Hey guys, I have recently upgraded my OS to Win XP from Win 98 2nd Ed. It seems that my floppy drive is now having problems reading data from an ordinary pre-formatted 1.44'' floppy disk. I keep getting a message saying that the data is not formatted when I know, for a fact, that it is. So, for the sake of finding a resolution, I let XP re-format the disk and, yet again, told me that the disk was not compatible. I have tried to physically re-attach and re-install the drive. However, the problem still remained. I have never had problems like this under Win 98 2nd Ed. Suggestions anyone? -Thanks

Suggestions: Process of elimination - Check for the correct drive settings in BIOS Setup. Go to My Computer, right click on the drive icon, select Properties - Hardware - Floppy disk drive. Try Troubleshoot, Uninstall and reinstall the driver, check for a driver update, etc: in case something installed wrongly during the upgrade. If nothing wrong there, perhaps the drive needs cleaning (by coincidence). Did you try more than one floppy disk? A rogue disk can cause problems inconsistently. Sometimes a bad write protect tab, split case, bent slider, dirty or damaged sensor in the drive, adhesive from a label, etc can cause it to be misread. Also, if a floppy disk has been used for a different filesystem, eg a Linux boot disk, it can cause problems. Magnetism, eg from a loudspeaker mahnet or even from a paperclip, can cause corruption - it is most likely the system won't even try to format in this case, but still possible. Try a brand new floppy disk if you have one; try the "uncooperative" floppy in a different machine; try a different drive in your machine. Hope you get it sorted! W

I'm having the same problem. I installed a new drive, new ribbon and also switched connections around just in case I had it wrong. Did you get a solution???