K7S5A MoBo & Floppy drive

harsha godavari wrote:

> I have a K7S5A mother board which seems to have a "dead" floppy drive
> controller. The drive works in another computer(using the same cable).If I
> reverse the cable, the floppy drive light comes on & stays on.
>
> However if the cable were installed properly, there is no response from the
> drive. Even though "floppy seek" at boot is enabled, drive light does not come
> on.If I try to access the drive, the response is "drive not accassible. The
> device is not ready".

If you can boot into true DOS mode (not DOS box), run Anadisk, an
ancient DOS-based floppy disk analyzer that talks directly to the
controller and bypasses the BIOS. It should be available under the
names ANAD204 or ANAD207, and the floppy drive works with it, the
problem is not the controller or drive. The controller isn't
repairable since it's built into the south bridge chip.

do_not_spam_me@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> harsha godavari wrote:
>
> > I have a K7S5A mother board which seems to have a "dead" floppy drive
> > controller. The drive works in another computer(using the same cable).If I
> > reverse the cable, the floppy drive light comes on & stays on.
> >
> > However if the cable were installed properly, there is no response from the
> > drive. Even though "floppy seek" at boot is enabled, drive light does not come
> > on.If I try to access the drive, the response is "drive not accassible. The
> > device is not ready".
>
> If you can boot into true DOS mode (not DOS box), run Anadisk, an
> ancient DOS-based floppy disk analyzer that talks directly to the
> controller and bypasses the BIOS. It should be available under the
> names ANAD204 or ANAD207, and the floppy drive works with it, the
> problem is not the controller or drive. The controller isn't
> repairable since it's built into the south bridge chip.

Yes I can (and often do) use DOS & several DOS utilities. I have used Anadisk
before and have a copy of it around on a floppy disk :-) As a matter of fact I
have several floppies with DOS software which I want to save. That is the reason
for installing a floppy disk drive. Right now if I want to run Anadisk, I have
to get it on a CDRom or do HD swap.

Thanks for the idea.I will try it later.

hg.


--
to reply remove STOP from email addy

I've used that board for 4-5 years with zero problems.

"Jan Alter" <bearpuf@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:OK7%h.797$wy2.425@trnddc03...
> "Peter" <pete.ivesAll_stRESS@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:MPG.20a674fc4bdb8b5998988e@news.blueyonder.co .uk...
>> In article <463B93F5.1815C96@shaw.STOPca>, h.STOPgodavari@shaw.STOPca
>> says...
>>> I have a K7S5A mother board which seems to have a "dead" floppy drive
>>> controller. The drive works in another computer(using the same cable).If
>>> I
>>> reverse the cable, the floppy drive light comes on & stays on.
>>>
>>> However if the cable were installed properly, there is no response from
>>> the
>>> drive. Even though "floppy seek" at boot is enabled, drive light does
>>> not come
>>> on.If I try to access the drive, the response is "drive not accassible.
>>> The
>>> device is not ready".
>>>
>>> I believe the onboard controller is not working. Is this repairable or
>>> should I
>>> be looking for some sort of a floppy controller from a 3rd party? Is
>>> such a
>>> thing available?
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help
>>> hg.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Have you tried accessing the drive from startup?
>>
>> Also, I take it this is in a machine you're just putting together and
>> that it hasn't just started to happen. Either way, have you tried
>> unplugging all other devices that aren't essential (eg cd drives, other
>> non O/S HDs etc) just to see if enough power is getting to the floppy.
>>
>
> I picked up a k7s5a a couple of years ago. It worked fine the first year.
> Then suddenly the hard drive was inaccesible. Repartitioning and
> formatting the drive got it back running, although I ran the disk utility
> diagnostics from the manufacturer and it checked out OK. Still I put
> another drive into the ecs k7s5a. That lasted one month and I was back
> with an incaccesible drive. I dumped the board and replaced it with a msi
> that has given no trouble for the past two years. Since then I've read of
> other folks who don't hold that particular board in very high esteem
> themselves.
>
> --
> Jan Alter
> bearpuf@verizon.net
> or
> jalter@phila.k12.pa.us
>