drive in the vitrine since i don't have the mood fixing it all the time.
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Posted By
Plus4User
on 2022-09-21
13:30:43
| Re: commodore 1551 - device not present
If this helps anyone:
After 4 years I finally fixed it, it was a bad 6525a chip in the disk drive (the tri port interface). The cartridge seemed OK, I could write to port A and get the same result back. However, it seemed no signal from the drive would be travelling back to the cartridge, in fact the faulty 6525a didn't do anything at all. So I spent 40 $ on eBay to get a replacement. Was it worth it? Maybe the drive works now for a few months before it breaks again :-/
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2022-09-21
14:15:20
| Re: commodore 1551 - device not present
Hey, thanks for giving us the update, I also hope this is helpful for someone out there.
Fingers crossed that your fixed drive lives a long life 
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