Member Avatar for IYQ2

i have a pc that the floppy does not respond and the green lite stays on. I am trying to upgrade computer.

Is this a bad drive?, not connected properly?, (i do have a "conflict i/o port 2f8, at startup)(i was going to deal with that next).

How do I troubleshoot this? What is the next step?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
iyq2

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Dani AI

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A short, focused troubleshooting checklist that follows on from s original report and the helpful pointer from . If suggestion (about the cable) has already been checked, try the steps below in order — they separate BIOS/OS issues from hardware faults and minimize parts-swapping.

  1. Confirm BIOS sees the drive. Enter setup at boot and check that the floppy controller is enabled and a 3.5" 1.44M (or the correct type for that drive) is selected. If the BIOS does not list a floppy drive, the problem is at the hardware/firmware level, not in Windows.

  2. Check power and basic behavior. With the PC powered, a properly powered floppy should show motor or activity when accessed. If the LED is on but the drive never spins or responds to read attempts, suspect a failed drive PCB/LED or a controller output stuck; if the drive spins but cannot read media, media/heads or the controller are suspect.

  3. Isolate the part that’s bad. Swap the suspect drive into another working machine or attach a known-good drive/cable to this motherboard. Swapping is the fastest way to tell whether the floppy drive or the motherboard floppy controller is failing.

  4. OS-level checks (if BIOS sees the drive). In Windows 95/98 look at Device Manager for a floppy-controller error or a missing driver. Booting from a DOS or Win98SE floppy/CD will also show whether the OS can access the device independent of installed drivers.

  5. If hardware is confirmed faulty. Replace the 3.5" drive (inexpensive) or, if the motherboard controller is bad and no PCI FDC card is available, consider using an external USB floppy (or install the OS from CD/another media) as a practical workaround.

Note: the startup I/O conflict you noted is most likely for a serial device and is usually unrelated to a floppy controller.

Member Avatar for tiberis

It could be many things. DId this problem start when you attempted to upgrade, or has it been a problem before?

Member Avatar for IYQ2

I do not know. I was given the computer. it has 95 on it and i want to put 98se on it so i can install a wireless card, and so it goes

Member Avatar for lyns

Looking at the date, I am fairly sure that the person who originally posted this may never see it but for the sake of those who come after...

The most usual cause of a floppy led staying on and the floppy drive not responding is that the ribbon cable has been plugged in wrong way around. Pins and cables are numbered and if you can find and match pin 1 or perhaps an arrow pointing to one side of the floppy drive's connector, to the red line (or other colour) on the cable, you should have a working floppy drive.

Some cables and sockets have connector notches and raised "bumps" on the cable end to make sure you match them up correctly - usually this will be correct but I do have a floppy drive with a broken plastic connector because the ribbon cable actually goes in the other way around to what the notch shows. They must have put the plastic "collar" on the wrong way around! ;-)

Anyway, bottom line is, if you have this problem, power down your computer, (don't forget to destatic yourself by touching some metal before poking around in case you zap something - static electricity is incredibly high voltage, more than mains) and then reverse your cable and try again. In most cases, this should fix the problem.

Oh, one other point: a floppy cable should have a twist in part of it, so if you have a cable with no twist, chances are it is the wrong cable and will cause the same problem.

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