3a0dd469   
   From: ftraut71@charter.net   
      
   Herbert Johnson wrote:   
      
   > I don't pretend to know Tandy equipment, so others with experience can   
   > inform you about whether one model or another tends to be more "flaky   
   > hardware". The simple facts are, that computers from the 1970's and   
   > 80's are well past their use and design lifetimes. They have   
   > components which degrade or fail with age, use, and environment. They   
   > often need more than adjustment, they need component-level repair.   
   > That does not make them "flaky" and a "poor investment" - just raises   
   > the stakes.   
      
   Don't get me wrong... I fully understand what's at stake here. My   
   definition of "flaky" applies to the gamble of dealing with any and   
   all vintage electronics: typical scenario is if I was to send this out   
   to be repaired, sure... a component may have been found to be out of   
   tolerance and it gets replaced. But down the road, maybe some other   
   component needs replacing sooner than later. Spending hundreds of   
   dollars in time, parts and shipping to and fro doesn't make any sense.   
   Finding a replacement drive for XX amount of dollars and gambling   
   something will go wrong (or not) any time soon does make sense. Reason   
   I would consider sending it out to be looked at is:   
      
   a) from your e-mail, seemed that you offered this service   
   b) am not one to simply or quickly throw things in the garbage bin   
   c) the few responses I got that offered to sell me a replacement   
   drive from my original thread have all flaked out! lol  Yeah, they   
   disappeared off the face of the earth and do not reply to e-mails   
   anymore. VERY common netiquette in this day and age I must say.   
      
   Thanks for the help Herb. I restore vintage coin-op arcade, audio gear   
   Commodore and Atari computer equipment and am familiar with most of   
   the common sense advice here. If I don't get any serious bites to set   
   me up with a replacement drive, may I PM you and get a quote? It's   
   likely I'll bide my time and land one here before too long and then I   
   guess I'll just keep the old drive for spare parts.   
      
   Oh - and yes, the problem may not be entirely be speed centric, but   
   it does seem a little more than sheer coincidence that varying the   
   rotation speed DOES improve reads. This might also indicate a bad or   
   worn belt. When I have a block of time to fiddle around again, guess   
   I could always swap belts too and see if the problem migrates.   
      
      
      -Frank   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)