I'm not used to having a floppy drive on an XP machine.
I plugged in a NEW floppy drive, which I just got in the mail. I used
that twist cable which I mentioned. (twist on drive end),
I am not seeing the A: drive in My Computer.
I am not sure where else it should show up.
The only thing I can think is that maybe that cable is defective???
I'm not used to having a floppy drive on an XP machine.
I plugged in a NEW floppy drive, which I just got in the mail. I used
that twist cable which I mentioned. (twist on drive end), and connected
the power cable. Everything is plugged in properly.
I am not seeing the A: drive in My Computer.
I am not sure where else it should show up.
I confirmed this drive works by plugging it into the existing cables >connected to the internal floppy drive and it works fine. I read, wrote
and formatted a floppy.
In XP, I went to control panel, hardware, and I can see the floppy
listed. It says it's working fine.
I went to the command line, and typed A:
It says "Invalid drive specification".
The only thing I can think is that maybe that cable is defective???
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 06:27:43 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:
I'm not used to having a floppy drive on an XP machine.
I plugged in a NEW floppy drive, which I just got in the mail. I used
that twist cable which I mentioned. (twist on drive end), and connected
the power cable. Everything is plugged in properly.
I am not seeing the A: drive in My Computer.
I am not sure where else it should show up.
I confirmed this drive works by plugging it into the existing cables >>connected to the internal floppy drive and it works fine. I read, wrote
and formatted a floppy.
In XP, I went to control panel, hardware, and I can see the floppy
listed. It says it's working fine.
I went to the command line, and typed A:
It says "Invalid drive specification".
(Possibly, though I'd have thought it wouldn't show in control panel.
The only thing I can think is that maybe that cable is defective???
5 wire twist or 7 wire twist?I did wonder that too (-:
Do you have the power cable plugged it?
Did you boot the machine?Good question: many BIOSes have a setting for whether it should try the
Does it spin on the boot?
James,
I am not seeing the A: drive in My Computer.
I am not sure where else it should show up.
Have you already checked for the B: drive ?
The only thing I can think is that maybe that cable is defective???
Nope. That cable is designed to support *two* floppy drives, with one >before the twist, and the other after (as regarded from the connector thats >connected to the motherboard).
In short: Move your drive from before the twist to after (or vise verse), >and you most likely will see your A: drive appear. :-)
Hope that helps.
Regards,
Rudy Wieser
P.s.
Googeling for "floppy cable with twist", or even "drive cable with twist" >shows an explanation as the first hit ...
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 06:27:43 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:
I'm not used to having a floppy drive on an XP machine.
I plugged in a NEW floppy drive, which I just got in the mail. I used
that twist cable which I mentioned. (twist on drive end), and connected
the power cable. Everything is plugged in properly.
I am not seeing the A: drive in My Computer.
I am not sure where else it should show up.
I confirmed this drive works by plugging it into the existing cables >>connected to the internal floppy drive and it works fine. I read, wrote
and formatted a floppy.
In XP, I went to control panel, hardware, and I can see the floppy
listed. It says it's working fine.
I went to the command line, and typed A:
It says "Invalid drive specification".
The only thing I can think is that maybe that cable is defective???
5 wire twist or 7 wire twist?
Do you have the power cable plugged it?
Did you boot the machine?
Does it spin on the boot?
In message <if3m0d123uqgndp1poijv72nrgjo0t0frm@4ax.com>,
gfretwell@aol.com writes:
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 06:27:43 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:
I'm not used to having a floppy drive on an XP machine.
I plugged in a NEW floppy drive, which I just got in the mail. I used >>>that twist cable which I mentioned. (twist on drive end), and connected >>>the power cable. Everything is plugged in properly.
I am not seeing the A: drive in My Computer.
I am not sure where else it should show up.
I confirmed this drive works by plugging it into the existing cables >>>connected to the internal floppy drive and it works fine. I read, wrote >>>and formatted a floppy.
To clarify: your computer already had a floppy drive, and connecting the
new drive in its place, works. So how are you connecting it when it >_doesn't_ work, presumably with the (new?) cable-with-a-twist you
mention? To the same place on the motherboard as the existing one? If
the existing one has a cable with no twist, which side of the twist are
you connecting?
In XP, I went to control panel, hardware, and I can see the floppy >>>listed. It says it's working fine.
I went to the command line, and typed A:
It says "Invalid drive specification".
Even with a (formatted OK) floppy in?
(Possibly, though I'd have thought it wouldn't show in control panel.
The only thing I can think is that maybe that cable is defective???
Does it show a drive letter there [I presume you mean Device Manager]?
Does it show a drive letter for C: there?)
I did wonder that too (-:
5 wire twist or 7 wire twist?
Do you have the power cable plugged it?
Did you boot the machine?Good question: many BIOSes have a setting for whether it should try the >floppy on boot; turning it off saves time (and arguably wear on the
Does it spin on the boot?
drive, though minimal). Though if there's something about that setting >that's stopping it working, I'd have expected it to stop the existing
one working, hence the question re how you're connecting the new one.
Does its light flash - on boot? When you try to access it? At any other >time?
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 15:57:37 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" ><G6JPG-255@255soft.uk> wrote:
In message <if3m0d123uqgndp1poijv72nrgjo0t0frm@4ax.com>,
gfretwell@aol.com writes:
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 06:27:43 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:
I'm not used to having a floppy drive on an XP machine.
I plugged in a NEW floppy drive, which I just got in the mail. I used >>>>that twist cable which I mentioned. (twist on drive end), and connected >>>>the power cable. Everything is plugged in properly.
I am not seeing the A: drive in My Computer.
I am not sure where else it should show up.
I confirmed this drive works by plugging it into the existing cables >>>>connected to the internal floppy drive and it works fine. I read, wrote >>>>and formatted a floppy.
To clarify: your computer already had a floppy drive, and connecting the >>new drive in its place, works. So how are you connecting it when it >>_doesn't_ work, presumably with the (new?) cable-with-a-twist you
mention? To the same place on the motherboard as the existing one? If
the existing one has a cable with no twist, which side of the twist are
you connecting?
Once again, you are not listening to what I said.
The drive works fine on my WIN98 computer, using the cable inside that >computer.
It DOES NOT work on my XP computer.\
Two entirely different computers!
[]
In XP, I went to control panel, hardware, and I can see the floppy >>>>listed. It says it's working fine.
The only thing I can think is that maybe that cable is defective???
Does its light flash - on boot? When you try to access it? At any other >>time?
No
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 10:39:54 -0500, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:
Does it spin on the boot?
No
Just for the heck of it, I booted a linux flash drive. I dont see A: or
B: in there either.
However, I am now wondering if it could be possible that something in
the bios needs to be changed? I know I have it set to boot from a flash
drive FIRST, then the HDD, and lastly the CD player. But since this
computer has never had a floppy drive, maybe there is some bios setting
to change?????
I would have looked already, but I cant remember what key to hit to get
into the bios. Its a homemade computer so looking that up may be tricky.
I think I need to start putting labels on every computer saying what key >needs to be pressed to go to the bios.
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 13:58:54 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:[]
I would have looked already, but I cant remember what key to hit to get >>into the bios. Its a homemade computer so looking that up may be tricky.
I think I need to start putting labels on every computer saying what key >>needs to be pressed to go to the bios.
You are probably on to something. Go into BIOS setup and be sure the[]
FDD adapter is enabled.
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 10:39:54 -0500, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 06:27:43 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:
I'm not used to having a floppy drive on an XP machine.5 wire twist or 7 wire twist?
I plugged in a NEW floppy drive, which I just got in the mail. I used
that twist cable which I mentioned. (twist on drive end), and connected
the power cable. Everything is plugged in properly.
I am not seeing the A: drive in My Computer.
I am not sure where else it should show up.
I confirmed this drive works by plugging it into the existing cables
connected to the internal floppy drive and it works fine. I read, wrote
and formatted a floppy.
In XP, I went to control panel, hardware, and I can see the floppy
listed. It says it's working fine.
I went to the command line, and typed A:
It says "Invalid drive specification".
The only thing I can think is that maybe that cable is defective???
SEVEN
(why do they make two different types?)
The one which works on my Win98 puter is also SEVEN.
Do you have the power cable plugged it?
Yes
Did you boot the machine?
Yes, several times
Does it spin on the boot?
No
Just for the heck of it, I booted a linux flash drive. I dont see A: or
B: in there either.
However, I am now wondering if it could be possible that something in
the bios needs to be changed? I know I have it set to boot from a flash
drive FIRST, then the HDD, and lastly the CD player. But since this
computer has never had a floppy drive, maybe there is some bios setting
to change?????
I would have looked already, but I cant remember what key to hit to get
into the bios. Its a homemade computer so looking that up may be tricky.
I think I need to start putting labels on every computer saying what key needs to be pressed to go to the bios.
I'm not used to having a floppy drive on an XP machine.
I plugged in a NEW floppy drive, which I just got in the mail. I used
that twist cable which I mentioned. (twist on drive end), and connected
the power cable. Everything is plugged in properly.
In message <atmm0dp65cfs8gdigschdd5ggd1llpagru@4ax.com>,
gfretwell@aol.com writes:
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 13:58:54 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:[]
I would have looked already, but I cant remember what key to hit to get >>>into the bios. Its a homemade computer so looking that up may be tricky. >>>I think I need to start putting labels on every computer saying what key >>>needs to be pressed to go to the bios.
On most, they tell you on screen during boot, especially desktops rather >than laptops. (If a CRT monitor, sometimes before the monitor has warmed
up, though, if it is turned on at the same time as the PC.) Sometimes
hidden behind a splash screen, though _that_ usually has a "press xx to >dismiss splash screen" on it somewhere.
[]
You are probably on to something. Go into BIOS setup and be sure the
FDD adapter is enabled.
Though the lack of any flash from the drive's LED makes me suspect it
isn't getting power ...
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 21:23:38 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG-255@255soft.uk> wrote:
In message <atmm0dp65cfs8gdigschdd5ggd1llpagru@4ax.com>,
gfretwell@aol.com writes:
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 13:58:54 -0600, james@nospam.com wrote:[]
I would have looked already, but I cant remember what key to hit to get >>>into the bios. Its a homemade computer so looking that up may be tricky. >>>I think I need to start putting labels on every computer saying what key >>>needs to be pressed to go to the bios.
On most, they tell you on screen during boot, especially desktops rather >than laptops. (If a CRT monitor, sometimes before the monitor has warmed >up, though, if it is turned on at the same time as the PC.) Sometimes >hidden behind a splash screen, though _that_ usually has a "press xx to >dismiss splash screen" on it somewhere.
[]
You are probably on to something. Go into BIOS setup and be sure the
FDD adapter is enabled.
Though the lack of any flash from the drive's LED makes me suspect it >isn't getting power ...
IT WORKS NOW.
Turns out the bios was set to "NONE' for floppy drives. I changed that,
and it works. It tried to boot from the floppy in that drive, which just contains a text tile. I had to remove the floppy so XP would load from
the HDD.
Thanks for all who helped. Is one of you who made me suspect the bios. I actually did not know floppies could be disabled in the bios. Now I do!
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