Why won't my Floppy drive work?!?!

[bushwickbill]

Alright I am getting to the point of wanting to abort the whole Trying to delete the RAID setup.
I am trying to get a Floppy disk drive to work on my Sig rig to install the RAID drivers on a Floppy disk to use to Re format the RAID Hard Drives.
My Sig Rig has never had a Floppy drive installed.
So I connected the Floppy Drive Ribbon to the MOBO, Now the thing I think is wrong here is which plug do I use to connect the Floppy drive. I have two plugs that will fit into the floppy, one has a P11 and the other has P15 on it. In my MOBO manual it does not say anywhere that I saw which plug to use to connect a floppy drive. So which one do I use?
I tried both, And the Drive doesn't seem to be working.
when I open 'My Computer' Tab from Windows it shows that the Floppy drive is connected. I went into properties and it says 'The device is working properly" which is a good sign. But when I go to put a disk in the floppy drive nothing happens. So I try to open it through the 'My computer' option, and it says, Please insert a disk into Drive a
Do I need to have a driver installed to get this Floppy drive to work?
I have never installed a floppy drive before so I need a little help please.
Once I get this Floppy drive working then I can put the RAID drivers on it and go from there.
Thanx

 

[robisbell]

did you enable the FDC in BIOS and properly set all it's settings, and the drive has power as well? would need more info about the motherboard to help you locate the FDC port on the motherboard.

 

[bushwickbill]

Not sure if I am being clear. But i am trying to get a floppy drive working on my Sig Rig. So I have no clue how to enable the settings that you are talking about.
That would be great if you could show me how to do that. I am almost at my wits end with this flippin problem.
My motherboard is a ASUS P5B vanilla.
Please respond ASAP as i am trying to get this done tonight
thanx

 

[robisbell]

okay the floppy is the plug that's at a 90 degree angle below the 24 main power plug. you do not know how to access the BIOS and do you have the owners manual?

http://support.asus.com/downlo...nguage=en-us&model=P5B

 

[bushwickbill]

Yes I know how to access the BIOS. There is tons of stuff I don't understand. You have any idea where the Settings are in the BIOS?
There is lots of different Tabs that I know nothing of.
You gave me the link for my MotherBoard right? Can you tell me what to look for please?
I think I am just going to through my Win XP Hard drive and Load the Files on a Zip drive from there. Reboot hit F6 then I have the Drivers on the Zip right?
Should be able to Delete the RAID Set up, Hopefully!
Please send me in the rght direction .

 

[RebateMonger]

The enabling Floppy Drive settings are always on the first (Basic Settings) BIOS screen. Boot order to set where the floppy drive lies in the order are usualy in "Advanced Settings", but might be anywhere in the first four BIOS screens.

 

[robisbell]

no, I do not know, the manual can tell you what all the BIOS functions are, I would suggest you read that.
XP will not see anything other than a floppy drive when you try loading the raid drivers.

 

[bushwickbill]

O.K. so I set "First Floppy Drive" in the Boot Order in the BIOS to be enabled. When I look on device manager it still shows the Floppy drive is there and that is functioning. But When I put a disk in nothing happens. No lights go on on the Floppy drive itself. I am unable to 'open' it from windows desk top?
But would it it be possible to take my Sig Rig Hard drive with my win xp 32 os on it and hook it up to the server board? Then I could just copy the RAID driver from the server board from my win xp hard drive on to the servers floppy drive. Could that even work. Can you just put a different hard drive in another rig like that and have it boot up? If I can do that then this can get done right?
Please tell me this is will work?

 

[TheKub]

If a floppy disk is defeating you so badly why don't you just make a bootable CD or flashdrive?

 

[corkyg]

Have you connected the small power plug to the floppy? It should have two cable connections - one power and one data.

If those are all OK - you may just have a defective drive. Floppy drives go bad frequently.

 

[Lanyap]

Make sure the end of the floppy cable where the wires are flipped over is plugged into the drive. Also make sure pin 1 on the cable is lined up with pin 1 on the floppy drive connector.

 

[jackschmittusa]

No need to put the floppy in the boot sequence if you are not going to boot from it.

Basic setings page that has the time on it is where you set the drive in the bios. Usually either "enabled" or "disabled". Older mbs allowed you to select various drive sizes and capacities. Likely the only choice on yours is for the 3½" 1.44mb (ignore LS120 support if it is listed).

Pin 1 on the drive is usually marked on the underside of circuitboard directly under the connector (some connectors and cable ends are keyed so they always line up correctly). Pin 1 on the cable is marked with a red or blue stripe running the length of the cable. The cable end that connects to the drive has a lengthwise split with some of the wires twisted. Pin 1 on the mb end of the cable must match pin 1 of the mb socket. If you reverse one of the connections, the access light on the drive will stay on continuously.

The power connector on the drive has a plastic tab under the 4 power pins. The psu connector has 2 edge guides on the bottom that locate on the tab on the drive. You can force the connector on upside down and ruin the drive.

No drivers are required for the drive.

Make sure the floppy discs are good.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Lanyap
Make sure the end of the floppy cable where the wires are flipped over is plugged into the drive. Also make sure pin 1 on the cable is lined up with pin 1 on the floppy drive connector.

If it's not, it'll be readily apparent. In one direction (at least) a one-pin-off connection of the floppy drive power connector will cause a direct short of 5V to ground. The time I did this, it melted the power cable and then shut down the power supply.

 

[bushwickbill]

So why does it show a Floppy drive in 'My computer' When I open it up? It clearly shows that there is a Floppy drive present. And the Device manager says it is working properly too?
This small issue of Deleting a RAID setup is driving me bonkers.
I just need to get the Server running so I can use its' floppy drive to copy the RAID drivers on to a Floppy disk.
If I put my Sig rig Hard drive into the Server for the sole purpose of copying the RAID drivers on to a Floppy Disk, that would work right.? Or will I have other issues from trying to boot the server using a different Hard drive?

 

[bushwickbill]

I went into the BIOS where you said to go, And it is there and enabled already. But there is a few different sizes to pick. It was already on a 3.5 Inch drive, Can't remember the size mb size it said beside it. Will having the wrong MB size picked affect if my Floppy will work or not?

 

[jackschmittusa]

There were only 2 capacities for 3½ floppys, 720kb and 1.44mb. I doubt there is an option for a 720, as that is way too old.

Have you verified that the discs are good? It sounds like the drive is hooked up all right.

 

[robisbell]

2.88 as well as 1.44, since the OP stated they were in MB, those were the only floppy options, past that it went into the varied zip/jaz format and clones.

I'm starting to wonder if the drive is any good, or if somethings killed the motherboard and is showing up with the FDC port failing.