Floppy Drives

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Floppy Drives

• Chapter 8

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Overview

• In this chapter, you will learn to
• Explain the basics of floppy drives
• Install a floppy drive correctly
• Perform basic floppy drive maintenance and
  troubleshooting

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Floppy Drive Basics
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Floppy Disks

• Floppy diskettes are inserted into floppy drives
  to store data
• A floppy disk can store up to 1.44 MB of data

An ancient PC with dual 5.25 floppy drives
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Understanding Floppy Drive Types

• Different types and sizes of diskettes are
  available
• The working capacity of a diskette is determined
  by combining a specific type of diskette with a
  specific size of disk/drive
• Different devices format or organize data
  differently on a floppy diskette

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Types of Diskettes and Capacity
5.25 drive
3.5 drive
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Installing Floppy Drives

• All Windows systems reserve the letters A and B
  for floppy drives
• Floppy drives connect to the computer via a
  34-pin ribbon cable
• Cables supporting two floppy drives use a
  seven-wire twist to electronically distinguish
  between the A and B drives

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Floppy Drive 34-pin Ribbon Cables
Supports one drive only
Notice the twist to identify A or B
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Determining Drive Letters

• The installation location of the floppy drive on
  the connector determines the drive letter
• Floppy drives come with a special set of jumpers
  that enable you to change the floppy drive letter

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Connectors
5.25 connector

• The 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch drives use different
  connectors
• Most cables have a 3.5-inch connector
• At any given point of time either the 5.25-inch,
  or the 3.5-inch drive can be used as a floppy
  drive

3.5 connector
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Floppy Drive Controller

• Plug one end of the cable into the floppy drive
• Plug the other end of the cable into the floppy
  drive controller on the motherboard be sure the
  colored wire aligns with pin 1

Orientation tabs
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Power
The 5.25-inch drive uses a Molex-type connector
for power.
The 3.5-inch drive uses a mini connector for
power.
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Installing a Mini Connector

• Incorrectly inserting a power connector will
  destroy the drive!
• It can be easy to incorrectly insert a mini
  connector

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CMOS

• The CMOS settings must correspond to the
  capacities of the drive
• CMOS settings have the A configured by default
  for a 3.5-inch, 1.44 MB drive

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Swap Floppy Device

• Allows you to swap the A and B drives
  electronically instead of switching the cable

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Boot Up Floppy Seek

• Tells the PC not to check the floppy disk during
  the POST not very handy

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Boot Sequence

• Allows you to change the boot sequence from the
  default A, then C as the PC looks for the
  operating system

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Floppy Drive Maintenance and Troubleshooting
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Floppy Maintenance

• Exposure to outside environment, and mechanical
  damage are the common causes of floppy drive
  failure
• Floppy cleaning kits can be used to clean floppy
  drives to ensure optimum performance

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Repairing Floppy Drives

• Check for a bad floppy disk
• Check for data errors on the disk
• Check the CMOS settings
• Blame the floppy controller
• Check the cable
• Replace the floppy drive

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Step 1 Check the Floppy Disk

• Blame the floppy disk

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Step 2 Check for Data Errors

• Check for data errors on the disk
• If a floppy disk is bad you have three options
• Throw it away
• Reformat it
• Check for errors using a program like Scandisk or
  SpinRite

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Step 3 Check the CMOS

• Check the CMOS settings
• This is seldom the problem because CMOS defaults
  to the most common type of floppy drive settings
• A quick peek can save a lot of time

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Step 4 Blame the Controller

• Blame the floppy controller
• Most drives fail after a move, a few months in a
  high-static environment, or when a new PC is
  first delivered
• FDD Controller Failure or Drive Not Ready errors
  verify the connections

• Replacing the floppy controller
• Disable the Onboard FDD Controller in CMOS
• Buy a new floppy drive controller card (usually
  part of an I/O card with other options)

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Step 5 Check the Cable

• Check or Replace the cable
• If you reverse the ribbon cable on one end, the
  LED on the drive will come on and stay on
• If you reverse both ends of the cable, the LED
  will not come on at all usually
• If the drive change signal wire (the 34th wire)
  disconnects (bent pin maybe), youll see the same
  directory even when you put in a different
  diskette

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Step 6 Replace the Drive

• Replace the Floppy Drive
• In any five PCs at least one floppy drive will
  need to be replaced in a year
• When you replace a floppy drive, throw it away!

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Beyond A

• Floppy 3 Mode Support
• Special 1.2 MB format used primarily in Japan
• Report No FDD For Win 95
• Releases IRQ 6 if you dont have a floppy drive
• May also need to turn off the floppy drive
  controller
• Radial misalignment is when the read/write heads
  are misaligned.
• The read/write heads can be readjusted using
  special programs made by manufacturers, but it is
  usually much cheaper to throw the drive out and
  buy a new one

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Beyond A

• USB floppy drives
• Many PCs no longer come with internal floppy
  drives
• An external floppy drive that connects to your
  USB port may be a good solution if you really
  need a floppy drive
• USB Flash Memory Drives
• Also called thumb drives
• Tiny new drives that are relatively inexpensive
  that are a new implementation of the Compact
  Flash cards in the digital camera world
• New models hold multi-GBs of data and have
  built-in email software

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