On 15 Mar 2002, at 7:48, Meck & Pat wrote:

> When I "opened" the disk, there were the files listed, the same
> files that were on disk 1!
>
> After further investigation, I realized it was the floppy Drive.
>
> Before I open the case and replace the drive, has anyone had this
> type of problem after installing XP?

  The floppy drive contains a simple sensor that detects when the
disk has been removed and replaced, and alerts the CPU so the OS can
track this properly.

  This can fail (producing the "stale drive contents disply" symptom)
in three basic ways:

1.  The OS could ignore the signal.  I'm not aware of any such bug in
XP, but I guess it's possible.

2.  The sensor could become dirty or broken.  I've never actually had
this happen, but it's a possibility.

3.  The wire within the floppy drive riggon cable to the motherboard,
which carries this signal, could get cut/broken.  This is actually
surprisingly easy, because this particular wire is along one edge of
the cable, which sometimes may be tightly stretched around an exposed
sharp edge in the case.  It's also possible that if the cable
connector were coming loose from the drive, there's a chance this
could be the first wire to completely lose electrical contact.

  I think it's somewhat more likely to be a problem with the cable
than with the drive or the OS.

David Gillett

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