Floppy Drive Recognition Problem

Symptom:
Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded yellow
exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.

What I've done:
Booted successfully from the drive.
Taken the drive out and tested it in another system - all ok.
Deleted the drive and the floppy disk controller (from within device mgr)
Disconnected the drive
(Multiple reboots in between all these steps)
Reconnected the drive
Windows finds the device, then marks it inoperable.

Acquired an external usb floppy drive
Connected it and installed its drivers.
It too gets the yellow kiss of death.
If I put a diskette into the USB drive and reboot, the system reboots from
the usb floppy.

The built in troubleshooter gives up after being told that everything is
physcially connected ok.

Searches in assorted knowledge bases etc. have turned up nothing (one person
said they solved a similar problem after installing SP2 by going to each
controller and device and telling it to update drivers. I tried that, too.)

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!

- Character

Character

"Character" <> wrote in message
news:AwbMe.19738$.. .
> Symptom:
> Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded
yellow
> exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
>
<Snip>
Have you checked BIOS settings?

Neil

Neil wrote:

> "Character" <> wrote in message
> news:AwbMe.19738$.. .
>
>>Symptom:
>>Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded
>
> yellow
>
>>exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
>>
>
> <Snip>
> Have you checked BIOS settings?
>

Thanks for your reply.

No, I haven't - Is there anything in particular I should look for there? The
BIOS shouldn't have changed between when the floppy was working and when it
stopped ... And the hardware recognizes the drives just fine.

- Character

Character

"Character" <> wrote in message
news:RKbMe.79466$. ..
> Neil wrote:
>
> > "Character" <> wrote in message
> > news:AwbMe.19738$.. .
> >
> >>Symptom:
> >>Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded
> >
> > yellow
> >
> >>exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
> >>
> >
> > <Snip>
> > Have you checked BIOS settings?
> >
>
> Thanks for your reply.
>
> No, I haven't - Is there anything in particular I should look for there?
The
> BIOS shouldn't have changed between when the floppy was working and when
it
> stopped ... And the hardware recognizes the drives just fine.
>
> - Character
Depending on your BIOS, is it listed e.g. Floppy Drive A: 1.44MB 3.5 or
Enabled or similar

Neil

Have you tried to Restore windows XP to an earlier time?

"Character" <> wrote in message
news:AwbMe.19738$.. .
> Symptom:
> Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded
> yellow exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
>
> What I've done:
> Booted successfully from the drive.
> Taken the drive out and tested it in another system - all ok.
> Deleted the drive and the floppy disk controller (from within device
> mgr)
> Disconnected the drive
> (Multiple reboots in between all these steps)
> Reconnected the drive
> Windows finds the device, then marks it inoperable.
>
> Acquired an external usb floppy drive
> Connected it and installed its drivers.
> It too gets the yellow kiss of death.
> If I put a diskette into the USB drive and reboot, the system reboots
> from the usb floppy.
>
> The built in troubleshooter gives up after being told that everything is
> physcially connected ok.
>
> Searches in assorted knowledge bases etc. have turned up nothing (one
> person said they solved a similar problem after installing SP2 by going to
> each controller and device and telling it to update drivers. I tried
> that, too.)
>
> Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!
>
> - Character

Just Me

Just Me wrote:
> Have you tried to Restore windows XP to an earlier time?

Good thought. Thank you. Yes, but a long time had elapsed between when it worked
and the next time I tried the floppy. Really don't want to go back very far -
afraid I'll lose too many necessary changes.



> "Character" <> wrote in message
> news:AwbMe.19738$.. .
>
>>Symptom:
>>Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded
>>yellow exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
>>
>>What I've done:
>> Booted successfully from the drive.
>> Taken the drive out and tested it in another system - all ok.
>> Deleted the drive and the floppy disk controller (from within device
>>mgr)
>> Disconnected the drive
>> (Multiple reboots in between all these steps)
>> Reconnected the drive
>> Windows finds the device, then marks it inoperable.
>>
>> Acquired an external usb floppy drive
>> Connected it and installed its drivers.
>> It too gets the yellow kiss of death.
>> If I put a diskette into the USB drive and reboot, the system reboots
>>from the usb floppy.
>>
>> The built in troubleshooter gives up after being told that everything is
>>physcially connected ok.
>>
>> Searches in assorted knowledge bases etc. have turned up nothing (one
>>person said they solved a similar problem after installing SP2 by going to
>>each controller and device and telling it to update drivers. I tried
>>that, too.)
>>
>>Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!
>>
>> - Character
>
>
>

Character

Neil wrote:

> "Character" <> wrote in message
> news:RKbMe.79466$. ..
>
>>Neil wrote:
>>
>>
>>>"Character" <> wrote in message
>>>news:AwbMe.19738$ m...
>>>
>>>
>>>>Symptom:
>>>>Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded
>>>
>>>yellow
>>>
>>>
>>>>exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
>>>>
>>>
>>><Snip>
>>>Have you checked BIOS settings?
>>>
>>
>>Thanks for your reply.
>>
>>No, I haven't - Is there anything in particular I should look for there?
>
> The
>
>>BIOS shouldn't have changed between when the floppy was working and when
>
> it
>
>>stopped ... And the hardware recognizes the drives just fine.
>>
>> - Character
>
> Depending on your BIOS, is it listed e.g. Floppy Drive A: 1.44MB 3.5 or
> Enabled or similar
>
>
OK - I'll check when I reboot later this evening.

Character

Neil wrote:
> "Character" <> wrote in message
> news:RKbMe.79466$. ..
>
>>Neil wrote:
>>
>>
>>>"Character" <> wrote in message
>>>news:AwbMe.19738$ m...
>>>
>>>
>>>>Symptom:
>>>>Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded
>>>
>>>yellow
>>>
>>>
>>>>exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
>>>>
>>>
>>><Snip>
>>>Have you checked BIOS settings?
>>>
>>
>>Thanks for your reply.
>>
>>No, I haven't - Is there anything in particular I should look for there?
>
> The
>
>>BIOS shouldn't have changed between when the floppy was working and when
>
> it
>
>>stopped ... And the hardware recognizes the drives just fine.
>>
>> - Character
>
> Depending on your BIOS, is it listed e.g. Floppy Drive A: 1.44MB 3.5 or
> Enabled or similar
>

Both the original floppy drive and the usb drive are shown. This particular bios
display doesn't seem to offer any disable/enable option. Both drives are
listed as able to be booted from, and the original is in the boot sequence. 1)
DVD 2) Floppy 3) Primary hard disk.

Character

What about the power supply to the floppy? You probably have a spare one,
try connecting that. It must just be something silly!

--
Richard Woollacott
Please look at http://www.sri-lanka.org.uk

"Character" <> wrote in message
news:%5cMe.68100$. ..
> Just Me wrote:
>> Have you tried to Restore windows XP to an earlier time?
>
> Good thought. Thank you. Yes, but a long time had elapsed between when it
> worked and the next time I tried the floppy. Really don't want to go back
> very far - afraid I'll lose too many necessary changes.
>
>
>
>> "Character" <> wrote in message
>> news:AwbMe.19738$.. .
>>
>>>Symptom:
>>>Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded
>>>yellow exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
>>>
>>>What I've done:
>>> Booted successfully from the drive.
>>> Taken the drive out and tested it in another system - all ok.
>>> Deleted the drive and the floppy disk controller (from within device
>>> mgr)
>>> Disconnected the drive
>>> (Multiple reboots in between all these steps)
>>> Reconnected the drive
>>> Windows finds the device, then marks it inoperable.
>>>
>>> Acquired an external usb floppy drive
>>> Connected it and installed its drivers.
>>> It too gets the yellow kiss of death.
>>> If I put a diskette into the USB drive and reboot, the system reboots
>>> from the usb floppy.
>>>
>>> The built in troubleshooter gives up after being told that everything
>>> is physcially connected ok.
>>>
>>> Searches in assorted knowledge bases etc. have turned up nothing (one
>>> person said they solved a similar problem after installing SP2 by going
>>> to each controller and device and telling it to update drivers. I tried
>>> that, too.)
>>>
>>>Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!
>>>
>>> - Character
>>
>>

Richard

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 01:42:57 GMT, Character
<> wrote:

>Symptom:
>Under Windows XP Pro - SP1, my floppy drive has acquired the dreaded yellow
>exclamation mark in device manager, and can't be used.
>
>What I've done:
> Booted successfully from the drive.
> Taken the drive out and tested it in another system - all ok.
> Deleted the drive and the floppy disk controller (from within device mgr)
> Disconnected the drive
> (Multiple reboots in between all these steps)
> Reconnected the drive
> Windows finds the device, then marks it inoperable.
>
> Acquired an external usb floppy drive
> Connected it and installed its drivers.
> It too gets the yellow kiss of death.
> If I put a diskette into the USB drive and reboot, the system reboots from
>the usb floppy.
>
> The built in troubleshooter gives up after being told that everything is
>physcially connected ok.
>
> Searches in assorted knowledge bases etc. have turned up nothing (one person
>said they solved a similar problem after installing SP2 by going to each
>controller and device and telling it to update drivers. I tried that, too.)
>
>Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!
>
> - Character


I had a similar problem in XP. After much experimenting and
several new and different brand drives, I found that if I
disabled the floppy seek or check on boot in the BIOS, XP
had no problems with whatever drive is installed. They all
worked after having failed with the floppy seek on boot
enabled.

Good luck
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