floppy light stays on

[amandawhite]

hi i am just setting up a system i put together, i have put everything in the atx box, i started up the computer and it ran fine. i go into bios to set boot sequence to floppy, ide0 then cdrom, now i turn the computer on and the floppy light stays on and the system does not boot up at all, just black screen. the fans come on in the atx box so power is in there. i tried swapping the floppy drive with another i have that i know works and the same thing happened, light stayed on black screen. i tried turning floppy cables around in case i put them on wrong way round but dont work. can anybody give me an idea why floppy light stays on and i cant get a boot up?

 

[smah]

The most common cause is the floppy cable turned around backwards. But if you've already tried turning it around, try a different cable.

 

[Grenage]

I'm in agreement with Smah here. I have been guilty of this mistake myself.

 

[BadBigBen]

Check your BIOS settings and see if the FDD is at all ENABLED (some mobo's allow you to disable the FDD controller), set the menu item 'Floppy Seek' to DISABLE, also set the menu item 'Drive A:' to 3.5" 1.44mb Floppy Disk (found under Standard CMOS settings, where you set time and HDD functions)...

question: do you really need the FDD? if not (installs of OS can be done with CD-ROM alone these days), then disable it in the BIOS aswell as reset your Boot Sequence to CD-ROM, HDD and nothing else...

Ben


If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[ceh4702]

The Hard drive end of the floppy cable might be plugged into the motherboard. The cable may just need to be twisted also so the Number 1 pin plugs into the proper side. Some floppy drives are not marked well, and sometimes the floppy drive just malfunctions.


Definitely check the BIOS some motherboards have a floppy boot setting and a setting for what type of floppy used.

You might also just disconnect the floppy power cable and data cable and reboot, and see if it works like that. I usually use the boot order, Floppy, CDROM, C:\, unless I just dont use a floppy. The floppy drive is about a useless storage medium which only has the purpose of flashing the BIOS; It's days are numbered!

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[Grenage]

The floppy drive is about a useless storage medium which only has the purpose of flashing the BIOS

And even now, modern boards allow you to flash the BIOS from within windows.

 

[AckNack]

One end of the floppy cable looks like it has a split in it and the center of the split looks like it is twisted. This is the end that connects to the A: drive. The opposite end to the motherboard.

Find pin 1 on the floppy connector on the motherboard and plug the cable in with the stripe (usually red) towards pin 1.

On the floppy drive, usually it's hard to find pin 1 (where the stripe also goes), so give it your best guess. Usually goes where there is a round cylinder-looking thing (this is the actuator motor), but not always.

Turn on the computer. If the light comes on immediately, then shut down the computer and reverse the connection at the drive. The light should only come on briefly during POST.

AckNack@diypctech.com

 

[micker377]

Make sure none of the pins on the drive are bent.

 

[edfair]

There may be a pin missing of the 34, if so it will be pin 3. The connector generally is a right angle header and the solder pads are normally round except for pin 1 which is square (usually).
You can also get the problem if the header is seated one pin off. Connectors without a shell are susceptable to the problem.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[amandawhite]

but i cant flash the bios, the computer will not run. the fans come on, there is no start up beep and the screen dos not show any dos action, it just satys pure black. i have made sure the floppy cable is the way its supposed to be too.

 

[ceh4702]

The drive gets power from the power supply so the light may come on, but if the motherboard was grounding out or was malfunctioning it may not even work properly enough to do a bootstrap or to display video.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[AckNack]

I think we may have all gotten off track here, myself included.

You say the computer ran fine until you changed the boot sequence.

Go into CMOS setup and put all your changes back to their original settings. If you can't remember what you changed, use the option from the main Setup menu "Load Setup Defaults" or "Load Optimal Defaults" or "Load Failsafe Defaults".

If you still get nothing, take the floppy physically out of the picture: unplug the power cable and data cable to the floppy drive.

Sometimes when plugging in the floppy power cable, it's easy to catch just three of the four pins or even plug it in upside down. But catching 3 of the 4 pins usually causes the fans to not spin at all, except the CPU fan may just "nudge" a little. And plugging it in upside down usually results in a very nasty burnt smell (not good).

I don't recommend flashing the BIOS at this point as the computer was working before changes were made.

Electrostatic Discharge may be a possibility. Were you careful to wear an antistatic wrist strap or touch the case frame before touching anything inside?

AckNack

http://www.diypctech.com

 

[edfair]

Time to pull everything off the board except the power coming in, the power on switch, the kbd cable and the video cable. If you can't get POST and to BIOS there you go another step back and do it with the board external to the box to eliminate the possiblity of the board having traces grounded.
If not joy there you probably have a bad M/B, or possibly memory.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hola, are you using a NEW PSU or a used one? check all connections from the PSU to the various 'USERS' especially the mobo... then check to see if the GFX card is seated correctly (slight variance can cause the symptoms described)...

Clear the CMOS, thereafter... Make sure that HS-Fan is correctly installed... Reseat RAM module(s)...

Do what EDFAIR suggested, remove the Mobo from case, then take a look at the mounting points, remove any that don't belong there (got a notion that what you are experiencing is a short between the mobo and case)...

Ben


If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...