[Coco] [CoCo] Frustrated in Seattle

[Ed Orbea]

A solution has been found, maybe not the best solution, but a solution 
never the less.
Bases upon  the input from the members of this list:
(a) HD 3.5" floppies can be used as 720kb disks, but are not reliable
(b) HD 3.5" drive can utilize 720kb 3.5" disks as long as it properly 
senses them, which is why the density hole on HD 3.5" disks is covered
(c) Many list members are using HD 3.4" drives and have not made 
pin/jumper changes or descriptor changes.

Thus everything pointed to the media or the actual drives I am using, so 
until the 720kb disks I purchase arrive, I tried different drives. Using 
TEAC FD-235HF drives, series 6xxxx (the drives that the only jumper is 
the ds0/ds1 block) has allowed me to achieve success using HD floppies 
with the density hole tapes over. I assume that when the 720kb disks 
arrive, I will still be successful. I do not know what jumpers on the 
other TEAC drives we set wrong or were causing conflicts, but when I 
replace those drives, the problems went away.

The moral of this story seems to be:
(a) Use working floppy drives that have a minimal number of jumpers, but 
the jumpers they must have are the drive (ds0/ds1) select jumpers
(b) Use working floppy drives that have working density sensors
(c) Ask for help

So, Thanks to Everybody for their input.

Ed