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360K 5.25" Drive Won't Work in Gateway 2000 4DX2 66V

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First post, by Tempest

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I have a Gateway 2000 4DX2 66V that I want to put a 360K 5.25" drive in. The correct cable is available in the system (one of those card edge keyed ones) so I hooked it up and figured that was all it would take. The BIOS doesn't seem to recognize that the drive is there however. If I set it manually to tell it that B is a 360K 5.25" drive the system won't boot. It just hangs at the end where it polls the drives. If I don't do anything in the BIOS I can get the system to boot but both the 3.5" drive and the 5.25" drive light up at the same time when accessed. Also the 5.25" drive will not read disks so it's not actually working. I'm almost 100% sure the drive itself isn't bad and I'm not seeing any jumpers or anything like that to play with so I'm kind of lost as to what might be wrong. Any ideas?

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Reply 1 of 5, by the3dfxdude

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See the first section "cable and termination" of the following link on the usual requirements to install floppy drives:
https://minuszerodegrees.net/5150/floppy_disk … ive_support.htm

Particularly, you need the correct cable and drive select. Termination can also be a factor. Jumpers are usually available, but not always. If not, pictures and a model of your drive might explain things.

Reply 2 of 5, by Tempest

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the3dfxdude wrote on 2024-09-25, 20:06:

See the first section "cable and termination" of the following link on the usual requirements to install floppy drives:
https://minuszerodegrees.net/5150/floppy_disk … ive_support.htm

Particularly, you need the correct cable and drive select. Termination can also be a factor. Jumpers are usually available, but not always. If not, pictures and a model of your drive might explain things.

It's this one: 5.25 Floppy Drive Identification

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Reply 3 of 5, by Horun

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Make sure the 360k drive is jumpered for DS1 like this pictures. If not at the end of the cable (but in middle) then pull the Terminator resistor pack (only needed if at and of the cable).

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 4 of 5, by the3dfxdude

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OK. There you got a copy of the manual, so please review it. And I see jumpers in the picture you took, a from too far to be sure what was done. But looks like you may have the drive jumpered DS0, which would be incorrect. Also, please confirm the controller cable you are using is correct one.

Reply 5 of 5, by Tempest

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the3dfxdude wrote on 2024-09-25, 21:53:

OK. There you got a copy of the manual, so please review it. And I see jumpers in the picture you took, a from too far to be sure what was done. But looks like you may have the drive jumpered DS0, which would be incorrect. Also, please confirm the controller cable you are using is correct one.

That worked! Thank you so much!

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For when excellence and burnished fineries need to gently visit the warmth of your tablery

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