FAT(32) media sometimes accessible, sometimes not -- strange solutionfound

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I wrote earlier of a problem on one machine with XP Home SP3. It would
not read floppies of FAT32-formatted thumb drives that were readable on
other machines. I could format a floppy on this machine, but DIR claimed
that it did not have a recognizable file system. RMB -> Properties
showed the file system as RAW.

Now I find that this happens only if the machine is booted with no
FAT32-formatted media attached. If I boot up with a FAT32-formatted
external drive or thumb drive in place, it can read them and will
continue to be able to read FAT(32) media even when the one(s) present
at boot time has/have been detached.

Is this behavior normal? If not, how do I remedy it?

Perce

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I wrote earlier of a problem on one machine with XP Home SP3. It would
not read floppies of FAT32-formatted thumb drives that were readable on
other machines. I could format a floppy on this machine, but DIR claimed
that it did not have a recognizable file system. RMB -> Properties
showed the file system as RAW.

Now I find that this happens only if the machine is booted with no
FAT32-formatted media attached. If I boot up with a FAT32-formatted
external drive or thumb drive in place, it can read them and will
continue to be able to read FAT(32) media even when the one(s) present
at boot time has/have been detached.

Is this behavior normal? If not, how do I remedy it?

OK, I think I found the real problem: the sptd.sys file left behind
after an apparently incomplete uninstallation of Daemon Tools, a utility
that allows an .iso file to be treated as a CD or DVD.

I had to download the stand-alone Daemon Tools installer and select the
Uninstall option. Running the uninstall process that had been installed
along with the original installation apparently had not been entirely
successful.

Perce