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Fixing floppy drives ? Drive failed (40) Error.

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First post, by user33331

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Hello
These early 1990s floppy drives are causing problems:
Panasonic JU-257A606P:
- 2 pcs of these give "(40) error". When I have opened these they look dust free and no corrosion or such inside. When booting they give "tsuk"-sound but end up with (40) error.
- I still have at least a 1 pc working Panasonic JU-257A606P. 😊

This Panasonic floppy drive model seem common in 1991-96 PCs.
- Wonder what causes "Drive failed (40) Error" at boot ?
- How PC checks floppy drive during booting and how PC determines when to give (40) error ?

CD-drives feel a lot more durable than floppy drives.
- I have had only a 1 pc LG DVD-drive from 2006 broken during 2-3 year of using. Warranty was expired so I bought a new Samsung instead LG then.

Reply 1 of 3, by canthearu

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The things to fix a floppy drive:

a) Clean the old grease off the worm spindle that moves the head back and forth, then apply fresh grease. This often sticks, causing your said issues.
b) Replace the small electrolytic capacitors on the drive, as they often leak or dry out with no real physical signs of failure. Some might be bipolar and you may end up having your drive looking a bit ghetto due to the difficulty of finding appropriately small capacitors. Replace the others with low esr capacitors.

Reply 3 of 3, by canthearu

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user33331 wrote:

Does PC run floppy drive's stepper motor+worm spindle every time I boot PC ?

It should will try to, only way to really tell is to open the drive and inspect while it is booting.

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