Hello,

I have problem with floppy drive. On booting up m/c floppy drive led stays on. Then in dos window if I try to change drive to a: after inserting a 1.44 floppy in it the drive steel rotor spins and never stops as long as floppy is in drive and dos message is:
Not ready reading drive A
Abort, retry, Fail?

Now I tried to swap power cable positions and then also 34pin cable positions but all give Floppy Drive A: error initially and except one combination but led stays on in that situation and as things happen as described above.

If floppy connection/controller on Motherboard is bad what should I do?


I am on 486DX2 with win98.

Please respond to:
miten_s_mehta@hotmail.com

Thanks.

Did you just install this floppy drive or has it been working up until now? If it's new, I suspect the cable positions are not correct. If the problem just started with a floppy drive that used to work properly, it's possible the drive has gone bad, especially if you haven't changed anything inside the computer.

First, look closely at your 34-pin cable. You should see a thin (often red) stripe running along one side of it. The striped side corresponds to pin 1 on your motherboard floppy controller. Pin 1 is usually marked on the motherboard, but it's often quite small and hard to see. Most of the time all the pin 1's face the same direction, so if you can't see the marking on the board, try plugging it in the same direction the stripes on the other cables are plugged in. Use a bright light to look closely at the pins on the board to be sure none are bent over, and be sure you aren't accidentally plugging in the cable offcenter, missing the pins on either end. This is very easy to do, especially on older motherboards that don't have a pre-formed slot around the pins.

Next, on the other end, try plugging the cable into the floppy drive with the striped side facing the power plug. Although I've seen exceptions, most seem to have pin 1 next to the power plug. Here again, look closely at the pins on the back of the drive to be sure none are bent or missed when you plug in the cable.

You probably don't, but on the off chance you have any extra floppy power plugs coming from your power supply, also try using a different one. Occasionally power leads go bad. I think they only plug in one way, but also check those pins to be sure they're not bent. Bent pins can sometimes be straightened using a pair of tweezers, but be VERY careful and don't bend them too much. You don't want them to break off.

The symptoms you're describing with the LED light staying on steadily and the "Not ready reading drive A, Abort, Retry, Fail?" error usually means the cable positions are not right. When you boot up, the floppy LED should come on briefly and then go off, unless there is a disk in the drive. (By the way, try another floppy disk - the one you're using might be bad.)

Now, if the floppy drive still doesn't work, shut down and only change the cable end on the back of the drive. Boot up and see if it works. If not, shut down again and change the other end on the motherboard. Boot again. Change only one thing at a time, and unless the motherboard connector or the drive itself is bad, you'll hit upon the right combination. Unless you have access to a repair shop, if the motherboard connection is bad you'll have to get a new board.

Hope this helps, and please don't be offended if I've explained everything in too much detail. I don't mean to insult your intelligence - I just don't know how much experience you have in computers and I wanted to be sure I gave you enough information. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Kim