Why doesnt my floppy drive work?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by sco0by, 12 Apr 2002.

  1. sco0by

    sco0by Mmm pie.

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    Ok its been a while since I have used a floppy drive, but from what I remember, you plug it into the mobo, plug in the power, and it works. Except mine doesnt :sigh:

    Everything is plugged in as it should be, tried different floppy leads, its switched on in the bios. Windows XP can see it, but if you try and open the drive it just says "insert disk" regardless of whether there is a disk in it or not. :cries:

    I dont think its the drive as its a brand new one - although I have noticed that the floppy LED hasnt blinked once - even when rebooting.

    It wouldnt be a problem, but I need to clone my old harddrives onto my new ones, and both cloning programs (Driveimage and Norton Ghost) need bootdisks to work. Unless anyone knows of a program that can clone within windows?....

    Help please!
     
  2. jamiesurfs

    jamiesurfs Boom Boom, Cha Cha Cha!

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    You sure you've got the cable plugged into the drive the right way round? If so, how many disks have you tried, maybe they are faulty?
     
  3. xmanica

    xmanica What's a Dremel?

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    My idea exactly. If the side for pin one is not clearly marked, try putting pin 1 on the side nearest the power socket. Might be the cable, too.
     
  4. RTT

    RTT #parp

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    when the cable is connected the wrong way around the LED always stays ON to show somethings wrong - and his as he put it hasnt blinked once.

    theyre only £5-9 ish for a new one :blah:
     
  5. herbs

    herbs Nobody but us chickens

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    Edited coz it was case I didn't read the first post properly :(
     
    Last edited: 12 Apr 2002
  6. sco0by

    sco0by Mmm pie.

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    The cables are definately plugged in the right way - there are tabs on both the drive and the mobo to make sure you cant plug it in the wrong way round.

    I tried both my old cable that used to work and a new cable that came with my dragon.

    The floppy itself is a brand new Panasonic one, I tried my old floppy but that did the same.

    Im starting to wonder of the FDC controller on the mobo is screwed.....
     
  7. sco0by

    sco0by Mmm pie.

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    Hehehe well whadda ya know - floppy cables have 2 connectors, like IDE cables do. However - the middle connector on a floppy cable differes from the one at the end, which has a couple of twisted wires. If you use the connector in the middle of the lead - the drive wont work properly - if you use the one at then end - it works fine! :blush: doh! :rolleyes:
     

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