uninvited A drive access

[goodole1]

I just ran into a problem that I've never heard of or seen before on my computer or anyone elses. So lets get the specs out of the way.
Intel 2.54 ghz -P4, 1 gb DDR, Asus Ge4 video, SB live sound, two memorx CD-RW's and two Maxtor Plus 8 HD's. Other stuff but not connected as I just did a complete XP -SP1 software rebuild.

No I didn't have this problem before the rebuild. The system crash I experienced was due to memory conflict. That problem is fixed.
The problem started about 5 days after the rebuild.

Okay so now the problem; "Sometimes" when starting the computer the A drive will chatter like crazy. In order to stop it; I place a sacrificial floppy in it. Once the system is up and running I can remove the floppy and all is well. However, if I move my pointer over any icon the A drive starts to chatter again. If I don't put the floppy back in or keep it there it will clam down and let me do the function I want to do until I use another icon etc. Then it will start to chatter again. I thought somehow the variable got messed up but there is no A drive in the path. Besides the problem is intermittent.

I checked the virus program and nothing is set there. I changed the floppy and thought I had it; but it came back this morning. I turned it off in the bios until I can get some answers. Like I said... it's intermittent.

 

[DaTute]

Windows has a lot of problems with FDDs. With mine, I have to disable the FDD in the BIOS, otherwise XP will give me a blue screen during startup. But I have to keep the FD controller enabled, else I also get a crash.

So i'd say unless you really use it, just disable it. Nothing comes from the shops on FDs these days, so you shouldn't miss it too bad.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

most of the time (90%) if you replace the floppy drive and the floppy cable the problem goes away

 

[goodole1]

I've replaced both. I've disabled the boot sequence for that drive but kept it in the bios setup. However... like I said; it's intermittent.

 

[sswingle]

They normally do that if the cable is on backwards. Floppy cables are rarely keyed like hard drive cables, and its sometimes hard to tell which way they need to go.

 

[goodole1]

Being familar with most hardware I've come to realize the if you look at the back of a hard drive you will see one pin missing on the left side. This is the pin one line up side. Yes; some of the older cables may not have a key. However the round cable's I use all have keys. Besides this floppy has been working for about 6 months with no problem. I also wasn't aware that a floppy would even post if the cable was on backwards. Does anybody have any verification of this?

Thanks

 

[lobadobadingdong]

if a floppy cable is on backward, the led on the front of the floppy would come on and that's pretty much it.
If replaceing thd drive and cable didn't fix it, odds are the floppy controller on the motherboard is bad/dying. one thing to check is the box for the os to search for new removable drives on startup(sometimes that little utility goes buggy)

 

[goodole1]

Okay U got me on that one. Pray tell, how do I go about doing that. I'm not sure.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

it's for windows9x boxes. if you have any other OS it doesn't apply.

 

[goodole1]

I just found that out. Thanks for the reply.

 

[PCHPlayer]

Disable "FD Seek on start" (or something like it) in the BIOS. That may solve the boot problem. It does sound like something is wrong with the hardware though.

 

[goodole1]

That's what I already did to put a temp fix on it. I live in the land of power spikes. I have a APC 700 on it; but they are not full proof either.
I suspect a flakey hardware situation as when it was booting up with that problem I believe I saw "Found new hardware" message one time. I know the cable is rock solid and with a new floppy it leaves the mobo floppy controller. Pisses me off as this mobo is only 8 months old.

Thanks

 

[goodole1]

The problem has been resolved. It's Nortons System works. I proved it by turning off and on Auto Protect 8 times abd the problem changed every time.
That was the last piece of software I suspected, I removed and re-installed every piece of software I had including purging the register as well.

Thanks for the post.

 

[goodole1]

UPDATE: Although I was plagued with erroneous floppy activity while Nortons was running in auto protect, I found that after I did a new system install the problem finally went away. Some how I would think the register got cooked after the rebuild 20 days ago. I still suspect Nortons for the cause when I ran Win doctor. I feel it removed an essential file required in the register.

I'm going to run win doctor again to see if it happens again. I'll post when it's done.