Floppy Drive?

[myronb]

Just got a new Dell Dimension...wasn't thinking & forgot to order the 'optional' floppy drive.(Why they don't figure in the $10 floppy I don't know) Anyway, pulled one out of the old machine & got it put in(had to fabricate a bracket!!) Got the data cable hooked up, the power hooked up, told the BIOS/CMOS(whichever it is) that it was there. Rebooted, WinXP saw it, installed the driver. I can see the drive in My Computer, but it when I click on it, it waits a few minutes then says "please insert disk" There is a disk!! Anybody have a clue? I'v emailed tech support, but who knows how long it will take them to get back!!

Thanks,
Myron

P.S. I've tried a different cable & a different drive....No Luck!!

AAAUUUUUGGGHHHH!!!

 

[Derf]

Try using a USB floppy drive with the proper driver.

I have had this problem with Dell in the past.

 

[jayhawksigns]

A couple of things, how old is the drive? Have you tried other disks? Is the cable hooked up the right way?

Assume that you know what you are doing, but you always have to check.

Another question, whats a floppy drive.

 

[myronb]

jayhawk, the drive is 5-6 years old, so is the other one I've tried in it. the cables are run the correct way.

I just got an email from dell with a link to their support page with instructions on some trouble shooting. Three procedures. All must be done in DOS. First step use a BOOTABLE DISKETTE to boot into DOS! Huh?!?!?! That would be a good idea IF I HAD A WORKING DISK DRIVE!!! I replied the tech support about this problem....no word back yet!

 

[WVB]

Have you tried a different diskette? Those get corrupted very easily and very often.

 

[myronb]

Yeah, I've trie a dozen disks! I think I'm just going to stop on the home and buy an exteral USB drive!

 

[Fred Weiss]

I recently had my first experience with giving a customer a file on diskette where he asked me to burn a CD because his puter didn't have a floppy drive. I expect they will disappear completely in the next few years and those that need them will just plug in an external when needed.

Hmmmmm FLASHBACK !!! Does anybody still use Iomega disk drives? They were going to take over the world in the late 1990's.

 

[Derf]

Yeah! I have a Jazz Drive in my G3 and have about 9gig of back up files that I have yet to dump on my fire wire hard drive

 

[WVB]

Yes I have the original 100mb zip drive - Parallel connection that never wanted to connect correctly. That was back with Win95 early Win98. I think it was around $250 too if memory serves me correctly.

 

[jayhawksigns]

Yep, remember the Zip drive too, purchased one just to be able to accept the media. The other pain were those darn people who like designing on a Mac, had to get MacOpener because of them.

I think that for portability reasons, pen drives, or their offspring will be the thing to use anymore, so much faster than a CD and not as bulky as the other options. My 1GB pen drive is about an 1/8" thick and measures 3/4"x1 3/4".

 

[Si Allen]

Zip drives and the "Click of Death"!!!!

My adviceis that if you have stuff on zip drives...burn them on to CDs!!!! Before you encounter the Click of Death"!!!!