5.25 inch drive will not work

[slrcocky]

hi please help i have a mchine i would like to put a 5.25 inch drive to it has dip switchs (i think thats what they are called) on the top of the drive . the drive is a mitsubisihi mf 504c-310m which is what i think is a 1.2m drive. ok i have change cmos so it shows up as this type of drive but when i go and promet it it says general failure reading drive a , what makes a general failure happen. the drive lights up and spins but just will not work. please help is the dip switches got anything to do with it.
the dips are labeled od,hr,il,is,mm,ms the jumper is over the one marked mm it is the only drive hooked up what do i change it too if we do get it going to , that is the jumper thanks again.

 

[~Candy~]

What kind of machine are you putting this drive into?

Is it a stand alone 5 1/4 drive or a combo drive?



Also, I'm wondering about your choice for a screen name?

 

[Rockn]

Don't mess with the switches on the drive itself. The A drive is determined by the location you plug it onto the ribbon cable. If you connect it to the connector after the Cut & Twist on the cable then it will be the A drive. If you connect it to the connector before the Cut & Twist it will be the B drive.

 

[slrcocky]

ok checked the cable it is fine have put a 3.5 drive on the computer and it works fine on this cable, what can go wrong with a 5.25 drive that is what i am try to figure out.
yes 5.25 was the only dive on the cable at the time it does have a hard drive working but that is on another cable of course.
at this present stage i have tryed 3 5.25 drives all come up with the same error. oh when the 3.5 drive is put in line with the 5.25 it errors out too i put the 3.5 as the b drive and the 5.25 as a.
thanks

 

[slrcocky]

sorry did not answer it all it is a leat 486 computer (pc).
the sencond bit my sign on name it is me it is my sername with a bit of a slr to it, some programs will not accept it's a great sirname.

 

[Rockn]

Did you put it on the cable in the place I specified? What type of conector are you using to attach it. You need the big honkin connector on the cable. Read this for more info....guess there is termination involved here.

http://www.pcmech.com/show/diskette/55/

 

[slrcocky]

ok done that yes it has the big fitting on the cable this is a stand floppy drive cable with 4 fittings on it (ide) of coarse. yes the cable has the twished in it. sorry tryed all that it is frusteding me a bit sorry. what goes wrong with 5.25 drives? thanks

 

[Rockn]

Read the article about terminatioon of the floppy chain!! 3.5 drives terminate automatically...some older 5.25 ones need to be manually terminated. Follow the link I posted above^^

 

[slrcocky]

ok thanks for that but i can't find the chip they are talking about for termanating the drive. it only has four 16 pin chips on it none are another colour from the rest the four chips are labeled
mc1413p uln2003a j9016 , next chip is labeled jo10x291, next is labeled jo10x291 the same as the last one, the final chip is labeled malaysia 018as. i started labeling chip from the back of the drive first, were it plugs in. thank you for all your help so far.

 

[slrcocky]

ok i read it again and again it is on the end of the line it works as a drive. the 3.5 drive is the second drive b drive thanks does this help you. should i scan the drive or will that fuzz the chips that are on it.

 

[~Candy~]

Hmmm, I've been thinking.....(oh, oh).....but I'm going to ask anyway.....you have a formatted floppy disk in the drive when you are trying to read it, correct? Or a good known working program disk?

BTW, thanks for the clarification on your screen name.....

 

[slrcocky]

yes i tryed to format a disk in the drive and it came up with the error track o is faulty on the disc .but brand new disc's just got a new pack yesterday they should not be faulty. should they.......

 

[~Candy~]

Jeesh, you can still buy those things brand new?

The exact error message you stated would concern me that they could be faulty.........

 

[kilowatt1]

Have you tried changing the CMOS to the 360KB option? If it is an early model 486 or 386 on down, it is probably a 360KB drive. Just a thought. KW1

 

[~Candy~]

Oh, duh, great idea KW, I just noticed that you said 1.2.....that would not be the correct setting.....