Abit IP35 Motherboard

[GianDO76]

No, apparently this was used mostly on HP systems. However, if you're looking for 2 floppy support, you're not going to find it there. Consider the HP XW4600 workstation, which uses it. One one floppy drive is supported..

Frankly, if you're looking for 2 floppy support past AMD Socket 754 or Intel P4, I don't think you'll find it.

I also found these ICs

LPC47B387-NC
LPC47B397-NC
IT8712F-A
IT8718F-S

 

[Chuck(G)]

Just a quick look, but the IT8712F does seem to support 2 floppies. So now you have to find a motherboard using it with your other requirements. Good luck!

 

[GianDO76]

Just a quick look, but the IT8712F does seem to support 2 floppies. So now you have to find a motherboard using it with your other requirements. Good luck!

I would have found the motherboard that uses IT8712F-A is a
BIOSTAR P4M900 MICRO 775

I would have also assumed the SMSC ICs supported two floppy drives.
Where do you find all datasheets?
Are the letters after the score important in the chip acronym?
Furthermore, regarding the first two SMSC ICs that I had listed in the previous post, on the Alldatasheet.com site I had found LPC47B3xx-NS, with several xx from my ICs.

 

[Chuck(G)]

The next best thing to finding real datasheets is to find motherboards that use them and then look at the manuals for those boards. Clearly the ones that say "1 floppy" aren't going to support 2.
If you'll pardon me, I'm going to beg off of this hunt, as other things are taking precedence.

 

[GianDO76]

The next best thing to finding real datasheets is to find motherboards that use them and then look at the manuals for those boards. Clearly the ones that say "1 floppy" aren't going to support 2.
If you'll pardon me, I'm going to beg off of this hunt, as other things are taking precedence.

Ok, so even if the controller supports 2 floppy drives but only one floppy drive is present in the bios, only one will always be managed, is it correct?
Thank you very much.

 

[Chuck(G)]

If 2 floppy drives are present on the motherboard and if they're connected via motherboard traces (pins may be repurposed in the configuration settings), BIOS support can probably be added later, as it's only software.

 

[GianDO76]

If 2 floppy drives are present on the motherboard and if they're connected via motherboard traces (pins may be repurposed in the configuration settings), BIOS support can probably be added later, as it's only software.

OK. The Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Rev. 1.6 motherboard has an IT8718 that supports dual floppy drives, but only one can be configured in this board's BIOS. How do you think you can solve it?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Well, first you need to check if the second drive is actually configured and connected (on the motherboard). Run a BIOS-ignorant utility like ImageDisk and see if it selects and reads a disk in the second drive. If it can, then it's a BIOS matter; otherwise, there's some hardware in the way.

 

[GianDO76]

Well, first you need to check if the second drive is actually configured and connected (on the motherboard). Run a BIOS-ignorant utility like ImageDisk and see if it selects and reads a disk in the second drive. If it can, then it's a BIOS matter; otherwise, there's some hardware in the way.

I found an Hp XW4200 workstation with LPC47B397-NS controller. Drive B does not appear in the BIOS. In ImageDisk there is a utility called TESTFDC, but it doesn't appear to be "BIOS ignorant utility", in fact it says "BIOS Reporting: Drive B: is not installed"

 

[Chuck(G)]

RTFM--from the testfdc.com with no command line arguments:

Use: TESTFDC drive [type-override] [options]

drive:  Physical floppy drive to test (A: - D:)

type            360 = DD 40 track        1.2 = HD 80-track (5.25)
override:       720 = DD 80 track       1.44 = HD 80-track (3.5)

opts:   /D      - skip standard Double-density test (should always work)
        /R      - please Read this!
        R=file  - Write final report to file.
        /S      - skip Single-density test
        /X      - eXclude MFM/128 test

So, to test a 1.44M drive as drive B: with no BIOS support, run:

TESTFDC B: 1.44

 

[GianDO76]

RTFM--from the testfdc.com with no command line arguments:

Use: TESTFDC drive [type-override] [options]

drive:  Physical floppy drive to test (A: - D:)

type            360 = DD 40 track        1.2 = HD 80-track (5.25)
override:       720 = DD 80 track       1.44 = HD 80-track (3.5)

opts:   /D      - skip standard Double-density test (should always work)
        /R      - please Read this!
        R=file  - Write final report to file.
        /S      - skip Single-density test
        /X      - eXclude MFM/128 test

So, to test a 1.44M drive as drive B: with no BIOS support, run:

TESTFDC B: 1.44

and ... Why if I type TESTFDC A: it's OK?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Because A: is defined in the BIOS, so the type is available. I'd think that was obvious. There's no hardware support for drive B: obviously.

I suspect that your mission may well be futile.

 

[GianDO76]

Because A: is defined in the BIOS, so the type is available. I'd think that was obvious. There's no hardware support for drive B: obviously.

I suspect that your mission may well be futile.

However, you have repeatedly stated that ImageDisk bypasses the BIOS. That's probably not really the case.

 

[Chuck(G)]

You're not following--I suggest that you inspect the source code for TESTFDC. If available, TESTFDC will use the BIOS to determine the drive type (only). Beyond that, it does not use the BIOS for operation--it literally can't, as the BIOS has no provision of FM operation. Now if the drive type isn't available from the BIOS, then you must explicitly specify it on the command line. Similarly, you can override what the BIOS claims for a drive by specifying the type on the command line.

Clear?

 

[krebizfan]

I spent entirely too long trying to find a datasheet that showed if the integrated floppy controller had pins to support DS0 and DS1 or only had the pins connected for a single drive. If the controller can't talk to a second drive, no software is going to fix that.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Hope springs eternal, I guess. My opinion, which seems to be panning out, is that you're not going to find 2 floppy support in anything much past a P4 or Socket 754. Perhaps in a Socket 939, but even that's doubtful. In any case, this is basically a rehash of https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=72575

In theory, it should be possible to design an "interposer" PCI card that decodes writes to I/O port 0x3f2 and provides decoding for the second (and third and fourth) drive. The basic motherboard controller doesn't change. But I'm not aware of such a board.

 

[GianDO76]

What does it mean when there are multiple functions one after the other on the same pin?
Thanks

 

[krebizfan]

What does it mean when there are multiple functions one after the other on the same pin?
Thanks

Could you provide the example you are looking at? Typically, the functions would depend on options set by the motherboard designer. Some of the IO chips would assign pins to either floppy controller or to parallel port so it would not be possible to have both.

 

[GianDO76]

Could you provide the example you are looking at? Typically, the functions would depend on options set by the motherboard designer. Some of the IO chips would assign pins to either floppy controller or to parallel port so it would not be possible to have both.

For example: in the IT8712F datasheet on pin 53 appear MTB#/THRMO#

 

[krebizfan]

For example: in the IT8712F datasheet on pin 53 appear MTB#/THRMO#

The pin can either turn on the motor for the B floppy drive or it can carry Thermal Output # which does not seem to have a clear explanation.

FDD Motor B Enable # / Thermal Output #.
• The first function of this pin is FDD Motor B #. This
signal is active low.
• The second function of this pin is Thermal Output #.
• The function configuration of this pin is determined by
programming the software configuration registers.