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."

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