in search of the 5 1/4-inch floppy drive

[gunug]

I've had some USB Imation drive rigs that the drives have died on but the cables "might" be that way; I'll look around when I get home.  The Imation drives were 3-1/2" floppy drives in format but could read a special disk that stored something about 100Megs (like a zipdisk).  Nothing in my shop is "spotless!"  

[sandbox]

No worries, I'm just curious. My XP tower has 40pins on the motherboard so I dug out an old Compaq desktop that I had upstairs and it has 34pins, but it won't boot. Error: "I/O subsystem driver failed to load. Either a file in the .\iosubsys subdirectory is corrupt or the system is low on memory."

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/272960

So as soon as I figure out what it's problem is maybe I'll get to see what's on the 5.25 disk?

Hey, the Check is with a snail.  

[gunug]

No hurry; the error you're seeing is indicative of not finding a "bootable" system on the boot device of choice.  The floppy I sent isn't a bootable system; at least I don't think it is.  The fact of it seeing a device that isn't bootable probably means it at least is seeing a device and media!

[sandbox]

Gunug, I'm getting the error without plugging in the new drive. I just wanted to see if the Compaq would work. Both my PC Towers have 40pins on the motherboard, the old Compaq has 34.

It's either got a corrupt driver or a ram stick is loose. I can insert a 3.5 floppy in it, and it will run a virus scan, it just won't bootup windows 95. I get as far as the windows 95 screen, after the memory check, and the error appears in Dos.

I can boot to the dos screen, safe boot cursor only, write a few scripts to by pass this or that but it still doesn't fully boot.

I never expected to use this Compaq again, it was on the recycling block as soon as the biannual event came around again.

I don't have, or can't find the boot disk so i can't reload the software, which MS recommends, and i haven't gotten around to opening the G3 to see if there is a 34pin Mac option on it's motherboard.

I am curious to know if there is a cable that has a 40pin end though.

L8r

[sandbox]

Gunug, I was able to get into the Compaq's  \cabs and write
ren c:\windows\system\iemigrat.dll iemigrat.old

c:\windows\options\cabs\setup

which got me to reloading the backup software and into windows, so the memory is intact. I pulled the 34 pin ribbon and the power supply for the 3.5 floppy and discovered that the power supply has a mini plug, where the 5.25 floppy needs a standard 1 inch 4pin.
The other floppies on the towers all have standard plugs. So I guess I'll cut the mini off, add a standard and try that.
This is going to be a Frankenstein project, everything is recycled.

Oh, when I plugged in the power supply from the CD rom into the 5.25 disk it spun-up, so it survived the trip Mechanically!

Something else just dawned on me, well dah, I have and old scsi hard drive box, maybe it will hold this drive and work as an external for the G3?

This is actually fun....I get to use my tools, dig around in old hardware, refurbish a windows box, relearn how to write dos commands. Far removed from what I normally do, and it only took an hour.

[gunug]

I don't know what mechanisms/cables would allow that thing to be hooked up externally other than if I found one of those iMation USB cables and it was useful.  There used to be external 5-1/4" drives back in IBM PS/2 days but that required a very weird controller I only ever saw on those peculiar machines.

[sandbox]

This is shot in the dark, I have no idea if I'll need another driver, because this is a different drive, and if so, if Windows has it built-in with the other thousand or so drivers. Back in windows 95 days these drives weren't that far removed, I had used a straight-up dos machine back then, and these floppies were common. You can still get free boot disks software for them.
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

[gunug]

The machine I took it out of was Windows 98 but I have used those drives with XP just fine; it justs loads it's own drivers!

[LR827]

QUOTE(Parker @ Aug 22 2007, 10:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Also, the G3's pretty easy to upgrade. Ever consider taking out your old CD drive and putting a CD burner in??

My son has some sort of flash drive. Whether or not it would work on the G3, I wouldn't know.

Gregg,

I have a beige G3 tower in which I installed a PC1 - USB card (fairly easy ... with Kelly's encouragement!)

With that you can use a flashdrive and transfer your data.

Krissy also turned me onto "YouSendIt.com" where you can send huge files over the internet for free. I send my manuscripts back & forth between work & home that way.

[Gregg]

Lorraine, I've installed (replaced) the video card, which is in the same type of "slot" I believe. But, when the time comes to make the "big transfer" I'll let the Apple Store handle it - at no extra charge. No sense investing in the card unless I have a different need to transfer files.

I've learned that the version of Word for Mac we have will not open an AW WP file. But, free upgrades from MS are available online, and once installed, the files can be opened. So, I don't have to do lots of "conversions" before transferring.

[sandbox]

QUOTE

They do make external USB floppy drives which you could attach to the iMac and iBook.

http://www.iomega.com/direct/products/deta...D=1187792657562

kris this is a 5.25 inch floppy, not the newer 3.5's

QUOTE

how about using a large flash drive??
I was able to pick up a 4gb flash drive for only $30 bucks! They're really cheap at a lot pf places.

Also, the G3's pretty easy to upgrade. Ever consider taking out your old CD drive and putting a CD burner in??

-Parker

Parker I need to get the data OFF the 5.25 floppies and toast it to a CD,to be read by a Toshiba NoteBook.

[sandbox]

Gunug, I hooked it up, but the Compaq can't see the drive, i tried the "install new hardware" option and all the drivers for the floppy didn't apply. it has
Standard floppy driver
Adaptec driver
Buslogic
Compaq
Zenith Data Systems
I've looked around for a panasonic driver, but no go.
Is there a generic 5.25 or one from windows 98 that could be used?

Question #2 the lever on the front controls what specifically, does it just lift the floppy into place to Engage the data, or does it have another purpose? The drive starts when the floppy is inserted as it should, but without seeing the drive i can't tell if the lever has any other engaging function.

Thanks

[gunug]

The lever on the front loads the heads onto the floppy and you can't read a disk without it being engaged.  There might be a BIOs setting to enable the use of the floppy.  See what instructions come up when it's booting to get into "SETUP" but I'm thinking COMPAQ's it might be the F10 or F1 key (hold down ESC if nothing else works).  Once you're in there you should find a set of menus one of which might be one to tell it you have a 5-1/4" floppy.  

Also what cable are you using; the one I sent or another?  The one I sent would work in the computer I tested with (an IBM PC) but only when the 3-1/2" floppy was unplugged from the cable.

[Gregg]

QUOTE(Gregg @ Aug 22 2007, 12:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

QUOTE(krissel @ Aug 22 2007, 09:27 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They do make external USB floppy drives which you could attach to the iMac and iBook.

Yes, I know. Thanks for the link. Saves me a search if we go that route.

Question for veteran CD burners:
Is it just as convenient to save stuff on a CD-RW as it was a floppy or Zip disk? Is there a limit on the number of burns a CD-RW will take?

[gunug]

Burning CD's generally involves more steps than just saving files.  You can develop a routine that makes it fairly transparent but it's never just as simple.