Lesson Plan

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October 21, 1999

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Title

Configuring a Single Floppy Drive
Configuring a Dual Floppy Drive System
Mounting/Dismounting Drives

Time Allotment

2 hrs

Supplemental Web Sites

Afternoon Coursework

ITCSS 2000 Hardware Lab

Configuring a Single Floppy Drive

The objective of this lab is to become familiar with installing and removing both 3.5 & 5.25 drives in your system. You will also be using the CMOS setup program to configure the drives in your system.

Removing the 3.5 floppy drive

  1. Power off your PC.
  2. Verify that you are properly grounded.
  3. Unplug the power cord from the system unit.
  4. Remove the top of the case.
  5. Unplug the data cable connected to the 3.5 floppy drive.
  6. Unplug the power connector for the 3.5 floppy drive.
  7. Dismount the 3.5 floppy drive.
  8. Remove the 3.5 floppy drive from your lab workstation.
  9. Stand clear of the case and plug in the power cord.
  10. Power on your lab workstation, and enter the CMOS setup program.
  11. Remove the 3.5 floppy drive from the setup program.
  12. Save your changes and reboot your lab workstation.

Removing the 3.5 floppy drive from Windows

  1. Allow your lab workstation to boot into Windows 95.
  2. Double click the My Computer icon.
  3. Verify that Windows 95 does not recognize any floppy drives.
  4. If there is still an icon for the 3.5 floppy drive, do the following steps:
    1. Click the Start button.
    2. Point to Settings and click Control Panel.
    3. Double click the System icon.
    4. Click the Device Manager tab.
    5. Double click the Floppy disk controller icon.
    6. Click the 3.5 floppy drive icon to highlight it.
    7. Press Delete.
    8. Click the Yes button on the confirmation message.
    9. Reboot your lab workstation, then double click the My Computer icon to verify that Windows doesn't recognize and floppy drives.

Installing a 5.25 floppy drive

  1. Power off your PC.
  2. Verify that you are properly grounded.
  3. Unplug the power cord from the system unit.
  4. Remove the top of the case.
  5. Locate an available 5.25 drive bay.
  6. Remove any blanks that may be in place.
  7. Slide the 5.25 floppy drive into the bay.
  8. Plug in the data cable.
  9. Plug in the power connector.
  10. Stand clear of the case and plug in the power cord.
  11. Power on your lab workstation.
  12. Enter the CMOS setup program.
  13. Configure the setup program to recognize the 5.25 floppy drive.
  14. Save the CMOS settings and reboot your lab workstation.

Testing the 5.25 floppy drive

  1. Allow your lab workstation to boot into Windows 95.
  2. Double click the My Computer icon.
  3. Verify that Windows 95 recognizes the 5.25 floppy drive.
  4. Insert the 5.25 floppy disk into the 5.25 floppy drive.
  5. Right click the 5.25 floppy drive icon, and select Format.
  6. Click the Start button in the Format dialog box.
  7. When the formatting is complete, click the Close button.
  8. In the Format dialog box, click the Close button.
  9. Close the My Computer window.

If Windows 95 does not detect the floppy drive

  1. Click the Start button.
  2. Point to Settings and click Control Panel.
  3. Double click the Add New Hardware icon.
  4. Click the Next button three times to allow Windows to detect new hardware.
  5. When the process is complete, allow Windows to install the proper device driver.
  6. Reboot your lab workstation, and follow the steps in the section, "Testing the 5.25 floppy drive".

Removing the 5.25 floppy drive

  1. Power off your PC.
  2. Verify that you are properly grounded.
  3. Unplug the power cord from the system unit.
  4. Remove the top of the case.
  5. Unplug the data cable connected to the 5.25 floppy drive.
  6. Unplug the power connector for the 5.25 floppy drive.
  7. Dismount the 5.25 floppy drive.
  8. Remove the 5.25 floppy drive from your lab workstation.
  9. Stand clear of the case and plug in the power cord.
  10. Power on your lab workstation, and enter the CMOS setup program.
  11. Remove the 5.25 floppy drive from the setup program.
  12. Save your changes and reboot your lab workstation.

Lab Notes

How do I know which way to connect a data cable? - All PC data cables have a red stripe along one side of the cable. This stripe should always be aligned with the number one pin on the attached device.

Configuring a Dual Floppy Drive System

Installing a 3.5 floppy drive

  1. Power off your PC.
  2. Verify that you are properly grounded.
  3. Unplug the power cord from the system unit.
  4. Remove the top of the case.
  5. Locate an available 3.5 drive bay.
  6. Remove any blanks that are in place.
  7. Slide the 3.5 floppy drive into the bay.
  8. Plug in the data cable to make it drive A (as per lab notes).
  9. Plug in the power connector.
  10. Locate an available 5.25 drive bay.
  11. Remove any blanks that are in place.
  12. Slide the 5.25 floppy drive into the bay.
  13. Plug in the data cable to make it drive B (as per lab notes)
  14. Plug in the power connector.
  15. Stand clear of the case and plug in the power cord.
  16. Power on your lab workstation.
  17. Enter the CMOS setup program.
  18. Configure the setup program to recognize the 3.5 floppy drive as drive A and the 5.25 as drive B.
  19. Save the CMOS settings and reboot your lab workstation.

Testing the 3.5 floppy drive.

  1. Allow your lab workstation to boot into Windows 95.
  2. Double click the My Computer icon.
  3. Verify that Windows 95 recognizes the 3.5 floppy drive.
  4. Insert the 3.5 floppy disk into the 3.5 floppy drive.
  5. Right click the 3.5 floppy drive icon, and select Format.
  6. Click the Start button in the Format dialog box.
  7. When the formatting is complete, click the Close button.
  8. In the Format dialog box, click the Close button.
  9. Close the My Computer window.

Testing the 5.25 floppy drive as drive B

  1. Allow your lab workstation to boot into Windows 95.
  2. Double click the My Computer icon.
  3. Verify that Windows 95 recognizes the 5.25 floppy drive.
  4. Insert the 5.25 floppy disk into the 5.25 floppy drive.
  5. Right click the 5.25 floppy drive icon, and select Format.
  6. Click the Start button in the Format dialog box.
  7. When the formatting is complete, click the Close button.
  8. In the Format dialog box, click the Close button.
  9. Close the My Computer window.

If Windows 95 does not detect either floppy drive

  1. Click the Start button.
  2. Point to Settings and click Control Panel.
  3. Double click the Add New Hardware icon.
  4. Click the Next button three times to allow Windows to detect new hardware.
  5. When the process is complete, allow Windows to install the proper device driver.
  6. Reboot your lab workstation, and follow the steps in the section, "Testing the 3.5 or 5.25 floppy drive".

Lab Notes

How do I configure two floppy drives using the same data cable? - The following figure shows an example of a typical floppy drive cable that could be used to configure multiple drives with the same data cable. Note that the twist in the data cable helps the computer differentiate between floppy drive A and B.