Using 5.25" floppy drives in windows...

[jdearing17]

Is there any way to get XP to recognize a 5.25" floppy drive? If not, what is the newest version of windows that I can use?

[Deerpark]

Actually according to this XP does support 5.25 drives although you can't format them. Are you sure the drive you've hooked up is still working, after all its must be pretty old by now. Also from what I've read not all newer BIOS' supports 5.25 drives anymore so that might be your problem.

[jdearing17]

actually, that's what I need to do is format. I have a 386SX that will only read disks, it won't format. I can't figure out why, it just says read error. abort, retry, fail. But with a formatted disk it reads. I don't know what's wrong. That's why I was trying to get XP to format a disk so I can use them on it. So, what versions of windows will format a 5.25" floppy disk?

Also, I'm using the Format A:\ command in PC-DOS 6.3, if that changes anything... my B:\ drive does the same thing, but it's 3.5" so it formats in XP.

[Deerpark]

Windows 98 should be able to format it (and probably also Windows ME then). Can't seem to find any info on whether or not Win 2000 can.

[jdearing17]

Thanks, I think I'll go with 98... I swore never to use ME again, ugh. I think I've got a copy of that laying around somewhere...

Anyway, if anyone reading this knows why my computer won't read unformatted disks, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm pretty sure it's not the drives unless both have the same problem, which I doubt, but could be possible.

The computer is a Packard Bell Legend 386 with the 16-bit 386SX processor (Surface mount!), I'm not sure about the RAM, and it has 2 floppies, one 5.25" and a 3.5". 125MB hard drive, and PC-DOS 6.30/Windows 3.x

[patio]

Win2K will handle it as well...

[contrex]

Anyway, if anyone reading this knows why my computer won't read unformatted disks, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm pretty sure it's not the drives unless both have the same problem, which I doubt, but could be possible.

No computer will read unformatted disks, there is nothing on the disk to read.

The 386 sx won't format disks in either floppy drive, the 3.5 inch drive or the 5.25 inch? In that case I would suspect the floppy controller or the ribbon cable from the motherboard to the drives. Like the other people said, this is VERY old hardware. You could check that all connectors are well plugged in and secure.

Also the disks themselves could be defective and unusable. The 5.25" disks in particular have a very flimsy casing that does not protect the disk surface very well. Writing on the label with a ball pen can kill a disk. Also dust can get in.

You aren't doing anything silly like leaving the disks write protected are you?

[jdearing17]

No computer will read unformatted disks, there is nothing on the disk to read.

I of course know this, maybe I'm wording it wrong... I put the disk in, use the format command, and it says disk read fail, abort, retry, fail. This particular disk is brand new, I forgot about the write protection on these though. I'll have to check that.

It will format a previously formatted disk though, it just won't format this brand new one. Again, this maybe the write protection thing...

[Flip81]

this is probably basic knowledge, but did you use the right floppy ribbon cable (the one with the 7 ribbon "twist"?  and did you hook in the cable with the twist towards the drive?

just makin' sure!   

[contrex]

good call, Flip81! That used to catch people out back in the day... It must be 12 years since I last used a 5.25" disk. I used to buy 3M ones preformatted for an old IBM PS/2 386 DX (Not a game console!)

[Flip81]

ha!  touche, PS2.

[contrex]

I realised my last post was a bit ambiguous. The 5.25" disks were preformatted, but not especially for the PS/2, which of course used the standard MS-DOS disk format.