Date   : Tue, 15 May 2012 09:37:28 +0100
From   : mike@... (Mike Howard)
Subject: Torch discs.

On 15/05/2012 09:01, Jim Hearne wrote:
> Well....
> I took the 5.25" drive out of the BBC external housing, changed the drive
> select jumper to DS1 (as the PC likes).
> Found the correct IDC connector for the 5.25" drive and crimped it onto the
> existing floppy cable before the twist.
> Fitted the drive into the PC, put it all back together.
>
> Powered up, went into the Bios to enable floppy drive B, and found no
> options for B drive !!
> It seems that most newer motherboards (this one is about 2 years old) have
> removed support for 2 floppy drives.
> Pretty sure this is just a Bios thing, i doubt if they would have removed
> the DS line from the FDC.
>
> Spent the rest of the evening trying to find hacks for the Bios or Windows 7
> to let it see the second drive.
> The Award Bios on my Motherboard is V6.00PG which is too new for any editors
> i could find.
>
> So far the most likely option seems to be to edit the CMOS ram directly to
> change byte 0x10 to the settings for 2 drives.
> But, changing the byte means changing the CMOS checksum otherwise you just
> get a CMOS checksum error.
> So, i've got to work that out as well.
>
> Otherwise, i may just invest in a Kyroflux USB floppy interface.
>
> Thanks for the advice,
>
> Jim
>
>

I'd be happy to image them for you. Obviously you'd need to get them to me.

Alternatively, you could pick up an old PC off ebay? Old compaq or such 
like.

Cheers,
-- 
Any question is easy if you know the answer!