A:\ not working

[bluedos82]

Wow, been a while since I posted here.
Anywho, I have an A drive that refuses to work.
The error message that I get is this:

Disk I/O Error
Replace the Disk, and then press any Key

I know that is associated with having a disk in the drive, but when I went to check the drive to see if there was one, it was empty.
I checked to see if a metal tab was stuck in there, nothing.
I have changed out the drive with another drive and get the same results. My gut says that it has something to do with the computer, and not the drive.

Any ideas as to what is the problem?

[Dani]

It may be a bad FDC (floppy disk controller) on your motherboard.

[bluedos82]

What can I do about it?

[Dani]

First thing is to test out and see if it is really the FDC on the motherboard. If the floppy drive works in another computer but not in yours, it probably is. The problem is an actual chip on the motherboard. A USB floppy drive will work because it doesn't use the motherboard's built-in FDC. Otherwise, I think you might be able to get a PCI-card with an FDC on it. Or call up your motherboard manufacturer as a last resort.

[viperman224]

You can try going into your bios and shuting off or disabling the floppy. I'm not sure if would work but you can give it a try. I believe my Asus P2B-F motherboard allows me to. Also try changing your floppy cable.

[bluedos82]

Ok... I have changed the cable, tried disabling the Drive and still I get the same error. What now? Not trying to challenge those who have more knowlege than me, just simply asking.
I just have a teacher kinda riding my back about this computer because she wants her information and have a working A drive.

[Catweazle]

Is that Windows XP you have? Are both the floppy drives you've mentioned older ones?

I've found Windows XP to be problemmatic with older floppy drives. Tear your hair out in frustration trying to get one to work, but if you pop a new one in the machine it works fine!

Don't forget that you can disable the drive in the BIOS as well. Check to make sure the floppy is enabled there...

It is important also to verify that the floppy itself is working...you need to take it to another computer and hook it up to verify that it can actually work otherwise you're just banging your head against the wall for no reason. If it verifies good, I'd say it is your motherboard's floppy controller that is bad...and to replace those, you replace the motherboard unless you have mad soldering skills and do circuit card engineering on a daily basis.