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Installing 5.25" Floppy Drive: Troubleshootiing Help Appreciated

C

CluelessInSeattle

Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2016
Messages
22
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
I'm trying to install a 5.25" floppy drive in an old patched together 486 PC running MS-DOS.

The PC already has 2 functioning 3.5" floppy drives, so I unplugged the B: drive, plugged in the 5.25" drive, reset the BIOS and rebooted.

Now when I insert a floppy into the 5.25" drive and then log onto B:, the drive's LED comes on, the drive gives a brief clunking sound, and then falls silent.

And on the monitor screen I get a "Not ready reading drive B" error message.

I've tried a number of different floppy disks, but each time I get the same result.

The A: drive continues to work properly.

I bought the 5.25" drive from a guy who mailed it to me, and says it was working fine before he mailed it.

I called a local computer shop to ask if they could test the drive for me and they just laughed.

I'd be grateful for some ideas on how to troubleshoot this problem. I only need the drive to work long enough to copy a 5.25" floppy onto a 3.5" floppy (See my previous post: Need to Copy a 5.25" Floppy).

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
Could you try the 5.25" drive as the A: drive? If the cables won't reach with both drives, make it the only floppy drive in the system. This eliminates a lot of possible problems including termination.

If it does not work as the only drive, then the next set of steps would be cleaning the drive and making sure the drive wasn't damaged.
 
You could try it as the A: drive just to see what happens.

In any case be sure the drive is jumpered in the second position on the drive select jumper pad. Doesn't matter whether it's labeled #1 or #2. It must be the second one.
 
One more question: What model is the 5.25" drive? Just in case you got one of the strange drives like the single sided quad density that won't read or write IBM PC standard formats.
 
Boy! You guys are quick on the draw!

The label that appears to be stuck on the drive by the computer recycler says that it's a Canon MD5501 half height 1.2 MB. It looks like the one in the photo on this web page.

I can't do anymore work on it tonight. I'm in poor health and still recovering from a transient brain anomaly that wiped me out last week and left me temporarily memory impaired, so I need to get to bed now. (Those darned seizure-like episodes happen to me from time to time, especially when I'm careless about my caffeine intake).

Tomorrow morning (Pacific Time) I'll try switching the floppy drive to the A: drive connector and resetting the BIOS.

I really appreciate you guys' willingness to help figure this out. I'd be dead in the water without you.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"

P.S. Can someone point me to the jumpers on that drive?
 
I have a similar drive in my NEC ready 433, so there are a couple of things to consider.
Did the drive ship with a protector in the drive, as 5 1/4 can be kind of sensitive at times?
DOS will assume you have you have a DSHD disk in and will will try to format DSDD disk as if they were HD unless you tell it otherwise.
Does the drive utilize a locking mechanism? For example mine you need to insert the disk then you need to push the button to actually lock in the disk. If will try and spine like yours but not actually read unless the disk is actually locked. Alsos sometime DSHD drives may have difficulty reading DSDD disks and lower.
What part of Seattle are you in? I live in SeaTac and work in the South Lake Union area.
 
Stone said:
You could try it as the A: drive just to see what happens.
Click to expand...
Hi Stone! I just tried hooking up the 5.25" drive as drive A:. But got the error "Not ready reading drive A" :(

In any case be sure the drive is jumpered in the second position on the drive select jumper pad. Doesn't matter whether it's labeled #1 or #2. It must be the second one.
Click to expand...
I can't find any jumper pins on either side of the drive. I looked at the drawing that krebizfan linked to that shows where the jumper pins should be, but my drive doesn't have them. :confused: Maybe I should post a photo of what that side of my drive looks like?

I've got to get ready to head out to a support group meeting now, and then run some errands. I will need a nap when I get back home. So I probably won't be able to get back online until later this afternoon.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
haightc said:
Does the drive utilize a locking mechanism? For example mine you need to insert the disk then you need to push the button to actually lock in the disk.
Click to expand...
BINGO! "The Eagle has landed"!

That was the trick, haightc! Over the years I'd gotten used to the 3.5" floppy drives that you just pop the disk into the drive slot.

Back in my 5.25" floppy days on my CP/M and MS-DOS machines, I can only recall ever using the drives that had a lever that you rotated 90 degrees clockwise, so that the lever was vertical, blocking the drive slot.

So, job well done! Thanks a million for the tip that made my day! (And my week! Heck you made my whole month!)

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
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