So... you have me intrigued. I have an Asus P5QL-E lying around, always thought it only supported one floppy drive. I go and google the floppy controller (an IT8718) and the data sheet says "− Supports two 360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M floppy disk drives." Consider me shocked because I figured the support for two floppy drives was removed in hardware at some point along the way along with other legacy stuff. But the BIOS only recognizes one drive and only offers 3.5" as an option for configuring that drive.

So... is it a BIOS limitation, they just didn't implement support for 5.25" or a second floppy drive in the BIOS?

VivienM wrote on 2023-11-08, 23:00:

So... you have me intrigued. I have an Asus P5QL-E lying around, always thought it only supported one floppy drive. I go and google the floppy controller (an IT8718) and the data sheet says "− Supports two 360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M floppy disk drives." Consider me shocked because I figured the support for two floppy drives was removed in hardware at some point along the way along with other legacy stuff. But the BIOS only recognizes one drive and only offers 3.5" as an option for configuring that drive.

So... is it a BIOS limitation, they just didn't implement support for 5.25" or a second floppy drive in the BIOS?

Are you sure your motherboard has an IT8718? I also looked online and the motherboard you are talking about seems to have a Winbond controller that doesn't support two floppy drives.

GianDO76 wrote on 2023-11-08, 23:27:

VivienM wrote on 2023-11-08, 23:00:

So... you have me intrigued. I have an Asus P5QL-E lying around, always thought it only supported one floppy drive. I go and google the floppy controller (an IT8718) and the data sheet says "− Supports two 360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M floppy disk drives." Consider me shocked because I figured the support for two floppy drives was removed in hardware at some point along the way along with other legacy stuff. But the BIOS only recognizes one drive and only offers 3.5" as an option for configuring that drive.

So... is it a BIOS limitation, they just didn't implement support for 5.25" or a second floppy drive in the BIOS?

Are you sure your motherboard has an IT8718? I also looked online and the motherboard you are talking about seems to have a Winbond controller

I'm not sure of anything. I was looking at https://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/asus_p5qle/7.htm and that says the IT8718... but... wait a second, this also says this board has Marvell networking when in fact it has Atheros. The manual is silent and I'm not going to take that machine out of the closet and open it up right now to inspect the board... but... I suppose it's possible that we just discovered two 15 year old mistakes in an online review. Should we reach out and point it out to them?

If you found something else with a Winbond for that motherboard, do the references for that Winbond say only 3.5" drives supported?

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected two 3.5" drives, booted from a Windows 98 Startup Disk, and both drives are accessible as A: and B: drives from the command prompt and reading/writing to 1.44MB floppy disks just fine.

Though the datasheets of the other two state multiple drive support, the BIOS does not implement more than a single drive.

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Rev. 1.02 [Confirmed support]
Winbond W83697HG
Datasheet states up to four 3.5" and 5.25" drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/396366 … 5/W83697HG.html

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6 {No BIOS support}
ITE Tech IT8718F-S
Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/5.25" are not mentioned)
Datasheet: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pd … /IT8718F-S.html

MSI MS-7952 Rev 5.2 {No BIOS support}
Fintek F71889F
Datasheet states support of floppy drives and tape drives (same statement the other two make, but nothing more)@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://www.electronicsdatasheets.com/manufac … k/parts/f71889f

EDITED

Meatball wrote on 2023-11-09, 02:20:

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6 ITE Tech IT8718F-S Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/ […]
Show full quote

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6
ITE Tech IT8718F-S
Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/5.25" are not mentioned)
Datasheet: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pd … /IT8718F-S.html

The manual for that motherboard only shows support for one drive in the BIOS... though it does mention 5.25" drives...

VivienM wrote on 2023-11-09, 02:56:

Meatball wrote on 2023-11-09, 02:20:

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6 ITE Tech IT8718F-S Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/ […]
Show full quote

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6
ITE Tech IT8718F-S
Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/5.25" are not mentioned)
Datasheet: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pd … /IT8718F-S.html

The manual for that motherboard only shows support for one drive in the BIOS... though it does mention 5.25" drives...

Thanks for the heads up! I have gone ahead and physically tested all three, and only the ASRock has implemented support for two drives.

Probably as a preliminary filter you can probably ignore anything that doesn't have PS/2 ports since they would have been sucking up to Intels legacy free demands. If it's also got serial and parallel even as just headers, great, it's looking like the kind of board that actually implemented everything on the i/o chip... not a guarantee, but gets you warmer I would think.

Some ppl though, when they say they want two floppies supported are going to be thinking of the A/B swap features so they can boot either drive. Now this was never really a standard feature and was somewhat special to various boards through the 90s while competitors didn't have it, so that's asking for the moon a bit with later boards.

Meatball wrote on 2023-11-09, 02:20:

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected tw […]
Show full quote

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected two 3.5" drives, booted from a Windows 98 Startup Disk, and both drives are accessible as A: and B: drives from the command prompt and reading/writing to 1.44MB floppy disks just fine.

Though the datasheets of the other two state multiple drive support, the BIOS does not implement more than a single drive.

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Rev. 1.02 [Confirmed support]
Winbond W83697HG
Datasheet states up to four 3.5" and 5.25" drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/396366 … 5/W83697HG.html

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6 {No BIOS support}
ITE Tech IT8718F-S
Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/5.25" are not mentioned)
Datasheet: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pd … /IT8718F-S.html

MSI MS-7952 Rev 5.2 {No BIOS support}
Fintek F71889F
Datasheet states support of floppy drives and tape drives (same statement the other two make, but nothing more)@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://www.electronicsdatasheets.com/manufac … k/parts/f71889f

EDITED

The Winbond W83627DHG/EHG chip typically found on Asus 775 motherboards supports all types of floppy disk drives, but only as a single drive.

Many technical data sheets contain hundreds of pages and often, in variants of the same IC, the copy/paste system is used to create the manual. When you read a datasheet, to make sure that the ICs have dual drive support you shouldn't stop at the Features page, you should also check the presence of the pins on the IC (see Pin Layout page) and see if there is a match of i pins described in the manual with the pins actually present on the IC.

GianDO76 wrote on 2023-11-09, 11:40:

Meatball wrote on 2023-11-09, 02:20:

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected tw […]
Show full quote

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected two 3.5" drives, booted from a Windows 98 Startup Disk, and both drives are accessible as A: and B: drives from the command prompt and reading/writing to 1.44MB floppy disks just fine.

Though the datasheets of the other two state multiple drive support, the BIOS does not implement more than a single drive.

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Rev. 1.02 [Confirmed support]
Winbond W83697HG
Datasheet states up to four 3.5" and 5.25" drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/396366 … 5/W83697HG.html

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6 {No BIOS support}
ITE Tech IT8718F-S
Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/5.25" are not mentioned)
Datasheet: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pd … /IT8718F-S.html

MSI MS-7952 Rev 5.2 {No BIOS support}
Fintek F71889F
Datasheet states support of floppy drives and tape drives (same statement the other two make, but nothing more)@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://www.electronicsdatasheets.com/manufac … k/parts/f71889f

EDITED

The Winbond W83627DHG/EHG chip typically found on Asus 775 motherboards supports all types of floppy disk drives, but only as a single drive.

Thanks. I don’t know if you read the entire post but the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Rev. 1.02 supports two drives, and has the W83697HG chip (not W83627DHG/EHG), which I actually tested.

Meatball wrote on 2023-11-09, 12:39:

GianDO76 wrote on 2023-11-09, 11:40:

Meatball wrote on 2023-11-09, 02:20:

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected tw […]
Show full quote

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected two 3.5" drives, booted from a Windows 98 Startup Disk, and both drives are accessible as A: and B: drives from the command prompt and reading/writing to 1.44MB floppy disks just fine.

Though the datasheets of the other two state multiple drive support, the BIOS does not implement more than a single drive.

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Rev. 1.02 [Confirmed support]
Winbond W83697HG
Datasheet states up to four 3.5" and 5.25" drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/396366 … 5/W83697HG.html

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6 {No BIOS support}
ITE Tech IT8718F-S
Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/5.25" are not mentioned)
Datasheet: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pd … /IT8718F-S.html

MSI MS-7952 Rev 5.2 {No BIOS support}
Fintek F71889F
Datasheet states support of floppy drives and tape drives (same statement the other two make, but nothing more)@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://www.electronicsdatasheets.com/manufac … k/parts/f71889f

EDITED

The Winbond W83627DHG/EHG chip typically found on Asus 775 motherboards supports all types of floppy disk drives, but only as a single drive.

Thanks. I don’t know if you read the entire post but the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Rev. 1.02 supports two drives, and has the W83697HG chip (not W83627DHG/EHG), which I actually tested.

Yes, I saw, thanks, in fact it is easier to find dual floppy drive support among the Asrocks (there should be others too) than among the Asus.

Meatball wrote on 2023-11-09, 02:20:

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected tw […]
Show full quote

Of the three Socket 775 motherboards I own, only one has dual drive support - the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. I physically connected two 3.5" drives, booted from a Windows 98 Startup Disk, and both drives are accessible as A: and B: drives from the command prompt and reading/writing to 1.44MB floppy disks just fine.

Though the datasheets of the other two state multiple drive support, the BIOS does not implement more than a single drive.

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Rev. 1.02 [Confirmed support]
Winbond W83697HG
Datasheet states up to four 3.5" and 5.25" drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/396366 … 5/W83697HG.html

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6 {No BIOS support}
ITE Tech IT8718F-S
Datasheet states up to two floppy drives@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M (3.5"/5.25" are not mentioned)
Datasheet: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pd … /IT8718F-S.html

MSI MS-7952 Rev 5.2 {No BIOS support}
Fintek F71889F
Datasheet states support of floppy drives and tape drives (same statement the other two make, but nothing more)@360K/ 720K/ 1.2M/ 1.44M/ 2.88M
Datasheet: https://www.electronicsdatasheets.com/manufac … k/parts/f71889f

EDITED

Exactly the opposite happened to me. I had two Abit 775 cards in my hands that supported two floppies in the BIOS, but the controller did not support them. When I tried to connect them both the first, Floppy A, worked normally, the second, Floppy B, was as if it were not connected. In Windows floppy A was normally accessible, but when I tried to access floppy B a pop-up appeared inviting me to insert the disk, even with the diskette already inserted and DOS gave an error when reading. After I discovered che le schede madri montavano il controller Winbond

(semi-OT)

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-11-09, 04:42:

Probably as a preliminary filter you can probably ignore anything that doesn't have PS/2 ports since they would have been sucking up to Intels legacy free demands. If it's also got serial and parallel even as just headers, great, it's looking like the kind of board that actually implemented everything on the i/o chip... not a guarantee, but gets you warmer I would think.

Indeed, you should see the Gigabyte C847N (1-slot mini itx) I grabbed a year ago for server duty - real PS/2, parallel, dual serial, they even used dedicated chips to replace the PCI-E with PCI and have a (single) real IDE controller, but no floppy and an EFI that doesn't boot at all if you set the computer for EFI-only mode 😁

Heh, yeah I wouldn't even have thought about ITX as a possibility, nor BTX for that matter. Even Intel went for parallel and serial on their Johnstown ITX though, think they were looking at industrial applications.