CLEANING THE DISK DRIVE

I own a C-64 and a 1541 disk drive. I have cleaned the disk head with two different cleaning kits. However, neither kit had instructions on how to turn on the motor and lower the head for the 30-60 seconds that is recommended.

The best I have been able to do is use LOAD"$",8 for the directory many times. Even this does not work after a few attempts.

The easiest way to spin the disk drive motor and engage the head is with the use of the DOS utility commands, (NEW, SCRATCH, VERIFY,etc.). Now place the cleaning disk into the disk drive, close the door, and enter the following commands:

   OPEN 15,8,15
   PRINT #15,"I"

   Entering the PRINT#15,"I" command three or four times should spin the disk long enough to fully clean the head. After cleaning the drive, enter:   CLOSE 15 After cleaning, and before using the disk drive, you might want to wait a few minutes. This will allow any residual cleaning fluid to dry, and reduce the possibility of contamination a good disk.