No FAT or FAT32 access

[Percival P. Cassidy]

No response on ....help_and_support, so I'll try here.

I have WinXP Home SP3 on one machine and find that I am no longer able
to access FAT32-formatted thumb drives or FAT-formatted floppies: I can
read them on other systems, but this machine tells me they are unformatted.

No anti-virus/internet security software is in operation when I try this.

I've so seldom used floppies or FAT32-formatted media on this machine
that a whole lot of changes will have taken place since it was able to
read such media successfully.

I insert a floppy that has been formatted on another machine.
DIR A: from command prompt reports no recognizable file system.
CHKDSK /F A: reports file system is FAT, no errors found.
DIR A: reports no recognizable file system.
FORMAT A: reports success.
CHKDSK /F A: reports file system is FAT, no errors found.
DIR A: reports no recognizable file system.

Double-click on disk icon in My Computer reports disk is not formatted.
RMB -> Format reports Windows cannot complete format.
CHKDSK /F A: reports file system is FAT, no errors found.
DIR A: reports no recognizable file system.
Take disk to another machine; CHKDSK /F A: reports that file system is
FAT, no errors found.
I copy files to that disk on that machine; success.
Bring disk back to the problem computer; DIR A: reports no recognizable
file system.

Google found a reference to this (or a similar) problem at

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

I copied the i386 folder from the installation CD to C:, made the
recommended changes to the registry, and ran

sfc /scannow

Nothing has changed as far as FAT-formatted media are concerned.

Perce

 

[db]

you mentioned "no longer
able to access" the media.

perhaps, you might try a
system restore point and
see if you can send the machine
back in time when you did
have access.

also, make a system restore
point for today,

that way you can bring back
your system from the older
version.

--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
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~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Lem]

No response on ....help_and_support, so I'll try here.

I have WinXP Home SP3 on one machine and find that I am no longer able
to access FAT32-formatted thumb drives or FAT-formatted floppies: I can
read them on other systems, but this machine tells me they are unformatted.

No anti-virus/internet security software is in operation when I try this.

I've so seldom used floppies or FAT32-formatted media on this machine
that a whole lot of changes will have taken place since it was able to
read such media successfully.

I insert a floppy that has been formatted on another machine.
DIR A: from command prompt reports no recognizable file system.
CHKDSK /F A: reports file system is FAT, no errors found.
DIR A: reports no recognizable file system.
FORMAT A: reports success.
CHKDSK /F A: reports file system is FAT, no errors found.
DIR A: reports no recognizable file system.

Double-click on disk icon in My Computer reports disk is not formatted.
RMB -> Format reports Windows cannot complete format.
CHKDSK /F A: reports file system is FAT, no errors found.
DIR A: reports no recognizable file system.
Take disk to another machine; CHKDSK /F A: reports that file system is
FAT, no errors found.
I copy files to that disk on that machine; success.
Bring disk back to the problem computer; DIR A: reports no recognizable
file system.

Google found a reference to this (or a similar) problem at

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

I copied the i386 folder from the installation CD to C:, made the
recommended changes to the registry, and ran

sfc /scannow

Nothing has changed as far as FAT-formatted media are concerned.

Perce

Problems reading *floppy disks* formatted on another machine are not
uncommon with Win XP. Typically, this happens when the floppy was
formatted using Win 98 or Win 2k. I've not come across a similar
problem with thumb drives.

With respect to floppies, it's possible that the drive has become
misaligned, but more likely it's a problem with the media descriptor
byte, which XP uses but earlier versions of Windows do not. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060

It may also be possible to work around the floppy problem by installing
a different driver. See this ancient thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...ardware+author:rwehavnfunyet#f57221cfa9ab4d38

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Problems reading *floppy disks* formatted on another machine are not
uncommon with Win XP. Typically, this happens when the floppy was
formatted using Win 98 or Win 2k. I've not come across a similar problem
with thumb drives.

With respect to floppies, it's possible that the drive has become
misaligned, but more likely it's a problem with the media descriptor
byte, which XP uses but earlier versions of Windows do not. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140060

But although the examples I gave that involved reformatting concerned
floppy disks, this machine cannot read FAT32-formatted thumb drives that
work fine on another machine either. I simply haven't tried reformatting
one of these thumb drives on this computer.

And your suggestion about a misaligned floppy drive doesn't explain why
this machine cannot read a disk that it has just formatted
(Successfully, according to chkdsk) in this same drive

It may also be possible to work around the floppy problem by installing
a different driver. See this ancient thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...ardware+author:rwehavnfunyet#f57221cfa9ab4d38

I'll investigate that. It does seem to me that it's likely to be a
driver problem.

Perce