Installing a Floppy Drive - Connectors Don't Fit

Hi,

This is what my computer has:

- Biostar TFORCE 6100-939 mobo which supports dual channel ddr
- SATA
- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz / 512KB Cache / 1000MHz FSB / Venice / Hyper-Transport / OEM / Socket 939 / Processor
- 2 twin sticks of 1G RAM
- Corsair 620W PSU
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s 320-GB Hard Drive
- Windows XP X64

My terminology might not be correct so I'm hoping you'll understand my meaning.

Past History: A number of months ago, I installed a SATA adapter card and connected two external SATA hdds. I turned my computer on and then one of the SATA drives. Immediately, my computer stopped running. It was the concensus of opinion of MajorGeeks great guys, at the time, that I needed a new PSU as the one I had died. I also needed a new FDD because that got ruined also.

I bought a Corsair 620W PSU and a new FDD and cable. I connected them and the FDD/cable sparked and smoked so I pulled the power from the drive and from the wall as fast as I could.

The Present: I just bought FDD and cable #3. According to the mobo manual, I aligned the pins on the floppy disc cable connector with the red wire lined up with pin #1. It also had a bump on the connector so that it couldn't go in upside down.

I have 2 questions about connecting the FDD cable to the FDD:

1. There aren't any indications where pin #1 is located on the FDD. How do I guess which one is correct? The only exception on the FDD connector is that, if it was set in place in the cage, the 2nd pin on the bottom left is missing.

2. The original PSU had a connector that perfectly fit into the FDD power slot. The Corsair's 4-pin connector doesn't fit into it. I tried up side and down side but it won't go in. There's only one 4-pin connector available on the PSU. One side of the PSU connector has gold lines (for lack of the correct term). The other side of the PSU cable connector has 4 holes. Looking at the PSU connector and the power supply pin area on the FDD, there's no possible way for the PSU connector to fit into it. Is there an adapter or something else available?

If I had a digital camera, I'd take pictures so you can see what I'm saying. I hope my explanation makes sense.

My last 2 FDD's went up in smoke, I don't want this one to do so also.

Denise

 

Hello again, Denise (I responded to your fan post also . . . )

Concerning the FDD cable:

1. There aren't any indications where pin #1 is located on the FDD. How do I guess which one is correct? The only exception on the FDD connector is that, if it was set in place in the cage, the 2nd pin on the bottom left is missing.

Most of the time (not ALL of the time - but most) pin #1 on the Floppy drive itself will be closest to the power-socket. Also, most (again, not ALL) FDD cable ends coincide with the connector's missing pin, so you can only plug it in one way (the pin hole on the cable end is blocked).

I've not worked much with newer Floppy drives - some have a small triangle impressed in the frame to indicate where pin one is on the drive connector - but again, not all do, like yours it seems. One thing I do know - even if you have plugged the FDD cable (not the power cable!!!) in the wrong way it shouldn't hurt your drive or motherboard - it has been my experience (unless Floppy's have changed in the past few years) that the light on the Floppy drive just comes on and stays on. Just shut the system down at once, un-plug it from the wall, make sure you discharge any static in your body by touching the computer frame somewhere, and simply flip the cable. I've done that more then once in the absence of any position indicators.

I'm a bit worried about your FDD and cable sparking - that has to be a power-related problem. The power-splitter you provided in your fan post sometimes comes with a floppy connector as well - though they don't seem as common as they used to be. I've included a pic of what the floppy power plug should look like.

I hope some of this has made sense and is of help - I'm at the tail end of my shift and getting punchy.

 

Can you post the model number of you power supply and floppy please?

 

There are two types of connector used for floppies. the larger Molex and the smaller Berg. The berg is the common one. Note that the wiring sequence in terms of pin numbers is reversed between the types.


You can get adapters between the types

http://www.dalco.com/ProductsList2.aspx?Category_ID=3048&selection=4

 

New info for me, studiot - I've not yet run into a molex-type floppy drive. I've dealt mainly with older models, though.

I'm saddened by the fact most new commercial PCs (Dell, etc.) ship without a floppy drive at all. A lot of the utility and diagnostic apps I use fit nicely on a standard 1.44mb floppy, so I feel FDD drives are still usefull.

@ Denise - you might consider (if the internal floppy drive continues to be a pain) buying a USB floppy. I bought this one:

http://www.directron.com/mpf82e.html

It seems like a pretty good drive. I use it when I'm debugging a friend's PC that does not have a floppy.

 

When you buy a Dell you need to be careful of the specification because there are a lot of tick boxes.
The floppy and the Windows/Driver cds are not ticked a standard, but are available at small extra cost at the time of order. And yes both are well worth the investment.

 

I don't know what made me do it, but I bought the parts and built the pc with a lot of help from some great guys here at MajorGeeks.

I'm attaching a picture of a splitter I found. The floppy power connector is the exact one that was on my original PSU and I'm almost positive it'll fit into the floppy drive power port. It looks like the one that you pictured also, Natakel.

http://www.idotpc.com/TheStore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=7&idproduct=351


The one at dalco would also work if the molex connector is a male.

http://www.dalco.com/ProductsList2.a...48&selection=


The FDD is a Samsung SFD-321B /LHSE drive. A picture is attached.

The PSU connector isn't a molex. It's just larger than the one in the attached picture.

I'll look for the model of the PSU.

Please let me know what you think.

Denise

 

Quite a lot more expensive than the ones listed in my Dalco link, but it will do the job. Dalco have an even cheaper male molex to female berg.

Just seen your drive pic. The red wire goes to the outside (right hand as you face your pic) as I said in the previous thread.

 

Would you give me the link for it . . . every dollar in my pocket is better than a dollar in theirs.


Now all I have to do is order the splitter, install the FDD, and pray that it doesn't go up in smoke again.

Denise

 

it's on the bottom of the text, above the pic on my post #4

 

I'm not sure which one to buy. I think it's the

Denise

 

From the top the three on the right hand side will

1) give you two floppy connectors by using up one hard drive ( female molex) connector @ $2.47

2) give you one floppy and one replacement molex@$2.38

3) give you one floppy from one spare molex @$1.20

Good engineering terms: female plugs have the socket receptacles, male plugs have the pins or prongs.
The connectors physically on the hard drive and floppy are male. Those on the cables are female.

Your choice.

 

I'm asking a lot of questions because I'm not sure about certain things (a lot of things) and I don't see what you "see" because you're sure of things.

The first attachment is a picture of the connector for the floppy drive you mentioned. To me, it looks different than the floppy drive connector in the second attachment (which is what I need). Are they the same, except that the picture wasn't taken properly so that it doesn't look like attachment 2?

 

The square connector, with black and yellow cables, in your first picture is an auxiliary 12 volt power connector for MOTHERBOARDS only.

When I click my link I see four items on the left hand column you do not want any of these.

I also see three items on the right hand column any of which will supply your floppy. I gave the prices to help identify these.
There are three because each provides a slightly different option.
Each will convert a standard hard disk/CD power connector on the cabling from the power supply to a standard floppy connector.

If you have an unused cd power connector choose No3

If you don't have a spare unused cd power connector, use item No2. Pull out a convenient hard drive or cd connector and plug it into the male part of the new cable. then plug the female part into the CD/hard drive. Finally use the floppy power connector in the floppy.

Only buy item no 1 if you are ever likely to want more than one floppy.

 

"Ah! I see" said the blind man and saw . . . you meant my other right Why didn't you say so?!? :duck

Since I have 2 female molexes available, the item that would be best for the FDD is the "5-1/4 TO 3-1/2 MALE MOLEX TO FEMALE BERG POWER ADAPTER CABLE - 6 IN", the one for $1.20

What I really need is a 5-1/4 MALE TO MALE MOLEX POWER and FEMALE BERG POWER ADAPTER " Y" CABLE because I need another male molex for my sysem fan. If you can find one of those, or a female to male adapter (with male on both ends), I would forever be in your debt. You can have my firstborn.

Thanks studiot

Denise

 

Dalco part#47975

That's 53 cents madam!

http://www.dalco.com/ProductsList2.aspx?Category_ID=3049&selection=4

 

If you want other bits of cabling look at

http://www.dalco.com/treemenucat3.aspx?Category_ID=3&selection=4

and expand the internal power cables pages

 

I'll be :*** !

I looked everwhere and couldn't come close to finding anything like it.

Well, my firstborn is 26 years old. She's married and has a 5-year old whirlwind bruiser, but you won her fair and square and I never go back on my word. Just give my your address and I'll box her up and ship her off.

Thank you so much, studiot . . . I really appreciate it.

*happy, happy, joy, joy* :celebrate

Denise

 

A terrific link . . . thanks again

 

Just to have helped out the famous DeniseM is enough.

 

My name usually sends people running to hide, lol.

You definitely helped

 

Well, it took me a while to get the parts and then I procrastinated to put off the inevitable, but I installed the FDD just a little while ago. I first connected the power cable to the FDD. The connector slid in and gave a nice, small click when it was fully in place.

The cable that is inserted into the floppy disc controller can be installed only one way because of a notch on the cable end and a cut out for the notch on the controller, so that was a good start. I plugged the other end of the cable into the FDD with the red wire closest to the power source.

After it was installed, I plugged my pc back into the wall, started it up and didn't see the green light )), but when it completely booted and I inserted a floppy into it, nothing happened. The green light didn't come on and I didn't get a message that my computer found new hardware.

Both connections looked good because the cable has pull tabs to remove the cable connectors, and they're both facing up.

The connector on the cable is inserted into the floppy disc controller in the only way it can be connected (and it can't fit into the FDD because the FDD doesn't have a notch for the bump). The cable connector might be able to be connected upside down, but that might have been the cause for the last FDD to spark.

Is there a possibility that the floppy disc controller cound have been damaged when the last FDD installation sparked? The sparks were up near the FDD, not near the controller.

 

Yesssssssssss! It works . . . IT WORRRRRKKKKKKKSSSSSS!

HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY :celebrate

I switched the cable ends around. . . I plugged the floppy disc controller cable connector into the FDD and the FDD cable connector into the floppy disc controller. There was no green light and my computer didn't say that it found new hardware, but it work. I opened a WordPad doc, scribbled a few letters in it and saved it to the floppy drive and it worked! And I'm exhausted! And now I can update my BIOS!!!!!!! Yeaaahhhhh! :hyper

Ahem . . . to gather myself together again :cool

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :grouphug :guitar :dancer :heart :dood :highfive :wine

 

floppies forever.