Weird Floppy Behavior

[Guest]

Every time my system installs or uninstalls software the floppy drive
chatters for about a minute or so. It sounds like it is trying to send me a
message in Morse Code! I have no idea when this started but I don't recall
having this happen until I upgraded my Symantec Internet Security to 2007
earlier this year (but I can't say for sure so I am posting here in case this
is not the real cause). Whatever the reason it has become a habitual
ocurrance every time I do any updates to applications or remove programs I am
no longer using. The drive starts running shortly after the install/uninstall
and runs for about a minute with rapid but intermittent sounds of the head
stepping/seeking. I remember a goof program someone wrote way back in the
Apple II days that made intentional noises with the floppy drive but my
system is well protected and scanned frequently for malicious software so I
doubt that is the cause.

Possibly associated with this strange floppy activity is a system problem
that causes a STOP message every once in a while. It's not real common but
totally unpredictable. Yesterday it happened when I clicked the CLOSE box on
OE. That may be another issue but I have a feeling these things are related.
The STOP message is insufficient to point to a definate problem and most
links I am pointed to on re-boot are the nondescript 'device driver problem'
pages and I have never gotten enough information to point to anything in
particular.

This system is an XP-SP2 set for automatic updates and generally runs very
well. The floppy drive also works fine although I seldom use it anymore.

Any idea what this could be?

 

[witan]

Every time my system installs or uninstalls software the floppy drive
chatters for about a minute or so. It sounds like it is trying to send me a
message in Morse Code! I have no idea when this started but I don't recall
having this happen until I upgraded my Symantec Internet Security to 2007
earlier this year (but I can't say for sure so I am posting here in case this
is not the real cause). Whatever the reason it has become a habitual
ocurrance every time I do any updates to applications or remove programs I am
no longer using. The drive starts running shortly after the install/uninstall
and runs for about a minute with rapid but intermittent sounds of the head
stepping/seeking. I remember a goof program someone wrote way back in the
Apple II days that made intentional noises with the floppy drive but my
system is well protected and scanned frequently for malicious software so I
doubt that is the cause.

Possibly associated with this strange floppy activity is a system problem
that causes a STOP message every once in a while. It's not real common but
totally unpredictable. Yesterday it happened when I clicked the CLOSE box on
OE. That may be another issue but I have a feeling these things are related.
The STOP message is insufficient to point to a definate problem and most
links I am pointed to on re-boot are the nondescript 'device driver problem'
pages and I have never gotten enough information to point to anything in
particular.

This system is an XP-SP2 set for automatic updates and generally runs very
well. The floppy drive also works fine although I seldom use it anymore.

Any idea what this could be?

The system is searching for a disk in the floppy drive. I have had
similar experiences several times. A palliative -- not a true solution
-- would be to put in a disk in the floppy drive.

 

[notsure]

Your Symantec might be set to scan the floppy.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for a couple of good suggestions and I will investigate both. Yeah,
floppy drives these days lay there pretty dormant until you use it and then
it seems every time you anything you have to wait while the floppy gets
accessed. Maybe I should just remove it.

Thanks,

LHH