# Why won't my floppy drive work??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501 "2001-01-24T02:03:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wandering_Pilgrim)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/1 "2001-01-24T02:03:57Z")
I am really frustrated right now and am hoping someone out there is doperland can give me answer to my dilemma. My floppy drive decided to just stop working for no reason known to me. I decided maybe it is burnt and I got myself a brand new floppy drive…$40. It still does work and gives me a message stating that device isn’t ready try again and when I click on the A drive icon in my control panel my system will freeze for a few minutes. Ok so here I go to the computer store once again and buy me a brand new ribbon cord for the floppy drive…$8. It still won’t work again…grrrrr and I notice that the green light is on stating that there is power and it doesn’t turn off. I unistall the device through the device manager and reboot…nothing changes. Help anyone this is mind boggling, I am not even sure why it stopped working in the first place. Well i hope someone can let me a hand and await a reply. thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/2 "2001-01-24T02:44:08Z")
Your drive cable is most likely on backwards at either the motherboard plug in point or the back of the drive. Pin 1 on the board and back of the floppy should align with the red stripe side of the cable. ---
**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/3 "2001-01-24T03:01:30Z")
I agree with Astro here. Sounds like a you have something backwards. Check cables (into the drive and the motherboard) and also check pins, ect…if needed. ---
**Author:** ![pmh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@pmh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmh)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/4 "2001-01-24T03:05:31Z")
(stating the obvious here, but…) Have you tried other disks? A floppy w/ an unrecognized file system (like NTFS in W98) or a damaged floppy disk can cause the symptoms you describe. ---
**Author:** ![Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wandering_Pilgrim)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/5 "2001-01-24T14:28:51Z")
Thanks for all your help, I believe it is that backwards cable thing [I hope}I never really realized that there was only one way to connect it. I have just been told this information three times now so it must be the problem. You would think there would be instructions on the box or something. Weird thing is I don’t know why it stopped in the first place. I will try this when I get home fom work and will update you all to as the results…thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/6 "2001-01-24T18:41:45Z")
Good luck **Pilgrim**. For future reference, the symptom that led everybody, including myself, to assume a backwards cable is that the power/access light stayed on, which always happens when the cable’s backwards. Also, so this experience doesn’t discourage you from future tinerings, the floppy cable is one of few cables that you can actually attach backwards these days. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/7 "2001-01-24T19:40:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Weird thing is I don’t know why it stopped in the first place. My guess is it had dirty heads, or just plain wore out. Everyone should have their drive heads cleaned once a year, floppy drive cleaning kits can be purchased from Radio Shack for about $10; CD-ROM for about $20. ---
**Author:** ![Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wandering_Pilgrim)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/8 "2001-01-29T17:57:30Z")
Well I got the ribbon cords in properly and the floppy sort of worked but would take 5 minutes to just give me the properties choice. While I waited for the properties option to pop up everything would be frozen. So to make a long story short…I have found out my motherboard was slowly dying out and have now bought a new one and everything is working. I came to this conclusion when CD-ROM drive was acting up and my monitor would be black when I tried to boot up my system. So there you go …computers are trying to make us go insane one user at a time…thanks for all your help. By the way one motherboard $227 dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/9 "2001-01-29T19:17:37Z")
Um…congratulations? ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/10 "2001-01-29T19:57:18Z")
$227 for a motherboard!? Unless you have a very unusual system, you got ripped off. A high end motherboard will go for $150-$200. After that you’re getting all sorts of crap you (well, I) don’t need, like 4 built in SCSI channels, multi-processor sockets, etc. So, did you get a really good motherboard, or did you get ripped off? ---
**Author:** ![Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wandering_Pilgrim)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/11 "2001-01-29T21:13:12Z")
Acually that is tax included it was $198.00 before taxes…I got an ASUS motherboard ---
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/12 "2001-01-30T13:02:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheNerd \* > \*\*$227 for a motherboard!? Unless you have a very unusual system, you got ripped off. > > A high end motherboard will go for $150-$200. After that you’re getting all sorts of crap you (well, I) don’t need, like 4 built in SCSI channels, multi-processor sockets, etc. > > So, did you get a really good motherboard, or did you get ripped off? \*\* He’s in Canada… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/13 "2001-01-30T15:48:14Z")
Wandering Pilgrim, you might want to try [tigerdirect.com](http://tigerdirect.com) in the future, they are much cheaper for you. Even $40 Can for a floppy is too much, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wandering_Pilgrim)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/14 "2001-01-30T17:43:28Z")
I guess it is the burden I must carry to live in such a wonderful country but I will try this webpage next time thanks Handy. ---
**Author:** ![Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@Wandering\_Pilgrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wandering_Pilgrim)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-floppy-drive-work/51501/15 "2001-02-05T15:03:58Z")
I now know why my floppy drive decided not to work. It wasn’t exactly my motherboard IT WAS MY POWER SOURCE SUPPY!!! argh. It was the orginal cause of all the floppy drive errors and the motherboard getting burnt. Now the total cost of all this is now at $350.00 dollars. A new power source/suppy cost me (after taxes) $75.00, so please take a word of warning clean that power source/suppy on a regular basis and make you buy a good power source/suppy ie. Antec 300 watt PP3o3xx (the best coming from a friend of mine). Thanks for all your help you all…EH