floppy drive problems

[pez421]

Hi,

Just fitted a new floppy dive because my friends old one would not reconise any discs,now the new drive will not recognise any discs either.Could it be a driver/firmware issue?

He has an old pentium 3 dell system , do not know the m/board or bios I am afraid.

Any info much appreciated.

 

[krale]

You probably got the ribbon cable upside down. Is the floppy light continously on? Please let Tek-Tips members know if their posts were helpful.

 

[Grenage]

Double check your cabling, I guess it's possible the controller on the motherboard has gone.

Any configurstion changes made recently? Does the drive not read existing disks or new ones, or both ?

 

[pez421]

Hi,

Thanks Krale and Grenage,i will look at this when I visit my friend this Friday.

regards

Dogsbollox

 

[oldbear]

make sure you put the cable on exactly..I once put the cable one pin offset...floppy doesn't work that way either...make sure pin 1 is connected correctly to the cable with the red edge...same for the controller off the motherboard. make sure the cable is plugged in completely...have seen a cable partially lifted off cause the floppy to not work...have you tried making sure the floppy is identified as the correct one in the bios...?

 

[pez421]

Hi Oldbear,

Yep it is registered correctly in the Bios,however thankyou for the tips.

regards

dogsbollox

 

[Wood2268]

I have a similar problem with 2 different computers.1Is a brand new build and the other 1 is older system that floppy was working in.I have tried new cables,new floppy drives,and triple checked the cables.I want to try a new floppy controller card next but both motherboards only have PCI slots no ISA and I haven't been able to locate a card.I really want to fix this computer for a friend of mine who is disabled and really needs and misses this computer.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BlueAlloy]

It may also be possible that you have the floppy drive power cable upside down. This could be indicated by a constantly on floppy drive LED.

 

[Wood2268]

I tried it with a floppy drive that is open on the bottom and you can actually see the motor spin and run to search the floppy but the light on the floppy drive never comes on.After an extended time period I get an error message that the drive is not ready.If the controller can make the drive spin and search I would think that it would be OK.This 1 has me pulling my hair out!

 

[edfair]

Can you enable the "seek on boot" in your CMOS? Although it is possible that light is broken that shouldn't stop it reading. But if the drive doesn't select it won't light or read.
Seek on boot should light the led and have the floppy step in then out to track 0. And the motor spin up for a second or so also.
And reseat the cable on the M/B end.
I probably would be trying to get a floppy to light up as a first step in fixing. And you have it plugged on the end of the ribbon cable?
You could try turning one end of the cable backwards. That might help you identify whether the led is blown. Won't hurt anything for the duration of the test. Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Wood2268]

The light will stay on when flip the cable.Also b4 I flip it the drive will start up and search when I click on it in Windows Explorer.It spins up and searches for an extended time b4 it gives an error message of drive not ready.But the light will not come on while it does this.I have floppy seek enabled but it never lights up when booting.

 

[edfair]

You've done everything right. If BIOS is set right it has to be the controller failing.
There have been cases where the length of the cable was an issue but I don't know if it would apply to you.
I would suspect that a PCI controller with floppy support will cost as much as a motherboard, which would be my next step.
And is drive swap enabled? Think that leads to the same type of symptoms. Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Wood2268]

I'm giving up! I'll use this motherboard in a Linux setup that I'm going to build that won't require a floppy.I've found a motherboard/cpu combo for $49 that I'm buying to replace it so my friend will have a computer.The drive is not swap enabled.Thanks again for all the help,it is greatly appreciated.