From: Ed Kummel (tech_ed_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Nov 15 2005 - 22:59:39 PST
OK. When the machine boots, does it make a chime? Does the speaker make any noise? Do you have a built in speaker at all? The built in speaker determines the power on self test. Depending on the beeps and the sequence, you can figure out what is happening.
Most likely, the rebooting is that the data cable to the floppy is upside down. check to see if it's keyed or not..After verifying that physically everything is OK, then you need to add the drive to the bios. This is important. If you do not add the drive in the bios, then the operating system (dos or windows) will never see it. Bios stands for Basic Input Output system. This is the pre-operating system that all PCs have. When your machine boots, you should see a blank screen with a colorful display advertising the BIOS maker...Phoenix or some other depending on who made your computer/mother board. You have about a 3 second window to hit the proper key sequence from the time the banner screen comes up with the bios logo to enter the bios. This is usually done by hitting the "del" key, or the F2 key, or the esc key. There should be some kind of hint somewhere on that bios banner screen as to what to hit to get inside the bios. If you don't see that, then you've gone too far an
d will
need to reboot and try again. As long as windows hasn't started, a 3-finger salute will get you rebooted.
Once in the bios, you will see a section called "general" or something similar. Each bios manufacturer does it different. Again, there will be hints on how to navigate through the bios and where you need to change things. The drive configuration is usually onthe same page with the date changing. You're going to have to be adventurous and just navigate around until you find the correct screen. Once you find and add the drive, follow the instructions on exiting and saving your changes. It's important to save them otherwise the exercize is moot.When most computers boot,, it displays an information screen that shows what hardware is installed in the machine. this screen should show the new floppy. If this is the case, then everything is fine and windows will find the drive no problem...If not, then you need to go back into the bios and doublecheck everything again.
A word of warning...you can really screw things up in the BIOS...don't make any changes other than the floppy drive. You can screw things up to the point where the machine will not boot at all...and you will need to reset the bios just to get it back...not pleasant...
Or you can mail me the floppy and I'll make a copy of it and place the data on my server for you to grab at your leisure...I can copy anything...even if it's corrupt, I can usually rebuild the FAT and get something off of it. I've even been able to get data off of floppys that have been stuck to refridgerators using magnets (don't ask...it involves a forgetful student, a term paper and paying me $50 to get his paper back!)
Ed
web/gadget guru
http://newton.tek-ed.com (download Newton packages)
mkow1234_at_aol.com wrote:
Hello Paul,
I grabbed another drive from the PC shop, but I'm still having trouble. This drive is a combination of both 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives integrated together. However, every time I boot up my machine, it warms up, then restarts again! The only way the machine stays up and running is if I hit the F5 key. Of course, then it's in safe mode, and I can't check or add additional hardware!
I did get the drive to partially work, but only the 3.5" drive seems to be recognized by my PC.
I can't figure out what, if anything, I am doing wrong. I know I had to disconnect one of the CD-Rom drives so I could use the power connector for the floppy and so forth, but that should not make my machine act funny, should it? I may need to use your machine if this continues. Argh. My head hurts now.
Matt K.
--
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
"I'm not an expert, but I *did* stay at a Holiday Inn Express once..."
--Holiday Inn Commercial
---------------------------------
Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.
--
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Nov 16 2005 - 03:00:08 PST