Sony 3.5 FDD

[devilmyarse]

I recently bought a sony 3.5 FDD for this computer, for aesthetics really (the old floppy drive didn't have a front to it as it was part of the front panel on the old case). Also using a belkin round FDD cable. The drive loads up ok, blinks a few times etc.

When i actually want to use the drive (i've lost my linux boot disks, and need to make some new ones). I insert a disk, it blinks as if it's reading it, then nothing. Tried formatting the disk, windows says "please insert disk in A:\" etc. Despite a disk being in, brand new disk with the write protect tab off. I've tried several disks nothing works.

I was pretty sure i had the FDD cable the right way round as these sony's are wired the opposite way so the FDD cable has to go in upside down. I checked, and just for good measure turned the cable round and restarted, i get nothing. My computer just crashes when i try and access the disk drive. So i put the cable back to how it was.

I've looked for drivers, Sony don't have any drivers for this disk, i've made sure the disk drive is enabled in BIOS. I've checked that windows is recognising the disk, it says the device is working properly!

Hmmmm.... Any suggestions?

[Áedán]

If you had the cable in the wrong way around, then the drive light would be on all the time. That rather rules that problem out.

The floppy drive itself doesn't contain any controller - it's just a dumb device. The floppy controller itself is on the motherboard. Windows asking you to insert the disk means it's not seen various signals coming from the drive - probably the index signal.

Do you have a different floppy cable to try? You are connecting the floppy drive after the twist in the cable right?

[devilmyarse]

Aha good point, i'll try the other fdd cable!

What do you mean 'after the twist'?

[ajopz]

Originally Posted by Áedán

You are connecting the floppy drive after the twist in the cable right?

On some fdd cables there are 3 connectors, one goes to the mobo, then there is 1 connector before the twist and one at the end (SEE PIC).
The cable needs to twist so make sure its plugged into the very end connectors and not the middle one.

[devilmyarse]

Yes it's plugged in after the twist.

[ajopz]

did trying a different fdd cable do the trick then?

[cloasters]

I had the same problem, I think it was caused by my being lazy and selecting the default "scan everything" instead of check marking "scan C, D and E" with my AV program. The floppy drive just got tired of that after a year or so.

A new floppy drive solved the problem. $9 for a Samsung FDD didn't break the bank.