I've just bought a floppy drive so i could update my BIOS and after XP had detected it, it wouldn't detect the disk in the drive. i tried restarting and then the power LED on the drive wouldn't go out. i'm don't know what else to do! any suggestions?

the floppy cable going to your floppy drive is connected backwards thats why the led stays on

No, it isn't. i've just tried it both ways and it stays on regardless

"the floppy cable going to your floppy drive is connected backwards thats why the led stays on" Sure sounds like it is... "No, it isn't. i've just tried it both ways and it stays on regardless" Better check again. Straight part of the cable should be plugged into the motherboard with the red (whatever color) stripe pointing to pin 1 and the floppy goes to the connector after the twist on the cable. The drive may or may not have a pin 1 label where the cable connects. Make sure the A drive is set to 3.5" 1.44Mb in Basic BIOS screen. If properly connected, drive light should come on for a couple of seconds when you boot the machine, then go out until you want to use it. Skip

You have to have a 180 twist in the cable between the motherboard plug and the floppy drive or the light will always stay on. Most cables have the red cable pointed down to the bottom of the case. You then twist it 180 when you plug it into the drive.

Ok, thanks! I had the lead in the right way round first time but i didn't notice that the floppy drive had 2 holes where the little groove on the little goes (the part which should stop you putting the lead in the wrong way round!) so i just needed to flip the lead over on the floppy drive end! thanks a lot!