X Floppy / PC Problem / IO Device Control Error

[k.h.]

XFloppy / Pc problem

Received an old PC with 5.25 FD today. System is up and running... I used X Floppy to write several disks today. Then, out of nowhere - ill get an ,,IO Device Control Error ,, . Xfloppy still formats the discs, but doesnt write the images anymore. I tried everything i could think of , but nothing helped ( Bios defaults, .Delete the XFloppy Files and entries to system.ini, Reinstalling the Floppy controller and so on ... ) . But nothing worked.... Can someone help me on this topic ? Its a Windows 98 Pentium 3 PC , 1 5.25 FDD Floppy.

Thanks in Advance 

[eidis]

Hi K.h. !

Could it be that the floppy images in question are not converted from DIM to XDF ? If so, you can do it with:

Virtual Floppy Image Converter
http://www.vector.co.jp/soft/win95/util/se151106.html

If that is not the case, try physically connecting the floppy drive to the cable as A or B without touching the jumpers on the drive. Try setting it in BIOS as A or B, 720kb or 1.2Mb. This might sound weird but it helped me a long time ago with ZX-Spectrum disk transfers.

Next you could try Omniflop, however its minimum system requirements are Windows 2000. It will not work with Windows 98.

Omniflop
http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/OmniFlop.htm

There is an older version called Omnidisk, however it does not support X68000 disk images.

Next you could try transfering them in Linux.

Writing X68000 5.25" floppies
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:writing_floppies

Hope this helps and let us know how it went.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Well, it seems that the drive is just broken. After further trys it went verly loud an noisy. Now its not getting power anymore  ... I will replace it

[k.h.]

 Same as before.... Received 2 drives today which lead to the same . Can write a few discs, and then its IO error again. So its the Mainboard somehow i guess ...

[eidis]

Hi K.h. !

Have you tried connecting the drives to another PC ? Meanwhile you can check the PSU power lines with a multimeter and make sure that they output the rated voltage at +5V and +12V rails and do a visual inspection of its capacitors. Some PC power supplies do work with bad capacitors but will not filter output correctly thus creating ripple current and slowly killing the connected devices. Some devices are more tolerant than others.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Yes. But my other "old " pc is too new. Its not supporting 5.25 FDD...

Everything looks normal .... To be honest im not that much of a supertech-guy. Dont have a multimeter- and even if i get one, i dont know how to use ist correctly...

But what you said about the power sup is possible. Ill see that i replace it

Hi K.h. !

Have you tried connecting the drives to another PC ? Meanwhile you can check the PSU power lines with a multimeter and make sure that they output the rated voltage at +5V and +12V rails and do a visual inspection of its capacitors. Some PC power supplies do work with bad capacitors but will not filter output correctly thus creating ripple current and slowly killing the connected devices. Some devices are more tolerant than others.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Changed the power sup today. same as before : IO Error.

[eidis]

Hi K.h. !

Here's a thing that you could try. Download Hirens Boot CD 15.2 from the usual places. Boot from it and select the following:

5) Mini XP, Linux, Dos ...
7) HBCD Dos Programs
7. Other Tools...
8. Restored Utilities ...
8. Next...
8. Mini Windows 98...

It is patched and will work on systems which have more than 512MB RAM. Please try it and let us know how it went.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

P.S. You might also want to try giving Omniflop a go.

[k.h.]

Will try - thanks for the suggestion .

Bad thing .... i forgot to mention that the 5.25 FD doesnt work in normal Windows or Dos use. Its just working from time to time when writing  discs with XFloppy. I already tried remove Xfloppy and the entries in Systemi.ini. to get it working - but nothing.

In normal use it says : cant read disk, drive error.

The Fdd is configured within the Bios, as 1.2 MB Drive. It gets power and the light goes on like it would normally do ..

[eidis]

 Hi K.h. !

This changes a lot. Let's focus on getting your 5.25 FD drive working in pure dos and forget about XFloppy for now. I don't know your level of experience so please excuse me if I explain things in too simple terms. Prepare one 5.25" DD (720kb) floppy. It would be awesome if you have one which is already formated. Enter BIOS and enable "boot up floppy seek". It fill force detecting floppy drive during POST. Some motherboards can say at that point that an error has occurred and press F1 to continue. If so, ignore the error and press F1. You might also want to play with the different floppy drive parameters (360kb, 720kb, 1.2mb) and physically connecting it to the cable as A or B without changing the jumpers on the drive. Boot into dos and try to read the contents of floppy. If you are not familiar with DOS, here are a few tips:

a:     - change to A drive
b:     - change to B drive
c:     - change to hard drive
dir    - list contents of directory
cd    - change directory
cd .. - go back one directory

EXE, COM, BAT files are executable. Just type their name without the extention to execute.

Try formating the floppy by using one of these commands and then listing its directory:

format a:
format a: /t:80 /n:9
format a: /fs:fat

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

P.S. Please post you motherboard and floppy drive model numbers.

P.P.S. Just a thought. Try setting the floppy drive in BIOS to 360kb, boot into Windows and try running XFloppy

[k.h.]

I already changed the settings in the Bios to 360,720  ,1.2 mb . Leads to the same : drive can not be used with XFloppy ( behaviour like mentioned before - it formats the disks but at a99% rate it does not write ) nor does it work in Dos oder normal Win98 use - Drive reading error .

I have 2 drives here - check the photos. Both have no jumpers -  at least not that i can see them...  When i start in dos mode it says : generel rading error - so its not accessible in Windows or Dos.

The drives are visible on the Desktop, and its in the System under floppy devices...

[k.h.]

the drives panasonic ju 475

[eidis]

 Hi K.h. !

Try experimenting with the jumpers.

Panasonic JU475 (page 14 in the pdf)
http://www.alphamicro.com/dss10/40200A03.pdf

Mitsumi D509V
http://embeddedsw.net/EMUFDD_MITSUMI_Jumpers.html
http://www.softpres.org/wip:2009-11-11

Here is a thread with similar problem with Panasonic JU-475-2 and a solution:
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4356.0

The drive must be able to read 720kb formated floppies in pure DOS.

Wird schon schief gehen Just kidding !

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Will check this out.... But experimenting with jumpers seems time intensive. I will try this on sunday or so  ...

What i really dont understand here is : why did x floppy write like 30 disks and then suddenly stopped doing so ?

[eidis]

 Hi K.h. !

There is a slight possibility that your Windows 98 could be corrupt. Have you tried launching Mini Windows 98 from Hirens's boot CD and using xFloppy in it ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Well, i tried various jumper settings - but with other settings the drive doesnt work at all.

I really think its the mainboard for the floppy connector on the board. Ill replace the system, got a "new" one for like 10 Dollars on Ebay.

Since this stuff is really old, things like that can happen i guess ....

[eidis]

Hi K.h !

Just a thought. Check the motherboard FDD socket and make sure that there are no bent pins. Try replacing the floppy cable as well. If that does not help you could, in the name of science, replace capacitors on the motherboard.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Well, a new old pc arrived a few days ago. But it leads to the same problem as mentioned before.

Can format the floppy disk, but not write them.

I did all the things mentioned in this topic: changed ram, psu, cables and so on ...

Someone told me to experiment with the jumper settings : i tried that, but same problem.

As i mentioned before : in another pc i was able to write something like 30 disks, and then i started to get I/O Errors

Any other suggestions before im giving it up for good ?

[Opethian]

I had the same error on my win98 setup.
I went to winXP and omniflop and I have zero problems. xfloppy is just garbitch

[vampirefrog]

Just wanted to mention that XDF is a raw format, ie you can write it directly to disk, and DIM is just XDF with a 256 byte header that you can discard.

[eidis]

 Hi K.h. !

Might as well give it a try:

Raw Read/Write Utilities
http://www.pamarsystems.com/raw

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Installed XP and Omniflop plus the Controller and Floppy Driver. Can format a disk but not write it - same as before.

I already tried changing the jumper settings but nothing worked so far.

Perhaps some has this Fdd can can post a picture for the correct jumper settings ?

Regards

[eidis]

 Hi K.h. !

Almost there. Have you tried the jumper settings which were recommended by Dhampird in the following thread ?

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4356.0

Here you can find jumper settings for various Panasonic floppy drives:
http://maben.homeip.net/static/s100/panasonic/diskette/index.html

This one should be for your drive:
http://maben.homeip.net/static/s100/panasonic/diskette/panasonic_ju_475-3.gif

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

I tried the jumper settings in the above mentioned thread- but my FDD is a different model and it does not work.

When i jumper the FDD as in the picture i found it says : drive not ready ( in omniflop and windows )

[eidis]

 Hi K.h !

Thank you for the feedback, I will look into it. As for now, please open the following link and see if something will help.

Panasonic floppy drive documentation
http://nfggames.com/x68000/Documentation/Floppy%20Drives/Panasonic/

Update #1: Please post a picture of your floppy cable.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[Opethian]

Did you install the onmiflop driver properly? that usually is the step most people forget.

[k.h.]

Yes. I installed the omniflop driver as well as all other stuff mentioned in the documentation.

[k.h.]

1

[Opethian]

did you try booting the games you write out? most of the images I write give me an error at 99% but they work just fine.

[k.h.]

2

[k.h.]

3


all in all i have 3 cables for the fdd

[k.h.]

did you try booting the games you write out? most of the images I write give me an error at 99% but they work just fine.

i was not able to write disks with omniflop yet - i can format a disk, but not write it

[Opethian]

what error do you get? how far into the process do you get an error?

[k.h.]

what error do you get? how far into the process do you get an error?

it starts and then stops wth an error messge or the crash of the pc

[eidis]

 Hi K.h. !

Try using cable #2, connecting the drive before the cable twists. Try setting it with jumpers as drive 1 or 2, play with the bios settings as-well - 720kb, 1.2mb.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Can try that  again. But i already tried out all 3 in every possible way.

Im pretty sure this has to do with the jumper settings

[Opethian]

I think if your jumper settings were wont you wouldn't even see the drive in windows

[k.h.]

I think if your jumper settings were wont you wouldn't even see the drive in windows

as far as i know the jumper settings can do things like : enable this or that function. the drive itself is to be seen in windows, but i cant access it for some reason i dont know yet

[eidis]

 Hi K.h. and Opethian !

The jumpers rarely impact the visibility of drive to the operating system. However, there are tons of other things which can go wrong. Just imagine using an oldskool backup unit through the LPT port. Same deal.

H.k. try using the default jumper settings, which are in the picture of your drive, set it to drive 1 with jumpers and as drive B in BIOS and try connecting it to the cable before it twists and after it twists. If that does not help, try setting it to drive 2, A in BIOS and the same deal with the cable.

Update #1: Here is another document with jumper settings for various Panasonic 5.25" floppy drives:
http://nfggames.com/x68000/Documentation/Floppy%20Drives/Panasonic/Panasonic-Jumpers.txt

The TM (TERMINATOR) jumper must be removed when the 5.25" drive is installed as the system's second drive. However, this terminator must be present if the 5.25" drive is the only one present in the system.

I read that the READY signal could cause it not to work. Try finding the correct jumper. It is possible to jumper pins 33 (GND) and 34 (RDY) on the floppy cable connector to force the ready signal (disk is always inserted).

P.S. Could it be that your floppy drive is defective ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[k.h.]

Received another FDD today - and finally it worked.  A big thanks to all who helped.