Why doesn't my floppy drive work??

Question

This question has been asked, however none of the provided answers have helped me. I am putting together a second computer for my course, and will be eventually putting Linux on it. However, I can't get the floppy drive to work. At first I thought the floppy drive itself was the problem, so I went out and bought another one. Same problem. I was getting the error "40", which indicates a BIOS error, or I was getting the light staying on, which indicates a cable problem. So, I did some troubleshooting once the second hard drive gave the same errors. So far I have done the following: tried 2 different mother boards (Pentium 120 and a 486DX-33), tried 3 different Floppy cables (and turing them arround several times at both ends), and even tried 2 different power supplies. I'm stumped. Can you think of anything else that might help before I give up and actually take my computer to a tech?

Specs: Pentium 120, 32M RAM, Trident 512K video, 2 HD (2.1 and 3.2GB), and the floppy. Keyboard, mouse.

If you need any other info, let me know.

Signed,

Stumped A+ tech.

Answer

This question was answered on April 9, 2001. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

Hello and thank you for your question.

You are right, a "40" error indicates a BIOS error, and the light staying on is usually a reversed cable. You have already done some extensive troubleshooting, things I would suggest had you not done already. I would like to point out that within the setup program make sure the onboard floppy controller is set to "ENABLED", and that drive A: is set to 3.5, 1.44Mb. Also, some BIOS setup programs have a "3 MODE" option, this is for Japanese floppy drives and it should be set to "DISABLED". If all else fails you will need to have your system looked at by a qualified technician.

Good luck!!

Author

Posted by Lanny of Chandler-Gilbert Community College on April 9, 2001