minor problem here: tried to use a dos 6.2 boot disk on my pc. pc normally runs windows xp. much expectedly, the boot disk didnt work quite the way i wanted it to so i rebooted. now my lovely Dell Dimension 4600 gives me the error message "diskette drive 0 seek failure" preceded by an unusual rhythmic grinding noise from the floppy drive (3.5). in win xp it wont read the disk and asks if i want to format. floppy disk drive has worked perfectly up until my "wise" decision to use the boot disk. I'd imagine this has to do with the boot disk and that some floppy drive system files got mixed up somewhere. been reading the forums but still not clear on how to remedy the problem. if anyone's got any ideas id be happy to hear them :-) not urgent tho everything else seems to be running fine as usual. thanks a bunch! :-) I'd save my life on a floppy disk and open up a new one when I get bored! :-P

It would be pretty hard to disable a floppy from just trying to boot. I'd say something damaged the drive---either you tried to insert the floppy wrong and damaged the drive, or maybe there is some dirt/ lint in there and the floppy jammed the lint into a vital spot. Can you beg/ borrow a different floppy and try it? (God, around here I have TONS of old floppy drives from junked machines)

it does seem that it would be difficult to screw up the floppy with a boot disk indeed :-P the cheapskate in me decided to take the computer apart and open up the floppy and dust off some of the parts with some compressed air, i put the drive back in and it works fine now :-) oh well leave it to me to over-complicate things haha...thanks for your help :-) ~Fishman624 I'd save my life on a floppy disk and open up a new one when I get bored! :-P