# Floppy Drive not working.



## GordonCM (Aug 23, 2006)

*Could you share some insight?*

I know you're looking for an answer to another question, but I'm wondering how you even got that far. I'm trying to install an older Teac FD-55GFR drive (1.2 MB 5.25 floppy) in a system running XP, and I can get the system to recognize the drive, but each time it tries to access a disk, it tells me no disk is inserted. Anybody out there have any ideas?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi GordonCM,

Try flipping the ribbon cable over on the drive. It is so easy to put them upside down.

Post back and let us know if that fixed the problem.


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## Terrister (Apr 18, 2005)

Does the disk contain data? 
XP can only read/write 5.25 disk. It can not format them. If this is not a formated disk you need a 3rd party program.
Here is one. http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vfd.html


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

Yep, I missed this one big time....I somehow passed over the 5.25 and without thinking thought you were talking about a 3.5 floppy. The 3.5 are easy to turn the wrong way, but the 5.25...that is a different story. 

That Terrister is sharp catching that and guess my eyes are getting old. Anyway, follow what he said on this one...I just misunderstood what you were saying. My bad, sorry.


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## GordonCM (Aug 23, 2006)

I solved my own problem. If you're interested, here's how.

1. I used the ribbon cable that was originally used with the 5.25 inch floppy drive. It has a twist in it in some of the wires that connect to the drive. (I noticed that the cable used to connect my 3.5 inch floppy also has a twist, but not in the connector that fits the 5.25 inch drive, so that cable wouldn't work.)

2. I am using a 1.2 MB Teac FD-55GFR drive .. the D-series jumper was set to D1.

3. I booted the computer, ran BIOS setup, and configured the diskette as a 1.2 MB 5.25 inch floppy. Note that my machine, which uses an Intel motherboard, appears to allow only one floppy.

4. I saved the setup, booted into XP, and it worked. The drive was listed in Windows Explorer, the contents of several disks were readable, and that's that.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

thanks for posting the fix


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## JohnKevinKing (Sep 8, 2006)

*Additional information about successful configuration?*

Hi:

I'm trying to install a 5-1/4" floppy (Canon 5501) in a Win98SE machine, not having much success.

I'm using the Win98 machine (two actually) because I thought it would have a better chance of recognizing the drive with fewer problems.

I am using the cable that came with the drive, and it does have the twist between the A and B connectors

Anyway, I have a couple of questions for you regarding your success:

1) did you have a second floppy installed. If so, which one was A and which was B?

2) you mentioned a D-Series jumper. What is that? I see one 4 pin jumper block on my drive and that is it. It is unlabeled as to functionality and I do not have a manual for the drive. There is one jumper on the block and it is in the second position from the right, for what that is worth.

I've tried a number of different combinations in terms of drives installed, drive location (a/b), and bios configuration, but nothing works for the 5-1/4" drive. The 3-1/2" drive works fine.

I also have Win2K and XP machines, so I may move to them in an attempt to get this done.

Why am I doing this? Trying to get files off of a circa 1984 Texas Instruments Portable Professional Computer. What a trip.


thanks for any information you can provide.

John


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## JohnKevinKing (Sep 8, 2006)

*Up and running*

Ok, I have the Canon 5501 5.25" floppy drive up and running.

I found a neighbor who actually had a couple of TEAC FD-55GFR drives, each of which had the jumper set to D1, as reported by GordonCM.

I installed one of them in one of the Win98SE systems and it came right up and worked like a champ.

So, now I know it is not the OS, the BIOS, the motherboard, or the cable. Unless the Canon drive I was using was simply bad, that left the 4 position jumper block as the lone configurable item. Since the TEAC also had a 4 postion jumper block (labeled D0-D3) and since I didn't have a manual and the pins were unmarked and the drive was useless as is, I moved it from 

oo|o
oo|o

to 

o|oo
o|oo

and it now works. I also tried it in the first and last positions and it failed there. I'm guessing the Canon jumper block equates to 

D0 D1 D2 D3

Anyway, I'm in good shape. 

Thanks.

John


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:...per+positions&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&client=opera


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## JohnKevinKing (Sep 8, 2006)

Hello Dai:

Thanks, that is helpful. I didn't find that document although I didn't include 'jumper' and 'positions' in my search, just canon, 5.25, and floppy.

I did find the documentation for the TEAC drive

http://www.teac.com/DSPD/pdf/5fd0050a.pdf

which explained it. 

"With a twisted wire interface cable, both the "A:" and "B:" drives should be set to D1. On an untwisted cable the position of the drives is not defined, however the "A:" drive should be set at D2 and the "B:" drive set at D1"

I have a twisted wire cable and I'm using the Canon drive as "B:", which matches what the Epson document says.

Just wish the silkscreening included the designations.

Thanks again.

John


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