Floppy Drive not working after W2K reload

[hammer02]

After rebuilding my W2K machine the A: drive doesn't seem to be working. I used it to re-build the machine but now it won't read any of the floppies that I have.

When I try to read one it says the floppy needs to be re-formatted. When I try to format the floppy (in DOS window) the message reads:

The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT.
Formatting 1.44M
0 percent completed.

When I try to format the disk via explorer I get the message:

WIndows was unable to complete the format.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
MH

 

[Jump1ng]

It sounds like your floppy drive is broken.

I would replace with a diffrent drive see if the problem goes away. You might also want to change the cable.

If you don't have any spare floppy drive you could try to clean the old one as it might just be dirt in the drive stopping it from working properly but I have found that its usually better to replace the drive when this has happend and they aren't that expensive these days to get a new one if you dont have another old one.

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Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

 

[Auger282]

I'd unplug everything and reattach the cable to the mobo and floppy. Make sure all the pins are where they should be and the cable is not crap.

Make sure you are putting the cable on the correct way (if not try the other way).

 

[hammer02]

The weird thing about this is that I can boot my machine just fine from the floppy drive. It's just when Windows gets loaded that it does not want to work correctly.

Again, I just re-built my machine (started with a W98 BootDisk) so I'm not sure what I must have done wrong.

Any further ideas?

 

[thefourthwall]

Did you try a different floppy drive/cable?

 

[bcastner]

Win2k and XP require a media descriptor byte during format, and it is likely missing:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;140060

If you have a sector editor you can modify the byte and make the floppy readable.

You can use the sort of unfriendly DiskProbe, which is part of the Support Tools supplied with Windows 2000 Professional. You can install the tools by running Setup.exe from the SUPPORT\TOOLS folder of your Win2K Pro distribution CD-ROM. Follow the on-screen directions to install the tools on your hard disk.

This freeware may help: ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk 0.2

http://shareware.pcmag.com/product.download.php?id=64720&url=ARFD02.zip&itn=1

Discussion:

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