Floppy tells me every disk needs to be formatted

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Any ideas? Is it just dying or anything I can try to fix it?

 

[Ricemarine]

floppy pin = problem.

 

[Jeff7]

Either that, or else it's dirty.
Floppy Drive Cleaners

 

[tkistre]

If you are using WinXP, I think that could be it. I can't explain why, except that ever since I went to WinXP 3 years ago, several machines have problems reading floppies. Same problem, claims they need formatting and then states it can not format them. I have changed floppy drives and cables and same thing happens. It will read floppies, but seems to very picky about which one it will read.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: Ricemarine
floppy pin = problem.

so.....it's trash?

 

[shimsham]

make sure theres nothing stuck in there. i had the same problem once, searched on google, blah blah blah, found out my 1yo son had stuffed a cereal box top in there.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: shimsham
make sure theres nothing stuck in there. i had the same problem once, searched on google, blah blah blah, found out my 1yo son had stuffed a cereal box top in there.

I've been using it to transfer files on a PC with problems, and it just stopped reading disks and gives me the format message....just before it stopped reading it got real loud.

 

[tkistre]

I've been using it to transfer files on a PC with problems, and it just stopped reading disks and gives me the format message....just before it stopped reading it got real loud.[/quote]

In this case, it very well may have something wrong with it. Get another and try it out.

 

[Zepper]

Older floppy disks that were (factory) formatted prior to the advent of Windows XP may have the wrong media identifier on them so XP considers them to be unformatted. I think that there is a utility out there to patch in the proper media identifier

.bh.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

This is on a Win98SE box.

 

[daveshel]

I have seen this a lot in the last four years or so, and still have been unable to explain it. Not limited to a chipset manufacturer, although I only build AMD. Mostly XP but also Win2KPro. May persist even after changing out the FDD. Get House to diagnose it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

FDD is bad

or

Your FDD doesn't have the little plastic sticking out on 1 end to indicate which way you stick it in to the floppy drive. Try flipping it. That's what I did.

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
FDD is bad

Mine have tested good in other boxes consistently - never could blame it on cheap hardware like I wished I could.

 

[CraigRT]

so many variables.

drive could be bad, since floppy drives suck
drive could be dirty
disks could be bad, since floppy disks suck
disks could be damaged

floppy drives could be useless moving into 2006.

 

[Zepper]

Among the first things I do in diagnosing drives is replace the data cable - the cables are made so cheaply these days it's a wonder they work at all. Also check the power pins on the floppy drive - sometimes they'll get bent, pushed in or corroded. And sometimes a good cleaning will work wonders as some use optical sensors for positioning. I open all my removable media drives every other year or so and clean them even if they aren't acting up.
. And it is also possible that it is vice-versa: the disks factory-formatted recently might have the XP media identifier which might not be recognized by earlier Windows.

.bh.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
so many variables.

drive could be bad, since floppy drives suck
drive could be dirty
disks could be bad, since floppy disks suck
disks could be damaged

floppy drives could be useless moving into 2006.

floppy disks are invaluable when transferring small files from one PC to another, even moving into 2006.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: CraigRT
so many variables.

drive could be bad, since floppy drives suck
drive could be dirty
disks could be bad, since floppy disks suck
disks could be damaged

floppy drives could be useless moving into 2006.

floppy disks are invaluable when transferring small files from one PC to another, even moving into 2006.

Floppy? Whats a floppy? Sounds personal, in a bad way! J/K I still use diskettes for ghosting my PCs OS HDs. Never know when you are gonna need it. I guess im old school, I still prefer a command prompt at times. You guys and your new fangled ways! Why, back in my day we used cassette tape to store information, took an hour to load only to crash on the last bit of data!

Anyway, cheapo diskettes and dust most likely. Probably dust bunnies. I occasionally get diskette problems because I hardly use the diskette drive anymore and PCs today have so many fans in them that the diskette drive usually ends up loaded with debris as it is usually not sealed as well as say a cd or dvd drive. I notice my diskette drive ends up being the dumping ground for my dogs hair because of all my fans blowing through the rear and the diskette is in the front.