Floppy disc problems

[Nemo]

Not sure if anyone can help, but I have a problem reading floppy discs.

When I incert a disc into the drive it tells me that it is not formatted and then asks if I would like to format the disc.

For discs which I know contain data, obviously i do not wish to re-format them. However, when I put a blank disc in and it tells me that it is not formatted, then asks if I would like to format the disc - I click on Yes - but it then informs me that it can not format the disc.

I have tried to de-install and re-install the floppy disc drivers, but this has no effect. I have also tried to swap out the floppy disc - but the one I replaced it with gave me an error when booting up - Floppy Disc Failure 40

I would appreciate any help - system is running on XP Home, as in extra problems.....

Cheers
Nemo

 

[Igorian]

Floppy disks tend to be pre-formatted, although I guess you can still get unformatted ones (don't use many these days). If you have inserted a brand new floppy and it can't be read, then the floppy drive probably defective.

You said that you have tried another drive (a new one?). The floppy fail message usually occurs if the data cable has been plugged in the wrong way round (or no power to drive). Floppy drives are not always keyed, so, try the cable the other way round. The stripe on the cable goes to pin 1 (which isn't always marked and isn't always at the same end).

It is obviously possible for the floppy controller to fail, but i would regard this as rare.

 

[felix]

The first thing I would do is eliminate a raft of possible problems by not letting Windows start up. First, check your BIOS setup and make sure that the floppy drive is recognized correctly and enabled. Then check the boot sequence and put the floppy at the top of the list.

Now do a cold boot with a bootable floppy in the drive. If all is well the PC will boot from the disk but now your problems really start. You have a fully functional disk drive but Windows wants to format everything you put in it. That could mean virus trouble.

 

[nstreet]

I can't believe there are people still using these things.

For the price of a box of floopy disks (10) you can get a 32MB usb memory key, thats 20 or so floppy disks worth of storage.

You could buy around 50 CDR's thats looaaads of disks worth. Why do we still stick to this ancient and mostly unreliable media, that stores next to nothing

 

[GRC]

I can't believe there are people still using these things.

For the price of a box of floopy disks (10) you can get a 32MB usb memory key, thats 20 or so floppy disks worth of storage.

You could buy around 50 CDR's thats looaaads of disks worth. Why do we still stick to this ancient and mostly unreliable media, that stores next to nothing

GRC - Here's a hypothetical - the person having the problem is trying to get their data (which was stored on floppy years ago) transferred over to a newer format, and is unable to read their discs...... and the data isn't stored anywhere else.

Regards, Graham

 

[2scoops0406]

Your floppy disc drive is knackered. Yes people still do use them, my trusty version of MASM 6.11 comes on floppy disc.