3.5" floppy drive unreadable

[Guest]

Good Day,

I need some help, and here is what I encountered lately:

-Floppy drive was OK and could read/write/format before SP2 update
-It indicates the drive is RAW and cannot be read, and the disk needs to be
formatted
-It was perfect before SP2 update
-Tried from DOS prompt all the commands and still resulted in the same
response.
-100% sure the hardware is OK, and the files could be read and written to
the floppy drive
-Drive C: is NTFS, and files on the floppy disks were written with With
Windows 98SE and NTFS.

Thank you very much, and hope to receive your expert advise.

 

[MCR]

Good Day,

I need some help, and here is what I encountered lately:

-Floppy drive was OK and could read/write/format before SP2 update
-It indicates the drive is RAW and cannot be read, and the disk needs to be
formatted
-It was perfect before SP2 update
-Tried from DOS prompt all the commands and still resulted in the same
response.
-100% sure the hardware is OK, and the files could be read and written to
the floppy drive
-Drive C: is NTFS, and files on the floppy disks were written with With
Windows 98SE and NTFS.

Thank you very much, and hope to receive your expert advise.

If I remember correctly 3.5" floppy disks should be formatted to FAT not
NTFS

 

[Guest]

I have Windows XP SP2 and my FDD works just fine

Try entering cmd in Start => Run and then enter chkdsk /? to find out how to
run the chkdsk utility on a floppy disk.

Eric,
PC Buyer Beware!
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/

 

[Guest]

You can create a Wizard Disk (floppy disk) from within Windows XP, and the
use it instead of the original Windows XP CD. To create such a floppy disk,
run FAST from Accessories => System Tools. The option to create the floppy
disk should appear in the third window.

Eric,
PC Buyer Beware!
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/

 

[Kerry Brown]

Good Day,

I need some help, and here is what I encountered lately:

-Floppy drive was OK and could read/write/format before SP2 update
-It indicates the drive is RAW and cannot be read, and the disk needs to
be
formatted
-It was perfect before SP2 update
-Tried from DOS prompt all the commands and still resulted in the same
response.
-100% sure the hardware is OK, and the files could be read and written to
the floppy drive
-Drive C: is NTFS, and files on the floppy disks were written with With
Windows 98SE and NTFS.

The last line is your problem. It is fairly common for floppies written with
one drive to become unreadable in another drive. Format the floppy in the
target computer. Copy the files to the floppy from the source computer. See
if the target can read the floppy. This is the most likely procedure to
work. If this doesn't work then one or both of the floppy drives need to be
replaced. It could also be a bad floppy disk. Some floppy drives are better
than others at reading bad disks. Floppy disks are very unreliable. The fact
that the problem occurred after SP2 is probably a coincidence.

Kerry

 

[Wesley Vogel]

You cannot format floppies in NTFS. FAT is the only choice for formatting a
3 1/2" floppy in Windows XP.

[[NTFS is not a supported file system for floppy disks. ]]
From...
Cannot Format an LS-120 Disk with the NTFS File System
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301959

Floppy Disk Formats That Are Supported in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309623

Floppy Disk is Not Accessible, Not Formatted, or Not Recognized by Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;140060

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Ken Blake]

I need some help, and here is what I encountered lately:

-Floppy drive was OK and could read/write/format before SP2 update
-It indicates the drive is RAW and cannot be read, and the disk needs
to be formatted
-It was perfect before SP2 update
-Tried from DOS prompt all the commands and still resulted in the same
response.
-100% sure the hardware is OK, and the files could be read and
written to the floppy drive
-Drive C: is NTFS, and files on the floppy disks were written with
With Windows 98SE and NTFS.

That last sentence is very much wrong in two respects. First, Windows 98SE
has no NTFS support. Second, even if it did, you can't create a standard
1.44MB diskette using NTFS. It's *always* FAT12.

If you're trying, with Windows XP, to read a diskette created on a Windows
98SE machine, this has nothing to do with SP2, and you're probably running
into the issue described here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=140060



To get around this, format the floppy under Windows XP, then take it the
Windows 98 machine and copy the files onto it. You should now be able to
read the floppy with XP.

 

[Guest]

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your assistance, it is appreciated.
I tried >chkdsk a: last week and it resulted in 'drive is RAW', do you wan't
to format the disk?'. Tried to format, could not format the floppy/floppies.
Tried various other programs which ran without any problem before SP2 update.
If I use Windows 98, the drive works. Tried to check the drivers,
uninstall/re-install, the works. In Device Manger, results in 'this device is
working properly'. I don't understand why it works with SP1 and not SP2. Have
installed and uninstalled SP2 to check this out, even wiped XP clean and
re-installed, same problem.

 

[Guest]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your assistance. The second one in red applies to this case.
I'll go from there, and see what happens. In fact, I have programs on 3.5"
disks (FAT) and with XP/SP1 (with NTFS) those programs could be read, and
will still be read if I uninstall SP2.
Anyways, will troubleshoot further.

 

[Ken Blake]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your assistance.

You're welcome. Glad to help.