Laptop Floppy drive not reading disks (new drive) 1

[frankygee]

I have and Armada 110 Laptop with W2K Pro.
The floppy drive stopped working and having tinkered with PC's for a while thought I would have a go replacing it.
Bought a Compaq replacement drive and cable and fitted it. The laptop still worked after reassembly except for the floppy drive which still had the same problem.
The drive shows as working correctly in Device Manager and appears in My Computer.
When I put a floppy in the drive, it behaves as if there is not one there. Also the drive light does not come on.
This occurs in DOS and in windows.
Before I go out and get a USB stick or floppy;
Has anyone come across this type of problem before??

 

[ski]

Make sure the the floppy drive controller enabled in BIOS.

If it is, then the controller may be defective.

 

[frankygee]

Hi Ski,
yep.. drive is enabled.
Had thought the controller might be the cause, in provious occurances a problem has been flaged in the Device Manager.
Have you ever used any diag software.
have been looking at Micro200; a bit expensive though.
Checkit and PCtools didn't look up to the job at the level I would like ie. controller testing!!!

 

[ski]

The usual way I troubleshoot computer related problems is thru trial and error, and process of elimination.

In your case, if the FD and data cable are known to work ok in another system, the FD controller is enabled in BIOS, the MB drivers have been installed, and the FD controller is shown to be working ok without any problems in Device Manager, then a bad controller is the probable cause.

 

[frankygee]

Tis what I do on PC's however it can be expensive with a laptop.
Cost me £45 to find out the floppy drive was not at fault.
thanks for the advice.
Will get a USB key and save the drive for next time!!

 

[georgewel]

Make sure the keyed cable on the floppy is in the right direction. If your floppy isn't working flip the cable and try again. Also make sure the power lead is to the floppy.

 

[frankygee]

Hi George,
thanks for the input.
Cable has only one position and has power integrated.
Since it is registered as working correctly in device manager, I have resigned my self to the fact that the on board controller is shot.