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jester2k84

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Floppy Disk(s) Fail (40)

hi, i thought that the floppy drives i had were bad or corrupt so i went and bought a new one the other day and i get the same message. its hooked up right, i dont know what else to do, please help - thanks

-jester2k84
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Pete Long
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ptero

PeteLong: I think he means floppy disk drives, and not floppy disks...

Is the right type of floppy disk drive set in BIOS? Do you know how to set that?

Is the light in the floppy disk drive always on?

ptero
Im sure he does thats why I included

>>1. See if the floppy disk drive is working properley. First simply try another disk (If that works youve narrowed it
  down to one floppy disk.)

    a  Try and boot with a bootdisk, your BIOS must be set to boot from floppy before hard drive for this to work go to         www.bootdisk.com to download one.
    b. If other floppy disks cant be read try deleting the the FDD from the system manager and rebooting the PC. On boot the
       Operating system will autodetect and reinstall the drive (If the problem is software/Driver related)
       95/98/ME/NT/2K Start >Settings >Control Panel >System and click on the Device Manager tab
       XP (classic) Right click "MY Computer" select properties, click Hardware Tab ans click "Device Manager" OR Start>
       Settings >Control Panel >system >hardware, then click on the Device Manager tab.
       XP (Catagory view)Start> Settings >Control Panel > Performance and Maintenence >System >hardware, then click on the         Device Manager tab.
    c. If none of the above worked check the settings in the computers BIOS (differs from PC to PC but usually by pressing
       F1,F2 or Delete while the PC is first booting. Ensure that the floppy drive is NOT disabled and sey correctly
       (1.44Mb)
    d. Open the PC case and ensure that the FDD is cabled correctly and remove and reseat the sockets, there will
       bo a ribbon cable (34 pin) MAKE SURE you put it back on the right way round! the twist in the cable goes towards
       the A drive and the red line down one side of the cable (which indicates PIN1) MUst go back to the same side
       of the socket. There will also be a power lead (Mini Molex connector) remove and reseat this also.
    e. If you have done all the above and the drive still dosnt work one of three things is wrong, First the ribbon
       cable need replacing, second the power supply is not giving the drive power (are the lights on the drive coming on)
       or the drive itself is broken the easiest way to test it is put it in another machine.
       Replacemenst are VERY CHEAP!!

Pete,

I'm sorry but if the message is "Floppy Disk Fail (40)", this is a BIOS message, and so the floppy disk is not been detected by the computer (BIOS, Windows). I don't think there's a way there could be a floppy disk under the device manager.

Regards.

ptero
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yes the light is on and the right floppy drive is set (1.44mb 3 1/2 in)
i tried all of those above but it still says Floppy Disk(s) Fail (40)
i checked the IDE cable, nope, the light comes on, and i just bought that drive yesterday new. and its not disabled. it reads it in windows as "working correctly" but it will always say "please insert disk in A:// drive"
>>, the light comes on
does it come on all the time?
you might have connected the data cable in reverse manner
ive tried the ide cable every which way it can go but still nothin, and the light comes on all the time
If the light is on ALL THE TIME, the cable is probably reversed. And that does cause that message.

And it's not an IDE cable. Those are for hard disks and CD drives.

ptero
the light is on when the power is on, the cable can only be put two ways and ive tried them both-nothing
If the floppy drive is on ALL THE TIME THE POWER IS ON, I would say you have a faulty floppy or cable or that the cable is not correctly inserted.

If the cable has 5 connectors, the one more isolated from the other 4 should connect on the motherboard.

Out of the 4 that are left, two fit the floppy, the other 2 don't. Connect the one that fits that is more near the end of the cable to the floppy.

If everything seems OK, remove the entire cable, and reconnect. There might be some conducting piece of material short circuiting.

ptero
the floppy drive is new, the cable is new, the cable is plugged in right, and its plugged in the right spot still nothing
Well, one thing is certain. The light CANNOT be always on as long as the power is on. Try a new cable. Try a new floppy drive.

Just to make sure the light is always on by itself and that it's not a program that is accessing it, press the DEL key to enter the BIOS setup, wait a few seconds, and check the light. Is it still on while you are in the BIOS setup? Do you know what is the BIOS setup?

ptero
yeah, i cant even fix my a drive now until i find out what the hell i did to my comp, i changed the DEM setting from its minimum of 133 to its max of 166 and now the computer wont boot up at all, how can i fix this without an a drive? do i need a boot disk on a cd? i know i can fix it if i can just get back into the bios but i cant even do that-please help
Remove the battery that feeds the CMOS, wait 10 minutes, and boot.
Then, shutdown, reinsert the battery, and boot. Load defaults.

ptero
See if it has a Clear CMOS jumper. Change it to the other position for about 20 seconds.  Then change it  back.
hey thanks i tried the battery but that didnt work so i tried the only jumper near the battery switched it waited and switched it back and it booted- thanks
Good.   Sometimes the battery trick takes 30 minutes or more to work.