Joel,

Despite your checking the cable orientation, 8 out ot 10 times,
the problem you described is due to the cable being reversed.
Are you SURE that the cable is plugged in correctly?  at both ends?

Have you checked your BIOS settings?  Most BIOSes have a
setting in the ADVANCED section to reverse the assignments
of drive A and B. (My Award BIOS uses the term
SwapFloppyDrive)

If everything is as it should be, then you have a hardware problem.
Either the floppy disk is bad (unlikely since you replaced it) or the
connector on the MoBo, or the port on the peripheral chip on the
MoBo.  IN either of the last two cases, you will need a new MoBo.
(unless you are reeeeally good with a soldering pen.)

Jim Meagher


----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel M. Blackman" <[log in to unmask]>


> I first posted this yesterday, but have received no responses.  Although
my
> BIOS reads the presence of the A drive, and it shows up in device manager
as
> working properly together with the floppy disk controller, I cannot access
> it.  Since my first posting I replaced the floppy disk controller driver
> files (hsflop.pdr and ios.vxd) with fresh copies from the Win 98 CD.  As I
> stated in my earlier posting, I bought a new floppy drive and cable which
> did not fix the problem.  I keep getting the message that "Drive A is not
> ready, Cancel/Retry".  I checked device manager in safe mode and there not
> multiples of the drive or the floppy disk controller.  There are no yellow
> exclamation points in device manager.  During POST in the boot I don't get
> "Drive failure" error which I would get if the drive didn't work or the
> cable was not pin 1 to pin 1.  The drive activity LED does not stay on all
> the time, but does light up when I try to access the drive.  When I try to
> access it the sound is like that of a car with a weak battery turning
over.
> If the original drive were dead, the new one would have run, but it also
> sounded like a car with a weak battery turning over.  So if a new drive
and
> a new cable don't solve this problem, and fresh floppy disk controller
> driver files don't do it, where else or what else is there?  I have used
> brand new formatted floppies, so it isn't just one screwed up floppy.  It
> will not work no matter how many different floppies I try.  It worked and
> then it didn't.  System file checker does not show any corrupt or deleted
> system files, but I replaced the floppy disk controller drivers anyway.
If
> I try to look at drive A in "my computer" it causes "my computer" to
freeze
> up so I have to close it using ctrl/alt/del. Looking at the other drives
in
> "my computer" does not cause this problem.  I did a google search, but did
> not find anything particularly useful.  Most people don't pay much
attention
> to the A drive because it is so elementary and always there.  Thanks for
> your help.  Joel
>
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           Visit our web site to signup: http://freepctech.com