Internal 5.25" Floppy Drive (Problems)

[bond007clone]

Hi,

I just found an old High Density 5.25" Floppy Drive a friend has in
storage and I just tried to set it up in my Pentium II. However, when
it's all screwed in with the power and IDE cable connected, I don't get
any pretty flashing lights from the drive when I start up the computer.
I've set the BIOS to recongnize a 1.2MB High Density 5.25" Drive, but
I've still had no luck. I've also tried to access the drive from the
MS-DOS prompt with no luck either. Is the drive fried, or do I have
something wrong, or? Since it's such an old piece of equipment, do I
need one of those old floppy controllers that plug into a PCI slot?
But I imagine that if it did work after all, I would at least get some
power to the drive...

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

I just found an old High Density 5.25" Floppy Drive a friend has in
storage and I just tried to set it up in my Pentium II. However, when
it's all screwed in with the power and IDE cable connected, I don't
get any pretty flashing lights from the drive when I start up the
computer.

Most likely you have managed to stuff up inserting the cable
or the drive is dead. With unshrouded connectors it isnt hard
to put the connnector on with one row of pins not used at all,
or one pair not used because the connector is on one column off.

I've set the BIOS to recongnize a 1.2MB High Density 5.25"
Drive, but I've still had no luck. I've also tried to access the drive
from the MS-DOS prompt with no luck either. Is the drive fried,

Certainly possible. You might have stuffed up the power
connection too, quite a few floppy power connectors arent
that obvious and they arent all the same orientation either.

or do I have something wrong,

Quite possible.

or?

Thats all there is possibilitys wise.

Since it's such an old piece of equipment, do I need one
of those old floppy controllers that plug into a PCI slot?
Nope.

But I imagine that if it did work after all,
I would at least get some power to the drive...

Yeah, you should get something even if it wont read a floppy properly.

If the led on the floppy drive is on all the time, you've got the cable
on backwards but you appear to be saying it doesnt come on at all.

Could obviously be a bad floppy cable too.

 

[bond007clone]

Thanks for the reply. Using the same floppy IDE cable, the CD-ROM and
3.5" drive works fine. Perhaps it's just the one that goes to the
5.25" drive? I believe there's another 5.25" drive connector on the
same IDE cable - perhaps I'll try connecting that tomorrow. Or am I
grasping at straws here? As for the power connection, I just took one
of the free cables (from the PSU) and stuck it in the power slot. I
also assumed that P2, P3, and P4 on the PSU cables didn't really matter
with 5.25" drives. Was I mistaken? If I accidently put the IDE cable
on wrong (IE, missed one pair of pins), that doesn't mean that the
drive is screwed for life, right? I believe I can simply adjust the
cable...

 

[Andy]

Hi,

I just found an old High Density 5.25" Floppy Drive a friend has in
storage and I just tried to set it up in my Pentium II. However, when
it's all screwed in with the power and IDE cable connected, I don't get
any pretty flashing lights from the drive when I start up the computer.
I've set the BIOS to recongnize a 1.2MB High Density 5.25" Drive, but
I've still had no luck. I've also tried to access the drive from the
MS-DOS prompt with no luck either. Is the drive fried, or do I have
something wrong, or? Since it's such an old piece of equipment, do I
need one of those old floppy controllers that plug into a PCI slot?
But I imagine that if it did work after all, I would at least get some
power to the drive...

You can't be using an IDE cable, since it's 40 conductors. The edge
connector on the floppy cable should be located after the twist in the
cable (assuming the drive was built for the IBM AT-compatible market),
and it will work off of the motherboard floppy connector.

 

[Rod Speed]

Thanks for the reply. Using the same floppy IDE cable, the CD-ROM
and 3.5" drive works fine. Perhaps it's just the one that goes to the
5.25" drive? I believe there's another 5.25" drive connector on the
same IDE cable - perhaps I'll try connecting that tomorrow.

Looks like that is your problem. There should be a separate
cable for JUST the floppy drives. Thats narrower than the
IDE cable. The cdrom drive shouldnt be on that cable.

Maybe you are just remembering it wrong.

There are some drives that go on the IDE cable which take
a floppy but they arent the same as normal floppy drives.

Or am I grasping at straws here?

Looks likely you are getting confused about the cable being used.

As for the power connection, I just took one of the free
cables (from the PSU) and stuck it in the power slot.

Thats fine.

I also assumed that P2, P3, and P4 on the PSU cables
didn't really matter with 5.25" drives. Was I mistaken?

Nope. Its possible to force that in upside down tho, it isnt
necessarily oriented the same way that the power connectors
on the hard drives and optical drives are. Those are generally
standardised. Those older floppy drives arent always the
same orientation so you need more care with those.

If I accidently put the IDE cable on wrong (IE, missed one pair of pins),
that doesn't mean that the drive is screwed for life, right?

No, I havent seen that do any harm.

I believe I can simply adjust the cable...

Yes, should be fine.

I should have said that thats on the motherboard end of the floppy
cable, the floppy drive end is pcb edge connector. Its possible to
get that on the wrong way around if the connector on the cable
doesnt have the polarising tang. Forget what effect you get with
it on backwards, cant remember if that has the led on the floppy
on all the time like with the 3½" floppy drives.

Its also possible that someone has fiddled with the jumpers
on the floppy drive itself come to think of it. Can be quite tricky
getting them back they way they should be if thats happened.

 

[bond007clone]

Yes, sorry, wrote that post up in a hurry. When I hooked up the drive,
the floppy cable went from the motherboard to the 3.5" floppy drive
(which uses a normal connection) to the 5.25" floppy drive (which uses
the old edge connection). It never went to the CD-ROM drive.

 

[Rod Speed]

Yes, sorry, wrote that post up in a hurry. When I hooked up the drive,
the floppy cable went from the motherboard to the 3.5" floppy drive
(which uses a normal connection) to the 5.25" floppy drive (which
uses the old edge connection). It never went to the CD-ROM drive.

OK, and I forgot to say that if the 3.5" floppy still works fine,
you cant have got the motherboard connector on wrong.

If the led on the 5.25" floppy drive isnt on all the time,
most likely you have either forced the power connector
on the wrong way around or the floppy drive is dead,
or someone's been fiddling with the jumpers on the drive.

 

[bond007clone]

Got it to work. I switched the cable that goes to the edge port,
connected the power, fired it up, and got that green light. Thanks for
all the help! )

 

[Rod Speed]

Got it to work. I switched the cable that goes to
the edge port, connected the power, fired it up,
and got that green light. Thanks for all the help! )

Thanks for the washup.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi,

I just found an old High Density 5.25" Floppy Drive a friend has in
storage and I just tried to set it up in my Pentium II. However, when
it's all screwed in with the power and IDE cable connected, I don't get
any pretty flashing lights from the drive when I start up the computer.
I've set the BIOS to recongnize a 1.2MB High Density 5.25" Drive, but
I've still had no luck. I've also tried to access the drive from the
MS-DOS prompt with no luck either. Is the drive fried, or do I have
something wrong, or? Since it's such an old piece of equipment, do I
need one of those old floppy controllers that plug into a PCI slot?
But I imagine that if it did work after all, I would at least get some
power to the drive...

You need
a) A floppy cable with the old-style connectors. An IDE
cable is completely useless since it does neither have the
right number of wires nor has it the required PCB connector.
b) A power conector to the floppy
c) A standard floppy controller. Any modern controller should
work as well, as long as they respect the standard.

Possible issues I see:

- Wrong cable
- Data cabele in wrong orientation (does not do damage, but
nothing works)
- Wrong floppy enabled in BIOS
- Floppy jumperd to wrong ID
- Floppy defect

BTW, Windows XP cannot handle these drives AFAIK. You need
a real DOS or Linux to access them.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

You need
a) A floppy cable with the old-style connectors. An IDE
cable is completely useless since it does neither have the
right number of wires nor has it the required PCB connector.
b) A power conector to the floppy
c) A standard floppy controller. Any modern controller should
work as well, as long as they respect the standard.

Possible issues I see:

- Wrong cable
- Data cabele in wrong orientation (does not do damage, but
nothing works)
- Wrong floppy enabled in BIOS
- Floppy jumperd to wrong ID
- Floppy defect

BTW, Windows XP cannot handle these drives AFAIK. You need
a real DOS or Linux to access them.

Wrong, it handles them fine.