Topic: Floppy Disk Player

[Adept]

Yep, that's it Sandra. I didn't know there was a demo version :-[

[lobo]

After reading through all the posts on this subject I think some of us are getting confused.

The tests on a floppy drive would indeed find a faulty controller as that is part of and onboard a floppy drive, BUT ?I Got another new floppy disk player, Sony, like the original. The problem is still there.? that rules out the floppy drive and cable and power to the drive, unless I have missed something. !!!

I am now not convinced that the problem is with the floppy or the motherboard but with the configuration of the system ?I like to remind that I have on my computer two XP systems separated on two hard disks? are the ?separate? XP installations set to dual boot or do you tell the PC which hard drive to boot from in BIOS?

If the PC will boot from a floppy then that would indicate that the BIOS has detected the drive and that it is working at that point, if XP crashes (freezes) when attempting to access the floppy the that indicates a system problem rather that a motherboard problem.

I await further comments with interest

Brian

Just a thought, If it has a VIA chipset download the latest VIA 4-in-1 drivers and install them



   

[Tony]

joudi,

sorry I'm late getting back to you [been busy]

Here is the info I got when I connected to the Live Bios feature, as you can see my current version was 5.60 and latest is 5.70

 MSITM Live BIOSTM    Version: 3.38.000
 
MS-6380 (KT3 Ultra2, KT3 Ultra, K7T266 Pro2-A)
Please Select and Click the button on the right to download and update the version online.
Search Results:
Item Name    MS-6380    Update    

Current Ver.    5.60    Online Ver.    5.70    Size    530KB
Notes    1. This is AMI BIOS release.
2. This BIOS fixes the following problems of the previous version:
-Support AMD Barton XP3000+ (FSB333) CPU (For KT3 Ultra2 Only)
-Add "CPU Halt Command Detection" item in the BIOS Setup.
-Fixed ATI 8500 AGP card cannot be used.
3. 2003/02/24

So I followed the download and flashing procedure and as you can see on checking 'Live Update' again I get this message. I did not need to upgrade to the latest version, I just did it so as to let you see it works.

MSITM Live BIOSTM    Version: 3.38.000
 
MS-6380 (KT3 Ultra2, KT3 Ultra, K7T266 Pro2-A)
Please Select and Click the button on the right to download and update the version online.
Search Results:
Item Name    MS-6380    Update    

Current Ver.    5.70    Online Ver.    5.70    Size    530KB
Notes    1. This is AMI BIOS release.
2. This BIOS fixes the following problems of the previous version:
-Support AMD Barton XP3000+ (FSB333) CPU (For KT3 Ultra2 Only)
-Add "CPU Halt Command Detection" item in the BIOS Setup.
-Fixed ATI 8500 AGP card cannot be used.
3. 2003/02/24
Your BIOS is the same or newer than what we provided. You do not have to update it.

But it would not appear 'MSITM Live BIOSTM found No Available Version from MSI Server.
Check Supported BIOS List ' means it ain't that straight forward for you !!!!! best leave it alone for now. regards the other 'utilities' I have downloaded most of them as I found them useful.

Lobo is clued up unlike me   so follow his advice, like he says to flash your Bios you need a stable floppy drive and that you ain't got mate. Have you swopped you drive and cable into another PC and vice a versa to check they are OK ?

[joudi]

Thanks Tony for all the informations that you've provided.
   Answering your question: No, I did not swap my driver and cable to an other PC but I've used for my PC itself another driver (new) and an other cable (new too).

   Brian:

     It's good to try all possibilities. What you are thinking of, could be very interesting. "THE CONFIGURATIONS". That's why I decided to provide some details about that for my PC. Here they are:


    Disk 1             Active            Primary
    Disk 2             None              Primary

_________________________________


Standard CMOS Features:

    IDE  Primary Master       ST 360020A
    IDE  Primary Slave        IDE  DVD-ROM 16X
    IDE  Secondary Master     CW 038D ATAPI CD-R/RW
    IDE  Secondary Slave      WDC.WD 400 BB-00DEAO

    Drive A                   1.44 M,  3.5 in
    Drive B                   None

    Video                     EGA/VGA
    Halt On                   No Errors
____________________________

Advanced BIOS Features:

    External Cache                        Enable
    CPU L2 Cache ECC Checking             Enable
    Quick Power On Self Test              Enable
    First Boot Device                     Floppy
    Second Boot Device                    CD ROM
    Third Boot Device                     HDD-0
    Boot Other Device                     Enable
    Swap Floppy Drive                     Disable
    Boot Up Floppy Seek                   Disable
    Boot Up Numlock Status                On
    Gate A20 Option                       Fast
    Tympatic Rate Setting                 Diable
    Security Option                       SetUp
    IOAPIC Mode                           Enable
    OS Select For DRAM > 64 MB            Non-OS 2
    Video BIOS Cacheable                  Disabled
______________________

   Well, when I put the computer on, it gives me the choice between the first DISK (C) and the second DISK (D) during 30 seconds. If I don't choose one of them, it starts automatically the principal Boot (C). I remind that every separated hard disk (C & D) has separated Windows XP installed on it.


    If there is any modification on these configurations to be made, thanks for telling me.

[Sandra]

The only thing I can see Joudi is that you have "Boot other device" enabled,I think with 3 to go at first,that is the floppy,cd rom amd hard drive that that would be better off setting it to disable although it probably wont matter as it will boot off the hard drive first unless you have a bootable floppy or CD in when you start up.
For a quicker boot up I would set it as first boot floppy,or even HDD 0 as you can always change it to boot from floppy or cd if needed any time for a specific function.
Your IDE drives are a little unusual to me too but I dont think that that would affect the problem you have with the floppy.I have my hard drives usually set as primary master and primary slave and the dvd/cd rom as secondary master and the cd writer as secondary slave,although as Lobo points out in a different thread its sometimes better for the cd rom and writer to be on different ide cables for better data transfer. I had heard that doing it that way slows the hard drive down but no doubt Lobo will explain it better later.
I think that I would definately have your second hard drive set as a master though if you keep it on the secondary IDE and not as a slave on it.
The reason its asking for which device within 30 seconds is becaquse you have it as a dual boot,( why do you have XP on twice? I know some people like an alternative OS installed but I have never heard of anyone having two the same).
Doing it that way means that all your programs have to be doubled up or will only work after booting into the other XP setup  


Edited to add :
Did you see this in Hookstars list of lists post by the way,it had this link to BIOS information Joudi which you may find useful  

http://lists.gpick.com/pages/BIOS_Information.htm

[Scrumpy-Jack]

Hi JOUDI



Just looking through you're list . I see it says :


BOOT UP FLOPPY SEEK :    DISABLED



Might be worth a try setting that too    ENABLED



Hope you get it sorted   8)



Cheers




Scrumpy-Jack    

[lobo]

@Joudi
I can see nothing in your setup that would make your floppy misbehave my friend, I think you are just going to have to put up with the problem until it either solves itself or the board fails, the floppy drive is not used a lot on my PC I write all my bits of documents and data to a CD-R its cheaper and more reliable any way

Brian

[Sandra]

Just to confuse things a little  

Has anyone considered IRQ conflicts at all for Joudis problem ?
I have just been reading some stuff about floppy problems and came across this :

Resource conflicts can manifest themselves in several different ways. Some conflicts can be very easy to recognize; others can be extremely difficult to find and correct, because they manifest themselves indirectly, or through symptoms that may not seem to have anything to do with the device causing the problem. Here are some of the ways that resource conflicts manifest themselves. Some of these may be consistent and repeatable, while others may be intermittent:

System hangs or lockups, particularly while using a peripheral device.
(Memory) parity errors on parity-enabled systems.
Noise or other problems from sound cards.
Junk being printed on your printer.
The mouse pointer hanging and refusing to move, or moving in a stuttering fashion.
Error messages from Windows 95, messages about the PC not operating at maximum performance, or the system dropping to "Safe Mode" or "MS-DOS Compatibility Mode".
Errors and crashes of applications for no apparent reason.
As you can see, some of these obviously point to a resource problem, but many do not. For example, system crashes can be caused by many non-resource-related factors. If your mouse works until you try to use your modem, well, you can probably figure out what the problem is, or at least where to start looking. In general, if you just added a new peripheral to your PC and a resource conflict is indicated, the new device is almost certainly involved somehow.

Tip: If the list of example problems above seems similar to a list of computer viruses symptoms, that's probably because it is. It is not uncommon for a PC that appears to have a resource conflict problem to really be suffering from a virus. Make sure you always check for viruses as the first step in debugging any PC problem.
-----------------------------------------------------------

I dont know if that will help or not  

[lobo]

@Sandra my dear

You dont get IRQ conflicts in DOS and that is when his drive sometimes dont work!!!

@Scrumpy-Jack
The default setting for boot floppy seek is disabled my friend


Brian

[Sandra]

Well I am even more confused now  
I thought that XP didnt use DOS as such and its happening when XP is already running not on his boot up which I think does use DOS  

[lobo]

@Sandra

 "Answering Lobo: Yes, it does boot from floppy...but the problem also happens there sometimes. So I have to make many tries (sometimes) to make it work."

You will realy have to concentrate Sandra (Late night?)

There is a cut down version of DOS incorporated in XP and W2k which allows a minimum of functions.

Brian

[Sandra]

You know me Brian,theres no such thing in my vocabulary as an early night  

The thing I was concentrating on was his original post that included this Brian:

As I don't use floppy disk so often, I didn't notice the problem and was not sure of it till after the end of the garrantee of my computer. It's still new, PC AMD Athlon 1600, Windows XP. Now the problem happens more often than before: when I use the floppy disk it causes the total freezing of the computer. The mouse doesn't move anymore and nothing works anymore. Everything stops. Only the page which was on the screen stays there. Till I Stop totally the computer and restart it. Sometimes I have to restart it again to be able to use the floppy disk.

I think that this is more indicative of the fault isnt it and a more major problem as he can get around the booting from floppy by booting from the cd as you said earlier providing he has the necessary bootable cds to do so.
Am I still totally wrong about the possibilities of IRQ conflicts in this case  

Maybe I will have to call round for more private one to one lessons again soon  

[joudi]

Hi everybody,
   Thanks a lot for everyone who participated in giving comments or answers for my problem. You are really good friends and very nice to me.

   But at the same time I'd like to ask all other friends of our forum to execuse me. Those who open and see my problem every day in front of their eyes. They may be fed up of this subject. (As if there is only my problem in this world). To those who may be felt like that, I want to tell them that I'm really very sorry.

   It's true that I like all to work for my matter (and I'm not fed up till I find the solution). But I feel that it's not fair to do it. Don't you see that till now my subject has hit the record of views and the answers in this forum?...

   Please, please excuse me. If you like to stop caring for me, I'll not be upset with you. You did and are doing enough and more than enough. Thanks a lot and sorry again.

             

[lobo]

OK
Right click on My Computer, click on Device Manager, Right click on Mouse and pointing Devices and select properties, select Resources Tab

This will tell you what IRQ the mouse is using and if there are any conflics

Brian

[Sandra]

   Please, please excuse me. If you like to stop caring for me, I'll not be upset with you. You did and are doing enough and more than enough. Thanks a lot and sorry again.

         

Rome wasnt built in a day Joudi(an old english saying in case you havent heard it before,which means that somethings arent always finished very quickly,but we do try and resolve problems as soon as possible )
This forum prides itself on never giving up as long as you are prepared to try what is suggested and let us know what happened after you tried it