Issues getting floppy drive to work with compaq presario 4505 \ VOGONS

Issues getting floppy drive to work with compaq presario 4505

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First post, by gumorr_12s

Posted on 2020-08-12, 20:54

gumorr_12s Offline

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I've recently been restoring my grandma's old compaq presario. All has been going well, aside from the floppy drive. I can't get a floppy drive to work on the machine no matter what I do. I've checked all the cables/connections, configured the bios, cleaned the floppy drive, and even tried swapping it out with a gotek. No matter what I do, I get a 02b0 error when I turn the computer on with floppy check enabled.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Reply 1 of 5, by Horun

Posted on 2020-08-12, 23:52

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Hmmm being a Pentium based board the floppy controller will be onboard (looks like a SMC chip based I/O from a little research) it is possible it has failed. If you can disable floppy in BIOS and boot from a HD and check to see if mouse to works, if it does than it could be many things but less likely the board it self. Just rambling and have chores.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 5, by gumorr_12s

Posted on 2020-08-13, 04:39

gumorr_12s Offline

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Horun wrote on 2020-08-12, 23:52:

Hmmm being a Pentium based board the floppy controller will be onboard (looks like a SMC chip based I/O from a little research) it is possible it has failed. If you can disable floppy in BIOS and boot from a HD and check to see if mouse to works, if it does than it could be many things but less likely the board it self. Just rambling and have chores.

I disabled the floppy controller in the bios and the computer boots just fine. The mouse works too.

What exactly could be causing the issue if it isnt the io chip, and neither the drive nor the cables?

Reply 3 of 5, by Oetker

Posted on 2020-08-13, 07:51

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It's a long shot but on a newer Compaq (P3) I had the issue that the floppy drive would only work when connected to the secondary/B: connector of a two-connector (i.e. long) floppy drive cable.

Reply 4 of 5, by Horun

Posted on 2020-08-13, 16:12

Horun Offline

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Oetker wrote on 2020-08-13, 07:51:

It's a long shot but on a newer Compaq (P3) I had the issue that the floppy drive would only work when connected to the secondary/B: connector of a two-connector (i.e. long) floppy drive cable.

I have a Compaq Slot-1 motherboard and it is same, and it has to be on the secondary B connector, not the end A connector after the twist.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 5 of 5, by gumorr_12s

Posted on 2020-08-17, 00:19

gumorr_12s Offline

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I managed to solve it. Turns out it was the cable

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