Floppy Disks Won‘t Format: General Troubleshooting

Power Computing provided the information in this article and it was deemed accurate as of 14 November 1997. Apple Computer, Inc. is not responsible for its content. This article is being provided as is and will not be updated in the future.

When ever I try to format a floppy I get a message that says "Floppy format has failed." Is there a problem with my machine?
There are a few different issues that can affect the function of a floppy drive.

If you have a machine based on the 604e processor running at 180MHz or faster, you need to have either the "PowerMac Format Patch" or the "Floppy Tuner" installed in your Extensions folder. This extension allows the 604e based machines to format floppies.

If you are using an ATI video card verify that you are using the Spinnaker II driver, version 1.1f2. This version of the driver will allow the machine to format floppies while the ATI card is installed. This issue is associated with the ATI cards and all MacOS based machines.

If neither of the above two solutions fixes your floppy drive issue, try booting off of the Power CD. Once you have booted from this CD see if you can format the floppy. If you can then there is a system software problem. Try a clean install of the system software. If you still can not format floppies then give technical support a call for further assistance.

Machines Affected: PowerCurve PowerCenter, PowerTower, PowerTower(e), PowerTower Pro
Published Date: Feb 20, 2012