My system is an old 486 with Windows 3.1. My old 5 1/4 floppy drive (a: - boot drive)is dirty with dust. I blew it out with compressed air but it still does not detect an inserted disk. Is there a way to take it apart and clean the heads manually? Can I switch the 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 floppy drives and use the 3 1/2 floppy for booting? Also wondered if the old CD-Rom can play modern music CD's. It to does not seem to work. When I click on the Play CD icon in accessories the software controls flash on the screen and then close back to the accessories window. Any help would be appreciated. Sincerely, Pvbrat1

Not precisely a Windows question, but sure, with the correct cable you can set the 3½" drive as 'a:' - just connect it to the cable end with the twist. If your cable doesn't have the right connector, then you'll need to find one that does. Once connected, you'd probably need to set the changes in the BIOS. Your CD drive should be able to play music (.CDA 'files') I would think - just how old is it?? What software are you using? Are you certain that the drive is in good condition? Tech Support: "I need you to boot the computer." Customer: THUMP! Pause. "No, that didn't help."

If the drive is dirty go ahead and take it apart and clean it. I'd say rubbing alcohol is ok. If it don't work you aren't loosing anything. I have a actuall Memorex 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disk cleaning set I use. ASUS A7V8X AMD XP 2700+ 2.17ghz 768mb ddr 2700 128mb FX 5200 WD 80gb DVD R/RW

there should be jumpers on the 5 1/4" drive and mayb on the 3 1/2" drive which u can set to change ur A drive to ur B drive, and ur B drive to ur A drive. You will then need to configure the settings in CMOS Or u can set the boot priority in for drives in CMOS. But it depends on the type of BIOS ur running.