Floppy Flop

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I have a problem with my floppy drive. It seems to be a minor one. It doesn’t work; everything else about my PC seems ok. I ignored the problem but decided, so long as I was working with the Comcast issue (from another thread), I may as well scout for advice on the troublesome floppy; besides I have a whole bunch of files and a bunch of disks that desperately need to meet. Greythings8

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I wonder what you use a floppy disk for nowadays. They really aren’t very reliable compared to the modern alternatives. You’d be much better off transferring all your data to CDs or USB disks depending on how you were using the floppy.

Does the floppy disk work at all, even when Windows is not running? If you have any bootable floppies you can try to boot one, as this doesn’t use windows at all.

Assuming that you haven’t opened the case or disturbed any cables, then you may need to replace the floppy drive – they are very cheap. If you don’t have the skills to open the case then you could just buy a USB connected floppy drive – a quick Google search shows that these cost in the region of $10 to $20.

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I wonder what you use a floppy disk for nowadays.

I have three reasons: to enable you to add RAID drivers when installing Windows Server 2003; as the target to hold the settings for an ASR Backup of the server; to boot Partition Magic to reorganise partitions on a new PC.
But it won’t be long before I stop specifying a diskette drive on new PCs, since a USB Flash Drive can be used for the final requirement!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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I have a problem with my floppy drive. It seems to be a minor one. It doesn’t work …

Stuart’s right on. My Dell didn’t come with a floppy drive, so I bought an inexpensive external USB model. Ya know what – it’s been three years and I have yet to use that floppy drive.

If you’ve got data that you need to “offload” you would be much better off (as Stuart said) using CD/DVD/USB drives.

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Well, I’m just not one who likes to waste material. I have quite a few empty floppies and there are some unlabeleds I want to look at. I’m scouting in case it’s a software rather than hardware glitch. If it’s correctable, I can use that rather than spend meager finances buying a new drive. Greythings8

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Have you checked the BIOS to make sure the floppy is still enabled?

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That would be in the BIOS setup right? I didn’t think of that, but then again, I only looked at it once for the other problem. Greythings8 [

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That would be in the BIOS setup right? I didn’t think of that, but then again, I only looked at it once for the other problem. Greythings8 [

As Bob said, the floppy drive must be enabled in the BIOS; otherwise Windows will not find the drive. The default setting should be that it is enabled, but it could happen that it is changed to “None” or a wrong value.

Check in you manual for the motherboard, on page 52. Look for “Legacy Diskette A” on the Main screen BIOS. It most probably should read: “1.44M, 3.5 in.”.

Another step, after, would be to check the Device Manager in Windows. Click Start | Run… | type and press Enter: devmgmt.msc Check if there are any yellow exclamation marks at the devices (especially the Floppy Disk Controller and Floppy Disk Drive).

Several tasks can now be done with an USB memory, even updating the BIOS program itself. But there are some cases as mentioned by BATcher where a CD or USB mem doesn’t work.

However, the most important thing in a case like this, without a working floppy drive, is that you have no possibility to transfer the data from floppy to CD/DVD or USB memory. For future use CD and USB is great, but for the data (if important) that is already there on the floppies a solution is needed. If not possible to resurrect, a replacement (internal or external) as Stuart said may be the solution.
—
Update: I see that you have checked BIOS, that is the Default and OK values. You have a floppy A, no B, and the odd Floppy 3 mode is disabled. All OK, so far. Do you see a floopy drive in My Computer.

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Floppy drive A icon is in My Computer. I put in a disc, clicked the icon, nothing happened as usual, other than a pop-up, Please insert disc.

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Floppy drive A icon is in My Computer. I put in a disc, clicked the icon, nothing happened as usual, other than a pop-up, Please insert disc.

Do you get any indication the drive is trying to access the disc? (i.e. lights? sound?)
Have you tried other floppy discs in the drive?
Have you checked the discs you have tried can be read in another drive?

If you haven’t used the drive for a while, it may be full of dust. Fitting drives in the front of a case so they act as air intakes for the fan at the rear is one of the most diabolical design decisions ever made. Personally, with most likely nothing to lose, I would fit a small nozzle on a vacuum cleaner and see what you can extract from the disc insertion slot – but I am sure others will scream ‘Beware of Static!’ very loudly

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No lights, no sound. Doesn’t work with the other discs either. I’m about to try a suggested solution. Greythings8

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No lights, no sound. Doesn’t work with the other discs either. I’m about to try a suggested solution. Greythings8

So did you try ALL of the steps outlined in the MS help?

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I was referring to your list. Maybe my help page is different. I really shouldn’t assume that help pages give the same info. Greythings8

So did you try ALL of the steps outlined in the MS help?

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So far the help page doesn’t seem to be much help. There was a promising lead: a possible problem with the SCSI. The lead led to something called the Windows Hardware Compatibility List. At least I think there’s a list; I got tangled up in clicks and pages trying to find the darn thing. I think I’ll try again unless there’s a quicker way. First I have to cool down from frustrated impatience. All this from a darn floppy drive. Greythings8

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Floppy drive A icon is in My Computer. I put in a disc, clicked the icon, nothing happened as usual, other than a pop-up, Please insert disc.

This is from a MS help page on floppies. After checking the BIOS for Drive A [1.44, 3.5″] and “floppy driveMode Support=Disabled,

[*]Use the right mouse button to click My Computer, then click Properties on the menu that appears.
[*]Click the Device Manager tab.
[*]Double-click Floppy Disk Controllers.
[*]Click the floppy disk controller, and then click Remove to remove the controller.
[*]Click OK.
[*]In Control Panel, double-click Add New Hardware.
[*]Click Next, and then click Yes to allow Windows to detect the hardware in your computer.
[*]When the Add New Hardware Wizard is finished, restart the computer and try to access the floppy disk drive again.

Redetecting the floppy disk controller should resolve any addressing problems with the controller by detecting the correct address range. If the floppy disk controller is not detected correctly, there may be a problem with the floppy disk controller. If the floppy disk controller is redetected but you still cannot access the floppy disk drive, there may be a problem with the floppy disk.

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This is what came up. It didn’t quite match the help page so I stopped at Standard Floppy Controllers Properties. Greythings8

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I checked BIOS in the Main menu; saw three items that may pertain to my situation: Legacy Diskette A: 1.44M, 3.5in; Legacy Diskette B: [none]; Floppy 3 Mode Support: [disabled]; it’s possibly one of these three but I hesitate to fiddle. Thoughts anyone? Greythings8

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