Broken Floppy Drive?

[eddie_fb]

PLEASE HELP!
I have just gone to use my 3.5" Floppy for the first time for a long time, and it just says A: drive is not accessible. I have adjusted BIOS to seek for floppy on boot up and it says Floppy error (40). Yet when I remove the floppy drive, and corresponding controller from the device manager list, Windows can identify I have new hardware on boot up, and apparently installs it all correctly again. It just won't let me use it!!!! I have opened the PC up and all the cables are situated fine, and the disk has worked ok before, but I need the 3.5" disk to install a new USB mouse, and it's driving me mad!!!!!!!

ANY help would be appreciated, THANKS!!!!!

P.S.
AMD K6/2 400mhz
192mb PC100 SDRAM
C/LABS Geforce2 MX 32mb RAM
Diamond Supraexpress Pro 56e Ext. Modem.

[Floppyman]

I'd go ahead and disconnect and reconnect the floppy cable to the floppy and motherboard and make sure they are connected correctly and tightly connected. Also disconnect and reconnect the power cable. Lemme know what you can come up with and HTH

[eddie_fb]

Sorry Floppyman, have done that, but no joy! I don't think its Hardware related, because I hardly ever open up my case, but I don't know what else it could be? I dunno why Windows can detect it on plug-and-play but I can't access it?

[RJ]

Is it possible to access the floppy from dos ?
If not, go into bios and check in standard cmos setup that A: drive is set to 3,5" floppy.

RJ

[eddie_fb]

No, RJ I can't access it from dos either, and the Bios is as standard, ie: A:=3.5 floppy 1.44mb. I am getting pissed off right now! Might have to take it to a repair shop! Goddamn it! I only wanna install a USB mouse.

[RJ]

You also can let a friend burn the drivers to a CD :D

BTW, in bios, is "report no fdd to win95" enabled ?
But I also think it's a hardware issue, because of the error on startup you reported.

Have you checked that the floppy drive is connected to the connection beyond the cable twist ?
Between the connection mainboard - floppy there has to be a cable twist, otherwise A: can't be recognized.

RJ

[glc]

If you are getting a 40 error on bootup - you have either a bad drive, bad cable, or bad controller. It's easy enough to swap the drive and the cable, but the controller is on the motherboard.

[eddie_fb]

Can't be the cable cos no-one has changed it since it was working, so thats out. The floppy controller has been re-installed several times so thats probably not it, and I can't believe the drive has just failed for no reason? BTW, I have noticed there is no activity in the drive light, so I don't know if that helps anyone? I do appreciate this everyone!

[OOPS!]

Hi

I agree with glc. I've had several floppy drives just "die" on me. Plus several cables. I believe you can check to see if the controler is functioning in device manager. Swop it out and see.

OOPS!

[glc]

How do you know the cable is STILL any good? You said that it hasn't been used for a long time! Also, just because device manager says the controller is functioning correctly, that does NOT mean it will support a floppy drive!

Try a new or different cable - next step is try a new or different floppy drive. You need to start swapping things to find out exactly what is wrong.

[Edited by glc on 03-19-2001 at 03:24 PM]

[Jenni]

Why don't you DOWNLOAD the mouse driver? You are online, so you have the capability to download stuff. And if it fits on a floppy it can't possibly be very big!

[Edited by glc on 03-19-2001 at 03:25 PM]

[eddie_fb]

PANIC OVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for wasting your time everybody, I have fixed it! The cable had pulled out of the socket, and someone had replaced it, and bent a pin! Dunno who could have done that, I suspect burglars. Certainly wasn't me.

Jenni: Cannot find the mouse driver online cos it's very cheap and tacky. Besides, now I have problems getting the comp to recognise my USB/PCI Card! I love you Mr. Gates!

P.S. Could of been Pixies I suppose?

[RJ]

Well, what exactly is going wrong ?

Is the card detected ?
Is it showed up in device manager ?
Are there IRQ conflicts ?
Are the drivers installed ?

At least problem 1 is solved now. . .

RJ

[eddie_fb]

Thanks for your interest RJ, the card is detected, all shows up on device manager, CMD USB open host controller & USB root hub. Should Windows be able to auto-detect any peripheral plugged into the card, or will I have to install it manually because of it being a PCI addition? Anyone know? I may just put up with my PS2 mouse! Cheers!

[glc]

If the USB device is installed exactly according to the instructions it comes with, it should be seen. If it didn't come with an instruction sheet, look on the disk for a readme file.

[Jenni]

HHHmmm, let me guess, you got the same $10 USB mouse I got, from Office Max. It is a Micro Innovations, right? If so, Windows will detect it (or should I say SHOULD detect it) as a "Qtronix USB mouse". Of course, this all takes for granted that you are running Windows 98. If you are running Windows 95, forget it, you will NEVER get anything USB to work right, regardless of Microsoft's "USB support" B.S.

[eddie_fb]

GLC: The USB PCI card is 'seen' by Windows (98SE) but when I plug the mouse in, either 'hot plugged' or before switching on, I get no change. No detection at all. The disk just seems to have a setup utility that allows you to change some of the features with the scroll wheel. Doesn't seem to install the mouse itself 'per se'. Any ideas why windows cant seem to see the USB addition?

Jenni: No, I am in England, so I got it from Electronics Boutique, for about £12.50 ( about $20) and it is branded Electronics Boutique. It's my fault probably for getting a sh**e USB mouse. But, Hey, I was feeling optimistic!

Thanks for helping a poor stupid English guy everyone!

P.S: RJ, no IRQ conflicts I can see, and the drivers are all standard Windows 98SE ones, so no joy there?

[Jenni]

Try a different USB device to see if it is detected. If so, then the mouse is the culprit, take it back. BTW, did you remove the PS2 before you tried to install the USB one? I think Windows can only deal with one mouse at a time.

[Carl Price]

Originally posted by Jenni
BTW, did you remove the PS2 before you tried to install the USB one? I think Windows can only deal with one mouse at a time.

Yes it can! I have a USB mouse that I use for testing USB ports. Regardless of whether or not I have another mouse attached when I plug it in it is recognized as a "human interface device" and looks for drivers. At that point I cancel and unplug knowing that my USB ports are working.

[Edited by Carl Price on 03-21-2001 at 11:51 AM]

[eddie_fb]

I did try removing the PS2 mouse first, and also tried it with the PS2 mouse attached, and still no luck!

Unfortunately Jenni, I have only one USB device(the mouse), and no friends (lol) with any! So I am kinda screwed. I am getting pi**ed off with this damn thing! I think it will have to go back to the shop soon. But thanks for your help everyone!

[RJ]

But your friends computers should have usb, so that could be a possibility to test the mouse there.
BTW, were there a little adapter to PS/2 with the mouse ? If yes, connect it to PS/2 to find out if the mouse is bad.

RJ

[eddie_fb]

No, RJ, I live in Cornwall, UK, which means there is barely electricity down here, it really is the sticks! This means none of my local friends have computers at all, the nearest one being approx. 400 miles away! And no there was no adaptor for the USB mouse. Sorry.

[Jenni]

Carl, thanks for the correction. I guess I'm thinking of the PS2/serial mouse, which I guess doesn't apply to USB devices. eddie, I know there is a power minimum that USB devices must meet to activate the port. Plug in your mouse, and then go to your Device Manager (hit the Windows key and the Pause/Break key at the same time for a quick shortcut) and find your USB Root Hub, and click on the "power" tab, and click "power properties" and see if it is drawing any power. My USB mouse draws 100ma. If it isn't drawing any power, I would think that the mouse is bad, or possibly the plug isn't making good contact.