Phantom floppy drive

I have only one floppy drive in reality. It was faulty so I installed a new
one yesterday. Since then, Windows recognises the new drive but as drive B
and insists that the old drive is still there as drive A.

This isn't just a minor point as certain functions (such as creating a
startup disc) can be done only using drive A.

How do I convince my system that I have only one floppy drive and that it is
drive A?

Would appreciate any help/advice.

Pete

"peter_cologne" wrote in message
...
I have only one floppy drive in reality. It was faulty so I installed a
new
one yesterday. Since then, Windows recognises the new drive but as drive
B
and insists that the old drive is still there as drive A.

This isn't just a minor point as certain functions (such as creating a
startup disc) can be done only using drive A.

How do I convince my system that I have only one floppy drive and that it
is
drive A?



boot to safe mode
and in device manager
remove all listed instances of flopy drive
then reboot...and hopefully just one will be there

Philo's advice first and then if needed, go into the BIOS and see what is
listed there for the floppy drive.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"peter_cologne" wrote in message
...
I have only one floppy drive in reality. It was faulty so I installed a
new
one yesterday. Since then, Windows recognises the new drive but as drive
B
and insists that the old drive is still there as drive A.

This isn't just a minor point as certain functions (such as creating a
startup disc) can be done only using drive A.

How do I convince my system that I have only one floppy drive and that it
is
drive A?

Would appreciate any help/advice.

Pete

Did you set the ID jumper on the drive? Compare the two drives and make
sure the new one is jumpered the same as the old. Also, make sure you
installed it to the same connector on the floppy cable.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"peter_cologne" wrote in message
...
I have only one floppy drive in reality. It was faulty so I installed a
new
one yesterday. Since then, Windows recognises the new drive but as drive
B
and insists that the old drive is still there as drive A.

This isn't just a minor point as certain functions (such as creating a
startup disc) can be done only using drive A.

How do I convince my system that I have only one floppy drive and that it
is
drive A?

Would appreciate any help/advice.

Pete

Philo,

Thanks for your suggestion. When I first rebooted under normal mode, there
was no floppy drive in the Device Manager (though the Windows Explorer still
insisted there were two; A & B).

Next time I booted to normal, there were THREE floppy drives, A, B & E!!!
(which is a bit of a pain as the E has overwritten one og my network drives!).

Do you have any more ideas, please (see also my reply to Ron Badour).

Pete

"philo" wrote:


"peter_cologne" wrote in message
...
I have only one floppy drive in reality. It was faulty so I installed a
new
one yesterday. Since then, Windows recognises the new drive but as drive
B
and insists that the old drive is still there as drive A.

This isn't just a minor point as certain functions (such as creating a
startup disc) can be done only using drive A.

How do I convince my system that I have only one floppy drive and that it
is
drive A?



boot to safe mode
and in device manager
remove all listed instances of flopy drive
then reboot...and hopefully just one will be there

Hello Ron,

Thanks for your suggestion which I tried when Philo's didn't solve the
problem (see also my reply to him).

My BIOS settings say that Drive A is enabled and Drive B is disabled. That
sounds OK but something can't be right somewhere because, although I have my
boot sequence set to removables first, the system still does not try to boot
from the floppy first, as if it thinks that is a B-drive.

Do you have any more ideas, please?

Pete

"Ron Badour" wrote:

Philo's advice first and then if needed, go into the BIOS and see what is
listed there for the floppy drive.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"peter_cologne" wrote in message
...
I have only one floppy drive in reality. It was faulty so I installed a
new
one yesterday. Since then, Windows recognises the new drive but as drive
B
and insists that the old drive is still there as drive A.

This isn't just a minor point as certain functions (such as creating a
startup disc) can be done only using drive A.

How do I convince my system that I have only one floppy drive and that it
is
drive A?

Would appreciate any help/advice.

Pete

Hello Jeff,

Thanks for your suggestion. I have looked carefully all over both the new
and the old floppy frives with a magnifying glass. I cannot see any jumber
setting such as one would find on a hard drive or CD-drive.

What exactly am I looking for? A "DIP" switch or bank of, or a tiny
removable item? Should I be able to see it without removing the casing?

Would apopreciate any further advice/suggestions.

Pete


"Jeff Richards" wrote:

Did you set the ID jumper on the drive? Compare the two drives and make
sure the new one is jumpered the same as the old. Also, make sure you
installed it to the same connector on the floppy cable.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"peter_cologne" wrote in message
...
I have only one floppy drive in reality. It was faulty so I installed a
new
one yesterday. Since then, Windows recognises the new drive but as drive
B
and insists that the old drive is still there as drive A.

This isn't just a minor point as certain functions (such as creating a
startup disc) can be done only using drive A.

How do I convince my system that I have only one floppy drive and that it
is
drive A?

Would appreciate any help/advice.

Pete

On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 03:04:01 -0800, "peter_cologne"
wrote:

Hello Jeff,

Thanks for your suggestion. I have looked carefully all over both the new
and the old floppy frives with a magnifying glass. I cannot see any jumber
setting such as one would find on a hard drive or CD-drive.

What exactly am I looking for? A "DIP" switch or bank of, or a tiny
removable item? Should I be able to see it without removing the casing?

If I remember correctly, floppy drives are normally set (using onboard
jumpers) to be drive 1 (not drive 0). The quirk that makes it appear as
drive 0 is the twist of some of the wires in the 34-connector cable.

Can you see the jumpers on the drive ? The shunt should be across the
pair that sets the drive to be drive 1.

Is the drive connected so that the twist of some wires (possibly lines 6
through 12) between the drive and the motherboard ?

HTH,

Steven

Hello Steven,

Thanks for getting in touch.

I guess Drive 0 is A and Drive 1 is B??

As I mentioned earlier, I cannot see any jumper (even with the magnifying
glass!) but I don't know what I'm looking for.

Yes, there is a twist in the ribbon-cable which connects the drive to the
mother board. If you start counding from the red side, the twisted ones are
10 to 16.

What does HTH stand for?

Pete

"Steven" wrote:

On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 03:04:01 -0800, "peter_cologne"
wrote:

Hello Jeff,

Thanks for your suggestion. I have looked carefully all over both the new
and the old floppy frives with a magnifying glass. I cannot see any jumber
setting such as one would find on a hard drive or CD-drive.

What exactly am I looking for? A "DIP" switch or bank of, or a tiny
removable item? Should I be able to see it without removing the casing?

If I remember correctly, floppy drives are normally set (using onboard
jumpers) to be drive 1 (not drive 0). The quirk that makes it appear as
drive 0 is the twist of some of the wires in the 34-connector cable.

Can you see the jumpers on the drive ? The shunt should be across the
pair that sets the drive to be drive 1.

Is the drive connected so that the twist of some wires (possibly lines 6
through 12) between the drive and the motherboard ?

HTH,

Steven

On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 07:07:03 -0800, "peter_cologne"
wrote:

I guess Drive 0 is A and Drive 1 is B??

It is complicated by a sensible decision someone made a long time ago.
Back in the dim dark '80s when many PCs had two floppy drives the powers
that be wanted to simplify the installation of these drives. So they
supplied the cable (with the twist) and decreed that all drives should
be jumpered to be drive 1. Due to the twist in the cable the drive at
the end of the cable reacts to drive 0 requests while the drive at the
intermediate connector reacts to drive 1 requests. This avoided
problems that might otherwise occur when users replaced or added drives.

So, all drives should be jumpered to react to drive 1 requests. The
drive at the end of the cable (after the twist) should then appear to be
drive A while a drive at the intermediate connector will be drive B.

As I mentioned earlier, I cannot see any jumper (even with the magnifying
glass!) but I don't know what I'm looking for.

My 3.5 inch drives have the jumpers near the power connector. None of
these drives are new so perhaps newer ones just have a soldered link
instead. If so, you can't really change it but at least it will
probably be correct.

Some BIOSes have a 'swap floppy drives' option so drive A appears as
drive B and vice-versa. Can you check in BIOS Setup to make sure you
haven't accidently enabled this option ?

Yes, there is a twist in the ribbon-cable which connects the drive to the
mother board. If you start counding from the red side, the twisted ones are
10 to 16.

This sounds good. If you replace the new drive with the old one does
the phantom B problem disappear ? This test will determine whether the
new drive is the problem.

What does HTH stand for?

HTH = hope this helps.

-- Steven