Weird floppy disk problem... lights appear normal when trying to read, but can't read

GoldenTiger

GoldenTiger

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Dec 2, 2004
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My floppy drive, when I insert a diskette and click on it in My Computer, will just indefinitely read the disk and make the same pattern of noises over and over. If I remove the disk, after a few seconds it says "please insert a disk in drive a:". The boot up floppy seek in the BIOS works fine, it flashes the light and makes the normal sound, but once I'm in Windows, the drive won't work. The light doesn't stay on from bootup, the cables are hooked correctly as well as the power, etc. Anyone have any ideas of a software issue this might be? This is under Windows XP SP2. The disks I am trying to read work fine in all of my other machines.
 
did you try uninstalling the floppy drive in hardware section of device manager?

uninstall it and then reboot, letting windows fix itself.

If that doesn't work then uninstall the floppy controller also, then reboot...letting windows repair it apon restart.
 
Thanks... I tried reinstalling the driver, but didn't think of trying that. I'll give it a shot and edit this post with my results :).


EDIT: Didn't work, same behavior after removing it entirely from device manager. Windows detects the drive and reinstalls the drivers upon bootup, but it still doesn't work :(.
 
I'm out of ideas, sorry. :(

Wait....you said in your OP that the disks work fine in other computers.....does the floppy drive itself work in other computers? It could be a bad floppy drive.
 
I didn't try the floppy drive itself in other computers, but I might try swapping a different drive in... it's just a pain to do because this is an SFF rig :).
 
GoldenTiger said:
I didn't try the floppy drive itself in other computers, but I might try swapping a different drive in... it's just a pain to do because this is an SFF rig :).
Click to expand...

I hear you on that. Tis why I use a USB floppy. :D
 
Probably just a bad floppy. You can get a good Alps floppy for less than $10, might as well buy a new one.
 
I can only imagine floppy drives are the single most failure prone item in any system. I have seen so, so many die, and it always happens just as you describe your situation.
 
Yeah, I'm thinking it's a bad drive as it doesn't work in DOS either :(. Oh well... I'm debating between replacing it or leaving it be, I never really use the floppy much other than for a few boot disks, but it's nice to have around considering there's a slot there, lonely, waiting for it, longing for it... errrmmm you get the idea ;).
 
Has it ever worked?


If not, then listen to this crazyness I went through once.

I once bought a couple of no-name black floppy drives and just like you, I would hook them up, and when a disk was in, they would light up, but nothing else would happen.... I believe windows would even recogonise them, but couldn't access them. It was odd. So I tried the other drive with the same result.

I tore my hair out over these two stupid drives for forever trying to make them work and then, when I was at the end of my rope, I tried something stupid. You know that tab on the plastic end of the cable that keeps you from putting the cable on backwards? I shaved it off.
And then plugged the cable in backwards. And it worked..... perfectly. Needless to say, I was amazed, and I still have those floppies in machines working today with shaved cables.


Now, I'm not recomending that you try this..... but, you know.... it worked for me.

:D
 
No, it's never worked :(. I guess I will try that, I really would rather not remove the FDD from the machine as it's kind of a pain to do :). Windows does recognize the drive, but it can't use it. Thanks!
 
im having the same problem? it recognizes but i wont read anyhting it would say like insert disk or reformat? should i shave? and which part do i shave the mobo end or the floppy end
 
Sounds like a case of "Light's on, but nobody's home" :p

Check the cable, and try the drive in a different system.

You may want to check out one of the Mitsumi combo floppy drive and card reader thingies. That way, you still have a floppy drive for SATA drivers, BIOS updates, and the like, while gaining a card reader for larger storage all in oen drive bay. Undeniably slick.
 
hey thats looks real nice but is says usb? or is that just a normal plug?
 
I have one of those floppy/card readers drives.

They're really neat; it has a regular 34-pin floppy cable and an internal USB cable that hooks up to the headers on the motherboard. For my mobo (ASUS A8N-SLI), the USB cable was already wired correctly.

One thing: you'll gain like 3 drive letters in My Computer because the card reader is apparently always on, and you'll have that "safely remove hardware" icon in the system tray.

Not bad for about $20 shipped on eBay.

I also have the card reader that's built into the 2405FPW, but I haven't hooked it up because I don't want any more drive letters appearing. :D
 
Hey GoldenTiger, did you get it to work? I just installed a floppy drive into my floppy-less computer and it got the same issue. I've tried with another floppy drive, 2 other cables and still no luck =\ If anyone got a solution that can share with me that'd be great. I don't want to be floppyless T_T
 
Tyklfe said:
I tore my hair out over these two stupid drives for forever trying to make them work and then, when I was at the end of my rope, I tried something stupid. You know that tab on the plastic end of the cable that keeps you from putting the cable on backwards? I shaved it off.
And then plugged the cable in backwards. And it worked..... perfectly. Needless to say, I was amazed, and I still have those floppies in machines working today with shaved cables.
:D
Click to expand...

I had the exact same experience with one machine and FDD. When the cable was plugged into the drive as keyed, it refused to work. I looked at the FDD cabling in a working machine and deduced the cable had to plug in backwards. So I removed the tab, plugged the cable in backwards and it worked! :eek:
 
Blehh said:
Hey GoldenTiger, did you get it to work? I just installed a floppy drive into my floppy-less computer and it got the same issue. I've tried with another floppy drive, 2 other cables and still no luck =\ If anyone got a solution that can share with me that'd be great. I don't want to be floppyless T_T
Click to expand...


I never tried it, sorry. Never really needed the floppy badly enough to go through the hassle... but my guess is the recommendation in the thread (to plug it in backwards after cutting off the tab) would work fine.
 
hi im back again many months later i have the all in one combo mentioned above.
it seems like im having the same reading format thing and thats all. my card reader deosnt recognize.

heres what i did.

sold all my parts
kept the HD's
floppy was working great then before summer

few weeks ago i built a temp computer. just used the same harddrive no reformating. new board and everything. just installed all the necc drivers.

now it seems like my floppy dont work. could it have died? in that time frame........ (i know thats a only god knows question) any suggestions.
 
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