Sunday, April 22, 2012

SY77 floppy drive repair/replacement

I picked up a Yamaha SY77 last week. Except for a minor scratch (5 x 2 mm) it is in mint condition. However, the floppy drive is not working, something quite common with these I think. I will open it up tonight to see if it is only the drive belt. The synth can be used without the floppy, so it doesn't worry me that it is not working, but it would be nice to have it back in fully working condition.

The display backlight is a bit dim too, I have found a replacement on Ebay that I may buy.

All in all a very nice machine, one of the last in the line that started with the DX7.

To open the synth, put it upside down on something soft. Unscrew all the screws you can see on the underside - 20 in all on my SY77. Carefully lift the bottom plate and push it towards the front of the synth as soon as it clears the edge of the plastic parts.

You now have access to the floppy drive. The drive is located under the gray steel bracket towards the back of the right side (when upside down) of the synth. The bracket is held in place by three screws.

The floppy is attached to the main circuit board via a rather long ribbon cable, so removing it is very easy. It is not possible to detach the ribbon cable from the floppy without unscrewing the lid, so remove it from the circuit board side.


 The floppy is screwed to the bracket with four black screws. Remove them and you will have access to the drive belt.


After removing the bracket, it was very easy to spot the problem - the drive belt had snapped. Replacements are available online for around $17, so this should be an easy fix :)



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