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Floppy Disk Drive problem

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thewaycm

thewaycm

Technical User
Aug 23, 2004
24
GB
When clicking on floppy icon in My Computer the PC freezes or crashes. If I get past this (with the floppy disk inserted) a window opens which reads, drive error/system not ready. Retry/cancel. Please help!

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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Bad cable - bad drive - cable on backwards - power plug bad. Did it ever work or has it just started?
 
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micker377,
Thanks for your advice. It could be any of these things that you have mentioned.
I don't think that I've used the floppy drive since I was last inside the CPU, maybe I've loosened something, I'll check.
Recently I have been experiencing some general running problems. I assumed that the floppy drive was part of this.
My OS is 98SE I have more then 600 MB of RAM and more than 18GB of hard drive space.
Peter

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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faq615-2438
Too much ram in Win 9X can cause problems.
is that 18GB of free HDD space?
Have you defragged recently
Virus Checked
Spyware Checked?
All these contribute to a system slowdown, perhaps its worth saving your data onto disks and plunging into the world of a new install.
 
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Dear wantstolearncfm,
I have reduced the Ram to 512 MB this afternoon
Yes it's 17GB HDD.
I have a problem defragging, it loops and goes nowhere. I can defrag on safe mode.
Virus checker up to date.
Spyware up to date.
Please explain.... [blue]perhaps its worth saving your data onto disks and plunging into the world of a new install.[/blue]
Peter

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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Dear micker377,
I've reduced the RAM to 512MB.
I noticed that the ribbon with the serial plug into the back of the floppy drive has some slight tears in it. Does this matter..would a new ribbon help?
Peter

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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Get some cheap blank cds, i hope you have some form of burner.
And save the bits that you want to keep, then use your windows 98 cd to do a reformat, which provides you with a fresh install.
You can then start from scratch installing apps you want etc..
Tears in cables are not good!
Replace the cable for what it will cost you perhaps $5
That will only fix one of your issues if you are experinceing windows errors BSODS etc.. a reformat is well worthwhile.
 
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Dear wantstolearncfm,
Can you please explain this in a bit more detail...
[blue]And save the bits that you want to keep, then use your windows 98 cd to do a reformat, which provides you with a fresh install.[/blue]
Peter

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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Are the "tears" nice and neat with part of the ribbon twisted? If so, this is just to seperate the "A" drive from the "B" drive. When you turn on the computer, does the floppy light stay on?
 
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I forgot, when you go into the bios, does the floppy show up?
 
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Dear micker377,
The ribbon tears are as you say. The floppy light does NOT stay on, how do I go into 'bios'?
Peter

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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thewaycm

Ok...every once in a while most of us Windows users find it necessary to start over.

"And save the bits that you want to keep, then use your windows 98 cd to do a reformat, which provides you with a fresh install."

By this he means erasing the hard drive and reinstalling Win98SE. Basically putting it in the same condition it was in when you first received it. This is the only way to guarantee that Spyware/Virus' are no longer present.

Is your PC manufactured by Compaq/Dell/HP or something of the like or have you or a friend built it? I ask because the method of reinstalling the OS will be different.

Spyware is a real PC killer nowdays and unfortunately even though your Spyware is up to date you may not have caught everything.

Before you start you might be interested in saving data that is important to you such as e-mail, my documents folder, etc. The most common way today is to place this data onto a CD-Rom, and to do this you need a cd-rom "burner", some blank Cd's, and burning software.

You have a hardware problem but one thing I tell some people is that since it's conceivable that software is capable of controlling any apsect of hardware then it's sometimes best to completely rule out software as a possible problem by completing a fresh install of the OS. Then test your floppy drive once again. Personally, I have repaired many weird non-functioning CD-Rom problems this way.

We may have other suggestions for you but since your system has "general running problems" as well, this is what I would do.

Win98SE can only cache up to 128MB, and anything over 256MB will actually slow your system down.


Drew
 
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Dear Drew888,
Thank you for your clear and concise explanation and instructions.
MY PC WAS BUILT BY A FRIEND.
If am going to (re)install my OS, would you suggest that I change it for a better operating system? What would you suggest and why?
If I go with 98SE then I should go back to having 128MB of RAM, would another OS be happier with more RAM?
I have the software necessary to burn CDs.
Thank you for your help and, indeed, thank you to all who are part of this discussion thread,
Peter

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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Right im slightly annoyed ive already written this response and my session here timed out! ARRRGH
Anyway no ones fault (stupid TT session management!;-)!)

If you plan a reformat follow faq615-5157
Go to the Windows 98 Forum and start a thread there on reformatting if you need more detailed help forum615

Before a reformat or install of a new OS you will need to get you motherboard chipset drivers and your graphics and peripheral item drivers. To do this use aida32 to find out what your things are often there will be a link for drivers otherwise make a note of model numbers and google the thing followed by driver.

AIDA 32
Windows XP will take advantage of your RAM much better however it is more processor intensive so make sure you are happy with the slight slowdown that MAY occour!.
Post your specs on here and we will be able to advise better.
Windows XP is a good OS, i personally use it but i find 98 works 10X better on old systems, Xp kills them.
If you are happy with 98 stay with it otherwise go for XP, theres not the biggest difference in the world.
Apologies for not elaborating enough in my previous response, i see that drew888 has got you clear on that front now.

Regards,
WTLCFM
 
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Dear wantstolearncfm,
Thank you for your detailed reply. It all seems daunting to a novice like me...however, I do want to give it a go....
This link isn't working. Is there another on?
Once there, how do I retieve the information that I require?
Peter

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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It sounds like just a bad drive or connecting to it. Save yourself some stress... A new drive is about $9 in a cheap computer store. I Would try that before spending all the time backingup and reinstalling. I have seen this many times and most times its just a connection or bad floppy drive,

Techs In A Sec
 
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Agreed Wahlen is very right in his assumption that it could be the drive however if you are
thewaycm said:
Recently I have been experiencing some general running problems.
Click to expand...
I feel it is often worth a reformat to eliminate a software issue
drew888 said:
it's conceivable that software is capable of controlling any apsect of hardware
Click to expand...
SO a fresh install will be a good idea ALONG with a new drive and a new Floppy disk cable from the motherboard to the drive (fitted correctly) floppys are notoriously hard to fit Power to.
Also without windows XP you are wasting your RAM 600MB would make your computer much faster than you currently have, because it would actually be working properly
drew888 said:
Win98SE can only cache up to 128MB, and anything over 256MB will actually slow your system down.
Click to expand...
So go for a new drive and windows xp and a reinstall (reformat). This should increase system performance etc..
Regards
 
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Dear Drew (Drew888),
I want to put Windows 98SE onto my laptop (Compaq Presario 1246). Currently the OS is Windows ME.
Once the CD for 98 SE is inserted a window opens to tell me that since the current OS is newer than the one that I want to install is has disabled 'setup'. What do I do?
Once I have successfully installed 98SE will I need a seperate disc for Windows Office 2000? Is there an internet site where I can freely download this software?
Thank you,
Peter

The Way Christian Ministries, Scotland
 
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