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Hmmmm, Where is the floppy drive in XP?



 
 
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  #16  
Old November 15th 17, 07:45 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 177
Default floppy drives and cables

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:16:24 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Paul
writes:
[]
The twisted part, consists of four active signals.
Two for each drive. The twist swaps the signals, so
that one connector can have an A personality and the
other a B personality. (Just like a CS Cable Select method.)

[]
I've always assumed it was that, and thought it was a clever solution
(admittedly, requiring unusual cable construction).

So presumably there is something like (_at the drive_):

01 - A
10 - B

(or vice versa).

Does that mean there is the _possibility_ of _four_ drives, using up the
00 and 11 options?


This is an unusual way of doing things, and making cables like that must
be difficult. I'd think it would have been easier to just have a
jumper(s) on the drive, for either drive A or Drive B. But this is how
they did it back then, and how it will always be.

I am curious if 3 or 4 drives could be used. Not that I would need that
many. I'm still trying to remember if those ZIP drives connected to the
floppy cable, or to something else, like a serial port? I had one, and
at the time it was the only way to store 100 megs on one drive, which at
that time was a lot of data. I had one of them for a brief time, but I
found they were unreliable. Flash drives sure are a better thing, now.



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  #17  
Old November 15th 17, 10:51 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
Computer Nerd Kev[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 29
Default floppy drives and cables

In microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion wrote:
On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:16:24 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Paul
writes:
[]
The twisted part, consists of four active signals.
Two for each drive. The twist swaps the signals, so
that one connector can have an A personality and the
other a B personality. (Just like a CS Cable Select method.)

[]
I've always assumed it was that, and thought it was a clever solution
(admittedly, requiring unusual cable construction).

So presumably there is something like (_at the drive_):

01 - A
10 - B

(or vice versa).

Does that mean there is the _possibility_ of _four_ drives, using up the
00 and 11 options?


I am curious if 3 or 4 drives could be used. Not that I would need that
many. I'm still trying to remember if those ZIP drives connected to the
floppy cable, or to something else, like a serial port?


The Zip drive installed in the PC I'm posting from is IDE. There were also
external ones for the parallel port and USB.

As for the drives, I guess a lot of things are possible if you write
the code to access them from scratch. Whether this method for selecting
more than two drives would work may depend on the flexibility of the
floppy controller.

--
__ __
#_ |\| | _#
  #18  
Old November 16th 17, 03:46 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 177
Default floppy drives and cables

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 21:51:50 +0000 (UTC), lid
(Computer Nerd Kev) wrote:

In microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
wrote:
On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:16:24 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Paul
writes:
[]
The twisted part, consists of four active signals.
Two for each drive. The twist swaps the signals, so
that one connector can have an A personality and the
other a B personality. (Just like a CS Cable Select method.)
[]
I've always assumed it was that, and thought it was a clever solution
(admittedly, requiring unusual cable construction).

So presumably there is something like (_at the drive_):

01 - A
10 - B

(or vice versa).

Does that mean there is the _possibility_ of _four_ drives, using up the
00 and 11 options?


I am curious if 3 or 4 drives could be used. Not that I would need that
many. I'm still trying to remember if those ZIP drives connected to the
floppy cable, or to something else, like a serial port?


The Zip drive installed in the PC I'm posting from is IDE. There were also
external ones for the parallel port and USB.

As for the drives, I guess a lot of things are possible if you write
the code to access them from scratch. Whether this method for selecting
more than two drives would work may depend on the flexibility of the
floppy controller.


Ok, I had an IDE Zip drive, and I also had a parallel port one.

Thanks


  #19  
Old November 16th 17, 07:26 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Ant[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 554
Default Hmmmm, Where is the floppy drive in XP?

wrote:
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 21:23:38 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:


In message ,
writes:
On Tue, 14 Nov 2017 13:58:54 -0600,
wrote:
[]
I would have looked already, but I cant remember what key to hit to get
into the bios. Its a homemade computer so looking that up may be tricky.
I think I need to start putting labels on every computer saying what key
needs to be pressed to go to the bios.


On most, they tell you on screen during boot, especially desktops rather
than laptops. (If a CRT monitor, sometimes before the monitor has warmed
up, though, if it is turned on at the same time as the PC.) Sometimes
hidden behind a splash screen, though _that_ usually has a "press xx to
dismiss splash screen" on it somewhere.

You are probably on to something. Go into BIOS setup and be sure the
FDD adapter is enabled.

[]
Though the lack of any flash from the drive's LED makes me suspect it
isn't getting power ...


IT WORKS NOW.
Turns out the bios was set to "NONE' for floppy drives. I changed that,
and it works. It tried to boot from the floppy in that drive, which just
contains a text tile. I had to remove the floppy so XP would load from
the HDD.


Thanks for all who helped. Is one of you who made me suspect the bios. I
actually did not know floppies could be disabled in the bios. Now I do!


I think all drives can be disabled in BIOS' CMOS.
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