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Troubleshooting

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David Madison edited this page Apr 27, 2017 · 7 revisions

General Tips

If you're getting any kind of error message, try searching for it on Google. The Internet is full of helpful information!

The Moppy setup has a lot of moving parts, so if something's going wrong it's helpful to examine each piece of the system to make sure it's functioning correctly. Since information essentially flows in one direction (from the MIDI file all the way to the floppy drive), it's best to start at the control end of things:

Control Software

  • Make sure you can run the MoppyDesk software in NetBeans. If no window is opening when you press "Run", take a look at the "Output" area of NetBeans to see if there is an error message there.
  • On the right side of the MoppyDesk window, make sure you have enabled each channel that you have connected to a drive. Also ensure that the Moppy Serial port you have selected is the same serial port that you have your Arduino connected to.
  • Try using one of the included sample MIDIs with all of the filter and pooling options disabled. These MIDI files should at least play notes on drives 1 through 3.

Arduino

  • When you play a MIDI file in the MoppyDesk application, the RX light on your Arduino should blink in time with the song that you've chosen. If this is the case, the application is correctly transmitting data to the Arduino.
  • Make sure the Arduino code uploaded to your Arduino successfully. The Arduino IDE is pretty quiet about errors, so look closely at the output window to make sure it says the code was uploaded successfully.

Floppy Drive

  • Check to see that the LED on the floppy drive has turned on. This indicates that the drive is selected. If it's not on, try using a different drive select option (A vs B). Refer to the floppy pinout as needed.
  • Some floppy drives require a disk to actually be inserted into the drive before they will be selected. It's possible to fake this without a disk by pushing on the correct lever though.
  • Once the LED is on, with the DIRECTION pin grounded, you should be able to tap the STEP pin on a grounded conductor to manually step the drive forward. With the DIRECTION pin floating (not grounded), tapping the STEP pin should move the drive backward.

Wiring

  • Make sure you've connected the ground pins (odd-numbered pins) from the floppy drive, to the ground pin on the Arduino. This is important because the Arduino will be communicating to the floppy drive by pulsing certain pins to "ground", and the two devices will need to agree on what this is.
  • If your drives are just rhythmically clicking instead of playing notes, you may have your STEP and DIRECTION pins crossed. Try switching these.

My IDC Cable has a twist in it at one end, what is the PINOUT now?

The twist is there to specify whether the drive is drive A or drive B. You can ignore this and connect as follows:

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