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I have some troubles to correctly install a 5.25" floppy drive in a old (1999) computer.

The drives are set this way:

  1. A: 3.5" floppy @ 1.44 MB
  2. B: 5.25" floppy @ 1.2 MB (Panasonic JU-475-2)
  3. C: 30 GB HDD
  4. D: 30 GB HDD
  5. E: CD/DVD-ROM

The A: and B: drives in the BIOS are correctly configured (1.44 MB for A: and 1.2 MB for B:). Both drives are on the same controller and they are correctly connected (B: is connected to the middle connector of the cable).

At first I had a problem: when I accessed A: or B: both drives would "fire" simultaneously. I discovered that the old 5.25 drive had a series of jumpers and the drive was set as 1st drive. I switched the drive to be second drive and now I can (almost) use both drives correctly.

Now with my problem: I can only access A: if a floppy is in B: and vice-versa. For example I have a diskette in A: and none in B: if I go to A: I will have an "Abort Retry Fail" message. If I have a floppy in B: and a diskette in A: and I go to A:, I can browse the content of A: correctly and if I go to B:, I see the content of B: correctly too.

So my only problem is that now I can only use A: or B: if both drives have a diskette/floppy in it...

I guess it's another jumper thing on B: that is incorrectly set... Anyone have an idea?

I found out some jumpers diagrams if it helps someone:

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2 Answers

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It sounds like the cable is maybe the wrong type, or you should use the other connectors (swap). There are some directions here: http://www.pcguide.com/proc/config/fdd-c.html

Does your cable have the twist?

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This is stretching my memory but I seem to recall that if there is a twist in the cable, BOTH drives should be set as A: as the twist sorts out the addressing so this might be worth checking. – Linker3000 Oct 7 '10 at 21:56
@Jamie Cox I can't switch the connector types since 5.25" and 3.5" uses different connectors. If I swap the positions of the drives on the cable A: becomes B: and B: bocomes A: (which is normal). Yes the cable is of the correct type and have a twist at the end. – AlexV Oct 7 '10 at 23:02
@Linker3000 Thanks for the info, I will to find more on this. Gotta love vintage hardware that predate the Internet :) It's hard to find documentation! – AlexV Oct 7 '10 at 23:04
Make sure the twisted end is near the drives and not at the end plugged into the system board. – Linker3000 Oct 7 '10 at 23:15
..oh and with a bit of digging I see both drives have to be set as B: on a cable with a twist, not A: See: pinouts.ru/Storage/InternalDisk_pinout.shtml – Linker3000 Oct 7 '10 at 23:22
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Give this a try, by setting the jumpers DS1, DS2 and TM as shown below:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
3.5" drive:
DS1         OFF         Drive select 1
Attach at first connector           ALREADY DONE

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
5.25" drive
DS2       ON        Drive select 2
TM jumper OFF
Attach at second connector          ALREADY DONE
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