[jared6502]

I have a generic pc (there's no markings anywhere) with Award BIOS that happens to have a 720kb floppy drive, and the first thing that happens after the POST is it gives the error "Floppy disk(s) fail (40)". I cannot figure out what the problem is. The cabling and power are not the problem. The floppy drive works fine after Windows loads, and I can read and write files on the drive without any difficulty. The only problem I have while in Windows is that when using the command line to do anything involving the floppy drive, it says "Not ready reading drive A", although simply hitting "r" for Retry makes it work.

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I would recommend updating the BIOS.

[diabillic]

I would recommend updating the BIOS.

[Neil Jones]

I very much doubt it's a 720k floppy drive. Go into the BIOS and change the Drive A option to 1.44Mb. All 1.44Mb drives can read and format 720k disks if that's what you have.

[PcTestCard]

Yes, I agreed, reset Bios and see if the floppy changes to 1.44mb, if not, manually do so.

Hope this helps!
Bill
www.PcTestCard.com

Edited by PcTestCard, 08 July 2009 - 02:57 AM.

[123Runner]

I would recommend updating the BIOS.

I would not do a bios upgrade unless it is a specific fix to a problem as described by the manufacturer.
One wrong move in a bios upgrade/ flash and you have a computer that will not work. You will have to attempt a reflash, change the bios chip, or the board. The last 2 being expensive.

123runner

[jared6502]

Thanks for the replies. Just to let you know, this drive is old and I was only testing it to see if it still worked, since 720kb is the only 3.5" drive type supported by the computer it is to be used in, which is a Datavue Spark (yes, I know it's old and not very useful, but I have a few things I'm going to do with it). I looked into a BIOS upgrade for the test computer(s), but there wasn't even a website for the one company and it would have cost me money for a BIOS upgrade for the others. I have a feeling that it's a problem with both the drive and the BIOS, since I've tried it in 3 different computers and none of them would boot from it. I can't even access it using MS-DOS. The computer it's for can't even boot from it. I don't understand why Windows can use it without a problem, when it doesn't work at any other time. I would reset the BIOS and let it autodetect the drive, but I know for a fact that it is a 720kb drive and not a 1.44mb drive because it's the same drive as in the Datavue (same part number and everything).