No B: Drive !

marccunn · Post by **marccunn** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 3:02 pm

Here is something I found out about my ASUS P4C800 Deluxe motherboard the hard way!
I wanted to transfer a trusty TEAC FD505-100 Dual Floppy Drive (3.5" + 5.25") from one of my old W95 computers to a new computer I just built that has the ASUS and Windows 2000 Advanced Server for the OS. The TEAC uses only one ribbon cable to handle both drives.
I installed the TEAC in the new computer, but when it booted, there was no B: drive! I re-booted and went to the BIOS (v1010) main page. There was no line for a B: drive, just the "Legacy Diskette A" line. I was able to use that line to toggle between the 3.5" and the 5.25" as the A: drive, but I could not figure out how to add a line to the BIOS for a B: drive.
After several hours of changing cables, examining the drive and tinkering with the Computer Management tools in W2kAS, I gave up, and e-mailed ASUS tech support. Here is the surprising answer they sent back within an hour (ASUS has very responsive tech support!):
>[9/23/2003 3:10:00 PM - lee]
>Sir this board will not support to floppy drives, the feature was removed to allow access for the new smartcard readers. >Please do not respond to this email,if you are still in need of assistance contact our techs
I checked through the User Guide, and there is no mention about having a BIOS that doesn't allow for two floppy drives. I don't know what he meant by the reference to the Smartcard readers. I think he may be referring to the fact that there is only one floppy connector on the ASUS. However, I was clear in my e-mail to ASUS that I was only using one floppy connector for both drives, and I was also clear that the TEAC used only one floppy connector in the old computer and the A: and B: drives in that computer worked simultaneously.
I think the problem is in the BIOS, not on the board. Does anyone know how the v1010 BIOS for the P4C800 Deluxe can be tweaked to allow for both the A: and B: drives to work simultaneously, rather than having to toggle between them ?

smb · Post by **smb** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 3:42 pm

they probably used the interrupt/irq and the pyhysical points on the motherboard for a smartcard reader instead of a "B" drive. Do you still have programs on 5.25 media ? you probably should think about archiving it to disk.

Absolut Talent · Post by **Absolut Talent** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 5:17 pm

Originally posted by smb
Do you still have programs on 5.25 media ? .

I didnt think there was still 5.25 media around
i thought it was banned cause its so old

canton_kid · Post by **canton_kid** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:52 am

Hey man, I've got a nearly new box of 5 1/4" disks!
Just bought them at wallmart about a year ago! About the same time I bought 4 blank Beta tapes

Well hey I love a bargian

I think it was like 25-50 cents per box of disks or per tape

Then my beta player broke next week, waaaa

Demrok · Post by **Demrok** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 4:28 pm

ok, I know you didn't go back in time to buy those disks because Walmart wasn't around back then

but they still sell them!!??
I have NEVER seen them anywhere...
odd...