Double check that the cable is the right way around (the pin 1 wire is marked red).

Got to say I'm a little over floppies as well. I spent quite some money and got three brand new floppy drives and 40 TDK disks, also brand new. One of the drives sounds very strange and the very first floppy I used had read/write errors 🙁

I have now ordered one of these cheap floppy emulators from eBay and will do a review soon 😀

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Double check that the cable is the right way around (the pin 1 wire is marked red).

Got to say I'm a little over floppies as well. I spent quite some money and got three brand new floppy drives and 40 TDK disks, also brand new. One of the drives sounds very strange and the very first floppy I used had read/write errors 🙁

I have now ordered one of these cheap floppy emulators from eBay and will do a review soon 😀

Thanx Mau1wurf1977. Tried two different floppies and nada de nada, (nothing)

Tried swaping cables upside down, tried different cables as well and nothing.

The floppy is recognised in the Bios and it is set to 1,44.
Also the led lights up when at the boot process the Floppy is checked.

I also got one of those floppy emulators...pretty handy indeed

Yes it was your 486 thread and the photo that made me want to get one 😀 It fits perfect into my MS-DOS Time-Machine Gaming project!

PS: I got the black one.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Yes it was your 486 thread and the photo that made me want to get one 😀 It fits perfect into my MS-DOS Time-Machine Gaming project!

PS: I got the black one.

Post your thoughts on the floppy when you mess around with it!

Anyone else, any other opinions on the matter?

Did you check to make sure the floppy drive controller is enabled in the BIOS and set to the proper type?

ncmark wrote:

Did you check to make sure the floppy drive controller is enabled in the BIOS and set to the proper type?

Yes, I think it is. Nevertheless here are some pictures of the BIOS + DOS.

(Sorry for the Flash! I know... you can go blind with it!)

Try "format a: /u /f:1440" and see if there's any change.

Markk wrote:

Try "format a: /u /f:1440" and see if there's any change.

No changes whatsoever! It says "not ready" when trying to format. Very strange indeed!

Just in case:

For 3.5" the hole must be open (not covered).

TELVM wrote:

Just in case: […]
Show full quote

Just in case:

For 3.5" the hole must be open (not covered).

Thanx Enigma, tried it but nothing...

Try another 3,5" drive before you go mad. 3,5" floppies die and so do the drives..

Another thing: Set "floppy seek" to enable in the BIOS and wait for the seeking sound. If you hear this, you can almost ensure that the controller as well as the cable are working as they should.

Good luck,
Fabian

Thx FGB for the fast response.
I've tried 2 different floppies. Floppy seek is enabled and the seeking sound is made.
I have tried many different diskettes and nothing....there must be missing something!

Could it be a driver problem? Well, floppies don't use drivers do they?

Go to another computer and create a boot disk. You can do this through bootdisk.com

Let's say a Windows98SE disk. Put the write protect latch on after. Boot from that one and see how you go.

This might be a total shock in the dark, but maybe the machine has a weird virus?

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Go to another computer and create a boot disk. You can do this through bootdisk.com

Let's say a Windows98SE disk. Boot from that one and see how you go.

This might be a total shock in the dark, but maybe the machine has a weird virus?

It could have a virus! I had a problem today with Ms-Dos not recognising EMM386 anymore. The file became corrupt. That could be a sign!

I think I'm going to format the Hard Drive and try from 0.

thanx Mau1wurf1977

Pingaloka wrote:

I've tried 2 different floppies......[x]....
I have tried many different diskettes and nothing....there must be missing something!

2 different floppies - did you mean 2 different floppy drives?

The only problem here is that either the floppy drive is defective or the floppy controller on the motherboard is defective.

1. Try using another floppy drive, if not already done so.

2. Try using a boot disk if available and see if you can boot directly from the floppy drive (don't boot from the C drive first.). A clean boot disk shouldn't have virus and write-protect the disk before booting to prevent virus transfer, if any, from the hard disk.

3. If you have a floppy/IDE or a multi I/O card, try using it to connect the floppy drive (and also make sure to disable the floppy controller on the motherboard when doing this) to check if the drive or the motherboard's controller is defective.

Malik wrote:

2 different floppies - did you mean 2 different floppy drives? […]
Show full quote

Pingaloka wrote:

I've tried 2 different floppies......[x]....
I have tried many different diskettes and nothing....there must be missing something!

2 different floppies - did you mean 2 different floppy drives?

The only problem here is that either the floppy drive is defective or the floppy controller on the motherboard is defective.

1. Try using another floppy drive, if not already done so.

2. Try using a boot disk if available and see if you can boot directly from the floppy drive (don't boot from the C drive first.). A clean boot disk shouldn't have virus and write-protect the disk before booting to prevent virus transfer, if any, from the hard disk.

3. If you have a floppy/IDE or a multi I/O card, try using it to connect the floppy drive (and also make sure to disable the floppy controller on the motherboard when doing this) to check if the drive or the motherboard's controller is defective.

Thanx Malik the King! I have tried 2 different floppy drives.
I've checked the floppy drives on another computer and they work perfectly.

I'm going to try booting from a floppy. Also, how do I disable the floppy driver from the Bios?

I have posted the bios settings in this post.

If you are using an external multi-I/O card or a floppy controller card, you have to disable the on-board controller. The option is in your 3rd photo : "Onboard FDD Controller:" - set it to disabled if you are going to use an external floppy controller card.

Malik wrote:

If you are using an external multi-I/O card or a floppy controller card, you have to disable the on-board controller. The option is in your 3rd photo : "Onboard FDD Controller:" - set it to disabled if you are going to use an external floppy controller card.

Thanx a lot to all of you guys! Finally fixed it. I had to disable Onboard FDD Controller and it worked! 😊
Newbie mistakes!