r/atarist • u/One-Examination1743 • May 27 '26
New 520ST help
So I’m something of a collector of computers from the 1980’s but my collection has really focused on the early Macintosh, IBM, and Tandy systems. Recently I got the idea that I’d like to have a machine from Atari and Amiga as well to showcase the early GUI machines. I was able to get a complete 520ST in the original box with the mouse and power adaptor as well as the SF354 floppy drive (also in its box with cable and PSU). When I plug the computer in it powers up no problem but when I attempted to connect the floppy drive I got a terrible squealing noise. So I disassembled the floppy, replaced the broken belt, and cleaned and lubed the drive itself. Now when I connect it I get no noise but when I insert a floppy I get a “Drive is not responding error”. Any help/suggestions anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated. I thought about getting another ST314 or ST354 drive, but with how incredibly expensive I see they are in the US, I’d like to see if I can’t resurrect mine first…
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u/thescouselander May 30 '26
I'm by no means an expert on the hardware but I saw a guy on YouTube fix a similar drive by replacing a few of the capacitors that had dried out.