-
Formatting a Floppy
Anyone come across an issue on a Win 95 and Win 98 machine where when you go to save a file onto a floppy disc you get an error message stating that the disk is not formatted or write protected.
So you try different disks with no joy even brand new ones. You try to format the discs but it gets half way through then comes up with an error stating that the disc cannot be formatted.
I havent seen the machine yet but will do tomorrow and dont want the guy to buy another floppy disk drive if that aint the problem.
any help would be greatly appreciated but no inane comments please from people trying to boost there post score etc.
cheers
live well and love life
-
Take a floppy drive cleaner with you....if that doesn't cut it tell the guy to squeeze 10 or 12 bucks for a new one from www.pricewatch.com . And yeah, if memory serves me correctly, they have a UK based site also.
-
Local PC shop
Most local PC shops have buckets of them for 50 cents or a buck. Not the big chains but local guys. Hopefully the floppy cleaner will help. Some canned air blown into the computer for a nice cleaning might help as well. Just make sure you clean the heads after the air.
-
geepod -
I've had similar problems with certain systems. Some proprietary systems (e-Machines for instance) have jumpers on the motherboard, that will not allow you to format or write to a floppy drive. If you try to format a disk, using the wrong capacity, the system will begin formating, stop and say the disk cannot be formatted. I've also had the same thing happen when disks were compressed for more storage and needed reformatting later on.
Do you know if the floppy drive ever worked correctly? Checking and/or replacing the cable - might be another thing to look at too.
V.