Troubleshoot Floppy Disk Drive Problems in Windows

This post lists troubleshooting tips you can use to help resolve problems with floppy disk drives in Windows.This provide step by step Windows XP support to troubleshoot this issue.

Start Windows in Safe mode and try to access the floppy disk drive. To start Windows 95 in Safe mode, restart your computer, press the F8 key when you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, and then choose Safe Mode from the Startup menu. To start Windows 98 in Safe mode, restart your computer, press and hold down the CTRL key after your computer completes the Power On Self Test (POST), and then choose Safe Mode from the Startup menu.

If you can access the floppy disk drive, follow these steps:

1. Use the right mouse button to click My Computer, then click Properties on the menu that appears.
2. Click the Device Manager tab.
3. Double-click Floppy Disk Controllers.
4. Click the floppy disk controller for the drive you are having problems with, then click Properties.
5. In Windows 95, click the Original Configuration (Current) check box to clear it. In Windows 98, click the Disable In This Hardware Profile check box to select it. This disables the Windows protected-mode driver for the floppy disk drive controller.
6. Click OK.
7. Restart Windows normally.

If you can access the floppy disk drive successfully after following the above steps, the following conditions may be true:

The floppy disk drive controller may not be supported in protected mode.
There are drivers loading in the Config.sys or AUTOEXEC.BAT file that may be necessary for protected-mode access.
There are drivers loading in the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file that may be causing conflicts in Windows and need to be disabled.

If you still cannot access the floppy disk drive after following steps 1-7, follow these steps:

1. Use the right mouse button to click My Computer, then click Properties on the menu that appears.
2. Click the Device Manager tab.
3. Double-click Floppy Disk Controllers.
4. Click the floppy disk controller, and then click Remove to remove the controller.
5. Click OK.
6. In Control Panel, double-click Add New Hardware.
7. Click Next, and then click Yes to allow Windows to detect the hardware in your computer.
8. When the Add New Hardware Wizard is finished, restart the computer and try to access the floppy disk drive again.

Redetecting the floppy disk controller should resolve any addressing problems with the controller by detecting the correct address range. If the floppy disk controller is not detected correctly, there may be a problem with the floppy disk controller. If the floppy disk controller is redetected but you still cannot access the floppy disk drive, there may be a problem with the floppy disk.