Need help with a floppy drive [Archive]

Dark Dragon

11-27-2004, 02:08 PM

Hi everyone...haven't been around for a bit.

I just built my own computer for the second time..went fairly smoothly, however I have a wee little problem..

My floppy drive (the 1.44 megabyte one) according to the manual I should plug it in directly into the board, which I did however the drive light is always on and when I insert a disk it won't recognize it. What should I do?

I realize this forum doesn't really deal with computer problems per se but I could use a spot of help so does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

rhsunderground

11-27-2004, 02:21 PM

luckily for you, we have a new Computer Issues (http://webdeveloper.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=33) forum!

Dark Dragon

11-27-2004, 02:36 PM

Thanks..I didn't see that forum..I just posted there so I hope I can get some assistance.

Thanks again!

Jupac

11-28-2004, 05:19 PM

1)Check if you plug it to the right slot
2)Instal/update driver

Dark Dragon

11-28-2004, 05:55 PM

Yep. Already fixed it...turns out the ribbon cable was in backwards.

PeOfEo

11-28-2004, 06:50 PM

floppys suck, no one uses them anymore. Invest in a nice usb flash pen.

Dark Dragon

11-29-2004, 02:33 PM

Y'know..I was thinking the same thing too.

Originally I was thinking of replacing my 100 Mb Zip with a 750 Mb one..it can read and write to both 250 and 750 disks but can do a "Read Only" on 100 Mb's....might still do that..

But you are right..those floppy's are SO dead...it was neat installing Windows XP straight from the CD..all I had to do was change the boot sequence in the BIOS and VIOLA!..I was in business.

I still wonder why floppy's are still installed in computers though..they really don't help much....

rhsunderground

11-29-2004, 03:13 PM

they're installed because people still use them; because, sadly, not everyone has USB Flash drives.

DaveSW

11-29-2004, 04:20 PM

personally I think they're installed because until recently many motherboards didn't have the capability to boot from cd...

I've always found them to be soo slow that I avoid them at all costs.

PeOfEo

11-30-2004, 10:16 PM

floppies are getting to be a thing of the past. You are not going to find a motherboard that does not have usb. Let me go check my 486 and see if it has usb... okay never mind, my 486 is from the days before usb. But none the less floppies are very out dated and no longer neccessary.

Jupac

11-30-2004, 10:17 PM

I took out my floopy and added a hard drive :D

PeOfEo

11-30-2004, 11:54 PM

I never had a floppy. I had one back in the day but when I built my new pc I didnt bother with one.

96turnerri

12-01-2004, 11:58 AM

i have two dont ask why i just think it looks weird without one, and my case looked empty with just the one and a facia, so i put second in there, dont use them but o well

and i dont need to put a HDD in there cos i have 7 slots for them anyway (4 being free)

DaveSW

12-01-2004, 12:07 PM

I have 2 on most of my machines because my mum still uses floppies and she likes to copy data directly from one to the other. Except for my shuttle ofcourse.

David Harrison

12-01-2004, 10:40 PM

The reason the light was on was because you plugged the cable in the wrong way around, if you unplug the floppy cable from the drive, rotate it 180 degrees and plug it back in again, it should work fine.

I have a floppy drive in my machine and was ridiculed for it, but recently it came in very usedful indeed. I needed it to install SATA drivers for my HDD during a Win XP Pro installation. If I didn't have a floppy drive I wouldn't be able to use my PC right now.

Dark Dragon

12-02-2004, 01:13 PM

I have a floppy drive in my machine and was ridiculed for it, but recently it came in very usedful indeed. I needed it to install SATA drivers for my HDD during a Win XP Pro installation. If I didn't have a floppy drive I wouldn't be able to use my PC right now.

Hmm..I don't see how that is possible since Windows XP can be installed directly from the CD itself..also..unless you are doing something extrodinary with the floppy..you shouldn't need separate drivers for the floppy.

Secondly...if you got drivers along with your motherboard, as I have, it probably came with a CD..and I used the CD to instal my SATA and RAID Drivers.

In fact, when I first assembled my PC...I didn't have to instal any special drivers for my floppy drive.....maybe it is different depending on the Motherboard?

96turnerri

12-02-2004, 02:06 PM

he needed SATA drivers for his HDD not his FDD

Dark Dragon

12-02-2004, 03:26 PM

Originally posted by 96turnerri
he needed SATA drivers for his HDD not his FDD

Yes..I am aware of that.

He said he installed the SATA drivers via the floppy drive...the only reason one would need to possibly do this if the motherboard CD somehow managed to get lost in the same relm as all the single socks from the clothes dryer.

PeOfEo

12-02-2004, 08:30 PM

Originally posted by lavalamp

I have a floppy drive in my machine and was ridiculed for it, but recently it came in very usedful indeed. I needed it to install SATA drivers for my HDD during a Win XP Pro installation. If I didn't have a floppy drive I wouldn't be able to use my PC right now. I never had a problem with sata drivers when I installed xp. I have run xp from my sata drive. Just do not click f8 or whatever when it asks you if you want to install third party raid drivers and it will work.

Jupac

12-02-2004, 08:31 PM

I also have xp on sata

David Harrison

12-02-2004, 09:57 PM

Originally posted by Dark Dragon
Yes..I am aware of that.

He said he installed the SATA drivers via the floppy drive...the only reason one would need to possibly do this if the motherboard CD somehow managed to get lost in the same relm as all the single socks from the clothes dryer.Or if my motherboard didn't give me any SATA drivers on a CD but on a floppy disk instead.

Dark Dragon

12-03-2004, 06:44 PM

I suppose it depends on the brand of the motherboard.

The AOpen motherboard had the RAID and DATA drivers on both a floppy and CD..guess each comapny is different.

96turnerri

12-04-2004, 09:36 AM

my ASUS has them on CD

PeOfEo

12-04-2004, 04:17 PM

why??? I mean why would you use sata drives? I did not need them at all. I have them on cd, they came with my msi board, but I did not need them, windows can create a driver.

DaveSW

12-04-2004, 04:42 PM

Generally speaking it's best to use the manufacturer's specific drivers, rather than the Windows generic ones. They tend to work better. In particular, graphics drivers, but I guess the same applies anywhere.

96turnerri

12-04-2004, 04:44 PM

PeOfEo

12-04-2004, 05:17 PM

Originally posted by DaveSW
Generally speaking it's best to use the manufacturer's specific drivers, rather than the Windows generic ones. They tend to work better. In particular, graphics drivers, but I guess the same applies anywhere. well then you can get out the cd and install them after windows is installed, you do not need to install them while you are installing windows.

96turnerri

12-05-2004, 07:24 AM

very true

David Harrison

12-05-2004, 07:25 AM

I did actually have to install them when I was installing windows. At first I didn't know that so whenever I tried to install it just said it couldn't find an HDD and had to quit.

96turnerri

12-05-2004, 07:28 AM

Originally posted by lavalamp
I did actually have to install them when I was installing windows. At first I didn't know that so whenever I tried to install it just said it couldn't find an HDD and had to quit.
;) DELETED

PeOfEo

12-05-2004, 05:54 PM

David Harrison

12-05-2004, 07:44 PM

It's onboard.

PeOfEo

12-05-2004, 08:12 PM

wow your mobo is a bit of a homo then. I just wanted to make use of that slant rhyme.

Jupac

12-05-2004, 08:13 PM

my mobo has an on borad raid and i had no trouble installing

David Harrison

12-06-2004, 01:13 AM

RAID doesn't have anything to do with SATA, why do people keep mentioning RAID?

Anyway, no my board is not a homo, it's great. It has a black PCB and the AGP, PCI and RAM slots glow under UV light. :D

If you haven't already guessed, it's a LanParty board and it craps all over yours. :D