Floppy Drive Not Working

[Questi4110]

I just took out a floppy drive from my old computer and connected it using an IDE cable to my new computer. However, when i turn on the computer, the floppy does not work. When i go to windows explorer, the drive is not seen. But when i click on add new hardware it is found and there seems to be no conflicts with it. Also, the light on the floppy is always on and when there is a disk in the drive it tries to read it but it just makes a clicking noise. The bottom of the floppy does spin when it tries to read though.

This must mean that the IDE cable is not properly hooked up i guess? I put the part that looks like it is ripped into the floppy drive connector making sure that i kept the red ribbon on the left side when looking at the back of the drive. Could there be a problem in the connection with the motherboard. I see that the connector on the motherboard is missing two adjacent pins and i count 18 rows instead of the 17 that there are supposed to be.

Please Help



THANKS

 

[WarCon]

If the light is always on, it means the cable is reversed. If your sure its on right at the motherboard then reverse the plug at the floppy.

 

[rudeguy]

I had the same problem. Turns out I busted a pin off my mobo, and it wouldnt recognize the floppy....$15 for a usb floppy at crap usa fixed the problem, and now I just plug the floppy in when I need it. How often do you use a floppy anyways?

 

[captains]

Originally posted by: WarCon
If the light is always on, it means the cable is reversed. If your sure its on right at the motherboard then reverse the plug at the floppy.

do this everytime i build a pc.......never have gotten it right on the first time, always have to reverse the cable on the floppy side

 

[Questi4110]

ok, i hope it works and i dont have to get a USB floppy


THANKS

 

[IsmaelRamos]

If the light is always on it means the cable is reversed.

 

[weepul]

yep. as the other ppl here say, the floppy cable is reversed. rule of thumb, pin 1 (red wire) of the floppy cable goes on the left side (not the right like your ide harddrives).

another thing is:

I just took out a floppy drive from my old computer and connected it using an IDE cable to my new computer.

it'd be pretty difficult to have an IDE cable connecting yoru floppy drive. i'm not saying it's impossible, but im pretty sure u're referring to the floppy cable. if you're not, then u might want to switch your ide cable to your floppy cable.

//krunk (^_^x)

 

[Questi4110]

I tried switching the wires in all different combinations. The light does go off in some combos but in those cases (along with the other ones where the light is on), when i go into bios, it doesn't detect a floppy drive.

What else could be the problem?


THANKS

 

[Medea]

Originally posted by: weepul
yep. as the other ppl here say, the floppy cable is reversed. rule of thumb, pin 1 (red wire) of the floppy cable goes on the left side (not the right like your ide harddrives).

another thing is:

I just took out a floppy drive from my old computer and connected it using an IDE cable to my new computer.

it'd be pretty difficult to have an IDE cable connecting yoru floppy drive. i'm not saying it's impossible, but im pretty sure u're referring to the floppy cable. if you're not, then u might want to switch your ide cable to your floppy cable.

Unless you're just using the wrong terms, I agree with weepul. Your first post said that you connected your A drive using an IDE cable. You should be using a ribbon cable that has a twist in it which connects to the A drive immediately after the twist - other end connects to the floppy controller on the motherboard.

 

[Questi4110]

Yeah i accidently called it an IDE cable but it is an FDD cable (i think thats what they call it) with a twist in it.

I configured it in bios and it shows up in windows explorer now. The light doesn't come on all the time but when i put a floppy disk in the drive it just makes a clicking noise when i tell it to read it. After a while it stops and comes up with an error saying that the floppy disk doesn't have a valid ID.

What could be the problem?


THANKS

 

[Questi4110]

NM, i got the drive to work. The problem was a combination of a bad floppy and the fact that the drive was not spinning due to a piece of plastic jamming it.

THANKS for all your help