NEC 3540a causing "Floppy Disk Fail 40"

[pink hope]

Hi folks. I had my optical drives set up as

Secondary Master: Sony DVD-Rom
Secondary Slave: Asus CD-Rom

My 3540a arrived today and I decided to replace the Asus. After installing and booting I got the "Floppy Disk(s) Fail (40)" message. Since I've never had this problem before I decided to undo everything that I just did. Now, even with my system back to its old config I'm running into the same "Fail 40" message.

I searched around online to see what the message meant. Apparently it has nothing to do with optical drives...so why am I getting this message after installing the 3540a? I've tried tightening all the wires just incase I knocked something loose during the install and still no luck. As previously stated, even my pre-install config. is giving me the message.

Also, when the 3540a was installed I loaded a DVD into the tray and it wouldn't register the disk. XP had it show up on My Computer but when I clicked the drive it was empty.

Please tell me what's going on. Thanks.

 

[DonNagual]

Can you outline your IDE connections? For example, what parts do you have on each IDE cable? Hard drives on one, removable disk drives on another or what combination?

 

[pink hope]

I have a HDD that's on its own cable. So is the floppy.

The Sony and Asus share a cable w/ the Sony being master. When I installed the 3540a I kept the Sony as master and replaced the Asus.

 

[Nodsu]

Did you disconnect the floppy drive cable while messing with your optical drives? Floppy cables/drives are often not keyed so it is very easy to connect them the wrong way around.

Also, if you have a three-connector floppy cable then it matters which connector you use for what.

 

[pink hope]

Did you disconnect the floppy drive cable while messing with your optical drives? Floppy cables/drives are often not keyed so it is very easy to connect them the wrong way around.

Also, if you have a three-connector floppy cable then it matters which connector you use for what.

All I did was connect the 3540 (it's OEM if that makes a difference) where the old Asus was. It's impossible for me to have gotten cables, wires, etc mixed up.

On another note, is the problem with the 3540 not being able to read any disks associated with the "Fail 40" error? Or is it a problem with the 3540 hardware? because I'd like to return it to Newegg.

 

[patio]

Try replacing the floppy drive...their down to about 10 bucks. I would try this beforw giving up on the DVD drive.

patio.

 

[rear_engine]

Put Your Asus drive in and see if everything still works as it did, It just needs electrical connections. If it does not you have overwritten a driver probably. If it does make sure you have master/slave set on the NEC the same as your ASUS. You may have to change the drive and driver in device manager for your Nec to work right so download and install the one for your Nec making sure it is listed in Divice Manager afterward. If you do not have XP with all drivers and etc. loaded this can happen. About any other Windows OS you will always have to do the manual install. Floppies are almost useless any more so if I had to have a new one I would get an External USB one but I do not see this as your trouble. If you do not have XP get it. I just got a Nec 3520a and a USB $20 Alum. case with fan so I can use with 2 different computers. I have a cheap USB hub and $13 floppy plus a additional USB HD, These USb things are really handy. Some viruses will stay in memory when you reboot so what I do if I think that is a possible I run all checks and restore to an earlier date without rebooting. Then I hit the off switch which would crash 98 and other OS, let set 10 min and turn on tapping F8 untill I get selection then bring up in debuging mode (XP home or Pro). This usually cures it. The reason to not close down is to keep writing to hard drive or memory from happening if it is something that is doing that. I hope this helps.