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Thread ID: 15722	2002-02-15 08:00:00	A: drive ribbon cables	Guest (0)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
35755	2002-02-15 08:00:00	A few weeks ago we purchased a new computer box without a floppy drive. Figured there were a few spare round here so I'd save the cost. When I installed the floppy (out of an early 386 or 486) it didn't go so I tried it with a ribbon cable from a Pentium. It worked. Tonight I went to fix up the Pentium and tried 2 old ribbon cables and finally got it going with a ribbon cable out of a newer 486. The obvious difference between the older and newer cables is that the newer ones have a raised bump in the middle of the long edge, and the older ones have two raised bumps - one near each end. Question: Although the cables have the same number of pins are they wired differently?	Guest (0)
35756	2002-02-15 08:13:00	I've never seen them with two bumps, but with floppy cables you have to have the right end to the floppy, thats the end of the cable with a section of the cable twisted over. If you plug the cable into the floppy and the light stays on when you power up, because you haven't got the red stripe towards pin one, then just turn the cable over at the floppy end. Not end for end.	Guest (0)
35757	2002-02-15 08:34:00	Thanks KO. I tried the cable both ways (light stayed on/light went off) changed the BIOS to see if it thought maybe there was a B: drive here. Changed it back to A:, swapped the cable to the one with the newer plug and it worked. On both cables the twisted over end was on the floppy. Would have thought I had a damaged cable except I had 2 of them and tried both before getting a screwdriver and heading off to the 486. That led me to wonder if the wiring configuration had changed. The Pentium is now going and I'm reformatting it and thinking maybe I should really go out and buy a mouse for it instead of just using the keyboard.	Guest (0)
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