I'm trying to connect a floppy drive from an old computer into a newer (but still 'old') computer. I've come across a problem in that the 34 pin cable I have has 1 pin missing which is second pin from the end of the connector, however, on the motherboard the 'missing' pin is the 3rd one from one end. As a result the connector won't connect to the motherboard connector socket since on the connector there is no 'hole' just plastic. Can anyone explain why this is and if there is a workaround please. Thanks
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people still use floppy drives? :)– KeltariCommented Apr 29, 2013 at 16:40
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2 Answers
It seems like you have the cable backwards. The side with the missing pin 2nd from the edge goes to the floppy drive, and the other end of the 34-pin ribbon cable should have a missing pin 3rd from the edge, which should match up with your motherboard:
These are done like this to make sure that people connect the cable correctly, since otherwise it would be very difficult to tell which end goes to the drive / motherboard.
answered Apr 29, 2013 at 15:09
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3In addition to the keyed connectors, the red stripe indicates the side with pin 1. The connector itself also sometimes has an arrow indicating pin 1.– robCommented Apr 29, 2013 at 15:22
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I don't have that cable ! Mine has the missing 'hole' 2nd from the end on each side. As I said it came with the floppy drive from a computer bought 15 years ago and I want to put it into one whivh is about 6 years old. your cable above would work. _Out of interest, Any idea why the cables changed ? I'll go get a new cable, but any idea if its possible to 'open' the hole on the motherboard side on the old cable so it can accept the 2nd pin in on the motherboard ? Is that likely to be a bad idea anyway ? Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 11:49
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That would be a bad idea. If you look closely at the picture, a section of the ribbon "twists" right before attaching to the top plug. The pins do not line up 1-for-1 at both ends of the cable. I don't think this is so much that the cables have changed, more along the lines of hardware integration has changed. Pin-flipping like this is common when two devices are connected directly, which usually expect to have some sort of hub or bus between them. You see the same thing in the networking world with Ethernet cross over cables. Commented Apr 30, 2013 at 17:01
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@DarthAndroid No, the twist is actually a crude low-tech form of cable select. Also, are crossover cables still in use? Commented Mar 30, 2014 at 19:40
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@kinokijuf If you're working with all brand-new hardware bought this year? Probably not. Most NICs and switches have Auto-Crossover these days. If you're working with a network that's been installed for a decade? Yeah, crossover cables are still needed between switches or between computers when Auto-Crossover isn't available. Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 18:32
A bit late for the poor guy asking the question, but perhaps this will help others who stumble across this article. After checking pinouts for FDD headers, it seems that pins 3 & 5 (the keyed pins in question) are both VCC. Therefore, I just drilled out the blocked pin hole in the plastic socket on the motherboard end (opposite to the crossover end) and plugged in for a test. All works peachy!!
