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Floppy drive failure

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26 replies

by jrl8747

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31/2 1.44 floppy drive suddenly will not read my floppies. It will not format a disk that is known good. If I write protect, it will read a disk the first time it is attempted, but not again.If I make a boot disk, it cannot read any old ones. Thereis a long delay when formatting and then it says itcannot inilize and to attemp longer format. Then it says floppy is bad, even tho I know its good. Any floppy that I can make, cannot be read on another computer. It also has affected my cd re-write,in that it cannot format cd disk either.Occasionally it works fine for a short period of time. I have checked all the bios setting, reinstalled w-98, reformatted and f disk.If i remove the power supply, mb battery, and wait, I can boot a w-95 boot disk or w-98 disk.Sometimes on reloading w-98, it will make a boot dick and sometimes it will not. This a know good ribbon and dick drive.No conflict show with dianostic test.Any ideas?

26 replies

by clover252525

It sounds like the head needs cleaning, perhaps a lot of dust and dirt has accumulated. It happens with video recorders and tape backups too. But it's prob easier just to get a new one, they're pretty cheap. I don't understand the second half of your question tho. "It cannot format cd disk either". A CD is unlikely to fit into the drive. "If I remove the power supply...I can boot a w-95 boot disk". How can you do anything without the power supply? And what is a "know(n) good ribbon"?

clover

by cosloot

Your Floppy drive shows all of the signs of a head going out of align. The hardest thing for a floppy drive to do is format a disk. As a drive slowly goes out of alignment it starts to format disks that only it can read. It usually can still readolder disks it previously formated until the head is totally out of range. Clearing bios by taking out the MB battery is a good way to start. If you are not getting a 'floppy drive error' on bootup your embedded controller and cable are probably fine. The Floppy drive has a reserved Interrupt which is IRQ6 so something affecting the floppy drive should not affect your CD Writer. which is either IDE or SCSI on a different IRQ and cable. The only thing that I know that can affect both is thatyou might have taken a spike or a long sag in your power and your power supply is damaged. If it is not the power supply then replace the FDD and clean the CD-writer heads.

by pocono

I agree with the above replies. Also, your drive controller or the floppy-drive assembly may be bad. You can check it with a logic probe, by measuring the "read" data signal.(pin 30) As all of this can be a pain to undertake, in the end, I would have to also suggest, as Clover did, just buy another floppy drive. It's less aggravating that way. :)

by dmiles

In a case like this ,I would not be inclined to cleaning the heads that are misaligned or floppy not working properly,it would be more feasible to replace the floppy disk for $20.00

by ddansereau

Try ahead cleaner on the floppy drive first.
If that doesn't work, try swopping out the floppy drive with another. If the replacement drive works, you'll know the old drive got tired.

by bill cassada

Have you recently flashed the BIOS? If you have try reverting to the previous version. Next try swapping the floppy drive. This is easy to do. You also mentioned it works after you pull the battery...try replacing the battery. Your CMOS settings may be corrupted and a low battery will only worsen things. Look in the BIOS and ensure your floppy is set to 1.44mb 3.5" and not something else.

by cedric king

I can almost be certain to say that your floppy drive is well past it's lifetime. All the symtoms points in that direction. When there's a "long delay when formatting", do you hear the sound from the drive that it's running? That's usually the sign of either the disk is dirty/spoilt or the drive is. It can't perform the read/write being required. Time to get a new drive. :)

by jrl8747

This is the third new floppy drive I have instaled in and attempt to slove this problem. I am not trying to put a cd in my floppy. I have a cd record/re-writer. It will not format either. When I say I disconnect the power, naturally I reconnect it prior to using it. This just to dump the bios and reset them. All three floppy drives I have tried in my computer have been tested in another computer and work fine. Also the floppy disk are either new or have been tested in another computer. It is not dirt or alignment.
Thanks for trying.

by greg.ahler

Okay....after reading your addendum this morning, I'm inclined to believe that you may be having problems with IDE cables, or the IDE controller itself. Of course you want to check the connections, possibly, replace the IDE cables... Anything else? Oh well, that should get your started. Oh....be sure that the BIOS is up to the latest and greatest. After seeing that you've checked the ribbon, I'm more inclined to believe that it's BIOS or controller. (I hope the controller is not integrated....may mean new MoBo).

by glenmaint

Since it seems to boot with a diskette apparently made from another machine but will not read or sucessfully format a diskette after booting from the hard drive try this. Get a bootable floppy with a stand alone Virus Scan program and scan the HDD for viruses, I haven't seen it in quite awhile but the symptoms are classic of the old "NYB" virus...

by jackg3

Have you tried running a virus checker, stealth b virus does strange things with the a drive as you mention.

by portage

This may help your problem. I had the same problem on a machine. After checking all the logical hardware causes, and not finding any software problems. The cause was finally discoverd to be a bad pin for the ribbon cable at the motherboard.

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