Make Unhappy Dual Floppy EII into a happy single?

[minphase]

Hi list,

Just received some blank 5.25" floppies, allegedly low-capacity.

This is first time I've ever tried to use drive B.  Drive A is fine, I boot from my single, precious, precious disk.  Yessss. My disssc.   

Attempting to format discs in Drive B gives error "Disk Not Ready".  Drive B sounds pretty good, lights make sense.  It looks and smells OK, if you know what I mean.   Quacks like a duck.  Only it gives up after about 10 seconds with that error message.

Is this a known error message for say, mislabelled higher density 5.25" floppies?  No markings on the discs anywhere. 

I've tried unplugging the power cable at back of drive B, in hopes of hypnotizing my EII into believing that he's actually a single floppy unit.  That just causes drive A to fail to boot.  Is there any known procedure for forcing him to act like a single floppy?  A magic key sequence or jumper I've missed?  I just want to make some backup boot floppies, before HxC arrives.  I don't mind doing the swap disc dance.

Cheers, minphase

[minphase]

Ooops.  Nevermind.  If you remember to unplug both the power and the 34 pin IDE ribbon from drive B, not just the power, then the emulator will wake up thinking he has only a single drive.  No problem at all.  It just won't work if you have drive B still hanging off the same ribbon cable.

[JMP]

Yep, common error message for wrong floppy disks and/or very old knackered ones that won't read anymore.

If you're that short of the right kind of floppy disks (!) I've got loads and could spare a couple of boxes for the right coinage and postage. Up to you. Otherwise, there's usually some on Ebay.  I'd avoid 'used' ones if I were you, most are usually shite.   

[minphase]

Thanks, JMP.    I was able to make some Lib and Perf discs using just drive A.   The NOS discs I got were good.  After a bit of drive swapping, I've determined that my drive B is basically read-only now.  Not so bad, since drive A is fine.  I've removed B in anticipation of installing an HxC.  Well, installation is a very grand word.  I'll probably have a ribbon cable snaking out and naked circuit boards balanced precariously on top of something both spillable and conductive.  My skills are more on the firmware side than the 'nice enclosure' side.  Screws have always been my enemy.

Cheers, minphase

[JMP]

The NOS discs I got were good.  After a bit of drive swapping, I've determined that my drive B is basically read-only now.  

I suspect your drive head may be out of alignment. If so, it's wasted unless you can continue to read only. Head re-alignment looks to be a lost art these days.