Floppy Drive: Hardware, BIOS, or Windows Issue?

[Stoney]

I have the 9NPA+Ultra motherboard and everything went well in set-up, boot-up, and it runs great -- except I can't use my floppy drive. Here is the thing:

1. The BIOS has it enabled. The Floppy Seek is also enabled. So the BIOS reads the floppy.

2. Windows recognizes it as loaded in device manager.

* But now comes the issue. When I go to load a disk a warning comes from Windows that I need to load a disk. But the disk is already loaded (I've tried several). Windows can't read or recognize the disk. Plus, the little green light that shows it is being used is always on, even when not in attempted use.

* Also, every time I go to shut down the computer, when it gets to the shutdown screen a warning pops up from Windows: "Drive A Not Ready. Please make Sure the door is closed and a Disk is inserted." What the...???

* One last thing, when I initially set up this PC I made the mistake of not having the SATA harddrive as the primary boot for a fresh install of XP and so my screen hung at the the very first screen and in order to load Windows I had to press F1 (it was corrected the next day).

While hung at this screen I would always get a Checksum error with the Floppy. Someone suggested on another forum that the loading time was too fast for this older technology, but now I am not sure this is true.

Suggestions, please. What steps do you recommend thta I take to correct. The maker of the floppy is SOney (1.44) and my OS is Windows XP Pro with SP2.

[mjc]

Plus, the little green light that shows it is being used is always on, even when not in attempted use.

That generally indicates that the cable is connected wrong. Disconnect the cable, flip it over and reconnect it.

[Stoney]

mjc, I tried switching the cable around to the floppy. Nothing. One shows the light on and it won't read a disk and the other way shows no light on. I thought I got it with no light on but it doesn't read the disk that way either. I checked out the cable to the mobo but there is only one way that can fit. All cabels are snug.

So I went back and to the original way the cable was attached the first time and... nothing. Bleh!

And now I am getting a major warning from the PC with a blue screen of death message (actually this is #2 warning): "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer."

It then tells me: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL And then it went off before I could write down any more. It certainly is a weird error.

Unfortunately I don't have another floppy and try buying a black one at the local Staples, Best Buy, etc. is impossible -- I've tried.

As far as I know I have everything enabled in the BIOS that I should. I have USB Shadow enabled. That shouldn't make a difference should it?

I went through the entire Device manager and it says everything is working. The BIOS has it enabled and Windows sees this floppy.

Bad floppy or cable.

[mjc]

For the Driver_IRQL error see:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;293077

Try a different floppy cable or try that drive in a different machine.

If nothing then try here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010020013&Submit=ENE&Subcategory=13&Description=flopy+drive&Ntk=all)

[Stoney]

mjc, you were 100% correct, it was the cable being set backwards. Why it didn't work the first time I now suspect the original connector to the floppy was defective. When I tried another one, same cable, it worked. It doesn't help in the least that Sony has two notches where you connect.

But now I've run into more issues. The floppy is fine and running, but now I am not sure of the POST numbers I am receiving. After the floppy began working I noticed that the POST Led read-out was slowly fluctuating between the numbers 29-36; didn't do this before. No beeps at all. This is a Phoenix Award BIOS 6.0 version; the only thing I could find online was the 4.0 version which does me no good.

I shut off my PC and let it sit for a couple of hours and when I restarted the mobo counted through a series of POST numbers until it got to FF which is good.

But I was soon getting these POST led read outs again, in the same range between and including 29-36 with, again, no beeps. Only this time it has been sitting at POST #30. The mobo manual doesn't even list this post. I went to Borders and looked through PC Repair manuals and they didn't have the non-Beep Post explanations, except one and that didn't list #30.

The older PhoenixBIOS 4.4 says that if the BIOS detects error 30 (base 512K RAM error) it displays an additional word-bitmap (xxxx) indicating the address line or bits that failed. The thing is the POST Led never gave the additional word-bitmap. But can the 4.0 version supply what I need forthe 6.0 I now have?


CPU-Z shows all slots working. I have 2 Gigs of Crucial Ballistix PC 3200 revision 16TG -the 8TG sticks were the problem.

Now my configuration is 4x512 (too long of a story to explain) which my EPoX 9NPA+Ultra set perfectly at 2T/200 mghz.

Are there any online programs (free) whereby I can test my RAM to see if it is functioning? All suggestions welcomed.

[mjc]

http://www.memtest86.com/

[Stoney]

mjc, I'll run the memtest. I had another blue screen warning about Windows needing to be shut down. So now I know it wasn't related to the floppy.

It gave the following tech info:

*** STOP: 0X0000000D1, (0X00000000, 0X00000002, 0X00000000, 0XA9CC87FC)

*** afd.sys - Address A9CC87FC base@ A9CBB000, DateStamp 41107eb5

Then it went on to dump physical memory and once completed it rebooted. I am totally out of my league here. I'll do the Mem test and take it from there. At this point it could be anything. Bad RAM can cause these issues though, could't it? I went to bioscentral.com and a POST 30 means what I previously posted.

[mjc]

Yeah, bad RAM can cause these sorts of errors...

[Stoney]

Well, mjc, it seems the reason Windows was giving me a Stop ERROR as I listed earlier had to do with my Logitech mouse driver. Logitech mice with backward and forward button capabilities have issues with a certain Windows 32 kernall. The answer: download the latest driver. So sinple and yet...

Now for the MemTest 86+ issues...

I downloaded MemTest 86+ version 1.65 correctly, unzipped it correctly, extracted all files, and then loaded the Install on a floppy correctly. But when I go to reboot with the floppy in the drive it won't do anything but load right back to windows.

I have attempted this several times with several disks. I even downloaded version 1.65 again and loaded it on another floppy -- again. Yes, I left the floppy in the drive every time I rebooted but it always reboots back to Windows -- always.

Any ideas? I really need to test my RAM to see if my RAM is truly having issues or if the LED POST read-out is wrong.

My OS is Windows XP Pro with SP2.

[mjc]

Probably need to make sure that the floppy is listed as the first boot device in the BIOS

[Stoney]

Sorry for so many of the posts, but you were correct in your advice, mjc.

I ran MemTest86+ for over 4 hours straight and received 5 Pass with no errors. Is this good? The only thing I didn't have time for was test #9 which is to be done manually and takes a full three hours.

So my computer passes five times. Faulty Led read-out issue here? Or am I looking at something else that the mobo is trying to tell me, but what? Oh, one more thing, the whole time I ran this test, the POST read FF.

[mjc]

Hmm....maybe the sticks of RAM just weren't seated well.

I've seen that happen a time or two. Since you've pulled them a couple of times and reseated them that could have finally got them seated.

After five runs, I think it should be good to go, though I'd be tempted to let the thing loop overnight and see what it says sometime tomorrow.

[Stoney]

mjc, thanks for hanging with me on this; here is the latest.

Ran MemTest86+ tests 1-8 for 13hrs and 50min with 17 Pass and no errors.

Ran test 9 one time and had a Pass with no errors (do I need to do more here?).

I have run a indepth diagnostics on my Seagate SATA and it passed 100%.

Motherboard stayed at FF throught the overnight testing right through to 5:30 this evening. It stayed at FF even as Windows began loading and then when it came to the clients window (where everyone has their own icon to click on their particular setting) it went through a series of POST numbers but then back to FF and remained at FF.


However, once I clicked on my personal screen then the board started running through the numbers and it is sitting at 35. I do have USDM but I turned it off and yet it sits at Post #35.

As for temperature both BIOS and USDM show well within safe parameters.

At this point I have done no ocing nor have I fiddled with BIOS settings other than what is required. All fans are working at proper RPM. PSU maybe? I am shooting in the dark here.

I already have one ticket into EPoX. They'll be getting a whole lot bigger one,you can bet.

[mjc]

About the only thing I can think of right now is some sort of power management conflict...

Can you boot into Safe Mode?

If so, try disabling all the power management features in your account.

How about any other logins?

Do they go all the way through to the desktop?

[Stoney]

Well, mjc, the following is from Judas over at PC perspective. His words echo an rseven over at Overclockers forum who said that he always disabled this particular led readout because he never trusted it. Judas wrote:

"It's not uncommon for the EPoX POST Diag to start "flipping out" after the post process is done and you are booting into windows. It's only relevant if you are having boot issues before the hard drive starts booting. (I've owned over a dozen different epox model boards. Some do this "flipping out"; other do not. None of the systems had issues being indicated by the card)"

I've had no boot issues whatsoever so it may very well be what Judas indicates. I'll be waiting (and probably waiting a long time) for EPoX's official replies. Until then the PC runs fine and I've had no crashes, no freezes, and notemperature issues at all. All fans, cards, and drives are working.

As I said, thanks for hanging with me on this.

[mjc]

If it is working then, follow the old adage, and let it be....

I don't ever remember working with/on an EPoX board, so I really wouldn't know one way or another about their idiosyncracies, but it does sound reasonable. By the time it is into the OS the POST routine should be totally finished and the diagnostic LEDs shouldn't really be needed any more.

[Stoney]

mjc, last post on this one. Soon after I received this information from Judas, EPoX responded with the same information. Once it is fully booted I was to disregard anything from the POST screen. The thing is I never read of anyone having this "issue" so I couldn't figure what, if anything, was wrong. Obviously nothing was wrong. Live and learn.

[mjc]

OK, that's that then...case closed. :)