In his latest repair session, Jan Beta tackles a faulty Panasonic JU-253 floppy disk drive from his Amiga 600. The machine, previously recapped and upgraded, began rejecting disks despite the drive motor engaging. Jan suspects the problem lies within the drive itself rather than the computer.
Opening the Amiga reveals a clean interior with Kickstart 3.2, RGB-to-HDMI, and a Furia accelerator. The focus, however, is the JU-253 drive, which still contains its original surface-mount capacitors. Jan recalls similar failures on his Amiga 1200, where a degraded capacitor caused identical symptoms.
Pinpointing the Fault
Inspection reveals one suspicious 10µF surface-mount electrolytic capacitor. Testing confirms its capacitance is far below spec. Removal uncovers visible leakage and corrosion underneath, a common issue for early ’90s capacitors. Jan cleans the board thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol before installing a replacement capacitor.
While the drive is open, he cleans the worm gear and lubricates it with silicone grease, mirroring the original factory method. The read/write heads are also cleaned to ensure smooth operation.
Testing with Amiga Test Kit
With the new capacitor installed, Jan partially reassembles the Amiga 600 and tests the drive using the Amiga Test Kit software. The drive spins up immediately—something it hadn’t done before. Motor control, stepping, and signal tests all pass, and the read test confirms the heads are properly aligned.
The Panasonic JU-253 is fully functional again, proving that a single faulty capacitor was the root cause. Jan hints that more videos on this Amiga 600 are planned, as he aims to make it a dependable machine for both play and productivity.
