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Compaq slim floppy drive problem

A

Amigaz

Experienced Member
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Jan 31, 2008
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Stockholm, Sweden
I own a Compaq Deskpro 386/20e and though I'd fit a 5.25 floppy drive in it so I bought this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320542206012&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

According to it's spec's it's a 1.2mb drive but after I've run the SETUP floppy for my system it's only recognized as a 360k drive and I get a POST error if set it as a 1.2mb drive in SETUP

I'm out of idea's..I'de appreciate if someone could help me and shed some light on this situation..thanks

The model no. is mf504s-268uc
And the compaq spare part no. is 112566-001
 
While your at it, check you BIOS and see if 1.2 MB has been selected as opposed to 360 KB.
 
Hmmm. Does your BIOS setup have a way to disable the floppy seek test at boot? If so, does the drive type keep its setting?

Also, have you tried this board with a 1.44M 3.5" drive?
 
Last edited:
Well excuse me! I re-read his post and all I see is that he ran a setup floppy. I merely wanted to point out that it might be worth while to re-check the BIOS setup.
 
Agent Orange said:
Well excuse me! I re-read his post and all I see is that he ran a setup floppy. I merely wanted to point out that it might be worth while to re-check the BIOS setup.
Click to expand...
Sorry, didn't mean to offend; I was seriously asking what you thought, i.e. how you would check the BIOS setup if not with the SETUP program?
 
Try reading a 1.2MB floppy when it's in 360K mode according to the BIOS - maybe it "just works".. Unlikely, but worth a shot.
 
MikeS said:
Well, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that when he "set(s) it as a 1.2mb drive in SETUP" that is the BIOS setting; what do you think?
Click to expand...

yep, compaq has a diagnostic disk "a la" IBM manor that let's you change the "BIOS" settigs

I think it's weird that the diag. floppy SETUP autodetects it as a 360k drive and then it POSTS without any error codes...like the drive is jumpered or something as a 360k drive
 
Amigaz said:
yep, compaq has a diagnostic disk "a la" IBM manor that let's you change the "BIOS" settigs

I think it's weird that the diag. floppy SETUP autodetects it as a 360k drive and then it POSTS without any error codes...like the drive is jumpered or something as a 360k drive
Click to expand...
Yeah, it sure sounds like the BIOS thinks it's a 360K drive; AFAIK the way it tells the difference is by testing whether it's capable of double-stepping, which is why I asked if it steps OK (i.e. if you move the head in by hand, does it restore properly when you power up) and why Chuck asked if you had the option to disable the seek test and if it works with a 3.5 (or another 5.25) HD drive?
Also, after you set the BIOS to 1.2 and you get the POST error, is it still set to 1.2 afterwards?
 
Out of Fibber McGee's closet, I dug out what appears to be the 1.44M 3.5" drive for this model--Compaq part no. 160788-301), a 3-mode (720K, 1.23M and 1.44M "3-mode") drive. It's lacking the drive-select jumper, but otherwise it's a standard Teac FD235HG drive mounted in Compaq's funny bracket and bezel.

So, two more questions here. (1) Have you tried this drive in a different system to verify its operation? (2) Have you tried changing the drive select jumper? Compaq could be strange at times.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Out of Fibber McGee's closet, I dug out what appears to be the 1.44M 3.5" drive for this model--Compaq part no. 160788-301), a 3-mode (720K, 1.23M and 1.44M "3-mode") drive. It's lacking the drive-select jumper, but otherwise it's a standard Teac FD235HG drive mounted in Compaq's funny bracket and bezel.

So, two more questions here. (1) Have you tried this drive in a different system to verify its operation? (2) Have you tried changing the drive select jumper? Compaq could be strange at times.
Click to expand...

Haven't tried it in another system yet but plan doing it this weekend

There's two jumper locations next to each other with one jumper closed, I have no clue about what these jumpers do?
 
MikeS said:
Yeah, it sure sounds like the BIOS thinks it's a 360K drive; AFAIK the way it tells the difference is by testing whether it's capable of double-stepping, which is why I asked if it steps OK (i.e. if you move the head in by hand, does it restore properly when you power up) and why Chuck asked if you had the option to disable the seek test and if it works with a 3.5 (or another 5.25) HD drive?
Also, after you set the BIOS to 1.2 and you get the POST error, is it still set to 1.2 afterwards?
Click to expand...

Going to try what you suggest

There's no option in the BIOS to disable the seek test.

It's still set to 1.2 after the post error, I get read errors if I try to read a 1.2mb floppy disk
 
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