1.44 drive giving errors at bootup

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

I have a very old Tyan-based homebuilt that i bought as a backup machine.

Since it was not my own setup. I may have discovered a problem that was
inherent in the system all along.


At bootup I've repeatedly gotten errors from the 1.44 saying the disk is
unformatted or the 'floppy disk fail (40) error which is described as
a cabling problem.


The exception to this situation is if I use a factory disk such as my own
MS 98SE startup disk or the Western Digital formatting diskette for
hard drives.


The only thing I can think of is to issue the Master Boot Record command.


One local piece of advice said that it is a motherboard problem which, due to the
mobo's age, would be prohibitive to fix.


Do I have to junk this machine?


lon@athenet.net

 

[user]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Lon Ponschock wrote:
>
> I have a very old Tyan-based homebuilt that i bought as a backup machine.
>
> Since it was not my own setup. I may have discovered a problem that was
> inherent in the system all along.
>
>
> At bootup I've repeatedly gotten errors from the 1.44 saying the disk is
> unformatted or the 'floppy disk fail (40) error which is described as
> a cabling problem.
>
>
> The exception to this situation is if I use a factory disk such as my own
> MS 98SE startup disk or the Western Digital formatting diskette for
> hard drives.
>
>
> The only thing I can think of is to issue the Master Boot Record command.
>
>
> One local piece of advice said that it is a motherboard problem which, due to the
> mobo's age, would be prohibitive to fix.
>
>
> Do I have to junk this machine?
>
>
> lon@athenet.net

My experience has been that sometimes old floppy drives do not
magnetize (write to) the ferrite material as well as newer drives do.
Floppies made by a software company are surely written with maximum
intensity. My guess is the drive is weak when writing to a disk. Try
another drive.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Lon Ponschock wrote:
> I have a very old Tyan-based homebuilt that i bought as a backup
> machine.
>
> Since it was not my own setup. I may have discovered a problem that
> was
> inherent in the system all along.
>
>
> At bootup I've repeatedly gotten errors from the 1.44 saying the
> disk is unformatted or the 'floppy disk fail (40) error which is
> described as
> a cabling problem.
>
>
> The exception to this situation is if I use a factory disk such as
> my own
> MS 98SE startup disk or the Western Digital formatting diskette for
> hard drives.
>
>
> The only thing I can think of is to issue the Master Boot Record
> command.
>
>
> One local piece of advice said that it is a motherboard problem
> which, due to the mobo's age, would be prohibitive to fix.
>
>
> Do I have to junk this machine?
>
>
> lon@athenet.net

try a new floppy drive, they cost virtually nothing and it'll probably sort
it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

In article <p12nb09mtst7kun13a74arnfqmu1defp99@4ax.com>,
lon@athenet.net says...
>
>
> I have a very old Tyan-based homebuilt that i bought as a backup machine.
>
> Since it was not my own setup. I may have discovered a problem that was
> inherent in the system all along.
>
>
> At bootup I've repeatedly gotten errors from the 1.44 saying the disk is
> unformatted or the 'floppy disk fail (40) error which is described as
> a cabling problem.
>
>
> The exception to this situation is if I use a factory disk such as my own
> MS 98SE startup disk or the Western Digital formatting diskette for
> hard drives.
>
>
> The only thing I can think of is to issue the Master Boot Record command.
>
>
> One local piece of advice said that it is a motherboard problem which, due to the
> mobo's age, would be prohibitive to fix.
>
Take that local peice of advice and ram it back up their ass suggesting
they forget offering PC advice in the future.

The problem you have is very indicative of the floppy drive heads going
out of alignment.

Buy a new drive, they're not worth bothering with.

--
Conor

I started with nothing and I still have most of it left.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Mon, 31 May 2004 20:31:16 GMT, user@domain.invalid wrote:

>
>
>Lon Ponschock wrote:
>>
>> I have a very old Tyan-based homebuilt that i bought as a backup machine.
>>
>> Since it was not my own setup. I may have discovered a problem that was
>> inherent in the system all along.
>>
>>
>> At bootup I've repeatedly gotten errors from the 1.44 saying the disk is
>> unformatted or the 'floppy disk fail (40) error which is described as
>> a cabling problem.
>>
>>
>> The exception to this situation is if I use a factory disk such as my own
>> MS 98SE startup disk or the Western Digital formatting diskette for
>> hard drives.
>>
>>
>> The only thing I can think of is to issue the Master Boot Record command.
>>
>>
>> One local piece of advice said that it is a motherboard problem which, due to the
>> mobo's age, would be prohibitive to fix.
>>
>>
>> Do I have to junk this machine?
>>
>>
>> lon@athenet.net
>
> My experience has been that sometimes old floppy drives do not
>magnetize (write to) the ferrite material as well as newer drives do.
>Floppies made by a software company are surely written with maximum
>intensity. My guess is the drive is weak when writing to a disk. Try
>another drive.


I've done that. That probelm repeates with a fresh drive from the store

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 20:12:04 +0100, Conor <conor_turton@hotmail.com> wrote:

>In article <p12nb09mtst7kun13a74arnfqmu1defp99@4ax.com>,
>lon@athenet.net says...
>>
>>
>> I have a very old Tyan-based homebuilt that i bought as a backup machine.
>>
>> Since it was not my own setup. I may have discovered a problem that was
>> inherent in the system all along.
>>
>>
>> At bootup I've repeatedly gotten errors from the 1.44 saying the disk is
>> unformatted or the 'floppy disk fail (40) error which is described as
>> a cabling problem.
>>
>>
>> The exception to this situation is if I use a factory disk such as my own
>> MS 98SE startup disk or the Western Digital formatting diskette for
>> hard drives.
>>
>>
>> The only thing I can think of is to issue the Master Boot Record command.
>>
>>
>> One local piece of advice said that it is a motherboard problem which, due to the
>> mobo's age, would be prohibitive to fix.
>>
>Take that local peice of advice and ram it back up their ass suggesting
>they forget offering PC advice in the future.
>
>The problem you have is very indicative of the floppy drive heads going
>out of alignment.
>
>Buy a new drive, they're not worth bothering with.



I've never had one drive go on my main machine and all of a sudden it's
both (virtually _any_ ) I use on that old beater? Just doesn't sound right.


Thanks to those who answered.


Maybe should try making bootable cds and go into to BIOS to have CD
recognized instead of A: ?


Making bootable cds is something I have not done much of lately.
Are any of the earlier problems resolved? Ooops, prob'ly a moot point
on an old machine anyway. I may have to salvage the parts.


lon@athenet.net

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 02:17:58 -0500, Lon Ponschock <lon@athenet.net> wrote:


> I've never had one drive go on my main machine and all of a sudden it's
>both (virtually _any_ ) I use on that old beater? Just doesn't sound right.

My apologies if these were mentioned:
Try a different cable.
Check the BIOS settings.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

In article <p12nb09mtst7kun13a74arnfqmu1defp99@4ax.com>,
Lon Ponschock <lon@athenet.net> wrote:
>
>
> I have a very old Tyan-based homebuilt that i bought as a backup machine.
>
>Since it was not my own setup. I may have discovered a problem that was
>inherent in the system all along.
>
>
> At bootup I've repeatedly gotten errors from the 1.44 saying the disk is
>unformatted or the 'floppy disk fail (40) error which is described as
>a cabling problem.

I have the Tyan S1854 and flashed the BIOS. Occasionally the same thing
happens at startup (Says the floppy drive failed). Never did it before and
I'm not sure why it does it now (other than swapping the CPU nothing
changed). I just hit the F1 key to continue and everything works just fine.
The drive is recognized in Explorer.



--
bpoulton at vcn dot bc dot ca (Bob Poulton) Remove 'yourhat' to reply
An Email as well as a response to the Newsgroup would be appreciated as
sometimes this ISP is kinda flakey.
ALL Spam will be forwarded to Spamcop.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Thanks to all who replied so far on this question.


I have a Tyan Trinity on main system and Tyan Tomcat on the machine
that is having the floppy problems.



It's true that I can bypass the floppy fail (40) error but I want to
run Ghost 7 from the floppy for backup. And because this is not a
factory disk, I'm getting the error. So there are actual applications which
I use on the machine that load from the 1.44 drive.


You raise the question of flashing the BIOS. I have not doen that in over
a year and don't know the procedure that well anymore. Is there even a way
after all this time to flash the BIOS on the Tomcat?


The Tomcat model number is S1564D Tomcat IV Dual.


I just re-read the flash instructions But i remember that a 'step process'
was necessary to get the BIOS up to current supportable level.


Any tips or sources on this appreciated. FWIW I have a set of those
BIOS disks from when I flashed the Trinity.




lon@athenet.net

On Fri, 4 Jun 2004 00:12:19 +0000 (UTC), bpoulton@yourhatvcn.bc.ca (Bite Me) wrote:

>In article <p12nb09mtst7kun13a74arnfqmu1defp99@4ax.com>,
>Lon Ponschock <lon@athenet.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I have a very old Tyan-based homebuilt that i bought as a backup machine.
>>
>>Since it was not my own setup. I may have discovered a problem that was
>>inherent in the system all along.
>>
>>
>> At bootup I've repeatedly gotten errors from the 1.44 saying the disk is
>>unformatted or the 'floppy disk fail (40) error which is described as
>>a cabling problem.
>
>I have the Tyan S1854 and flashed the BIOS. Occasionally the same thing
>happens at startup (Says the floppy drive failed). Never did it before and
>I'm not sure why it does it now (other than swapping the CPU nothing
>changed). I just hit the F1 key to continue and everything works just fine.
>The drive is recognized in Explorer.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

In article <f6c1c0darbfv7jt8gp0hp5q8380sfnugf2@4ax.com>,
Lon Ponschock <lon@athenet.net> wrote:
>
>Thanks to all who replied so far on this question.
>
>
> I have a Tyan Trinity on main system and Tyan Tomcat on the machine
>that is having the floppy problems.
>
>
>
> It's true that I can bypass the floppy fail (40) error but I want to
>run Ghost 7 from the floppy for backup. And because this is not a
>factory disk, I'm getting the error. So there are actual applications which
>I use on the machine that load from the 1.44 drive.

Not sure how to help. If I start mine from scratch the floppy seems to fail
being detected. If, however, I reboot it, most of the time the floppy is
recognized. In all circumstances it's recognized in Windows. I *really*
should fix it but so far it hasn't annoyed me enough.

> You raise the question of flashing the BIOS. I have not doen that in over
>a year and don't know the procedure that well anymore. Is there even a way
>after all this time to flash the BIOS on the Tomcat?

This problem happened *after* flashing the BIOS. It might just need a
setting changed in the BIOS. However, head to:

http://tinyurl.com/rz2x

down near the bottom under Socket 7 boards (Intel 430HX Chipset) is the
Tomcat IVD. Click on that to go to the BIOS page. There's also the links
for information on how to do it.

However, you'll probably have to get it to boot off the floppy first.

> Any tips or sources on this appreciated. FWIW I have a set of those
>BIOS disks from when I flashed the Trinity.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

To be honest, for all the effort involved, if you need a backup machine you
can get a PIII 450 for way less than $100.

--
bpoulton at vcn dot bc dot ca (Bob Poulton) Remove 'yourhat' to reply
An Email as well as a response to the Newsgroup would be appreciated as
sometimes this ISP is kinda flakey.
ALL Spam will be forwarded to Spamcop.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Ok, thanks. The one thing I haven't done is move one of the offending
1.44s over to my good machine and see if they perform normally on that.

Two with the same problem is pretty far out though.


I'm also working with a copy of Knoppix and building a config floppy as I
do the tutorial in the book by Marcel Gagne called Moving To Linux.


I'll try one of those on the box too... that should bypass any system problems
not related to DOS or Windows altogether.


lon@athenet.net







On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 12:36:44 +0000 (UTC), bpoulton@yourhatvcn.bc.ca (Bite Me) wrote:

>In article <f6c1c0darbfv7jt8gp0hp5q8380sfnugf2@4ax.com>,
>Lon Ponschock <lon@athenet.net> wrote:
>>
>>Thanks to all who replied so far on this question.
>>
>>
>> I have a Tyan Trinity on main system and Tyan Tomcat on the machine
>>that is having the floppy problems.
>>
>>
>>
>> It's true that I can bypass the floppy fail (40) error but I want to
>>run Ghost 7 from the floppy for backup. And because this is not a
>>factory disk, I'm getting the error. So there are actual applications which
>>I use on the machine that load from the 1.44 drive.
>
>Not sure how to help. If I start mine from scratch the floppy seems to fail
>being detected. If, however, I reboot it, most of the time the floppy is
>recognized. In all circumstances it's recognized in Windows. I *really*
>should fix it but so far it hasn't annoyed me enough.
>
>> You raise the question of flashing the BIOS. I have not doen that in over
>>a year and don't know the procedure that well anymore. Is there even a way
>>after all this time to flash the BIOS on the Tomcat?
>
>This problem happened *after* flashing the BIOS. It might just need a
>setting changed in the BIOS. However, head to:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/rz2x
>
>down near the bottom under Socket 7 boards (Intel 430HX Chipset) is the
>Tomcat IVD. Click on that to go to the BIOS page. There's also the links
>for information on how to do it.
>
>However, you'll probably have to get it to boot off the floppy first.
>
>> Any tips or sources on this appreciated. FWIW I have a set of those
>>BIOS disks from when I flashed the Trinity.
>
>Sorry I can't be of more help.
>
>To be honest, for all the effort involved, if you need a backup machine you
>can get a PIII 450 for way less than $100.