My SY77 disk drive does not work. I have taken the following steps.
1. I replaced the broken drive band with a rubber band and it now spins the disk but I get a "bad disk error" .
2. I cleaned the drive head per Yamaha's instructions but I still get the same error message.
3. I verified that both disks are readable on Win95 and they were original formated on the SY77.

I have been unable to find any useful information on the Yamaha web site. Are there any manual adjustments on the drive that might be out of spec. ie: speed of drive motor? Can a Mitsumi/Newtronics 3 1/2" drive replace the Newtronics (original drive/connector)? Any help is appreciated.


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You are most probably right figuring it is the rubber belt that is the problem. But a rubber band will not work. Even though it seems to be spinning the disk it does not spin it correctly due to the elasticity of a rubber band. I had the same problem and tried it myself but without success. I eventually fixed it by finding a rubber VCR belt that fitted, then everything was good. Try a VCR repair store that may have some belts around or dead VCRs that have a suitable belt. You just need to find one that fits OK thats all.

I am 100% sure simply finding the right sized rubber belt will fix your problem.
But if you did have to replace your floppy drive you can currently buy them from Route 66 . This is not the cheapest option but beats losing the ability to load and save data.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 01-09-2005).]