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Floppy will not refresh

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17 replies

by nettek

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Having a problem with a Windows 95 machine that I have never seen nor heard of before.

When any floppy disk is inserted into the A: drive, and then accessed, everything is fine. Can read the disk and save changes. However, if that floppy is removed, and another is inserted, Windows still thinks the first floppy is in the drive. When opening the A: drive in My Computer, Explorer, or even an Office document, the disk contents of the first disk appear. Refreshing the view from within My Computer or Explorer will not work.

Disks work fine on other computers. Scanned for viruses with updated software and found nothing. One of the strangest things I've ever seen. Any help is appreciated.

17 replies

by nettek

Neglected to mention that this is not a new install. PC was working fine for years, and then the problem just suddenly began occuring.

by isys

Remove the floppy drive take the top cover off and blow it out with low-pressure air. There is a LED inside that performs a function called disk change where it erases the directory cache in your operating system. You might also be able to do thisby using a nozzle inside the disk aperture.

by twuf

Try replacing the floppy cable. A bad, old cable is a common cause of this.

by philthegreat

Simple solution for you.
1) Before you access the new inserted disk; click the C: in your Explorer; then click the new A: disk.
Steps:
a) A: (old disk) you are using.
b) Click C: in the Explorer,
c) Click on A: (the new disk)

No help becauseit is the problem of Windows.

Do you know that when you are printing a file in winword, if the file is in a floppy disk, it will access it even though you have the file in the RAM or momery?

by mrgeorge

Verify the floppy drive data cable is seated correctly on both the drive and the controller.

by mm212

Go through both of the above steps. Both are valid. If it still doesn't work correctly, replace the drive. Floppy drives are cheap.

by oldschool

I seen this many years ago working at NASA, it turn out to be the floppy drive, buffer was not being cleared, replacing the floppy drive clreaded the problem, the OS was windows 3.xx

by nettek

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. Never thought to look at the floppy drive itself. After 5 years of troubleshooting, I can't ever recall having a failed floppy drive that sort-of worked. Either they worked, or failed completely.

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