Reading floppy disks

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species8350

I have a floppy disk that reads without problem in most machines
(running windows). The other day, I was using a windows machine and
the floppy just kept spinning. On putting the floppy in another
computer it read without a problem.

Can anyone explain this.

Thanks.
 
I have a floppy disk that reads without problem in most machines
(running windows). The other day, I was using a windows machine and
the floppy just kept spinning. On putting the floppy in another
computer it read without a problem.

Can anyone explain this.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Ps. Forgot to mention floppy is 3.5" media
 
Previously species8350 said:
I have a floppy disk that reads without problem in most machines
(running windows). The other day, I was using a windows machine and
the floppy just kept spinning. On putting the floppy in another
computer it read without a problem.
Click to expand...
Can anyone explain this.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Defective or dirty floppy drive. It happens, e.g. when an
optical sensor gets coverd in dust.

Arno
 
You mean magnetic head, maybe?
Click to expand...

No, I mean optical sensor. The other thing that can produce
this behaviour is a floppu cable plugget in at 180 degrees
of its right orientation.

Arno
 
No, I mean optical sensor. The other thing that can produce
this behaviour is a floppu cable plugget in at 180 degrees
of its right orientation.

Arno
Click to expand...

AFAICS, there would be three sensors - track 0, write protect, and
density select. These could be optical sensors or microswitches. A
dirty track 0 sensor would, I expect, produce obvious noises as the
heads battered against the end stops, whereas the other two sensors
would not be involved in reading, only writing.

I would guess that the OP's drive has dirty heads, or maybe an
alignment problem. Otherwise the diskette may be marginal. I sometimes
have problems reading old archived diskettes.

- Franc Zabkar
 
Previously Franc Zabkar said:
On 15 Jul 2008 12:23:49 GMT, Arno Wagner <[email protected]> put finger
to keyboard and composed:
Click to expand...
AFAICS, there would be three sensors - track 0, write protect, and
density select. These could be optical sensors or microswitches. A
dirty track 0 sensor would, I expect, produce obvious noises as the
heads battered against the end stops, whereas the other two sensors
would not be involved in reading, only writing.
Click to expand...
I would guess that the OP's drive has dirty heads, or maybe an
alignment problem. Otherwise the diskette may be marginal. I sometimes
have problems reading old archived diskettes.
Click to expand...

All possible. Floppies were a pain.

Arno
 
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