Member Avatar for beard24

Hi, ive been trying to copy a diagnostics file onto a floppy drive to analyse a problematic HDD. Once the program is on the disk I need to reboot the machine and it will perform diagnostics on the HDD.

The problem is when I insert the floppy disk and try to put stuff on it, the system tells me there is no disk in the drive. The little green LED that shows the drive is in use is on permenantly which makes me suspect something is wrong, but the system tells me the drive is there, functioning correctly. I tried deleting/uninstalling the drivers for the floppy drive+controller and renstalling them but the same problem still occurs.

Anyone??

Cheers

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by bondi007

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Symptoms here line up: reports the activity LED stays on while Windows says “no disk,” and reinstalling drivers didn’t help; adds that formatting a floppy causes freezes/BSOD on another machine; flagged the write‑protect idea. Below are focused, practical checks and what each result means — run them in order and stop when a clear fault appears.

Quick diagnostic checklist:

  • Power down and unplug the PC before touching internal cables. With power removed, confirm the drive’s 34‑pin ribbon and small power lead are seated correctly and the ribbon’s red stripe aligns to pin‑1.
  • Try three different, known‑good 1.44MB HD floppies (new if possible). If those work in another PC but not here, the drive or cable is at fault.
  • Test the same disk in a second computer or a cheap USB floppy drive. If the disk is readable elsewhere, the original internal drive is failing.
  • Enter BIOS/UEFI on boot: confirm the floppy controller is enabled and the drive type is set to 3.5" 1.44MB or Auto. If BIOS doesn’t see the drive, stop — it’s a hardware problem.
  • With the machine off, disconnect the drive’s power; power on briefly (no drive connected) and then power off again. Reconnect power and boot. If the LED is permanently lit regardless of power state, the drive electronics are likely faulty.
  • If disks cause system crashes on multiple machines, avoid further writes — that behaviour points to failing drive electronics or controller conflicts. Try reading the floppy on another system only.
  • If the drive is intermittently responsive, a head cleaning or replacement is possible, but replacement is often cheaper and more reliable.

Practical next steps: use an external USB floppy or create the diagnostic media on another PC if you need to get the HDD test running quickly. For a permanent fix, replace the 3.5" drive or the ribbon/cable; if BIOS doesn’t detect the device, replace the drive first.

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Member Avatar for dcc

Is the floppy formatted? On the rear of the disc in the bottom right hand corner there is a small square that will protect if from being written over, try sliding it into the other direction.

Member Avatar for bondi007

This happened to me every time i put a floppy in the drive new or used the computer freezes and wont let me write to the floppy i tried moving the little tag at the bottom of the floppy it doest work ether i try formatting a floppy in windows (it crashes) i try formatting it in command prompt i get the blue screen of death

i hope someone can help me to :-|
cheers

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