Do try turning the ribbon cable around. On ours it is plugged in back wards and works perfectly. you would think the red/blue line would be closest to the power plug......you would think....and think....until you try it backwards.

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You might want to download this: http://www.teac.com/DSPD/pdf/5fd005... as it describes the drive, including jumper setings. Using a twisted cable, you'll want the drive select jumper at the second setting. The pdf file lists those as D0, D1, D2 and D3. So you'd want it at D1. I thought it might be the media descriptor byte: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060 or http://computing.net/windows95/wwwb... but formatting shouldn't be a problem if that was the case. Make sure you're using a 1.2 and not a 360 K disk. If you're not sure, the 360 K disks had a ring--usually white--around the center hole of the disk. As I recall the 55GFR would read but not format a 360 K disk. I'm not sure if the drive can physically detect the difference between a 1.2 and 360 K disk but if so, that may be why it's not formatting it. Was this drive previously working in that PC or did you just install it?

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This is interesting: http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... It says XP only supports 1.44 formatting. To format disks other than that you must do it from a command prompt. So given that, I'm thinking it's not seeing the disk because of a missing descriptor byte and it's not formatting because XP can't format 1.2 disks except from a command prompt. (Ignore the comments there about mode 3 support. That applies only to 3.5" drives.)

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Quite correct XP from GUI will only offer FAT12 1.44MB floppy size. Though from CMD.exe (NT Command Prompt) type: FORMAT /? If the BIOS is correctly recognizing the Floppy Drives you should be good to go..

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Have you tried a format from the CMD prompt format b:/f: <--- see below /F:size Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (such as 160, 180, 320, 360, 720, 1.2, 1.44, 2.88) Keep the old stuff running

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You might just try FORMAT B: first. The dos/9X format command didn't need the size specs for standard disk formats. If that doesn't work then use FORMAT B:/F:1.2

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Okay, I tried format from the command prompt, this is what it said: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>Format B: Insert new disk for drive B: and press ENTER when ready... The type of the file system is RAW. The new file system is FAT. Verifying 1.2M Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable. I will read the PDF above and vertify the settings, and yes this is a drive I had in storage.

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"Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable." This normally is stating a bad floppy disc..

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One thing you might consider is dust inside the drive. As I recall those drives are open on the top.

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Might try a Knoppix disk just in case it is the OS. I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you peanut.

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Something I would do long ago when having a problem with a disk like this was to use a "Bulk Tape Eraser" and wipe all data of the disk and start again, a very heavy magnet will do the same thing, lay a piece of paper over the disk and move it around in circles all over the disk and while still moving the magnet slowly move it away until it is 1-2 feet away and you have it. One other note from the time you start until you are done do not let the magnet rest on top of the floppy with out it moving, from start to finish should not take more than 10-15 seconds and you only need to do this on one side of the disk, let us know how things turn out.... Keep the old stuff running

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You're sure it's a 1.2 and not a 360 K disk?

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Presuming this drive is old and previously used:- To clean, blow out any dust with a hairdryer set to cold and maximum blast. Look for any clumps of muck stuck in the mechanism and carefully remove. There are two read/write heads. Carefully clean with a *bent* cotton bud/q tip that has been dipped in isopropyl alcahol (cd/dvd cleaning fluid). Before formatting a disc, check if already used with CHKDSK, which will show existing format etc. This is because there can be problems is formatting in a different format to the original, which can result in the 'invalid media or track 0' error message. If floppy is DD, use only as 360kb. If HD use for 360kb or 1.2mb. Floppys (new and old) can be obtained on:- ebay/computing/vintage Good Luck - Keep us posted

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First off, thanks for everyone that helped. I cleaned the disk heads and blew out the chassis, and cleaned it with 90% alcohol. I tried to format it again....same error, BUT it worked faster this time, so I did some good cleaning it. Vertified the jumpers on the PCB, and vertified the twist in the cabel, all look good. ..then I tried Chkdsk and it would not read it because it was "RAW" volume. So I got a ideal, I got WinImage on another PC and decided to see if Winimage would work, after all that is what winimage is good at, formating disk's...what do you know, winimage formated and vertified the disk, and now works perfect. :)

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Glad to hear you got it sorted out. Out of curiousity. are you trying to recover stuff from some old media? If so, don't be surprised if many of the disks are corrupt. I don't have any scienific documentation for this, but I think storing 5.25" disks in a stack can corrupt them. Same for 3.5" but to a lesser degree.

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