Question about a floppy drive.




Posted by Proto Man

Ok so I got this 5 1/4 floppy drive, and it's been a while since I have had one. I don't remember, but is the drive itself supposed to be spinning when there are no disks in? Because the wheel thing on the bottom is spinning as I type. The computer recognizes the drive itself, so that's no problem. I don't have any disks to test with it yet, but I will be getting those this weekend.




Posted by JonMB

I don't know the answer, sorry.

But I have to ask, WHY?




Posted by Proto Man


Quoting JonMB: I don't know the answer, sorry.

But I have to ask, WHY?


Games of course!



Posted by Roger Smith


Quoting JonMB: I don't know the answer, sorry.

But I have to ask, WHY?


You prolly don't know but Proto is a big retro fan, he's into stuff like this big time.



Posted by Philsdad

I have a 5 1/4 drive and it never spins when there are no disks in there. Are you sure it's hooked up correctly? That sounds like something it would do if the floppy cable had been put in upside down or something. Play around with the cable a bit and see what happens. If this doesn't work, post back and we'll try to see what to do next.




Posted by Proto Man


Quoting Philsdad: I have a 5 1/4 drive and it never spins when there are no disks in there. Are you sure it's hooked up correctly? That sounds like something it would do if the floppy cable had been put in upside down or something. Play around with the cable a bit and see what happens. If this doesn't work, post back and we'll try to see what to do next.


Actually Phil, I thought the same thing myself. Thing is though, you know those cables are pretty hard to get wrong, as there is a little piece that sticks down in the connection itself. It fits like a PCI card would into a slot basically, and there is only one way for it to fit. Just to make sure though, red stripe goes on the left side, right?



Posted by Philsdad

Okay, you are using one of those old floppy cables with a "big" connector for the 5.25 drive, and 34 pin connectors (the ones that look like smaller IDE connectors) right? Are the 34 pin connectors on your cable keyed? Meaning the little piece of plastic on the end that ensures it can only be plugged in one way? If so, then it would have to be in corectly, meaning there would be a connection problem with the floppy drive. I know how those 5.25 drive connectors are, but I still think it may be possible to put it in wrong. If it is marked Pin 1, make sure the red stripe is aligned with that. And check the motherboard connector.. If it isn't keyed, try reversing it and see what happens.

Do you have any other drives to test it with? There's always a chance it's a bad drive, but that seems pretty unlikely to me.




Posted by Proto Man


Quoting Philsdad: Okay, you are using one of those old floppy cables with a "big" connector for the 5.25 drive, and 34 pin connectors (the ones that look like smaller IDE connectors) right? Are the 34 pin connectors on your cable keyed? Meaning the little piece of plastic on the end that ensures it can only be plugged in one way? If so, then it would have to be in corectly, meaning there would be a connection problem with the floppy drive. I know how those 5.25 drive connectors are, but I still think it may be possible to put it in wrong. If it is marked Pin 1, make sure the red stripe is aligned with that. And check the motherboard connector.. If it isn't keyed, try reversing it and see what happens.

Do you have any other drives to test it with? There's always a chance it's a bad drive, but that seems pretty unlikely to me.


Yes I am using the big connector. The 34 pin connector is keyed, and plugged into my 3 1/2 drive correctly. The motherboard connection is correct as well, that I know for sure because my of my 3 1/2 drive. I will double check the connection for the 5 1/4 though just to be sure.



Posted by Philsdad

Does your 3.5 drive work? Have you tried using a disk in that to see? And you setup the drive in your bios? If you try everything and can't get the 5.25 to work, you should go to a local computer parts store if you have one and pick up another 5.25 drive and another cable. They are really cheap.. At least you can find out if it's the drive or another issue. Hopefully it can be resolved cheaply. If it were a crappy I/O controller on your motherboard, you'd have to buy a PCI card to get it to work. It can be a pain.




Posted by Proto Man


Quoting Philsdad: Does your 3.5 drive work? Have you tried using a disk in that to see? And you setup the drive in your bios? If you try everything and can't get the 5.25 to work, you should go to a local computer parts store if you have one and pick up another 5.25 drive and another cable. They are really cheap.. At least you can find out if it's the drive or another issue. Hopefully it can be resolved cheaply. If it were a crappy I/O controller on your motherboard, you'd have to buy a PCI card to get it to work. It can be a pain.


Yes, my 3.5 drive does work.

I just now checked the connections, and even changed cables, it still spins when there is nothing in it. I just now tried my game in it... and it works! So it does read floppies.



Posted by Philsdad

Cool, glad it's working at least. What kinds of games are you going to play on those old disks? Awhile back, I ordered about 100 5.25 disks worth of games on ebay for $5. They are pretty archaic, but really fun. There was so much variation between those old games. Tons of random arcade, adventure, puzzle games..games where the objective is to mow lawns, or to be a janitor. It's pretty unusual to find games with such unique scenarios nowadays.




Posted by Proto Man

Well, I actually have Spiritual Warfare, and I plan on getting Elite, and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

So I guess the drive spinning like that is normal then I guess? [COLOR="Red"]*shrugs*[/COLOR]




Posted by Philsdad

Still sounds pretty unusual to me. How do you have your drive letters setup? If your bios has a floppy swap option, enable that. Make sure the floppy seek option is turned off. I really don't know what else would cause it to keep spinning like that.




Posted by Proto Man


Quoting Philsdad: Still sounds pretty unusual to me. How do you have your drive letters setup? If your bios has a floppy swap option, enable that. Make sure the floppy seek option is turned off. I really don't know what else would cause it to keep spinning like that.


I have the 3.5 as drive A:\ and the 5.25 as B:\

I never heard of the floppy seek option. My BIOS might not have that, it's pretty simple (and old!). Anyhow thanks for your help.