windows 98 : floppy drive, and startup boot menu issues

Hi,

I recently formatted my hard drive and reinstalled win 98. Everything
seems fine except that the floppy drive hammers for about ten seconds
every time I try to access the my computer icon or the control panel
icon within it. Short of disconnecting the drive power supply (in case
floppy drive is damaged) I have tried all of the suggestions that I
could find that other people with a simmilar problem have been given.
The floppy drive loads/reads/copies files just fine. Any suggestions
here would be appreciated.

I also have a boot menu appear on starting the machine which prompts me
to start with windows cd-rom, start with cd-rom support or start
without cd-rom support. These are the only options in the menu. This
seems more like a boot disk menu than the expected menu that you get
when pressing the F8 key at bootup. The only thought I had on this was
that the machine might be trying to read from a copy of the boot disk
files on the hard drive. I loaded windows via a floppy boot disc. It
would be nice to get rid of this menu at startup if anyone can help.

There are other minor issues which I have on hold for now such as
missing drivers that cannot be found on the motherboard disk or on
other driver disks I have for the machine. These are all the originals
for the machine? I guess a tool which finds these online would be
helpfull if anyone knows of any trials or freebie's.

ta
love0068

Try renaming "c:\autoexec.bat" to "autoexec.bak" and "c:\config.sys"
to "config.bak". A restart will probably be required.

Ben

"love0068" wrote in message oups.com...
Hi,

I recently formatted my hard drive and reinstalled win 98. Everything
seems fine except that the floppy drive hammers for about ten seconds
every time I try to access the my computer icon or the control panel
icon within it. Short of disconnecting the drive power supply (in case
floppy drive is damaged) I have tried all of the suggestions that I
could find that other people with a simmilar problem have been given.
The floppy drive loads/reads/copies files just fine. Any suggestions
here would be appreciated.

I also have a boot menu appear on starting the machine which prompts me
to start with windows cd-rom, start with cd-rom support or start
without cd-rom support. These are the only options in the menu. This
seems more like a boot disk menu than the expected menu that you get
when pressing the F8 key at bootup. The only thought I had on this was
that the machine might be trying to read from a copy of the boot disk
files on the hard drive. I loaded windows via a floppy boot disc. It
would be nice to get rid of this menu at startup if anyone can help.

There are other minor issues which I have on hold for now such as
missing drivers that cannot be found on the motherboard disk or on
other driver disks I have for the machine. These are all the originals
for the machine? I guess a tool which finds these online would be
helpfull if anyone knows of any trials or freebie's.

ta
love0068

Thanks Ben,

I will try this as soon as I can get to the machine.

ta
love0068

My standard blurb--note the final article:

Open the registry editor and do a find on: A:\ but before deleting the
entry, export the key so you can restore the registry should problems occur.
Most likely a reference will be in an MRU key. Be sure to use F3 to
continue the search as there could be multiple entries. Here are articles
on other causes:

Floppy Disk Drive Is Active When Opening or Saving Files
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=216752

Floppy Drive Is Accessed When You Open My Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=272242

--
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



"love0068" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I recently formatted my hard drive and reinstalled win 98. Everything
seems fine except that the floppy drive hammers for about ten seconds
every time I try to access the my computer icon or the control panel
icon within it. Short of disconnecting the drive power supply (in case
floppy drive is damaged) I have tried all of the suggestions that I
could find that other people with a simmilar problem have been given.
The floppy drive loads/reads/copies files just fine. Any suggestions
here would be appreciated.

I also have a boot menu appear on starting the machine which prompts me
to start with windows cd-rom, start with cd-rom support or start
without cd-rom support. These are the only options in the menu. This
seems more like a boot disk menu than the expected menu that you get
when pressing the F8 key at bootup. The only thought I had on this was
that the machine might be trying to read from a copy of the boot disk
files on the hard drive. I loaded windows via a floppy boot disc. It
would be nice to get rid of this menu at startup if anyone can help.

There are other minor issues which I have on hold for now such as
missing drivers that cannot be found on the motherboard disk or on
other driver disks I have for the machine. These are all the originals
for the machine? I guess a tool which finds these online would be
helpfull if anyone knows of any trials or freebie's.

ta
love0068

I have a similar problem, only mine occurs when shutting the PC down or
using the Find command. I have traced the problem to the McAfee AVG because
when I disable it, the problem goes away. What AVG are you using and if it
is McAfee, what version is the Engine? The problem has only occurred for the
last two weeks after some McAfee updates which may have included a new
engine as the PC is now running a lot quicker when opening up programs. I
have asked for a fix on the Forum, unfortunately, the fix points me to a
folder which does exist in the Registry but there is no data in it to
change. So I have asked for further help.
I have checked Ron's two KB articles and for the first I don't have any
files with that suffix in my system and the second my value is b5 00 00 00
not 95 00 00 00. Not knowing how to translate the data, I don't know how
significant this is. I do have some A:\ locations in the Registry which I
might try if the McAfee path comes to a dead end.
Alan
"love0068" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I recently formatted my hard drive and reinstalled win 98. Everything
seems fine except that the floppy drive hammers for about ten seconds
every time I try to access the my computer icon or the control panel
icon within it. Short of disconnecting the drive power supply (in case
floppy drive is damaged) I have tried all of the suggestions that I
could find that other people with a simmilar problem have been given.
The floppy drive loads/reads/copies files just fine. Any suggestions
here would be appreciated.

I also have a boot menu appear on starting the machine which prompts me
to start with windows cd-rom, start with cd-rom support or start
without cd-rom support. These are the only options in the menu. This
seems more like a boot disk menu than the expected menu that you get
when pressing the F8 key at bootup. The only thought I had on this was
that the machine might be trying to read from a copy of the boot disk
files on the hard drive. I loaded windows via a floppy boot disc. It
would be nice to get rid of this menu at startup if anyone can help.

There are other minor issues which I have on hold for now such as
missing drivers that cannot be found on the motherboard disk or on
other driver disks I have for the machine. These are all the originals
for the machine? I guess a tool which finds these online would be
helpfull if anyone knows of any trials or freebie's.

ta
love0068

McAfee AV was a well known cause of the problem a few of years ago. Next
time your AV comes up for renewal, consider a change to ETrust or AVG.

As I recall, there may be a setting you can change by checking the settings
on the properties sheet (right-click the Virus Scan icon in the tray). Note
that things may have changed since the last time I heard about this problem.

The registry entry is wrong and you should change it; however, I do not
believe it is causing your problem--McAfee probably is just as you suspect.

--
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



"Alan" wrote in message
...
I have a similar problem, only mine occurs when shutting the PC down or
using the Find command. I have traced the problem to the McAfee AVG
because
when I disable it, the problem goes away. What AVG are you using and if it
is McAfee, what version is the Engine? The problem has only occurred for
the
last two weeks after some McAfee updates which may have included a new
engine as the PC is now running a lot quicker when opening up programs. I
have asked for a fix on the Forum, unfortunately, the fix points me to a
folder which does exist in the Registry but there is no data in it to
change. So I have asked for further help.
I have checked Ron's two KB articles and for the first I don't have any
files with that suffix in my system and the second my value is b5 00 00 00
not 95 00 00 00. Not knowing how to translate the data, I don't know how
significant this is. I do have some A:\ locations in the Registry which I
might try if the McAfee path comes to a dead end.
Alan
"love0068" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I recently formatted my hard drive and reinstalled win 98. Everything
seems fine except that the floppy drive hammers for about ten seconds
every time I try to access the my computer icon or the control panel
icon within it. Short of disconnecting the drive power supply (in case
floppy drive is damaged) I have tried all of the suggestions that I
could find that other people with a simmilar problem have been given.
The floppy drive loads/reads/copies files just fine. Any suggestions
here would be appreciated.

I also have a boot menu appear on starting the machine which prompts me
to start with windows cd-rom, start with cd-rom support or start
without cd-rom support. These are the only options in the menu. This
seems more like a boot disk menu than the expected menu that you get
when pressing the F8 key at bootup. The only thought I had on this was
that the machine might be trying to read from a copy of the boot disk
files on the hard drive. I loaded windows via a floppy boot disc. It
would be nice to get rid of this menu at startup if anyone can help.

There are other minor issues which I have on hold for now such as
missing drivers that cannot be found on the motherboard disk or on
other driver disks I have for the machine. These are all the originals
for the machine? I guess a tool which finds these online would be
helpfull if anyone knows of any trials or freebie's.

ta
love0068

Hi Alan,

I'm not running McAfee, I use Trend Micro PC-Cillin 2004. The problem
was there before I installed this so I expect it is an unrelated issue.

cheers
love0068

Ron,

I have become booged down with work and wont be able to try any of this
till the weekend. I will keep you up to date with what happens when I
can try your suggestions.

thanks
love0068

Ron,

I have carried out all the checks and deleted as per your previous posts.
However, I still have the problem which as we have concluded is possibly
down to McAfee. I have asked on the McAfee forum for VirusScan 9 for help
and have been told to change some settings in the registry - details below:-

1. Click on Start --- Run, type REGEDIT and press OK.
2. Click on + sign next to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
3. Click on + sign next to the Software.
4. Click on + sign next to the Network Associates.
5. Click on + sign next to the TVD.
6. Click on + sign next to the Shared Component.
7 Click on + sign next to the On Access Scanner.
8. Click on + sign next to the McShield.
9. Now click on folder Configuration.
10. Change the binary value of bScan Incoming and bScanOutgoing from 1 to 0.
11. Restart the Computer.

Unfortunately, I don't have any information at all in the Configuration
folder, which I have highlighted but so far no response - not very helpful.
I have reloaded twice, using the McAfee VirusScan software removal program
the last time and still no data in that folder!. I live in hope.
Alan.
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
McAfee AV was a well known cause of the problem a few of years ago. Next
time your AV comes up for renewal, consider a change to ETrust or AVG.

As I recall, there may be a setting you can change by checking the
settings
on the properties sheet (right-click the Virus Scan icon in the tray).
Note
that things may have changed since the last time I heard about this
problem.

The registry entry is wrong and you should change it; however, I do not
believe it is causing your problem--McAfee probably is just as you
suspect.

--
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



"Alan" wrote in message
...
I have a similar problem, only mine occurs when shutting the PC down or
using the Find command. I have traced the problem to the McAfee AVG
because
when I disable it, the problem goes away. What AVG are you using and if
it
is McAfee, what version is the Engine? The problem has only occurred for
the
last two weeks after some McAfee updates which may have included a new
engine as the PC is now running a lot quicker when opening up programs.
I
have asked for a fix on the Forum, unfortunately, the fix points me to a
folder which does exist in the Registry but there is no data in it to
change. So I have asked for further help.
I have checked Ron's two KB articles and for the first I don't have any
files with that suffix in my system and the second my value is b5 00 00
00
not 95 00 00 00. Not knowing how to translate the data, I don't know how
significant this is. I do have some A:\ locations in the Registry which
I
might try if the McAfee path comes to a dead end.
Alan
"love0068" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I recently formatted my hard drive and reinstalled win 98. Everything
seems fine except that the floppy drive hammers for about ten seconds
every time I try to access the my computer icon or the control panel
icon within it. Short of disconnecting the drive power supply (in case
floppy drive is damaged) I have tried all of the suggestions that I
could find that other people with a simmilar problem have been given.
The floppy drive loads/reads/copies files just fine. Any suggestions
here would be appreciated.

I also have a boot menu appear on starting the machine which prompts me
to start with windows cd-rom, start with cd-rom support or start
without cd-rom support. These are the only options in the menu. This
seems more like a boot disk menu than the expected menu that you get
when pressing the F8 key at bootup. The only thought I had on this was
that the machine might be trying to read from a copy of the boot disk
files on the hard drive. I loaded windows via a floppy boot disc. It
would be nice to get rid of this menu at startup if anyone can help.

There are other minor issues which I have on hold for now such as
missing drivers that cannot be found on the motherboard disk or on
other driver disks I have for the machine. These are all the originals
for the machine? I guess a tool which finds these online would be
helpfull if anyone knows of any trials or freebie's.

ta
love0068