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General discussion

Floppy drive issues

Sep 18, 2004 10:30PM PDT

I'm really stumped. I have a 3-1/2 floppy that has been acting very strange for some time, but since I rarely use it, have put off solving the problem until now. The "A Drive" shows up in "My Computer" and "Windows Explorer," but if I place a brand new floppy in the drive and go to that disk (maybe to make sure it is blank), the system comes back stating that it cannot write to the disk and that the disk is not fomatted. After answering yes, that I want to format the disk, it comes back with a message "Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other programs that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of the drive." I have nothing running other than "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer" and there are no other utilities or software using this disk. If I place a disk that I know has files on it in the drive, the system has no problem reading the files.

I have cleaned the drive, I have removed the driver for both, the disk drive and the floppy controller and let the system reinstall them, and the Device Manager shows that it is operating correctly and there are no conflicts. I've searched for a controller card and drive device driver update on Gateway's website and Panasonic's (the floppy drive manufacturer) site, and find nothing. I do see however, that the floppy disk controller appears to be using a new driver version that came with WinXP Service Pack 2, although this has been a problem before SP2.

I'm running Win XP Home SP2 on a 1.9GHz Gateway system. Both the primary and secondary IDE drive connectors are being used (2 hard drives, a CD/DVD player and a CD burner) as well as the floppy drive controller connection. All connectors are integrated onto the motherboard. All other drives work fine, and there is no Chipset update available from either Gateway or Intel (board manufacturer). I've even tried replacing the drive, however it made no difference. I'm at a loss.

Can anyone help? Thanks. Tony

Discussion is locked

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Can anyone help?
Sep 18, 2004 11:30PM PDT
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"Try This"
Sep 19, 2004 6:12AM PDT

I keep seeing postings on the Internet concerning floppy drives that suddenly do not work any longer. I just fixed two the other day that would not read the inserted disk. The culprit is the "Media Type Sensor", located on the right side of the drive looking inward. This sensor is a mechanical switch that differentiates between a 720 formatted disk and a 1.44 disk. If the sensor finger does not protrude far enough upwards into the media sensor hole in the disk, then the system thinks it has a 720 disk inserted and tries to read the disk as a 720, but of course it usually is a 1.44 disk and the two are not compatible.

There is a simple fix for this problem. Gently spray a little WD40 into the switch from the front, pointing the spray tip downward on the plastic finger. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then using a Q-Tip gently swab up any excess, and at the same time work the finger up and down. This loosen the grime around the plastic finger and housing, allowing the finger to move freely.

A tip for IS P. Professionals or Repairmen is to carry around a 720 formatted disk with a Dos boot record on it. A windows boot disk requires a 1.44 disk, but you can format and system the 720 disk in Windows. This disk should be labeled, "Floppy test", and can be used to quickly test the floppy drive. If the drive reads the 720 disk, then clean the media sensor switch and watch it go back to working properly. While at it, do the same to the left side switch called the "Write Protect Sensor", and you will have no more "Write Protect Errors."

Norm W. Worley

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Re: "Try This"
Sep 21, 2004 9:03AM PDT

Hi Norm I would like to know what is WD40, sorry I am from Mexico maybe it is aproduct i don't know.

And i want to know if you have an answer to mi post!!

Thaks Hector

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Re: search google WD40
Oct 6, 2004 9:56AM PDT