Greetings Jean-- ----- Original Message ----- From: JMB <[log in to unmask]> > But now, whenever he starts up > his laptop, when the icons start appearing on the desktop, the floppy > drive starts up and will either run for about 2 minutes or until he > sticks in a blank floppy. > > I had him search: Autoexec.bat, Config.sys, and look in his Startup > folder for anything pointing to the A: drive, but he couldn't find > anything (this was done over the phone from K.C. to Tulsa). > > Any ideas as to where else I might need to have him look? Any > shortcuts? > In addition to the suggestions from the other posters: 1. open win.ini in wordpad (or any text editor) and examine the [windows] section of c:\windows\win.ini (assuming this is the correct path for the file on your machine) for anything on the load= or run= line which may reference the a: drive; 2. Check the settings of any anti-virus software you may have installed for 'check floppy on bootup' or some such parameter; 3. After backing up the registry (I'm assuming you know how to do this), go to the registry key HK_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/R un and see if any program listed in the right-hand pane is one which may access the a: drive. If there is a reference there to a program which will use the a: drive (and it is one you don't want running every time you start up), export the key to a 'safe' location on your hard disk (where you can find it to re-import it if you need to), then delete the value in question. This is a drastic step, so be very sure you don't need anything you delete for other programs to run properly. Good luck and HTH, Paul A. Shippert Library/Media Specialist Margaret Brent Middle School "It seems like those of us who stand up for what's right just make bigger targets." PCBUILD maintains many useful files for download on our web site - visit our download page at: http://nospin.com/pc/files.html