XP Pro X64 floppy drive problems

Hi,

Some of you great guys remember the build of my computer and the reason we gave it the name Damien :eek . . . because anything that could go wrong with the build, went wrong with the build.

I no longer have SATA capabilities using a SATA card adapter. I'm not sure if the card was damaged when I had the meltdown or if the port was damaged. After I installed the new PSU (Corsair 620W), I installed the SATA card and plugged one of the SATA ext hdds into it and turned it on a few days later, and it wasn't recognized by My Computer. So I have them connected with 2.0 USB cables.

The point to all of this is to determine if there's a likelyhood that some of the ports on the mobo that were in use when I turned on the SATA drives got damaged like the PSU and floppy drive. I've given up trying to connect the SATA ext hdds to SATA ports, but I need a floppy drive.

I purchased a new floppy drive and IDE cable after the meltdown and I put off installing it until today. I tried plugging in the cable using every configuration but the drive doesn't work. It's recognized by My Computer, but when I put a disk in it and clicked on the floppy drive icon in My Computer, I received a message that says "The disk in drive A is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?" I click on Yes and I then receive a message that says, "There is no disk in Drive A. Insert a disk, and then try again." I clicked OK and received a message that says, "The disk in drive A cannot be formated." I removed the disk and inserted another one and I received the same messages. The disks in the package worked in my old pc and in my daughter's pc so I don't think there's something wrong with the disks. The first disk was one that had been prevoiusly used. The second one had never been used before. I also don't think the new floppy drive or the new cable are damaged. There a chance that one or both of them could be damaged but I pretty much doubt it.

When I boot up, it says that "Floppy Drive failed (40)." It's recognized in BIOS though, but I can't make it the first in boot sequence, which it needs to be. It's recognized as "Drive A [1.44M,3.5in]". It's also listed in Device Manager. I tried to update the driver for it but after giveing it about 5 minutes, I figured it wasn't going to find one, so I cancelled it.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Well, we won't have to worry about this floppy drive anymore. Damien :eek made a housecall.

First I cleared CMOS by moving the jumper to Pin 2-3 close and then back to Pin 1-2 close.

Then I decided to work the cable to the floppy drive and the IDE port in all the possible configurations again. Even though the blue light was lit, the green led light wasn't lit, which means that the floppy drive cable was properly attached, but it wasn't working.

I read on the internet that a red or blue strip on the side of the cable should be pointing to pin 1. Since the floppy drive wasn't working, I decided to remove the cable and try the different configurations again, with the red strip on the side of the cable pointing to pin 1. I had a very hard time getting the cable into the port on the back of the floppy drive, but some time and persuasion made it go in. I then plugged the other end into the IDE port and it looked like I might just have done it all right because the top of the cable said "top". OK! GREAT! I then decided to unplug everything from the back of the tower and reconnect it all, so as to be doubly sure that all connections were in the right ports. Ok, that worked great. I plugged everything back into the wall outlet. When moving the tower, my thumb accidentally hit the Power On button and the computer actually started up. If you remember, the Power On button had stopped working after the meltdown. Well, something changed that, and I thought it was the proper installation of the floppy drive. SO NOW, DOUBLY GREAT!!!!! no, BIG TIME WRONG!!!!!! Damien :eek went quickly to work and sparks and smoke flew out of the floppy drive. I quickly pulled the power supply out of the floppy drive and the power from the wall. When I touched the power wire that went to the floppy drive, it was extremely hot. I don't know what the damages might be . . . they might not have surfaced yet. But I think it's a safe bet to say that the new floppy drive is fried. :cry

But my Power On button now works.

LED_5SB = lit
LED_DIMM = lit
LED_D2 = lit
LED_D1 = lit

PWRSW1 = lit
RSTSW2 = not lit


Now, for the questions . . . confused

- Could there be something wrong with the port on the mobo?

- Could I have inserted the wrong power connector into the floppy drive? I believe that the 4-pin connector that went to the floppy drive was the right connector. There's only one other 4-pin connector and, before I connected one to the floppy drive, I put them together and they were identical, so I chose one and connected it to the floppy drive. I tried inserting it both ways and there was only one way that it could be inserted.

- Could it be that the floppy drive was defective?

- Is it probable that another floppy drive will do the same thing because something else is wrong inside my computer?

- What should/can I do?