Member Avatar for bluedos82

I am having a bit of a problem with the A drive on a particular computer. It is always wanting to format every disk that I put in there. I have tried replacing the drive and it does the same thing. I have tried replacing the wires and connections, just to see if it would work. Nothing. I have used many drives. I have only been able to select only one because the others run continuously when the computer boots up (i.e. the light stays on all the time indicating that it is running.) I am about to tear my hair out with this thing. Someone help!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by feigned

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Member Avatar for Dani

The light on your floppy drive should only be on when the computer is reading or writing to a floppy on the drive. If it's on all the time, it's because the data cable connecting your motherboard to your drive is backwards. Reverse it.

When the cable is reversed, your machine will want to format every disk. However, your machine will also have this message if you have a bad FDC (floppy disk controller) on your motherboard.

Member Avatar for bluedos82

What do you mean by reveresed?Up-side-down?Because on the cnnection that goes to the computer there is a small 'bump' that is preventing me from turning it over. Also, When the drive tries to read, it make a loud clicking noise.

Member Avatar for Zachery

she means you plugged the motherboard end of the plug into the drive and viseversa,


personally i hate floppys and the only one on my pc is there for looks

Member Avatar for caperjack

The #1 wire on the cable is the one that is red .It must match with the #1 pin on both the motherboard and the back of the floppy drive they are both marked with a 1..On the floppy drive it should be marked 1 on the green circuit board of the drive ,unlike hard drive and cdroms where the red on the cables always goes to the red wire on the power plug ,floppys can be either way ,so you should look foe the 1 on the circuit board to be sure ..!!

Member Avatar for feigned

Also, there is a twist of 8 or 10 wires on the end that should plug into the drive.

Well, that's with a ribbon cable...rounded are a bit harder to diagnose, but it's either/or.

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