FDD Trouble

[AJermstad]

I'm having trouble with my Floppy Disk Drive

I built my PC about 18 months ago without one. Then I decided t
install one last July. I got a sony FDD. It took a little while t
get it working properly, the light on it was on when it shouldn'
etc. I'm pretty sure I got it working, then I went travelling an
havent used it for 8 months

I came back and now when I try to open a floppy it says the disk isn'
formatted and asks me if i want to format it. I try to format it an
it says it can't. This happens with every disk I try

I found this thread and it seems to be the same problem, but it'
pretty old and I wanted to know if anyone could shed and fresh ligh
on this subject

http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/ftopic6425.htm

Many thanks in advance

Setup, if you need it

XP Pr
DFI Lan Party UK 915P-T1
P4 LGA775 3.2Gh
2 x Corsair TX 1 GB 320
NEC 3500A x16 DVD R
256Mb Sapphire ATI X600XT PCI-
200G Maxtor DMax+10 SATA 150/7200/8M
460W X-Pro PS

 

[CJT]

I'm having trouble with my Floppy Disk Drive.

I built my PC about 18 months ago without one. Then I decided to
install one last July. I got a sony FDD. It took a little while to
get it working properly, the light on it was on when it shouldn't
etc. I'm pretty sure I got it working, then I went travelling and
havent used it for 8 months.

I came back and now when I try to open a floppy it says the disk isn't
formatted and asks me if i want to format it. I try to format it and
it says it can't. This happens with every disk I try.

I found this thread and it seems to be the same problem, but it's
pretty old and I wanted to know if anyone could shed and fresh light
on this subject?

http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/ftopic6425.html

Many thanks in advance.

Setup, if you need it:

XP Pro
DFI Lan Party UK 915P-T12
P4 LGA775 3.2Ghz
2 x Corsair TX 1 GB 3200
NEC 3500A x16 DVD RW
256Mb Sapphire ATI X600XT PCI-E
200G Maxtor DMax+10 SATA 150/7200/8Mb
460W X-Pro PSU

Usually when I've had that problem the drive has been full of dust.

 

[Eric Gisin]

It usually means the heads are dirty or misaligned,
or maybe all your floppies were scratched by a bad drive.
Is a newly formatted drive usable?

 

[Andy]

If you want to know if your floppy hardware is in working order, one
way to find out is to boot the computer from a DOS floppy. If the
computer boots, then the problem is not hardware. Seems like this
problem happens to Windows XP users.

 

[AJermstad]

Andywrote
If you want to know if your floppy hardware is in working order, on

way to find out is to boot the computer from a DOS floppy. If th
computer boots, then the problem is not hardware. Seems like thi
problem happens to Windows XP users

Okey dokey, I'll try that - err..how exactly would I do that

Eric - Do you mean the heads inside the FDD? If so, is there any kin
of disk u can get to try and clean them
I know that all the floopys weren't scratched by a bad drive as
borrowed a new one from a friend and that had the same problem

Is a newly formatted drive usable? - I can't get it to work! :

 

[Andy]

If you want to know if your floppy hardware is in working order, one

Okey dokey, I'll try that - err..how exactly would I do that?

The easiest way is to get one from someone. If you can't do that, and
since your floppy isn't working, you can burn a bootable DOS onto a
CD, and boot the computer from the CD. Then you'll be able to access
the floppy disk (e.g., dir a. For a bootable FreeDOS image, go to

 

[Zvi Netiv]

The easiest way is to get one from someone. If you can't do that, and
since your floppy isn't working, you can burn a bootable DOS onto a
CD, and boot the computer from the CD. Then you'll be able to access
the floppy disk (e.g., dir a.

The letter A: is assigned to the virtual drive you have been booting from, when
booting DOS of a CD, not to the floppy. You could try DIR B:, though.

For a bootable FreeDOS image, go to
<http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/ripcord/beta8h01/>.

Or from http://resq.co.il/iv_tools.php#FreeDOS

Cheers