Windows XP Defunct floppy disc drive

[bandaj]

Hi,
Can anyone help
Running XP SP3, and use the floppy drive to import legacy data from an ancient win3.1 system

The drive stopped working, so I assumed it was the drive itself, Control Panel showed exclamation mark on the drive under the hardware tab.

I have now replaced the drive, but the problem is still there.Under device manager, I get the message:
Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)
I've tried tried uninstalling the device and driver, even deleting flpydisc.sys, but it comes back after re-installing.

Odd thing is, I can boot DOS 6.22 from the floppy!!

HELP please.

 

[alow]

It sounds to me like a bad driver, especially if you can still boot to it. That would mean that the hardware is good, but the driver (Software that allows Windows to communicate with the hardware) is bad. I would search the manufacturer's website for a new driver and try that. If you still have a problem, let us know your OS that you're having the problem on, and the model of the floppy drive.

Good luck!

 

[bandaj]

Hi Alow
I wondered that, but I'm no expert. I tried reinstalling the Windows driver, made no difference. I think it's the standard WinXP flopyy disc driver flpydisc.sys in System32\drivers
It used to work, but suddenly stopped - maybe after a windows update?
Its an NEC FD1231M drive, nothing special. I'll try their website to see if thay have any drivers.

OS is WinXP SP3

thanks for your help

 

[muckshifter]

There are no manufacturers' drivers for a floppy drive, they are generic to Windows.

Try removing it from Device Mangler and rebooting.

may help

 

[bandaj]

Hi Muckshifter,

Tried uninstalling both the drive & the controller. Plug n Play finds them, identified the disc drive, then reports a problem with hardware installation, and says it might not work properly. Its not wrong there!

Really annoying, don't know what else to try, Have a USB floppy somewhere, so I'll probably dig it out and use that. Don't like being beaten though.

Thanks for your suggestion

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

Try the driver issue from Safe Mode. Many times, in Normal Mode, the drivers are not completely shown. You may have a conflict of drivers that are installed and you are not seeing them. Especially if you have changed hardware.

Check device manager and remove the drive. I would also attempt to disable the drive from within the BIOS during this process. That will allow the system to remove the drivers and not load them right away. It will allow you to remove ALL the drivers, if there are more that are installed.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Start-your-computer-in-safe-mode

 

[bandaj]

Thanks Silverhazesurfer,

I'll try that when I get a moment, but just finishing a shipment to go out at work, so v. hectic today.

Fortunately it's not a problem at the moment, so if I can't sort it I'll go the USB route.



Bryan

 

[bandaj]

Hi viewers,

Well, removed the Floppy Drive in Setup, booted up in safe mode, but didn't see anything to do with floppy driver) and removed anything to do with Floppies (controller & drive)
Booted up normally, Windows found the Floppy controller but no disc.
Rebooted to Setup, re-enabled the floppy drive and cariie don.
Windows found the floppy and installed the driver, then guess what?

Everything just the same

Still boots DOS 6.2 though. Think I'll go back to that.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

What kind of motherboard do you have? Go to the manufacturers website and install the chipset drivers and such. Obviously, the Windows installed driver does not work with your hardware.

 

[bandaj]

Its a Dell Dimension 4550, so I guess a Dell motherboard. Don't think that could be the problem, as it used to work until about a year ago. I assumed the drive had died. It wasn't a problem as I had another PC on a network with a floppy, so just accessed that and transferred the data.
It was sometimes inconvenient, so I bought another drive and fitted it, to no avail.
If I look at Device manager, the floppy drive shows an exclamation mark, and in properties it says:

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"

The driver shows:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\flpydisk.sys

Version 5.1.2600.5512
(xpsp.080413-2108)

Don't know if thats any use at all, it means nothing to me.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

Hmmm....


As previously stated, try the chipset drivers for the system board.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/Product/dimension-4550

Past that point, the only other idea I have is: reinstall Windows. The hardware works and Windows apparently has an issue with loading the software. I know that it is a big statement to say that for something so simple but you are dealing with simple hardware. If the hardware doesn't work with the manufacturer's software, you have some sort of software conflict. Rather than remove and reinstall software and drivers one at a time to find the conflict, it is much easier to reinstall the OS and go from there.

Personally, I wouldn't reinstall the OS on such a trivial device but your requirements are different.

You can also try to roll back the system using system restore to when it wasn't an issue. If this was only in the last few days, you can probably pinpoint exactly what you installed to cause the drive to fail in such a manner. If it has been longer than a week or two, or if you don't remember what was installed, the best solution (to keep from seriously scrambling your system) is to reinstall Windows.

That's the best I got.

 

[bandaj]

Hi Surfer,

I'll try the chipset drivers, but I'm not reinstalling Windows - too much stuff on there, including some custom programs. Not sure I can find the all the installation discs, so I think it's going to be the USB drive.

If the chipset drivers work I'll let you know, but thanks a lot for your help.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

so I think it's going to be the USB drive

Since I don't have a floppy installed, this would have been my first choice. Why is the floppy so important to the situation?

 

[bandaj]

I have a PCB CAD program that I have used for > 20 years, with over 50 legacy PCB layouts on it.

Its a DOS program that I run under Win 95 (not networked) and contains all our legacy PCB data, which I backup onto my main PC via floppy disc.

I have an HP machine running Win98 that is networked, and I hoped to transfer the CAD program on to it, but it won't recognise the dongle in LPT1:. I think it is too fast (Celeron 400MHz), so I'm stuck with my old & creaky 100MHz 486 machine.

I need to be able to access & run the program, as customers often come back requesting more PCBs or some modifications. The MOD (God bless 'em) recently asked for 20 more Power Meters we last built 14 years ago.

I also have Easy PC, which claims to be able to import the files, but there are some difficulties so that's a last resort.

Meanwhile, I'm learning Eagle,but haven't used it for anything yet.

It's not easy being a dinosaur.