floppy drive problemo

[mad hampster]

My idiot roomate seems to have damaged my floppy disk controller. Now, when I hook up the floppy drive, the light turns on when I boot but it STAYS on permaneantly. I tried another drive but had the same problem, Im sure that i connecterd everything correctly because the cables have blocked pins to prevent me from putting them in backwards. SO does this mean my floppy disk controller is messed up? If so, how much does it cost to repair? Oh and btw, can you boot off zip drives? If I can, ill just dump this **** thing and get one of those.

[Eli]

There may be a blocked pin on the floppy end of the cable... But what about the controller end? Have you checked to see if it's backwards? The floppy is enabled in the BIOS? The drive is on the right connector? Umm... Can you try the drive in another system? Try another cable perhaps? That should cover it, assuming there haven't been any jumpers knocked loose...

[jl123]

Eli is right. If everything seems ok then I'm guessing it's the IDE cable.

~Joel

[mad hampster]

ive tried two cables so far and made sure they were in the right way, no luck but ill keep tryin

[grunt]

Definately try another cable. (see you did that)

Make sure floppy controller is enabled

Make sure correct drive is specified - 3.5" 1.44MB

Still be sure the cable is plugged in right on the board and drive. The board should be marked with a 1 - the red stripe is pin1. Most floppies are not marked but, looking at the back of the drive, pin1 is usually on the left. Not ALWAYS though.

BTW, what did he do to screw it up?

[This message has been edited by grunt (edited 08-03-2000).]

[tonym]

hampster,

light always on = reversed cable!

Whenever I put a system together I ALWAYS fall for the backwards floppy cable ploy!!

And the symptom is the activity LED on the drive ALWAYS stays lit.

My bet is if you reverse the connector orientation on the mobo you'll be fine!

Good luck...


Tony

[KAknight]

Tony's right - remember the red stripe on the side of the cable goes towards the power supply.

[mad hampster]

man I feel like an idiot, thanks that fixed it.