Floppy disk, Restore, driver updates oh my !

[lmorgan]

It seems this is the week I get to learn much more about my system than I ever wanted to.

I've got several issues happening with my system (HP Pavilion 6835/WindowsME).

It seems my floppy disk isn't reading any diskettes. I've restored the BIOS settings to default, checked for possible device conflicts by removing the device controller and re-booting to let it reload again, but to no avail. I tried to make (another) start-up disk and got a message saying: "Setup cannot initialize the disk you inserted. Error: disk sector was not found. Click Ok to continue". I think next I need to check cable connections between floppy and motherboard, BUT, I've never seen the inside of a tower, and I'm a little intimated by it, and am nervous about screwing up my system. Anyone have any "for dummies" instructions on how to identify what I'm looking for, and in the event I'll need to replace the floppy whether the process is fairly simple to do myself (and how ?)

Next, I noticed my BIOS needs updated (maybe the reason for my other systems problems?) but the instructions say to save the download to a diskette. Because of my problem above, that's not possible - can this be done using a CD-RW, or CD-R ?

System Restore - I've noted several posts indicating that the system restore feature doesn't work after some time in August, 2001. Yet, up until a couple of months ago, mine always worked great. All of a sudden, it doesn't work at all. Its not that I get the 'system restore didn't happen' error message. Its that I start the System Restore, and let it run (and run and run - one time, I set it before I went to bed), and it never did anything so I had to re-boot just to get it to stop - then I got the message that it couldn't restore. I understand there's an update out there that needs to be downloaded, but the downside of that (as I understand it) is that all previous restore points are deleted. My concern is that something seems to have happened to my system recently, and I'd hate to start a square one with a problem. Any thoughts on that ?

And finally - I updated my keyboard drivers the other day and everything went well until I re-booted. Now, each time I power up, I get this message: "c:\programfiles\netropa\one-touch multimedia keyboard\mmkeybd.db does not exist". I click on the ok button and my keyboard works fine, but how do I stop this message from appearing at each start-up (and why does it say that anyway???)

Thanks for staying with me throughout this lengthy post! Hopefully someone will have some ideas to help me out ? I'd appreciate it very much !

Have a great day all
Lisa

 

[wolluf]

Have you a win98 or ME boot floppy you could try to boot the machine with? (and does the floppy drive actually light up and try to read the disk when you insert one)? If you haven't, could you get someone to create one for you on another machine? (trying to ascertain if the floppy drive is totally defunct, partially working or if perhaps its a duff floppy disk). If it won't read any floppy from boot up, you will need to open the case. The floppy drive should be connected to the motherboard by a wide grey cable with several black connectors along its length. It should also have a power connector. As it was working, if these connections are still ok, you will need to buy a new floppy drive and replace broken one (they are cheap). Just make a note of how current one is connected.

What makes you think you need a bios upgrade? (The only time you do normally is if you are upgrading some hardware or software and there is an bios upgrade which supports your new hardware/software. Eg, Hard drive > 32GB - many boards originally had that limitation but have upgrades available to fix it). If you've not changed your machine, you don't need an upgrade.

I don't know why your System Restore stopped working - unless its another symptom of your machine's problems (what happened a couple of months ago when it stopped working - any hardware/software changes/crashes etc).

Do you have anti-virus software? Worth doing a full scan.

Have you tried reinstalling those keyboard drivers? You could try something like

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

to remove that startup entry.

Finally - you may need to backup and do a clean reinstall of ME (and your software) or if machine has a restore to factory condition disk, use that after backup. ME (like 95/98) can get clogged up and become unusable over time. Only sensible approach then is a clean start.

HTH

 

[lmorgan]

HTH - My thanks for taking the time to read through all of my post and responding. I do have a start-up disk that I made when I first got my system. I only attempted to create another start-up disk just to see if a diskette (any diskette!) would work in my A: drive. The light does come on when the diskette is inserted, and it makes the sound like its trying to read the disk, but then I get the error message. I've tried with several diskettes (brand new), and the same is true. Guess I'll have to suck it in and open up the case and see what's happening there.

The reason I thought I needed to update my BIOS was because on the HP drivers/support site, it said there was a BIOS update (dated earlier this year) that could be downloaded. The only hardware that's been installed (is it considered hardware?) is that when I recently went to a cable modem, and the tech had to install something I think is called an ethernet card on the back of my machine.

Thanks for the suggestion of doing a full virus scan. McAfee didn't pick up anything, but I thought I'd go to Plan B, and ran a scan using Trend Micro Housecall, and they found something with the alias: backdoor.ruledor.c (virus name: adw.ruledor.c) in this path: c:\\windows\system\clrschp014.exe. It seems to be an adware thing, and I'm looking for information now to figure out what I need to do to get that off my system. I'm sure not this is affecting my system's performance, but it might!

I haven't reinstalled the keyboard drivers, but I'll give that a shot. Thanks for the link to remove the startup entry!

I do have full system recovery CD's that came with my system, so if all else fails, I'll backup my system and restore-ugh!

Great advice, and I really do appreciate your time! Have a great one
Lisa

 

[Arin]

I really do think that the floppy drive itself is bad. It doesn't sound like the read/write heads are moving, which would explain why sectors can't be found.

To replace a floppy from the inside is fairly easy. Just remember which cables you unplug, and put them back in the new floppy exactly where you removed them from the old. There are only two cables - the power cable, which will only go in one way anyway, and the data cable, which can sometimes be put in the wrong way but if it's in wrong the floppy's green light will stay lit indefinitely, letting you know it's in wrong.

Hope that helps.

Jerry

 

[edfair]

Just for kicks before you buy the new floppy, try reseating the connectors on both ends. Unplug and reseat. Sometimes you'll have some corrosion develop that will stop a signal from getting through.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.