I/O Disk Error When Accessing Floppy Drive

[snowboardingchick]

I have a Dell 866Mhz/133 GX110 Optiplex. I replaced the hard drive using a 98 ESD. I instlled 98 then installed Windows XP, then installed SP 1. The A:\ drive was working obviously when I formatted the new drive. Now, however, I cannot access the A drive. I receive an error message that says the request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.

The two things that I have tried are:

1) Looked up the error on MS knowledge base and it said that the problem may occur when Windows dynamically changes the computer processor power state to a deeper idle state (from the C2 state to the C3 state). It then linked to an article on changing the state from C2 to C3. Basically it said to change two lines in the PowerPolicies areas of the registry. One line beginning with 0030 and the other beginning with 0078.

I went to the registry and changed the 0030 line but there was no line beginning with 0078. I rebooted but this did not fix the problem.

2) I used the Dell Diagnostics CD that came with the PC. It of course failed the drive seek test. The message at the bottom was, "A system disk BIOS operation failed with the error code of 02h".

Does anyone have any idea what I need to do to get this problem resolved? Thanks much for any assistance you can provide.

 

[Accessdabbler]

Floppy drives are not the most reliable computer devices. Check the connections to the floppy drive and make sure the cable is plugged into the mobo properly.

If this doesn't work, try another disk drive.

 

[snowboardingchick]

I have checked all connections to the drive and everything seems to have a good tight connection.

 

[bcastner]

I assume you mean this advice:

1. Use the Registry Editor to navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls Folders\PowerCfg\ProcessorPolicies\0.

2. Double-click the Policies Value Name to open the Edit Binary Value dialog.

3. Change the first four bytes at 0030 from A0 86 01 00 to 20 A1 07 00, so that the line is displayed as 20 A1 07 00 28 3C 00 00.

4. Change the last four bytes at 0078 from A0 86 01 00 to 20 A1 07 00, so that the line is displayed as A0 86 01 00 20 A1 07 00.

5. Repeat steps 2 - 4 for the following keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls Folders\PowerCfg\ProcessorPolicies\1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls Folders\PowerCfg\ProcessorPolicies\2
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls Folders\PowerCfg\ProcessorPolicies\3
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls Folders\PowerCfg\ProcessorPolicies\4
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls Folders\PowerCfg\ProcessorPolicies\5.

NOTE: If your processor supports performance control and C-states, these settings apply to all power schemes.

NOTE: A0 86 01 00 and 20 A1 07 00 are stored in reverse order and are really 0x0186a0 (100,000 microseconds) and 0x07a120 (500,000 microseconds) respectively.

NOTE: See

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/power/base/processor_power_policy_str.asp

Your machine may well not use this power scheme, so changing values if it does not exactly match this scenario is ill-advised.

1. Have you checked for a BIOS update?
2. Have you checked for an Intel chipset update?
3. Is the chipset driver installed for your SMBUS controller?

 

[snowboardingchick]

Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Here is an example of what I find when I open up the Policies under .../ProcessorPolicies/1:

Value Data:
0000 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 ........
0008 03 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 ........
0010 03 00 00 00 60 09 00 00 ........
0018 58 02 00 00 60 09 00 00 x.......
0020 58 02 00 00 32 32 00 00 x...22..
0028 02 00 00 00 04 00 00 C0 .......A
0030 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 ........
0038 04 00 00 C0 00 00 00 00 ...A....
040

Those are the only rows of value that comes up for all 6 ProcessorPolocies. Nothing beyond that. Some of the values in each row are different but all of the beginning 4 digit numbers are the same.

 

[bcastner]

Then the power state issue does not explain your problem.

(btw, change your values back to what they were).

I would:

. Update the BIOS if you are able;
. Set a restore point. Go to the Intel Site and download their newest chipset drivers. Install. Reboot. Test again. As I mentioned above I am not sure you are receiving all the appropriate chipset level device drivers from a base XP installation.
. Test a second floppy drive. Test a second floppy cable.

The C2/C3 states imply a more sophisticated APCI capability than I believe your machine and BIOS are designed to handle. I also do not think until the PIII-M that the stepping levels implied are available in your processor.

 

[snowboardingchick]

Ok. I will try what you have suggested. The PC is located in another office out of state. I will be heading up there this afternoon and take another floppy drive along. Thank you for your help. Hopefully I will have success message to post on this soon. Again, thanks much!

 

[bcastner]

And check that BIOS version. Happy Thanksgiving and good luck.

 

[snowboardingchick]

Ok. I have good news. Let me first tell you what I tried. I changed the values back (thanks for the reminder). I set a restore point. Then downloaded the Intel chip set and installed. This did not work.

Ok. So I was anxious to get out of here and start my holiday weekend so I took the easy way out and phoned Dell.

The Techie took me to "setup (F2 at start)" then had me do two things...Alt + F...then...Alt + E. Save changes and reboot. It worked! He said that resets it to the factory default settings. So, I wrote it down and will file it under my "Fixes" tab.

Thanks again for your help and you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

 

[bcastner]

Excellent news.