floppy disk drive controller error on motherboard???

Question

I typically use 5 different computers, 3 Dell and 2 other brands, all the way from a 486 to a Pentium 4/2 MHZ. I have transferred small files by floppy diskette between all these computers with no problems until recently. But recently I have started getting floppy read errors and the problem seems to be getting worse. I have tracked down the problem to my Dell 4100, Pentium 3 that I bought in November 2000. When I format and write a floppy on this PC, it cannot be read reliably on the other PC's. This PC WILL read the floppy itself. Furthermore, this PC WILL read floppys written on the other PC's. I have replaced the floppy drive and the problem did NOT change. I have used several different floppys with the same results. My conclusion is that there must be a worsening error in the floppy drive controller integrated into the motherboard of this PC. If that is correct, then I assume that the only solution is to replace the motherboard. Is this an accurate conclusion, or might there be other sources of or solutions to this error? Thank you for any response.

MadThinker · Answer

First make sure that the format option on this system is set the same as the other systems. Second go to device manager and remove the floppy drive controller and reboot the system. Allow windows to reinstall this device and attempt to use again.

DELL-Donald K · Answer

I'd replace the drive 1st.  Generally, if you have a controller failure, the drive doesn't function.  If you have read/write errors, it is usually a hardware failure of the drive.

rfarmer · Answer

Thanks to both MadThinker and dageerus for your replies.

In response to MadThinker, I'm not sure what you mean by "the format option on this system." My procedure has worked in the past and still occasionally works successfully, so I assume that there is no compatibility problem. On this Pentium 3/Windows ME system, the only floppy format options that appear when I right click the a: drive are "Full Format" and "No Label" both of which I choose.

I did remove the floppy driver and allow windows to reinstall this driver. I have never done that before, and I was surprised that the behavior of the system did in fact change. The system rejected four of my test floppies with the message "Windows could not format this disk. Either the selected capacity is not valid, or the disk is damaged." I have never seen that message before.

However, four other diskettes were in fact formatted successfully, and written with a one megabyte text file. On all four diskettes, this file could be successfully read by the system that formatted the diskette. However, when I took these four diskettes to another system, only one could be read successfully. This is actually an improvement over the recent past, but obviously still not reliable.
So, while there has been a little improvement, the problem still exists. Does anyone have any other ideas? and why would the problem improve at all merely from reloading the floppy disk driver?

To dageezeerus, I had already replaced the floppy drive itself, as I said in my first note, and the problem did not seem to change or improve. So I removed the new floppy disk drive and put the old one back in, and the problem again did not change.

So I would appreciate any other ideas that anyone has. And is there a floppy drive diagnostic anywhere that might identify the problem?

Thanks again for any response.

DELL-Donald K · Answer

You said you replaced the drive.  Did you replace the cable too?  Cables are often overlooked as a source of data problems.

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