HELP WITH FLOPPY DRIVE!!!!!!

[Sgraffito]

Hey, I (and all my computer techie freinds) are TOTALLY stumped on this one! My floppy drive isn't working! Whenever I click on the icon it just says "Device not ready" or "Cannot read from specified device" It does that with any disc. I tried re-installing the drivers, switching IDE cables, using a different power source, and different floppy drive, changing settings in BIOS, EVERYTHING!!! This is kinda an emergency, 'cause I need it for schoolwork, and 2 newsletters!!!!

Thanx!

-Sgraffito

[Comage]

Does the light of your FDD stay on? If so, then you've got your FDD cables plugged in upside down.

If the light doesn't stay on, then I'm stumped. Most likely it's a faulty FDD.

[Mr.Goodbytes]

Could be a bad floppy ribbon too. That was the case with me just recently. It was working fine, then BAM, "Device not ready." Luckily I had an extra ribbon lying around.

[NDC]

It could also be possible that the FDD itself is bad... :(

[Sgraffito]

The light doesn't come on at all, I already tried flipping cables, I tried new ribbons, and a new floppy drive!!!

-Sgraffito

[Xeroid]

About all that is left is the floppy power cable or the motherboard. Do you have access to a Voltmeter? The output for the floppy power cable is as follows:


Pin 1) red.............+5 volts D.C.

Pin 2) black...........Ground

Pin 3) black...........Ground

Pin 4) yellow.........+12 volts D.C.


Mike

[ragtop]

Could be a problem with the floppy drive controller. Make sure the floppy controller is enabled in BIOS, make sure BIOS is also set for the correct type of floppy drive, make sure you're plugging the drive into the correct ribbon cable socket (the end one, after the twist in the cable). Make sure the floppy is being detected on bootup.

If none of that helps, it could be a bad controller on the motherboard.

[cadetstimpy]

When you tried a different floppy drive was it a different brand of drive? I've seen a motherboard/ floppy brand incompatibility before (i.e. TYAN S1470 PCB 1 will not work with a Mitsumi floppy drive)

Also, each time you test the drive use a new floppy or keep cross checking the floppy disks in a working system (check read and write)- just in case floppy disks are getting ruined with each check, thus making it harder to troubleshoot.

Does the existing floppy drive work in another system? If it does, then considering everything you've done so far, chances are the controller is bad.

[Explorer]

It looks like you've already tried all the likely solutions to your problem. You've tried different discs, changed the cables, reinstalled the floppy drivers, tried a different power source, checked the BIOS settings, and even changed the drive.

I note you said "switching IDE cables". As you likely know, an IDE cable is for hard drives, the floppy cable is a different cable. Did you try changing it?

You might try right-clicking on My Computer, selecting Properties, then selecting the Device Manager tab, and then removing the entry for the floppy disc under Disk Drives, and removing the entry for Standard Floppy Disk Controller under Floppy Disk Controllers, and re-booting. Hopefully, you've just got a problem with these entries, and not a bad motherboard. Windows should detect the floppy on re-boot and re-install the appropriate software. If at all possible, do not let it go ahead and install drivers already on your hard drive but direct it to your Windows CD so it can copy and use fresh files.

If the above doesn't work, the only thing left is the only part of the chain left, the motherboard itself (or it's floppy controller, etc.)