Floppy drive problem

[William]

My floppy drive shows up normally on my screen, but when I insert a disc,
the disc is not recognised.
As I suspected that the drive was faulty, a new one was installed, but with
the same result.
The device manager shows the drive and the floppy drive controller as being
OK. I have also installed a set of new cables, but with no result.
Please advise.

 

[Ken]

My floppy drive shows up normally on my screen, but when I insert a disc,
the disc is not recognised.
As I suspected that the drive was faulty, a new one was installed, but with
the same result.
The device manager shows the drive and the floppy drive controller as being
OK. I have also installed a set of new cables, but with no result.
Please advise.

For what it is worth, you can prove whether the floppy drive is working
by booting to a DOS boot disk rather than entering Windows and trying to
read a disk. If this works, it would tell you your problem is not
hardware but due to the Windows environment.

Is the operating system you are using Windows XP? If it is, there is
much written about the problem and most attribute this to the formatting
of the floppy disk with an OS other than XP. That is, the contention is
that if you re-format the floppy disk with XP, that your problem will go
away on THAT disk.

I have had mixed results with the re-format process. Some seem to work
and others did not. What I did (or THINK I did) find, is that sometimes
when you cannot read data from a disk placed in the drive with Windows
Explorer, you MIGHT have better success using a DOS prompt window. I
have been able to copy a file from a floppy disk that would not read the
file in Explorer and place it into a temporary directory on the HD and
overcome the problem.

 

[William]

For what it is worth, you can prove whether the floppy drive is working by
booting to a DOS boot disk rather than entering Windows and trying to read
a disk. If this works, it would tell you your problem is not hardware but
due to the Windows environment.

Is the operating system you are using Windows XP? If it is, there is much
written about the problem and most attribute this to the formatting of the
floppy disk with an OS other than XP. That is, the contention is that if
you re-format the floppy disk with XP, that your problem will go away on
THAT disk.

I have had mixed results with the re-format process. Some seem to work
and others did not. What I did (or THINK I did) find, is that sometimes
when you cannot read data from a disk placed in the drive with Windows
Explorer, you MIGHT have better success using a DOS prompt window. I have
been able to copy a file from a floppy disk that would not read the file
in Explorer and place it into a temporary directory on the HD and overcome
the problem.

Thx for the reaction, but I have already tried booting to a dos disc, but
without any luck.
Yes, my o.s is Win XP prof and all the discs which I use are made with XP
prof.
I use the floppy drive mainly to make a weekly image of my system with a
Norton Ghost 2003 floppy, but for reasons which I do not understand, I am
unable to do this now.
The problem started overnight without having made any hardware or software
changes during the last 3 weeks.

 

[Grinder]

My floppy drive shows up normally on my screen, but when I insert a disc,
the disc is not recognised.
As I suspected that the drive was faulty, a new one was installed, but with
the same result.
The device manager shows the drive and the floppy drive controller as being
OK. I have also installed a set of new cables, but with no result.
Please advise.

Does anyone smoke near the computer?

I've replaced dozens of floppy drives in computers used by smokers. It
appears the question for those users is not if their floppy drive will
fail, but when -- anywhere from about 6 to 24 months.

 

[Robert Heiling]

Does anyone smoke near the computer?

I've replaced dozens of floppy drives in computers used by smokers. It
appears the question for those users is not if their floppy drive will
fail, but when -- anywhere from about 6 to 24 months.

That's strange. I used to smoke 2 packs/day around a Gateway P-133 for
about 5 years. I pulled the floppy to use in this new system because it
came without a floppy and it's still going strong here. I also smoked ~4
years around an Athlon system and its floppy is also still going strong.
Nuff said!

btw - Have we asked yet if his floppy drive led is on all the time?

Bob

 

[Ken]

Thx for the reaction, but I have already tried booting to a dos disc, but
without any luck.
Yes, my o.s is Win XP prof and all the discs which I use are made with XP
prof.
I use the floppy drive mainly to make a weekly image of my system with a
Norton Ghost 2003 floppy, but for reasons which I do not understand, I am
unable to do this now.
The problem started overnight without having made any hardware or software
changes during the last 3 weeks.

Then if you cannot boot to a DOS disk, it takes your problem down to
basics. I realize you have swapped cables and drives, but can you take
both the cable and drive to another computer and try it? That would
then leave the floppy controller as your problem unless you find a
problem with either the cable or drive.

Another thing that I am sure you have checked, is your CMOS settings.
One time I could not understand why a floppy did not work, and the
setting in CMOS for reversing the A: and B: drives was set. Many of the
newer MBs have such a setting. It would also be worth an attempt to set
your CMOS settings to DEFAULT settings at least once and see what you get.

 

[Grinder]

That's strange. I used to smoke 2 packs/day around a Gateway P-133 for
about 5 years. I pulled the floppy to use in this new system because it
came without a floppy and it's still going strong here. I also smoked ~4
years around an Athlon system and its floppy is also still going strong.
Nuff said!

Proximity is a big issue. If you're not very close to the machine, or
it's not drawing air in near the floppy you might not suffer as I have
seen. Before floppies went the way of the dodo, it was easily the most
common hardware failure I had to deal with in my capacity as
friend-of-a-friend know-it-all.

 

[Robert Heiling]

Proximity is a big issue. If you're not very close to the machine, or
it's not drawing air in near the floppy you might not suffer as I have
seen. Before floppies went the way of the dodo, it was easily the most
common hardware failure I had to deal with in my capacity as
friend-of-a-friend know-it-all.

Proximity? Yes indeed. The ashtray was always sitting on the desk next
to the keyboard & monitor. The case was just below on the floor.

Bob

 

[William]

Then if you cannot boot to a DOS disk, it takes your problem down to
basics. I realize you have swapped cables and drives, but can you take
both the cable and drive to another computer and try it? That would then
leave the floppy controller as your problem unless you find a problem with
either the cable or drive.

Another thing that I am sure you have checked, is your CMOS settings. One
time I could not understand why a floppy did not work, and the setting in
CMOS for reversing the A: and B: drives was set. Many of the newer MBs
have such a setting. It would also be worth an attempt to set your CMOS
settings to DEFAULT settings at least once and see what you get.

Problem has been solved by reversing the cable connection to the drive.
(turned 180 degrees) Rather stupid that I did not try this in the first
place,
Thanks for your help.
William