buckeye wrote:

After finally finding a PS that will start this board and getting it to post, these messages show up: […]
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After finally finding a PS that will start this board and getting it to post, these messages show up:

02B0 diskette drive A error

Serial Presence Detect SPD device missing or inconclusive

Bought a new floppy drive, didn't work but tested ok on another system. Tried swapping cables, resetting bios, switching to 100mhz memory, re-seating all connections....no change. In the bios the floppy drive does show up as expected, just keep getting the error and the light stays on constantly. I'm about resigned to getting another board as this one has fought me tooth/nail from the get go.

I'm guessing the floppy drive controller is broke, is such a thing fixable? Been using 133mhz memory with a 100mhz cpu but didn't think that would be causing this. All suggestions are welcome, thanks!

Based upon the floppy drive activity light being on constantly, I would bet that you have the floppy cable inserted upside down into the back of the floppy drive. Re-insert it the other way around and see what happens.

Also, the PC133 RAM may be a problem too as this board is designed for PC100 RAM.

Tried re-inserting cable but only goes in one way due to notch/tab. Also some of my other fdd cables have no tabs, others have certain holes "filled in" I assume to line up with connector where the pins are missing. It's confusing to have all these variations on the cables.

Going to order some PC100 ram to maybe help the other error message.

Just make sure in the BIOS that your RAM timings are CAS Latency 3, not 2. If your sticks are 133-CL2, this won't matter, but 100-CL2 is a touch more demanding than 133-CL3.

Floppy cables can be problematic, so the way to figure it out is to look at the red wire on the cable. That is pin 1, and should be facing the centre of the floppy drive. On the board side, if you've got a tab, that should be correct. Still verify that you've got pin 1 by the 1 marking on the board.

Thought I'd close out this thread on a positive note. After numerous issues ended up putting the SE440BX-2 aside and bought a Asus P3B-F rev. 1.04 board (expensive!!!) which at this point things are looking up! Thanks to all who chipped in on this post and others for the tips on trying to get the intel board running.