Diskette Drive A Error

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Richy1985

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Mar 14, 2014
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I am having a problem with my computer. I am running Windows 95 on a Dell Dimension Socket 5 motherboard and I receive a 'Diskette Drive A error' when booting up. I am unable to access my Floppy Drive, CD-ROM and Zip Drive as a result of this.

I have tried the following:

1. Making sure the IDE cable is connected correctly (the IDE cable for the Floppy Drive only fits one way).

2. Made sure the IDE cable that connects to the CD-ROM and Zip Drive is connected correctly i.e. that the red dotted line matches with pin one on the connector.

3. Making sure the cables are connected tightly to the drives.

4. Tried connecting another IDE cable for the Floppy Drive to rule out a bad IDE cable.

5. Tried re-installing Windows 95.

6. Tried setting the Floppy Drive to 'Not Installed' in the BIOS.

7. Tried setting the Floppy Drive type from '3.5 inch 1.44mb' to '3.5 inch 720k' in the BIOS.

8. Tried replacing the CMOS battery.

9. Tried replacing the 3.5 inch Floppy Disk Drive.

10. Tried installing a Floppy Disk Controller Card and setting different jumper combinations.

11. Tried running the computer with the Zip Drive disconnected in an attempt to free up power.

11. Tried attaching a fan to the CPU and heatsink to help prevent the CPU from becoming too hot.

12. Made sure the Hard Disk Drive is set to 'Auto' in the BIOS.

13. Disabled the Floppy Disk Controller by right clicking on 'My Computer', selecting 'Properties', clicking the 'Device Manager' Tab, clicking the plus (+) symbol next to Floppy Disk Controllers, double clicking on 'Standard Floppy Disk Controller' and left clicking the white box next to 'Disable this in hardware profile', then clicking OK to save the changes.

14. Disconnected the Floppy Drive and disconnected the IDE cable that connects to the Floppy connector on the motherboard.

In 'Device Manger' there is a yellow exclamation mark next to CMD PCI-0690 PCI to IDE Controller. I have checked the registry by clicking 'Start', 'Run' typing regedit and going to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Service\VxD\IOS and checking for an instance of 'NOIDE' but there is no such instance.


Can anyone help?

Thanks so much!
 
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ooo windows 95. Lets see how good my memory is...Or i can just load it up real quick in a VM XD.

So the question is do you need the floppy? If not Try disabling the Floppy drive in the CMOS. Also since you can see that is there something going on with the drives do this. Not sure if its the same for Windows 95. I need you to get the Hardware ID of the so called IDE Controller. This is what will help us out in finding the drive for it. at least in XP and up when you double click on the Device with the Yellow ! it should bring up a properties window. in there is there a tab that says "Details"? If so click on that and there should be a drop down menu. one of them should say Hardware ID. All i need is the first ID in the list and then we can search for that ID on http://www.pcidatabase.com/ and see exactly what hardware it is and then we can start searching for a driver.
 
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But, if memory serves me correctly didn't floppy drives use a floppy cable and it was different from a standard IDE cable? If so, are you really using an IDE cable connected to a floppy? I seem to remember that the connectors were different sizes as well.
 
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Hi Guys,

Yes the cable that connects to the Floppy is smaller than the IDE cables that connect to the Hard Disk & CD-ROM, I think it is a 34-pin cable. I thought they were both called IDE cables.

I have tried disabling the Floppy in the BIOS but I still get the error. I will try and locate the Hardware ID number and report back.
 
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The hardware version is 002 (that's all I can find in Windows 95 regarding an ID number). It says no drivers are required for this type of device and that there is a conflict. I have tried to resolve this conflict but I still continue to see the yellow symbol.
 
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Hi,

CMD PCI-0640 PCI to IDE Controller conflicts with the following:

Input/Output Range 01F0 - 01F7 used by: Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller
Input/Output Range 03F6 - 03F6 used by: Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller

I believe it is the on board controller. I cannot modify the resource settings for the CMD Controller, only the Standard IDE Hard Disk Controllers.

The computer is a Dell Dimension P100 X-BIOS A05.
 
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I would say both the first four (?) beeps and the three continuous beeps are fast.

..beep..beep..beep..beep.. followed by:

....beep....beep....beep.... which plays continuously.

I wish this thing would just blow up, then I'll know for sure that the motherboard is dead.
 
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XD HAHA yea i feel ya. So 4 really fast ones and then 3 after...hmmmmm...I can't seem to find anything with beeps like those but then we are working with something around 20 years old. Internet didn't really exist that much then so might be hard to find. I could just disconnect anything unneeded and reseat the memory and any other add-in cards.


Ok so my first question should have been "What in the world are you using a Pentium 1 bases PC for? HAHA
 
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I've listened to the beeps again. It actually sounds like 3-2-3, meaning three quick short beeps, followed by two quick short beeps, followed by three short beeps (last three not as quick).

I googled 'Phoenix BIOS beep codes' (I'm sure it was a Phoenix BIOS) and found a table where 3-2-3 means 'Reserved' and it doesn't tell me anything else! Here is the link: http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/phoenixbeep.htm
 
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You must have read my mind mate. I don't know how to go about doing that.

After hours of testing I think I can safely say that it's not the RAM, CMOS Battery, Graphics Card or CPU. I don't think it's the PSU either as the lights come on when I boot up.
 
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That's interesting. When I put the RAM into SIMM banks 2 & 4, or 2 or 4 with one stick - the beeping stops. Putting them into 1 & 3, or 1 or 3 with one stick causes the machine to resume beeping.

I have purchased a POST diagnostic card. Maybe it might help. I have cleared the CMOS by switching the jumpers on the motherboard. Can't think of anything else to try at this time.
 
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Oh snaps XD SIMM. I love how people talk about how you shouldn't mix RAM. These days your PC will run fine with mixed RAM. back then Nope. Had to be the same make, model, and size and they had to be put in as pairs haha.

Now when its in 2/4 does the PC start up?
 
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If I put them into 2 & 4 the machine will power on but there's no display, just the beep codes. I recall clicking on the Start Menu when the machine suddenly locked up and then powered off for no obvious reason.

When I power on, the disk drives and the motherboard appear to receive power (the lights on the drives and board come on). Is it possible that the Power Supply may be faulty even though the components are receiving power? I am hoping the POST card can help with this, apparently if the 12v+/12v-, 5v+/5v- and 3.3v+/3.3v- bulbs do not light up on the card then there is a short circuit with the PSU.
 
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Well I received my POST card in the mail today and it just seems like a complete waste of time. The User Guide is written in bad English and it doesn't tell me HOW to fix the problem, just refers me to a table that vaguely describes what the issue is and where the source of the problem might be located.
 
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A series of codes are generated by the POST card, the final one to be generated is: EE EF. The manual says in the table under AMI for the code EE 'Looking for a floppy diskette in drive A: Reading the first sector of the diskette. Under Phoenix 4.0/Tandy 3000 it says 'Shadow Boot Block'.

For the EF code, under AMI it says 'A read error occurred while reading the floppy drive in drive A. Under Phoenix 4.0/Tandy 3000 it says 'system memory test'.

Does anyone know what this means?
 
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