I've heard that its a real pain in the ass from some people, but the guides I've read don't make it seem too technically challenging. I realize that it won't exactly be the easiest thing I've ever done, but is it really so hard that people consider simply buying a new system/sending theirs to someone else to reapir a broken drive belt? If you hadn't guessed already, I might be replacing an FDS unit's drive belt in the near future. Any tips on the matter would be appreciated. -D. Benson
I had that problem and let me tell you.... huge pain in my ass. the problem is that there is a huge chance of your system becoming un-caliberated in the process as what happened to me. Unfortuantely, the best sites with help instructions are in Japanese, so you may just have to stick with pics. So, eventually, I bought a new FDS, while selling the old one for parts (I think I made 25 bucks) but still, its worth the wait to play enhanced NES games. (a few suggestions) Mario 2 VS Excitebike Kid Icarus (with saving options) Metroid (with saving options) Akumajou Dracula 1+2 (with enhanced music + saving options, same goes with Zelda 1+2)
What part of the repair process could decalibrate the FDS? What could be done to avoid it? Also: http://simplynes.emucamp.com/fdsrepair.html seems to be the best step-by-step guide in english.
Guess it's time to chime in It's not TOO difficult unless your drive does "decalibrate," if that happens, depending on the drive model your life may be hell. Calibrating the drive brings the head back down to the very end of the track, fiddling with the drive, specifically the gears can cause the head to shift upwards. It's hard to put into words exactly what you have to do, you should be able to figure it out though. Apparently lots of people replace the drive belts without even having to recalibrate but I've had to do it every time, maybe I'm just sloppy with the gear mechanism. What I meant by the hell comment was that if aligning the head wasn't frustrating enough, in some models Nintendo put wax over the adjustment screw so you'll have to pick it out with a sewing needle or melt it if you're confident. It takes me roughly an hour to replace a belt and realign the head, during this time I also adjust the drive's speed to give the best results with problematic disks.
Alright. Well I might not have to do this anyway. This is just in case the belt on the FDS (which is rather cheap/untested) that I'm probably purchasing is broken. Any more advice would be great. Also, what size belt does the drive require? because I know I probably won't find any official belts.
Never assume the belt is working, if you don't know for sure, assume it's broken. I've had 6 FDS so far, all but two were broken on arrival. One of those two broke after a few weeks of playing. The only sure way know yours works is to ask the seller to test it. If it's sold "as-is" or they say they can't test it, chances are they really have tested it and it's broken, I know, I've sold a few things "as-is" myself :smt096
Well I am assuming the belt is broken. Thats why I'm already trying to get a belt and find sources for repair info.
You really need to buy a belt specifically for the FDS. It's not elasticy like a rubber band but it still needs to be tight, I at least don't know where to find a cheap workaround.
Interesting. Well I could try that guy in Japan that someone mentioned in your thread on the marketplace board. I wonder if anyone has ever modded the drive on an FDS so that it didn't rely on a belt... That would be an interesting project.
I did something similar on a friends hifi-tapedeck from the 80s. (the old belts got brittle) Went to the next radio&TV store and bought a similar ones (too long), then I cut the new ones open, made them into the right size and glued them. (PVC glue..) No problem since then (5years)
Somebody has. Brad Taylor wrote a software package (MS-DOS only...) that -- with the proper custom-made cables -- allows you to 1) run FDS games on your famicom, using the PC as a "disk drive"; 2) read FDS disks to your PC for dumping. It's a great and useful piece of software. Too bad my newer computer can't run it. :-( http://nesdev.parodius.com/fdsloadr.zip
I actually have looked into that project in the past. Its one of the things that got me interested in the disk system in the firsts place. However, replacing part of the hardware with a computer just doesn't really appeal to me. Maybe If I get a second disk system, I'll try it. And anyway, to get the full benefit of this great program, you still need a working drive belt.
OK, suit yourself. The question of getting "full benefit" from the program doesn't really make sense to me, since the two features (playing .FDS files / dumping FDS disks) are mutually exclusive. I have no FDS disks that have never been dumped before, so the second feature of the program is not so useful to me.
You probably have some FDS disks that haven't been cleanly dumped before though. Wish people would dump new sealed disks instead of grubby saved-on ones heh
