Connecting floppy cable to floppy drive

[ray123]

Hello. I was wondering if there is a general rule about connecting a floppy cable to a floppy drive. Some cables make it easy and have a notch but others do not; although some older cables also do not have notches as well. Even some have a notch on one end but not the other. Is there something I should look for on the connector? thanks

[EzyStvy]

Plugged in the wrong way the drive won't work and the green light stays on.

Plugged in the right way it works....Pretty easy to test..

[glc]

Note the colored stripe on the side of the cable - that indicates Pin 1 orientation. The end of the cable nearest the "twist" plugs into the drive. Pin 1 is usually marked in some fashion on the motherboard - you may have to refer to the manual. Pin 1 on the drive itself is where it can get confusing - there is no standardization. Some drives have it marked, some don't. As long as you have the correct end plugged into the motherboard with Pin 1 correctly oriented, you have a 50/50 chance at the drive end. If you get it backwards, the light stays on like Ezy indicated.

[RayH]

I think there is a pin that's missing on the pin headders. I know that the IDE drives have such. Check for that.

Ray

[glc]

That's correct - but not all cables have the blankoff.

[edfair]

If there is a pin missing it is probably #3. That will help.
Pin 1 sometimes has a square pad where it solders to the board and the rest are round.
Otherwise plug it in and see if the LED lights immediately. If so it is backwards.
Once you figure out the pin 1 end of the connector mark it with something for the next time.