Why can't i get my floppy to work on new system?? [Archive]

Makave7i Tha Don

02-17-2005, 08:34 AM

I just put my new system together, with an Asus A8N mobo and i can't get my floppy drive to work. It won't boot any disks or even make the sound like it's checking it. The light comes on and it stays lit up, instead of just lighting up when it's in use. I tried a different floppy cable, a different floppy power cable, and a different floppy drive, what else could it be?

Makave7i Tha Don

02-17-2005, 08:48 AM

the voice tells me "no floppy drive detected"

compslckr

02-17-2005, 08:54 AM

gotta ask....

why do you need a floppy? the other day my programming professor told everyone to turn in their project and more than 70% of the class thought it was a joke and did not have floppy drives in their computers.

it sounds like you have tried just about everything, do you have another floppy drive you can try out?

Party2go9820

02-17-2005, 09:12 AM

Classic symptoms. If the drive activity light is on solid the cable is backwards. Flip it over and you should be good to go.

Bullitt

02-17-2005, 10:16 AM

Classic symptoms. If the drive activity light is on solid the cable is backwards. Flip it over and you should be good to go.

Heh, yep. Textbook. Isnt that in the motherboard manuals nowadays? I remember it being in big bold red on every mobo I've built, but I stopped using floppys so I havent checked anything in the last 2 years.

Makave7i Tha Don

02-17-2005, 11:57 AM

well, i NEED a floppy to install SATA drivers and such when i install windows. And just to confirm, i did go through this on my last system come to think of it, but the cable can only go one way because of the little tab on the top of the ide connector. I remember breaking that tab off last time. Is that what i gotta do this time too?

thanks

Eric

Makave7i Tha Don

02-17-2005, 11:59 AM

which one is backwards too btw, the one on the floppy or the one on the mobo?

Makave7i Tha Don

02-17-2005, 12:05 PM

it's ALIVE!!! mhuahaha!

defakto

02-17-2005, 12:06 PM

Just flip whatever one you can over doesn't matter as long as one side of the cable is flipped.

Octave

02-17-2005, 12:35 PM

HAH....gotta love the floppy drive backwards...
i did this yesterday not to mention....twice....i can never tell which way that damn cable goes.....ah well.
ya....its ass backwards....
wtf do you need a floppy to install your SATA drives?..i installed mine fine without one

insanarchist

02-17-2005, 12:44 PM

Some mobos/os's need the drivers, some don't. Kinda like w/ scsi...

feigned

02-17-2005, 01:18 PM

Just flip whatever one you can over doesn't matter as long as one side of the cable is flipped.

Doesn't the twist in the middle of the cable need to be on the device "end" of the cable?

Department of Redundancy Department.

Party2go9820

02-17-2005, 02:31 PM

HAH....gotta love the floppy drive backwards...
i did this yesterday not to mention....twice....i can never tell which way that damn cable goes.....ah well.
ya....its ass backwards....
wtf do you need a floppy to install your SATA drives?..i installed mine fine without one

You need the drivers to install Win2k/XP on some SATA devices.

Octave

02-17-2005, 04:58 PM

Doesn't the twist in the middle of the cable need to be on the device "end" of the cable?

Department of Redundancy Department.
I believe he was talking about turning the connector on the device 180 degrees .....like flip it upsidedown....

feigned

02-18-2005, 02:00 AM

I believe he was talking about turning the connector on the device 180 degrees .....like flip it upsidedown....

Of course, but the cable can go either way too.

Rounded cables make it into a little guessing game. ;)

TimothyB

02-18-2005, 02:10 AM

hmm, my floppy has it's light on all the time and doesn't work. I thought it was ruined after I turned on a new computer with one of the floppy power pins of to the side missing the power connector. A flash and smoke came out, half of one of the power pins on the floppy was burnt off. Since its light does go on maybe it could be this upside down cable thing. I'm also using rounded cables.

So did this person actually chip the tab off inorder to flip the cable upside down on the floppy end to make it work. He only commented that it was alive without saying exactly what he did.

defakto

02-18-2005, 08:13 AM

hmm, my floppy has it's light on all the time and doesn't work. I thought it was ruined after I turned on a new computer with one of the floppy power pins of to the side missing the power connector. A flash and smoke came out, half of one of the power pins on the floppy was burnt off. Since its light does go on maybe it could be this upside down cable thing. I'm also using rounded cables.

So did this person actually chip the tab off inorder to flip the cable upside down on the floppy end to make it work. He only commented that it was alive without saying exactly what he did.

Not all floppy cable have tabs on them, and even alot of drives don't have tabs on them. Especially slightly older drives. I've got alot of those laying around that just have the pins on the back, but no plastic around them with the tab cutout so you know which way to plug them in. You ever get teh ide cables without tabs on them? Those are fun trying to figure out which way it goes into the motherboard.

Though, if the power cable was plugged in wrong on teh one you're talking about, it's probably toast as voltage goes where it wasn't meant to.

Party2go9820

02-18-2005, 09:12 AM

hmm, my floppy has it's light on all the time and doesn't work. I thought it was ruined after I turned on a new computer with one of the floppy power pins of to the side missing the power connector. A flash and smoke came out, half of one of the power pins on the floppy was burnt off. Since its light does go on maybe it could be this upside down cable thing. I'm also using rounded cables.

So did this person actually chip the tab off inorder to flip the cable upside down on the floppy end to make it work. He only commented that it was alive without saying exactly what he did.

You could try it as switching the cable can't hurt it further, but if you let the magic smoke out it probably isn't going to work ever again.

The only sure-fire way to know that the ribbon cable is orientated properly is to hope your drive's pins and cable are labeled. The red stripe ALWAYS goes to pin #1. If the pins aren't labeled or your cable isn't striped, you've got a 50-50 chance of getting it right.

insanarchist

02-18-2005, 10:33 AM

...You ever get teh ide cables without tabs on them? Those are fun trying to figure out which way it goes into the motherboard...

Wait, don't even the old ones have a pin removed/blanket out so you can plug it in only one way? Maybe not...

feigned

02-18-2005, 05:21 PM

Wait, don't even the old ones have a pin removed/blanket out so you can plug it in only one way? Maybe not...

Some, not all. It's a more recent thing (5 years?).

There used to not even be the color-coded plastic around the IDE/floppy ports on motherboards. Bare terminals. :D

insanarchist

02-18-2005, 05:51 PM

Some, not all. It's a more recent thing (5 years?).

There used to not even be the color-coded plastic around the IDE/floppy ports on motherboards. Bare terminals. :D

Ahh, thanks for clearing that up. (bare terminals?! Stuff must have gotten bent quickly!)

defakto

02-18-2005, 11:14 PM

hehe, it's interesting i had a drive where teh pins bent at increasing angles as you approached one side because of trying to pull off a tight fitting floppy cable.

Bullitt

02-19-2005, 04:17 PM

Just as a side-note, Nlite will create a custom boot CD for your windows installation. You can even incorporate Text-mode (aka floppy disk sata) drivers in the thing so there's no hunting for a floppy cable, working floppy, etc etc.

I'm sure other custom installation proggies will do it to, I havent used them.

Floppy drive? Whats that? :D