Floppy drive won't work

[Alan Meyer]

I have a new computer with an MSI K7N2G-L motherboard
(Nvidia NForce2 chipset) and an Athlon XP 2600+ CPU.
I installed a brand new Samsung floppy disk drive ordered
from newegg, but it didn't work. I shifted the floppy to my
old Dell Dimension T700 and it worked there. I then put
the old Dell floppy in the new case and tested with the MSI
motherboard. That worked fine. But, using the same cables, the
Samsung would not work. Windows XP reports a timeout. Linux
(Redhat 9.0) reports a whole slew of errors.

I thought maybe some timing on the drive was just slightly off and
sent it back to newegg, who sent me another one (same Samsung
model but different serial number - so it's a different physical drive.)
But that won't work either. It gets the same errors.

I have no problem tossing the drive. It only cost $7.00, but I don't
want to order another one unless I have some hope of it working.

Yes, yes, I know I can get along without a floppy. But it is a
convenience. I'd like to get it working if I can.

Has anyone got any ideas here - either to make the Samsung work
or to recommend a floppy known to work with this motherboard?

Thanks.

 

[James]

I have a new computer with an MSI K7N2G-L motherboard
(Nvidia NForce2 chipset) and an Athlon XP 2600+ CPU.
I installed a brand new Samsung floppy disk drive ordered
from newegg, but it didn't work. I shifted the floppy to my
old Dell Dimension T700 and it worked there. I then put
the old Dell floppy in the new case and tested with the MSI
motherboard. That worked fine. But, using the same cables, the
Samsung would not work. Windows XP reports a timeout. Linux
(Redhat 9.0) reports a whole slew of errors.

I thought maybe some timing on the drive was just slightly off and
sent it back to newegg, who sent me another one (same Samsung
model but different serial number - so it's a different physical drive.)
But that won't work either. It gets the same errors.

I have no problem tossing the drive. It only cost $7.00, but I don't
want to order another one unless I have some hope of it working.

Yes, yes, I know I can get along without a floppy. But it is a
convenience. I'd like to get it working if I can.

Has anyone got any ideas here - either to make the Samsung work
or to recommend a floppy known to work with this motherboard?

Thanks.

Have you tried the Floppy cable the other way round on this drive?
Maybe it does not have standard i/o - worth a try.

 

[Damianin]

Sure, try to change the floppy cable round. I`ve got the Samsung floppy too
and first pin from the left side should be connected with labelled wire of
floppy cable. It can be done incorrect already.

 

[Alan Meyer]

Have you tried the Floppy cable the other way round on this drive?
Maybe it does not have standard i/o - worth a try.

James,

Is that really safe? I don't know the pinouts on the floppy cables, but I'm
leery of turning it around. I've never heard of anything like that. Have
you
done it? Did it make a failed floppy work? Did it make a working floppy
fail? Did it have no effect?

Thanks.

Alan

 

[Hermes Conrad]

Try the cable the other way around like previous posts have suggested , dont
worry it wont kill anything

 

[James]

James,

Is that really safe? I don't know the pinouts on the floppy cables, but I'm
leery of turning it around. I've never heard of anything like that. Have
you
done it? Did it make a failed floppy work? Did it make a working floppy
fail? Did it have no effect?

Thanks.

Alan

I have done it and seen it done (by accident) many times with no ill
effect - but even if you do get in ill effect (which I dought) then ditch
the drive - it won't hurt your motherboard if thats what you are thinking

 

[Andy]

That drive has a shrouded connector, so it would be unnecessarily dumb
to connect the control cable backwards. I have that model
SFD-321B/LBL1 which I got from Directron. Looking from the rear, pin 1
is to the left. If you want a top of the line floppy drive, get a
Teac.

 

[Ralph Mowery]

James,

Is that really safe? I don't know the pinouts on the floppy cables, but I'm
leery of turning it around. I've never heard of anything like that. Have
you
done it? Did it make a failed floppy work? Did it make a working floppy
fail? Did it have no effect?

Do not reverse the smaller power connector. If the data connector is
reversed and is wrong the light on the floppy will stay on. OUtside of
maybe some bent pins it will not cause any harm to the drive or computer.
Some cables did not have a hole for a pin near the middle of the connector.

 

[Alan Meyer]

Do not reverse the smaller power connector. If the data connector is
reversed and is wrong the light on the floppy will stay on. OUtside of
maybe some bent pins it will not cause any harm to the drive or computer.
Some cables did not have a hole for a pin near the middle of the

connector.

I decided not to try reversing the cables. The data cable that came with
the drive
has two floppy connectors and one motherboard connector. The two floppy
connectors are wired differently in that four of the wires in the ribbon
cable are
reversed for the end connector but not for the one in the middle of the
cable.

I did try connecting to the middle connector but the results were the same.
The light on the floppy goes on for a few seconds, but Windows reports
Drive not ready.

I've sent an email to MSI in hopes that they can tell me what's going on
and/or
recommend a drive that they know works. Failing that, I may try either a
NEC
(which is what my old Dell drive was that worked in this machine) or a TEAC,
as recommended by the previous poster.

Thanks to all for the advice.

 

[Alan Meyer]

make sure the floppy is enabled in the bios

A good thought.

I've twiddled every BIOS setting that I can find that looks like it has
anything
to do with the floppy drives, but without success.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[JAD]

cleared the cmos and made sure that its been recognized correctly?

 

[Ralph Mowery]

I decided not to try reversing the cables. The data cable that came with

the drive
has two floppy connectors and one motherboard connector. The two floppy
connectors are wired differently in that four of the wires in the ribbon
cable are
reversed for the end connector but not for the one in the middle of the
cable.

I did try connecting to the middle connector but the results were the same.
The light on the floppy goes on for a few seconds, but Windows reports
Drive not ready.

If the light comes on and then goes off after a few seconds the data cable
is connected correctly. The reason that the cable you have has 2 connectors
is that the very end one is for the A drive and the middle one is for the B
drive if several wires in the cable are twisted between the drive
connectors. Years ago drives had jumpers on them to designate them as A or
B drives. Then it was discovered that all drives couls be set the same if
several wires were twisted between the cables.

 

[alvin york]

Hi Alan!

I have a new computer with an MSI K7N2G-L motherboard
(Nvidia NForce2 chipset) and an Athlon XP 2600+ CPU.
I installed a brand new Samsung floppy disk drive ordered
from newegg, but it didn't work. I shifted the floppy to my
old Dell Dimension T700 and it worked there. I then put
the old Dell floppy in the new case and tested with the MSI
motherboard. That worked fine. But, using the same cables, the
Samsung would not work. Windows XP reports a timeout. Linux
(Redhat 9.0) reports a whole slew of errors.

I thought maybe some timing on the drive was just slightly off and
sent it back to newegg, who sent me another one (same Samsung
model but different serial number - so it's a different physical drive.)
But that won't work either. It gets the same errors.

I have no problem tossing the drive. It only cost $7.00, but I don't
want to order another one unless I have some hope of it working.

Yes, yes, I know I can get along without a floppy. But it is a
convenience. I'd like to get it working if I can.

Has anyone got any ideas here - either to make the Samsung work
or to recommend a floppy known to work with this motherboard?

Thanks.

Is the green Led on the floppy drive lit all the time?

If so, you have the floppy flat ribbon connected backwards. Reverse it.
Light should only be on when you are reading or writing to a floppy disk.