Flipped floppy cable on new Asus P5B.. Did I kill it?

Built my first new system in 4 years with an Asus P5B Deluxe..
The only thing that didn't work out was that I had the diskette drive
cable upside-down at the drive. The symptom was that the drive was
not ready, and the activity LED was on all the time.

No problem, in my support work and personal experience, I've seen this
issue many times, and it always works when the cable is flipped back.

Not this time..
Boot attempt: = "Disk I/O error, replace the disk, press any key.."

Write attempt: = (From Asus CD boot) = Error reading from driver A:
DOS area: Drive not ready.:

Format A: /U = It steps through 100%, then:" Critical error during DOS
disk access. DOS Driver error 0B Description: Read fault. Program
terminated"

The drive light turns on when it's being accessed, and the diskette
motor spins.. I tried a different cable, and a known-good drive. The
twist section of the cable is at the drive end, and the twist (and pin
1) are on the power connector side.

Is the floppy interface on newer boards so delicate that it can't
stand a cable reversal? If so, does Asus repair their boards, or am
I out $250? (Purchased at Fry's)
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did you set the floppy to enable in the bios?
If it is listed in the device manager uninstall it turn the power supply off
then on
then do a reboot.
"Doug Warner" wrote in message
...

Built my first new system in 4 years with an Asus P5B Deluxe..
The only thing that didn't work out was that I had the diskette drive
cable upside-down at the drive. The symptom was that the drive was
not ready, and the activity LED was on all the time.

No problem, in my support work and personal experience, I've seen this
issue many times, and it always works when the cable is flipped back.

Not this time..
Boot attempt: = "Disk I/O error, replace the disk, press any key.."

Write attempt: = (From Asus CD boot) = Error reading from driver A:
DOS area: Drive not ready.:

Format A: /U = It steps through 100%, then:" Critical error during DOS
disk access. DOS Driver error 0B Description: Read fault. Program
terminated"

The drive light turns on when it's being accessed, and the diskette
motor spins.. I tried a different cable, and a known-good drive. The
twist section of the cable is at the drive end, and the twist (and pin
1) are on the power connector side.

Is the floppy interface on newer boards so delicate that it can't
stand a cable reversal? If so, does Asus repair their boards, or am
I out $250? (Purchased at Fry's)
--
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Doug Warner wrote:

Built my first new system in 4 years with an Asus P5B Deluxe..
The only thing that didn't work out was that I had the diskette
drive cable upside-down at the drive. The symptom was that
the drive was not ready, and the activity LED was on all the time.

Yep, one of the classic symptoms that means only one thing.

No problem, in my support work and personal experience, I've seen this
issue many times, and it always works when the cable is flipped back.

Yeah, I've never seen it cause a permanent problem.

Not this time..
Boot attempt: = "Disk I/O error, replace the disk, press any key.."

Write attempt: = (From Asus CD boot) = Error reading from driver A:
DOS area: Drive not ready.:

Format A: /U = It steps through 100%, then:" Critical error during DOS disk
access. DOS Driver error 0B Description: Read fault. Program terminated"

The drive light turns on when it's being accessed, and the diskette
motor spins.. I tried a different cable, and a known-good drive.
The twist section of the cable is at the drive end, and the twist
(and pin 1) are on the power connector side.

Is the floppy interface on newer boards so
delicate that it can't stand a cable reversal?

Never seen that happen.

If so, does Asus repair their boards,

Nope.

or am I out $250? (Purchased at Fry's)

You could just return it as defective, dont mention that you reversed
the cable. Only a little dubious morally, it shouldnt have killed it.

Doug Warner wrote:

I had the diskette drive cable upside-down at the drive.

No problem, in my support work and personal experience, I've seen this
issue many times, and it always works when the cable is flipped back.

Not this time..
Boot attempt: = "Disk I/O error, replace the disk, press any key.."

The drive light turns on when it's being accessed, and the diskette
motor spins.. I tried a different cable, and a known-good drive. The
twist section of the cable is at the drive end, and the twist (and pin
1) are on the power connector side.

Typically:

Drive light continuously on = cable connected backward

Drive light turns on and off but disks can't be read = drive is plugged
into to wrong connector on cable.

Is the floppy interface on newer boards so delicate that it can't
stand a cable reversal? If so, does Asus repair their boards, or am
I out $250? (Purchased at Fry's)

Floppy signals are supposed to be open collector, meaning it should be
impossible to damage anything by tying 2 outputs to one another, such
as by connecting a cable backward. But static discharge is another
matter. If the floppy controller is damaged, check Ebay or independent
computer shops for PCI floppy controllers. I don't believe these are
plug & play, so you'll likely have to deactivate the motherboard's own
controller through the BIOS setup, along with any other functions the
PCI card has that haven't been deactivated.

Doug Warner wrote:

I had the diskette drive cable upside-down at the drive.

No problem, in my support work and personal experience, I've seen this
issue many times, and it always works when the cable is flipped back.

Not this time..
Boot attempt: = "Disk I/O error, replace the disk, press any key.."

The drive light turns on when it's being accessed, and the diskette
motor spins.. I tried a different cable, and a known-good drive. The
twist section of the cable is at the drive end, and the twist (and pin
1) are on the power connector side.

Typically:

Drive light continuously on = cable connected backward

Drive light turns on and off but disks can't be read = drive is plugged
into to wrong connector on cable.

Is the floppy interface on newer boards so delicate that it can't
stand a cable reversal? If so, does Asus repair their boards, or am
I out $250? (Purchased at Fry's)

Floppy signals are supposed to be open collector, meaning it should be
impossible to damage anything by tying 2 outputs to one another, such
as by connecting a cable backward. But static discharge is another
matter. If the floppy controller is damaged, check Ebay or independent
computer shops for PCI floppy controllers. I don't believe these are
plug & play, so you'll likely have to deactivate the motherboard's own
controller through the BIOS setup, along with any other functions the
PCI card has that haven't been deactivated.

wrote:

ctor side.

Typically:

Drive light continuously on = cable connected backward

Drive light turns on and off but disks can't be read = drive is plugged
into to wrong connector on cable.

Only one connector on the two cables I have (Still has the twisted
section)

Floppy signals are supposed to be open collector, meaning it should be
impossible to damage anything by tying 2 outputs to one another, such
as by connecting a cable backward. But static discharge is another
matter. If the floppy controller is damaged, check Ebay or independent
computer shops for PCI floppy controllers. I don't believe these are
plug & play, so you'll likely have to deactivate the motherboard's own
controller through the BIOS setup, along with any other functions the
PCI card has that haven't been deactivated.

Had the board on a static mat when out of system, and I was always in
contact with the chassis when assembling, so everyting was at the same
potential. Plus, the air was failrly humid as well.
A PCI FDD controller is not an option, since I only have one PCI slot
left, and I need it for a SCSI adapter.

I'm going to bring my USB FDD in from work today and see if I can
complete the install with it. (Can't swap the board right now, since I
bought the only one in stock.. (In sealed box)..

I even tried updating the BIOS (USB flash drive), which cleared CMOS.
The onboard FDC is enabled, and set to 1.44.
The pain about excanging it is that I'm now going to have to disturb
the heat sink thermal bond (Intel Core Duo factory sink). I suppose I
may just have to strip and re-grease if necesssary.

One interesting note: The flat cables that come with this board don't
have the key bumps. Not an issue for the FDD, which doesn't have a
key slot, but it's a bit more confusing on the mobo conns. You either
have to look for the pin 1 marker, or fogure where the key bump should
be by looking at a cable that has one. (looking into male connector,
stripe to right = key on top.)


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Doug Warner wrote:
Built my first new system in 4 years with an Asus P5B Deluxe..
The only thing that didn't work out was that I had the diskette drive
cable upside-down at the drive. The symptom was that the drive was
not ready, and the activity LED was on all the time.

No problem, in my support work and personal experience, I've seen this
issue many times, and it always works when the cable is flipped back.

Not this time..
Boot attempt: = "Disk I/O error, replace the disk, press any key.."

Write attempt: = (From Asus CD boot) = Error reading from driver A:
DOS area: Drive not ready.:

Format A: /U = It steps through 100%, then:" Critical error during DOS
disk access. DOS Driver error 0B Description: Read fault. Program
terminated"

The drive light turns on when it's being accessed, and the diskette
motor spins.. I tried a different cable, and a known-good drive. The
twist section of the cable is at the drive end, and the twist (and pin
1) are on the power connector side.


Make a new disk, if you put a disk in with the cable the wrong way
around I've found it often gets eaten.

Is the floppy interface on newer boards so delicate that it can't
stand a cable reversal? If so, does Asus repair their boards, or am
I out $250? (Purchased at Fry's)
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I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

I would say that your mother is bad, I have the same trouble with mine.
I have an Asus A7V rev 1.02 and the floppy doesn't work either. Access
light comes on runs and then gives me an error,"install disk".did
everything I know to do but nada,she's a not work. so I give up and if
you need to use floppy drive,get a usb floppy,works ok.
spodosaurus wrote:
Doug Warner wrote:
Built my first new system in 4 years with an Asus P5B Deluxe..
The only thing that didn't work out was that I had the diskette drive
cable upside-down at the drive. The symptom was that the drive was
not ready, and the activity LED was on all the time.

No problem, in my support work and personal experience, I've seen this
issue many times, and it always works when the cable is flipped back.

Not this time..
Boot attempt: = "Disk I/O error, replace the disk, press any key.."

Write attempt: = (From Asus CD boot) = Error reading from driver A:
DOS area: Drive not ready.:

Format A: /U = It steps through 100%, then:" Critical error during DOS
disk access. DOS Driver error 0B Description: Read fault. Program
terminated"

The drive light turns on when it's being accessed, and the diskette
motor spins.. I tried a different cable, and a known-good drive. The
twist section of the cable is at the drive end, and the twist (and pin
1) are on the power connector side.


Make a new disk, if you put a disk in with the cable the wrong way
around I've found it often gets eaten.

Is the floppy interface on newer boards so delicate that it can't
stand a cable reversal? If so, does Asus repair their boards, or am
I out $250? (Purchased at Fry's)
--
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Spammers are Scammers. Exterminate them.


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spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

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"mackenoly" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would say that your mother is bad, I have the same trouble with mine.
I have an Asus A7V rev 1.02 and the floppy doesn't work either. Access
light comes on runs and then gives me an error,"install disk".did
everything I know to do but nada,she's a not work. so I give up and if
you need to use floppy drive,get a usb floppy,works ok.
spodosaurus wrote:
Doug Warner wrote:
Built my first new system in 4 years with an Asus P5B Deluxe..
The only thing that didn't work out was that I had the diskette drive
cable upside-down at the drive. The symptom was that the drive was
not ready, and the activity LED was on all the time.

No problem, in my support work and personal experience, I've seen this
issue many times, and it always works when the cable is flipped back.

Not this time..
Boot attempt: = "Disk I/O error, replace the disk, press any key.."

Write attempt: = (From Asus CD boot) = Error reading from driver A:
DOS area: Drive not ready.:

Format A: /U = It steps through 100%, then:" Critical error during DOS
disk access. DOS Driver error 0B Description: Read fault. Program
terminated"

The drive light turns on when it's being accessed, and the diskette
motor spins.. I tried a different cable, and a known-good drive. The
twist section of the cable is at the drive end, and the twist (and pin
1) are on the power connector side.


Make a new disk, if you put a disk in with the cable the wrong way
around I've found it often gets eaten.

Is the floppy interface on newer boards so delicate that it can't
stand a cable reversal? If so, does Asus repair their boards, or am
I out $250? (Purchased at Fry's)
--
Email reply: please remove one letter from each side of "@"
Spammers are Scammers. Exterminate them.


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spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/


Just to cover all of your bases, re-check the floppy's power connection for
proper orientation/bent pins. I just experienced your symptoms here with my
new build. Somehow I managed to mangle pin 4. Straightened and re-connected.
Now all is OK.

mackenoly wrote:
I would say that your mother is bad, I have the same trouble with mine.

We've had our differences, but I'd not really describe her as 'bad'. I
certainly didn't turn out to be a career criminal or a banker (trying to
think of a second not well liked career that wouldn't offend a family
member can be tedious).




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spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/