Twisted floppy drive cable

  • Thread starter Thread starter Evi
  • Start date Start date
E

Evi

My new (second-hand) PC has a middle section of the floppy cable (a sort of
grey flat ribbon of wires) that is split and twisted around. Should it be
like this? The drive seems to be very fussy about which floppies it can
read. It can't read some floppies. It gives a sort of clunk and then just
clicks for ages without doing anything. Sometimes it says that there is no
floppy in the drive. But when I put the same floppy into my old PC, it
reads it without any trouble. Other floppies however, it can read without
difficulty, albeit slowly. I have put in a new floppy drive since they
aren't very expensive but the problem still persists.

I've run complete virus checks, installed the security updateand used the
fix for Blaster and Welchia/Nachi, which I caught within minutes of going
online and there is no sign of either virus but could they have broken
something or is it more likely to be that cable?

Evi
 
The twist is normal in all my experiences. Why it's like that, I don't know
exactly, but I do believe that's normal. For your floppy issues, just go
buy a new one for like $10.

Ray at work
 
I've already bought one, as I said, and it did improve the performance from
how it was originally but it's still very shaky. Well, at least I know that
a twisty cable is normal.
Evi
 
The drive is going bad. Replace it.

The cable twist is there so your system can tell the difference
between an A: and B: drive (back when many computers came
with two floppy drives instead of just one).

Rick
 
So do you think that the new A: drive is faulty too? I suppose it's possible
but before I bring it back to the shop, I wonder if there is anything else
that could cause these problems.
Evi
 
1. Check the cable at both ends, make sure it's tight.

2. Try another cable if possible.

3. Move the floppy drive to another slot in your computer case.
Particularly check the bottom of the drive, sometimes it will be
mounted so close to the case that it interferes with the drive. I've
run into this quite a few times on Compaqs and other brands.

Rick
 
Thanks very much, Rick. I've got the cable from my old PC which is working
fine. I could swap those cables.

How will I know if the drive is too close to the case? And if it is, is
there anything I can do about it?
Evi
 
LOL, ray
I'll bet you couldn't be touched...
I can see it now, struttin' like John Travolta... 8)

don
---------

P.S. Evi - Check your floppie with another computer especially if you have a
Dukes mixture or if any are very old. some last a long time and others,
well, they are cheap.

:(
don
--------




"Ray at <%=sLocation%>" <myfirstname at lane34 dot com> wrote in message
1. Why?
2. Just add a second one if you'd like two.

My first computer had twin 5.25" drives, and I thought it was hardcore.

Ray at work

I wish they still did.
 
Thanks Ray. Yes, I did check the floppies themselves on my other PC (Ol'
Faithful) and they worked faultlessly. I even did a quick format on them and
Win98 gave me the report that there were '0 bytes in bad sectors' but this
PC just wasn't impressed!
Evi
 
Evi said:
Thanks very much, Rick. I've got the cable from my old PC which is working
fine. I could swap those cables.

How will I know if the drive is too close to the case? And if it is, is
there anything I can do about it?
Click to expand...

It'll be easy to spot. Just look at the distance from both the
top and bottom of the floppy drive to the case slot. If it looks
like the case might be interfering with the drive then move the
floppy to another slot (if you have one, some cases only have
one 3.5" slot).

Rick
 
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