IBM 5150/5155/5160  -  Some possible causes of the 1701 error

The 1701 error is generated by the BIOS expansion ROM on an XT-class hard disk controller.

Therefore, the controller's user/technical manual is the authoritative source for information as to why the controller generated the 1701 error.
For example, see here for the controller that IBM supplied in the IBM 5160 (IBM XT), the 'IBM Fixed Disk Adapter'.

Some possible 1701 causes follow.

• Hard disk controller:  Not seated correctly in slot.
• Hard disk controller:  Edge connector contacts are dirty.
• Hard disk controller:  Sitting in slot #8 of an IBM 5155 or IBM 5160.  (Few cards work in 5155/5160 slot #8.)
• Hard disk controller:  Partially faulty.
• Hard disk controller:  A different model of hard disk controller has been put into the 'system', but the new controller does not recognise the particular low level format on the platters of the existing hard drive.  See notes 1 and 2 below.

• Hard drive:  Not drive-select jumpered properly - see here.
• Hard drive:  Not terminated properly.
• Hard drive:  Faulty drive.
• Hard drive:  The hard drive has been swapped for another, but the hard disk controller does not recognise the particular low level format on the platters of the hard drive.  See notes 1 and 2 below.
• Hard drive:  Edge connector contacts are dirty.

• Cabling:  Not connected properly - see here.
• Cabling:  Faulty cable/s.
• Cabling:  A twisted control cable is in use, but the wrong type of twisted cable- see here.

• Power:  Verify that both +5V and +12V are getting to the hard drive (ideally, making the measurement on the drive).
• Power:  Power connector problem - see here.
• Power:  Hard drive is not powered properly due to an under-performing power supply.  (I.e. power supply has deteriorated over many years.)
• Power:  Hard drive is not powered properly due to an under-rated power supply.  Because of the amount of power that your particular computer needs, you need a more powerful (wattage) power supply.

• Motherboard:  Edge connector contacts in expansion (ISA) slot are dirty/damaged.  (Try a different slot.)

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Note 1	If the XT-class controller is an IBM Fixed Disk Adapter, note that the IBM Fixed Disk Adapter will not generate 1701 in this situation.  See here. Some other XT-class controllers though, may attempt to read the first sector on track 0, generating 1701 if that fails. ( Different XT-class controllers can do different things. )
Note 2	If this is the cause, you will need to perform a low-level format of the new controller+drive combination, followed by partitioning and a high-level format. Refer to controller's user manual for the low-level formatting procedure required for the particular controller, because different model controllers can use different procedures. WARNING: These actions will destroy any existing data on the hard drive.

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The green spacecraft below is another known source of 1701 errors:

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