Sorry if this question is too lame xD

Accessing A: drive from FreeDOS USB just hangs.

bios

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 21:15:

Accessing A: drive from FreeDOS USB just hangs.

Does "onboard floppy controller" mean that you have an actual FDC chip on the mainboard (with
connections for non-USB floppy drives?

If may be that you have to either:

-Use a non-USB floppy drive connected to the mainboard, enable the on-board FDC in BIOS, and NOT use the USB one.

or

-Disable the on-board FDC in BIOS and use the USB one.

Just a thought... I've got a SFF Dell system which an 0nboard FDC but no corresponding drive.
I have onboard-FDC disabled in BIOS and it does find/boot/work with a USB floppy!

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

I have that board also. Are you sure you are using the correct ribbon cable? The A: drive needs to be after the twist. And the twist needs to be in the right place--there is another 34-pin cable with a twist for MFM/RLL hard drives that will physically fit but is not correct, here.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:27:

I have that board also. Are you sure you are using the correct ribbon cable? The A: drive needs to be after the twist. And the twist needs to be in the right place--there is another 34-pin cable with a twist for MFM/RLL hard drives that will physically fit but is not correct, here.

Yeah I'm using the correct one. Shouldn't floppy controller work even if the floppy drive is missing?

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-02-13, 21:59:

Does "onboard floppy controller" mean that you have an actual FDC chip on the mainboard (with connections for non-USB floppy dri […]
Show full quote

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 21:15:

Accessing A: drive from FreeDOS USB just hangs.

Does "onboard floppy controller" mean that you have an actual FDC chip on the mainboard (with
connections for non-USB floppy drives?

If may be that you have to either:

-Use a non-USB floppy drive connected to the mainboard, enable the on-board FDC in BIOS, and NOT use the USB one.

or

-Disable the on-board FDC in BIOS and use the USB one.

Just a thought... I've got a SFF Dell system which an 0nboard FDC but no corresponding drive.
I have onboard-FDC disabled in BIOS and it does find/boot/work with a USB floppy!

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Thanks for a reply, gonna try booting FreeDOS without USB drive. But in the case of Win10, it didn't see internal floppy drive even without USB FDD

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:50:

jakethompson1 wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:27:

I have that board also. Are you sure you are using the correct ribbon cable? The A: drive needs to be after the twist. And the twist needs to be in the right place--there is another 34-pin cable with a twist for MFM/RLL hard drives that will physically fit but is not correct, here.

Yeah I'm using the correct one. Shouldn't floppy controller work even if the floppy drive is missing?

Indeed it will. You can F1 to continue through POST error (40) and you can basically plug-and-play drives after. I usually do the ribbon first, then power.

The internal AND the external will BOTH be A: in this situation. You will need an older board with "Swap Floppy Drives" or similar option to make the internal drive "B:" so the USB drive can get it's letter properly. They probably conflict right now. This is what I think is happening, anyway. I still don't have a USB floppy to play around with to work some of the common issues.

The 5.25 is "A:" proper if you power on with the USB floppy removed?

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:50:

jakethompson1 wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:27:

I have that board also. Are you sure you are using the correct ribbon cable? The A: drive needs to be after the twist. And the twist needs to be in the right place--there is another 34-pin cable with a twist for MFM/RLL hard drives that will physically fit but is not correct, here.

Yeah I'm using the correct one. Shouldn't floppy controller work even if the floppy drive is missing?

Yes, when you enable FDC and set a floppy drive in BIOS, that info gets passed down to Windows, which should cause the A: drive to appear in the UI.
Windows 10 does still support FDCs. I have never tested 11.

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:50:

jakethompson1 wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:27:

I have that board also. Are you sure you are using the correct ribbon cable? The A: drive needs to be after the twist. And the twist needs to be in the right place--there is another 34-pin cable with a twist for MFM/RLL hard drives that will physically fit but is not correct, here.

Yeah I'm using the correct one. Shouldn't floppy controller work even if the floppy drive is missing?

It moves its head on startup of MB, but a LED isn't on. This FDD worked perfectly with Socket 7 motherboard & was set up as A:

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:58:

Indeed it will. You can F1 to continue through POST error (40) and you can basically plug-and-play drives after. I usually do th […]
Show full quote

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:50:

jakethompson1 wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:27:

I have that board also. Are you sure you are using the correct ribbon cable? The A: drive needs to be after the twist. And the twist needs to be in the right place--there is another 34-pin cable with a twist for MFM/RLL hard drives that will physically fit but is not correct, here.

Yeah I'm using the correct one. Shouldn't floppy controller work even if the floppy drive is missing?

Indeed it will. You can F1 to continue through POST error (40) and you can basically plug-and-play drives after. I usually do the ribbon first, then power.

The internal AND the external will BOTH be A: in this situation. You will need an older board with "Swap Floppy Drives" or similar option to make the internal drive "B:" so the USB drive can get it's letter properly. They probably conflict right now. This is what I think is happening, anyway. I still don't have a USB floppy to play around with to work some of the common issues.

The 5.25 is "A:" proper if you power on with the USB floppy removed?

Seems like floppy controller doesn't work at all, I don't get any errors on startup. I don't really think the reason is a conflict with USB drive - win10 didn't see the drive anyway even without USB FDD connected

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:59:

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:50:

jakethompson1 wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:27:

I have that board also. Are you sure you are using the correct ribbon cable? The A: drive needs to be after the twist. And the twist needs to be in the right place--there is another 34-pin cable with a twist for MFM/RLL hard drives that will physically fit but is not correct, here.

Yeah I'm using the correct one. Shouldn't floppy controller work even if the floppy drive is missing?

It moves its head on startup of MB, but a LED isn't on. This FDD worked perfectly with Socket 7 motherboard & was set up as A:

This board doesn't do a floppy seek in the traditional sense, and there's no option to enable one, so that's normal. With my 3 1/2 drive it just makes a brief click.

Oh and this 980DE3/U3S3 is glitchy as hell, the sound isn't working for me and USB's weren't working for another person who had this MB. Looks like a problem with Southbridge or Northridge.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2025-02-13, 23:02:

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:59:

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 22:50:

Yeah I'm using the correct one. Shouldn't floppy controller work even if the floppy drive is missing?

It moves its head on startup of MB, but a LED isn't on. This FDD worked perfectly with Socket 7 motherboard & was set up as A:

This board doesn't do a floppy seek in the traditional sense, and there's no option to enable one, so that's normal. With my 3 1/2 drive it just makes a brief click.

Thanks for info

I have a spare 970De3/U3S3 laying around as well, though I don't know if it's working.

SVslw wrote on 2025-02-13, 23:03:

Oh and this 980DE3/U3S3 is glitchy as hell, the sound isn't working for me and USB's weren't working for another person who had this MB. Looks like a problem with Southbridge or Northridge.

Not specific to your board's issues, but under Linux, access to the floppy will glitch out. If you force PIO instead of DMA (floppy=nodma or such) you still get some spurious IRQ6 but it does work. There is some chipset errata about the LPC DMA but nothing about the IRQ6. There are also spurious IRQ4 if you use the serial. It gets worse when there is a lot of PS/2 mouse activity while using the floppy or serial. I reported it to the kernel bugzilla but it never went anywhere. Seems it's just a marginal Super I/O implementation or chipset errata on a last-of-its-era implementation like this is.