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5 1/4" Floppy Drive Not Reading?

C

CompuNurd

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Jun 1, 2014
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35
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I was excited to get my 5 1/4 floppy drive and disks in the mail today, however have been having some trouble getting it to work. When I click the drive in Windows 98 it spins up, but the read heads don't appear to be moving, and I get the "This device is not ready" error. Here is my setup:

Computer - Built from salvaged parts, P4 CPU, has BIOS option to enable 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives (appears as if you can only have one drive at a time). Motherboard model: D845EPI/D845GVSR
Floppy Drive - Chinon FR-506
Floppy Disks - 3M Double Sided, High Density
Floppy Drive Cable - Connections listed from left to right: 34 pin motherboard connector, 34 pin 3.5" connector, 34 pin 5.25" connector, 7 pin/cable twist, 34 pin 3.5" connector, 34 pin 5.25" connector.

The jumpers are as follows: TM-closed, DS0-open, DS1-closed, DS2 and DS3-open, IU-open, MS1-closed, D-R-closed, MS2-open.

The first time I connected the drive to the computer I connected it backwards to the motherboard because the light stayed on and the drive kept spinning, so I reversed it. It then started to spin up when I clicked on the drive in the OS, but I get no indicator light and the heads do not move across the disk to read it, then I get the "This device is not ready" error. I began to think the head motor somehow got stuck, so I moved the head by spinning the spiral column until the head was at the end of the floppy. Once I applied power, the head immediately moved back across the floppy, however I could not move it again by spinning the spiral column, so the motor is constantly applying pressure while the drive is powered up. I'm not sure if it is supposed to do that or if there is an issue with the wiring or controller. Something else that seems odd: when I insert a disk it begins spinning, however it stops spinning when I close the lever that engages the mechanism and read heads. Can this drive be fixed, or do I need to order a new drive?

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8/10/2014 15:37

For some reason, every time I try to post a reply it falls into the "Your post will be visible when a moderator approves it."

Anyway, I have the drive connected after the twist, and I have the jumper DS1 closed. The cable is notched so it can only be inserted into the floppy drive one way, however I have made sure it is connected into the motherboard the correct way. The drive still doesn't want to read anything. Do you have any other suggestions?
 
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Connect the drive up to the power supply, but not to the signal cable. Apply power.

Get a test probe, ground (connect to PSU - (black) at the connector) one end and then do the following:

1. Try grounding pin 16 on the edge connector. The motor should come on.
2. Try grounding pin 12 on the edge connector. The drive light should come on.
3. If (2) fails, try grounding 4, then 10, then 14 -- if the drive light doesn't come on, then you've got the drive select set wrong. If the light comes on when you try (2), then either your cable or your motherboard has problems.
 
Try booting from a DOS disk. It's a lot easier to test and troubleshoot and if you can't do anything with it in DOS you're surely wasting your time trying in Windows. :)
 
This motherboard only supports a single floppy drive? (only one drive type setting in the bios?) You did set the bios drive type to 1.2mb? And is it plugged in after the cable twist? (as drive A: )

The spinning and head pressure you describe are normal for most 5.25" floppy drives. Also, connecting it backwards will not normally damage anything.

When it is connected right, the drive's indicator light should come on during access.
 
I would also check the bios of the computer, and make sure the cable is oriented right on BOTH ends. And make sure that if it's a twisted cable, that your drive is using the right connector. If your drive is Drive A:, it should use the connector after the twist. If it is Drive B:, it uses the one before.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Connect the drive up to the power supply, but not to the signal cable. Apply power.

Get a test probe, ground (connect to PSU - (black) at the connector) one end and then do the following:

1. Try grounding pin 16 on the edge connector. The motor should come on.
2. Try grounding pin 12 on the edge connector. The drive light should come on.
3. If (2) fails, try grounding 4, then 10, then 14 -- if the drive light doesn't come on, then you've got the drive select set wrong. If the light comes on when you try (2), then either your cable or your motherboard has problems.
Click to expand...

The motor comes on when grounding 16, and the light comes on when grounding 12. When I try to format in MS-DOS it doesn't work. Also remember that the cable I am using has the twist in it. What should I do next?
 
As Al said, attach the drive after the twist--it will be your drive A:. The drive is configured correctly. If that doesn't work, try the straight-through part, still configuring as drive A:. Some motherboards did the drive swap internally (for certain, several Compaq boards did).

Your board supports one floppy (see the section on BIOS setup). This was one of the dreadful low-cost i845 chipset boards.
 
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The current configuration is after the twist. The jumper is set to DS1, and the BIOS is set to a 1.2M 5.25" floppy drive. It still doesn't want to read anything.
 
Chuck(G) said:
As Al said, attach the drive after the twist--it will be your drive A:. The drive is configured correctly. If that doesn't work, try the straight-through part, still configuring as drive A:. Some motherboards did the drive swap internally (for certain, several Compaq boards did).

Your board supports one floppy (see the section on BIOS setup). This was one of the dreadful low-cost i845 chipset boards.
Click to expand...

The drive is attached after the twist with jumper DS1 closed. It still doesn't want to read anything. A bit off topic, but when I try to reply to posts here it says, "thank you for posting, your post will not be visible until a moderator has approved it." To get it to work right I have to open the reply in a new window.
 
CompuNurd said:
The motor comes on when grounding 16, and the light comes on when grounding 12. When I try to format in MS-DOS it doesn't work. Also remember that the cable I am using has the twist in it. What should I do next?
Click to expand...

Check that both ends are plugged in correctly. Looking from the front of the computer, the red stripe on the cable should be on the left side of the cable (this indicates Pin one). The twist should be on the end of the cable that plugs into the floppy drive.

I'm assuming one end only has the 34pin Connector (for the motherboard), and the other end has another 34pin connector (for a 3.5" drive) as well as a 34pin edge card female connector (for 5.25" Drives.)
 
Yes the drive light did come on when connected upside down to the motherboard. When oriented properly, the drive spins up when you try to access it in Win98, however the LED does not illuminate.
 
I'd also take a stab at setting DS0 and using the straight through connector.
It's possible it's switching the drive select, but not the motor signal. Just something that commonly comes up.
 
No--leave the jumper at DS1. The problem with setting DS0 is that there are two motor control lines on a standard PC connector, and each one is paired with a drive set to DS1. This is not the case in some specially-jumpered controllers (e.g. DTC ESDI+floppy) that allow for use of a common motor control--this is also the case of many pre-PC systems--a motor signal enables the motor on all drives on the cable. But not the PC.

The "twist" in the cable essentially swaps the lines containing the motor control and DS1 around--it's quite clever.
 
Have you tried swapping the jumper from MS1 to MS2 ie: MS1 - Open, MS2 - Closed, Leave the rest as is, It's been a very long time since i had a Chinon drive but i seem to remember 1 setting spins the drive at 300 RPM and other at 360 RPM.

CompuNurd said:
The jumpers are as follows: TM-closed, DS0-open, DS1-closed, DS2 and DS3-open, IU-open, MS1-closed, D-R-closed, MS2-open.
Click to expand...
 
CompNurd PM-ed me last night saying that all his subsequent posts have been held up by moderation, so we don't really have a clue about what's been going on since our earlier postings. Hopefully, this will clear up and we all can learn the outcome.
 
Just a recap of everything I've done: tried reading the drive with the cable in both orientations, when upside down the motor runs and the light comes on. When grounding pin 16 the motor comes on, and when grounding 12 the light comes on. I swapped the jumper from MS1 to MS2 to no avail. I've tried formatting in MS-DOS with the error that track 0 cannot be found. Everything I try, the motor spins up but the light does not come on and the heads do not move. I am guessing we are looking at a faulty drive? I purchased the drive from a seller with 150+ positive feedback who said it was fully tested and it worked, but it was pretty tight in the box with only 1/2" of bubble wrap.
 
Just a recap of everything I've done: tried reading the drive with the cable in both orientations, when upside down the motor runs and the light comes on. When grounding pin 16 the motor comes on, and when grounding 12 the light comes on. I swapped the jumper from MS1 to MS2 to no avail. I've tried formatting in MS-DOS with the error that track 0 cannot be found. Everything I try, the motor spins up but the light does not come on and the heads do not move. I am guessing we are looking at a faulty drive? I purchased the drive from a seller with 150+ positive feedback who said it was fully tested and it worked, but it was pretty tight in the box with only 1/2" of bubble wrap.
 
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