Floppy drive dead from software install

[Twidget]

I attempted to install an Epson 1240UP on my Win2K main machine.  I used their updated drivers.  The machine crashed during installation, and I could subsequently never get it to detect the Twain drivers.  The problem is, my floppy drive is now dead.  I can\'t get it do do anything with a DOS disk inserted.  The floppy settings are ok in CMOS (going to \"Setup\", during harddrive boot process).  Device Manager shows it to be AOK.

The thing is, I attempted to set up the scanner on a spare PC running Win2k, and exactly the same thing happened...crashed during install, no subsequent floppy access: dead cold.  Also, no scanner/Twain detection.

I have set up the USB scanner on a Win98 laptop, and also on my main machine under RedHat 7.3.  Works flawlessly on both.  Of course, the floppy isn\'t found under Linux, either.  I bought a USB floppy, but my BIOS (nor the latest upgrade) doesn\'t support USB floppy booting.  The only way I can boot recovery programs, etc. is by making bootable CD-ROMS.

Anyone heard of this weird problem?  I really need clues, and my normal floppy function back!

[Tracky110XP]

Do you have an anti virus program running in the back that might be taking over the floppy drive?

What driver is the floppy drive running off? try replacing the drive in safe mode.

Are you running an ACPI hal or a standard hal on the system?

Another possible fix would be to do a \"silver bullet\" fix, by putting in the w2k cd and telling it to upgrade the system.

good luck,

[Bruce]

I\'ve since done a clean install of W2K and SP2 on a new hard drive.  It still doesn\'t recognize the floppy drive, although the settings in Device Manager say it\'s ok.  I disabled the floppy drive in CMOS via Setup, and Device Manager says it is not installed, which is ezxpected.

I am running Norton AntiVirus 2002 in W2K, but how would that affect booting (not booting, actually!) from Dos or Linux floppy disks?  Have I trashed CMOS somehow that it doesn\'t appear so in Setup?  Wouldn\'t I get BIOS checksum errors or something if that were the case?

Tnx for the reply!

[Anonymous]

Just for troubleshooting purposes, you have verified that your cables are still securely connected to the floppy and the mb, right?  It\'s amazing how many times something that simple can be the problem.  And also that your floppy controller is enabled in cmos, too.

[Bruce]

Yeah, I\'ve swapped the cables between the 2 affected computers and bought a new one and tried that.  I just reset CMOS on the standby machine, and it did not try to access the floppy.  The floppy controller is enabled on both machines.  I\'ll keep working on it.