Problems with floppy disk drive

[John]

On our new PC 2 ghz, 500 MB RAM it just seems that the FDD is about twice as
slow on all floppies than the one in my 99 Win 98 laptop. Is this a hardware
problem, or should I reinstall Windows XP? We did get 8 viruses that I recntly
cleaned. Perhaps it also slowed down the FDD.


John

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Mechanically, reinstalling XP will have no effect on the floppy drive. If
you had viruses, have you run virus scans on the various floppies which you
say are running slow as they might be infected?

Did you have this problem before the virus infections.

In addition to scanning the floppies for viruses, I assume when you say you
had 8 viruses, you used antivirus software to remove them, you should also
check for malware, download, install and run Ad Aware:
www.lavasoftusa.com

The following assumes you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a restore CD or
restore partition supplied by your PC manufacturer.

Go to Start, type sfc /scannow in the run box and press enter. Note, there
is a space between sfc and the forward slash. You will be asked for your XP
CD. Be aware, upon inserting the CD the XP setup screen may appear, this is
not a part of sfc /scannow, rather it is being invoked by autorun. Simply
minimize the screen and allow sfc to continue.

If the above fails to resolve the issue, try a repair install as follows:

Be sure you are well backed up in case there is a problem from which you are
unable to recover. NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data
files intact, if something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be
forced to start over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your
data backed up, you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Assuming your system is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive, boot with the XP
CD in the drive. If it isn't or you are not sure, you need to enter the
system's BIOS. When you boot the system, the first screen usually has
instructions that if you wish to enter setup press a specific key, when you
see that, do so. Then you will have to navigate to the boot sequence, if
the CD-ROM drive is not first line, set it first in the boot sequence. Save
your settings and exit with the XP CD in the drive. The system will reboot.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

 

[johnw_94020]

Mechanically, reinstalling XP will have no effect on the floppy drive. If
you had viruses, have you run virus scans on the various floppies which you
say are running slow as they might be infected?

A friend has our CD. We will need to get it back for the reinstall.
The floppy is just one problem of many on this PC. I did run the
spyware check and much was cleaned, however not before the damage was
done, so at this time I think a reinstall of XP will fix all the
problems.

Did you have this problem before the virus infections.

I have no idea. This is not my PC, and to the best of my knowledge I'm
the only one that uses floppies. I usually do not use floppies for
work data, but since I am on christmas vacation, and my laptop is
hundreds of miles away, and I have some word and excel documents that I
needed to have on me, to update, print and mail the floppy was the best
and cheapest solution. USB flash drives are cute, but too expensive,
and besides I have many, many floppies, and they are throw away media.
I could not use my PDA for these documents, since I need to frequently
print and mail these documents on my floppy, and besides the printer
here does not have a IR port so using a PDA is moot. However if I had
the new Tungstun T5 with built in flash drive, I would not need the
floppy.

In addition to scanning the floppies for viruses, I assume when you say you
had 8 viruses, you used antivirus software to remove them, you should also
check for malware, download, install and run Ad Aware:
www.lavasoftusa.com

The following assumes you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a restore CD or
restore partition supplied by your PC manufacturer.

We will need to wait until next week to get the CD back.

John

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Post back if you need any further help.