boot to DOS and use the format command and see if that helps, also read this: https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/win … computer.68306/

hi thanks for your message I've tried the things suggested in the link given above such a enable floppy diskette in bios
I've looked in hardware configuration and installed drivers
I've also set floppy diskette to 1.2 mb option in bios but has not made any difference so not Shure.

You can try to load a DOS driver before Windows 9x starts.
2M-ABIOS, for example. It's an alternative floppy BIOS.
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/2m- … or-pc-xts.9672/

Or DRIVER.SYS, DRIVPARM etc.
They can help to make DOS understand the floppy drive type.

Windows 9x in return will run the floppy drive in "DOS compatibility mode".
Which is fine, but causes a bit of performance loss.

I'm pretty sure I used 5.25s in Win98 without problems.

Are you certain the drive itself has no issues?

If you boot Win98 in DOS mode, are you able to access the disk?

Do you have a DOS boot diskette? If so, can you boot it and see if
the 5.25" drive works?

Do you have a working 3.5" on the system?
If so, does that work?

If yes and you have another system with a 3.5" drive, you could grab my
ImageDisk boot diskette image from "Daves Old Computers".

ImageDisk accesses the floppy directly via hardware (It doesn't even have to
be configured in BIOS) -- that will let you see if the drive works independant
of OS.

jude1977 wrote on 2025-05-13, 14:03:

the issue I'm have is that every blank floppy disk I use wont format when I try to format it.
It try's to start formatting when I use the write command but it always says cant format ,disk is damaged

DOS is stupid. Windows 9x a bit less, but that's still DOS - on steroids and with GUI. Is it just the format that doesn't work? Can you read and write floppies formatted on other systems? Does Windows show that drive icon and is it 5.25" type?
If it's just the format then try FORMAT /U. Then try erasing track 0 sector 0 with a strong magnet. Make sure your DOS machine doesn't have a virus that's resident in floppy boot sector.

Are you running some 3rd party boot software, somebody just had an issue and it turned out to be GRUB for DOS that they didn't even mention. So any bootloaders installed? XTIDE perhaps?

A 5.25" drive works fine in Win98.
What's the exact model of the floppy drive and how are you connecting it? Photo of drive/model and cable could help.
Also as others mentioned, have you tried booting in pure dos to attempt a format?
Since you have another PC, connect the drive to that. Does it work?

What motherboard do you have? 5.25" support was dropped in the last generation of boards with floppy (WinXP era); immediately before that the option was still there but I'd be surprised if anybody did Q&A on it...

Okay, another workaround..

Disable on-board FDC on that Windows 98 PC (in BIOS Setup, Advanced Settings) and install an multi-i/o ISA card with FDC (floppy disk controller).
Disable IDE and other unnecessary devices on the card via jumpers.

It could be that the modern floppy disk controller doesn't have enough "oomph" to drive that 5,25" drive correctly.
Either because of 3.3v voltage levels or due to other reasons.

A vintage FDC controller card for IBM PC works, too.
But for 1.2MB, it has to be a high-speed model that supports 500 kbits.

Edit: I had a similar problem once, where an old ISA card with FDC solved the issue.
It wasn't the BIOS or the operating system, but an issue on hardware levels.

hi thanks for your reply's do you know what on board fdc is I tried looking in bios for it to disable it but cant find it I'm not Shure how to get to advance settings in bios also what type of card is a fdc as mentioned above and what is a isa card
also I should note that I've tried multiple floppy 5.25 disk drives in the same machine and they all come up with the same error message my computer is a Pentium 3 so I'm
thinking maybe its my hardware in that machine affecting it.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-05-14, 16:08:

Okay, another workaround.. […]
Show full quote

Okay, another workaround..

Disable on-board FDC on that Windows 98 PC (in BIOS Setup, Advanced Settings) and install an multi-i/o ISA card with FDC (floppy disk controller).
Disable IDE and other unnecessary devices on the card via jumpers.

It could be that the modern floppy disk controller doesn't have enough "oomph" to drive that 5,25" drive correctly.
Either because of 3.3v voltage levels or due to other reasons.

A vintage FDC controller card for IBM PC works, too.
But for 1.2MB, it has to be a high-speed model that supports 500 kbits.

Edit: I had a similar problem once, where an old ISA card with FDC solved the issue.
It wasn't the BIOS or the operating system, but an issue on hardware levels.

I seem to recall at least one thread here about something like this. In that case, the problem was resolved by replacing part of the motherboard chipset (i.e. soldering in a new southbridge or super i/o chip, AFAICR). It might be a common, possibly age related, fault affecting a specific chip or maybe several.

jude1977 wrote on 2025-05-15, 11:08:

hi thanks for your reply's do you know what on board fdc is I tried looking in bios for it to disable it but cant find it I'm not Shure how to get to advance settings in bios also what type of card is a fdc as mentioned above and what is a isa card
also I should note that I've tried multiple floppy 5.25 disk drives in the same machine and they all come up with the same error message my computer is a Pentium 3 so I'm
thinking maybe its my hardware in that machine affecting it.

Please share your motherboard brand and model. If you don't know it, please share the BIOS ID from the POST screen (first screen displayed by the BIOS on startup).

hi all I've taken some photos of my bios and system don't know if it shows mother board model maybe this gives an idea of my type of system I'm using and weather its configured correctly.

more photoes of my system

and the final photo i have

From your photos, it looks like you have a 3.5" floppy, and you have DOS.

Does the 3.5" drive work?

If so, it unlikely that your FDC is bad.

Does the 5.25" work if you connect is as drive B:?

Your BIOS says drive A: is configured as a 5.25" 1.2M (HD) drive.
are you sure the 5.25" drive you are trying to use is HD and not DD?
(Easy way to tell for sure is to use ImageDisk Test mode and step to track 39.
HD has 80 tracks so head will be near middle. DD has 40 tracks so head will be much
closer to inside)

hi the 3.5 drive works fine I'm not Shure but my 5.25 may be DD I didn't realise I've got it configured as HD
how would I configure it as DD if I wanted to I'm not Shure how to do that.
From what I can remember it has the same problem when connected as drive B.

jude1977 wrote on 2025-05-15, 13:36:

hi the 3.5 drive works fine I'm not Shure but my 5.25 may be DD I didn't realise I've got it configured as HD
how would I configure it as DD if I wanted to I'm not Shure how to do that.
From what I can remember it has the same problem when connected as drive B.

In your BIOS settings you should be able to set the drive type to something like: 360k DD

jude1977 wrote on 2025-05-15, 12:29:

hi all I've taken some photos of my bios and system don't know if it shows mother board model

Yes it does: you have a Gigabyte GA-6VM7A+

Information and manuals here:
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/gigabyte-ga-6vm7a-1.x

Gigabyte themselves also still have info & downloads online:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-6VM7A … -rev-32/support

It looks like Gigabyte's "rev 3.2" corresponds to Theretroweb's "1.x", at least in terms of BIOS releases.

Speaking of that, the sceenshot shows it's running the F4 BIOS version, which is the most recent one available.

In any event this board is old enough that 5.25" drives should be able to work on it.

jude1977 wrote on 2025-05-15, 13:36:

hi the 3.5 drive works fine I'm not Shure but my 5.25 may be DD

Could you take a picture of the sticker with model number on the floppy disk drive itself? That should tell us what it is and so what settings you need for it.

Something like this:

jude1977 wrote on 2025-05-15, 13:36:

I'm not Shure but my 5.25 may be DD I didn't realise I've got it configured as HD

Maybe if you actually answered the questions asked that would have been clarified early on.