Floppy drive does not read from or write to floppy disks

This is a very common problem with floppy disks. The first thing to do is to check the disk. You could try changing diskettes a few times unless you are sure that the floppy disks are not faulty. Try a good, properly formatted diskette in your suspect drive. A faulty disk can generate some very strange read and write problems.

Try cleaning the read/write heads in the floppy drive. There are head cleaning disks available in the market that do a good job of cleaning the drive. However, make sure that you do not run the drive with a head-cleaning disk inserted for more than 30 seconds at a time, or you could damage the heads with excessive friction.

Next, check the signal cable. Make sure that the drive’s 34-pin ribbon cable is attached securely at the drive and at the drive controller. Try re-attaching the signal cable if it is loose, or rather, try another signal cable to be sure that this is not the problem.

If the problem persists, chances are that the floppy drive is defective. It could be that the head read/write system has failed. Try replacing the floppy drive with a known or a good drive from another system to check if this is the problem.

If changing the floppy drive too does not resolve the problem, you may have a defective floppy drive controller circuit. If this is the case, you may also receive a floppy drive or controller error from the system BIOS while booting. To solve this, disable the existing floppy controller and installing an expansion card controller, with only the floppy controller portion enabled.

After I replace a floppy disk in the drive with a new one and view it in Windows Explorer, it shows me the contents of the previous disk, rather than the current one. To view the current floppy disk's contents, I have to restart the machine. Why does this happen? What should I do to get rid of the problem?

This problem is often referred to as the ‘phantom directory’ problem, where your machine fails to refresh the contents of the disk and, instead the contents of the previous disk are shown. If this happens, do not try to write anything to the disk, as this may damage the FAT table of the disk and chances are that the contents of the disk will become inaccessible. The problem occurs due to a faulty drive or bad signal cable. You should first check the signal cable to see if it is properly secured at both ends. You could also replace the cable, as this is usually the suspect.

Next, you should check the drive's jumpers, although this could be a problem only if the floppy drive is new. Jumpers on some floppy drives allow the Disk Change signal to be enabled or disabled. Make sure that the Disk Change signal is enabled.

If the problem is not still solved, then you should replace the drive.

The problem here is that one end of the drive cables has been inserted backwards. Open the CPU case and make sure that pin 1 on the 34-pin cable is aligned properly with the connector on both the drive and controller. This usually solves the problem. Although rare, failure of the drive controller can also cause the problem.

I have an old system with an old 5.25-inch floppy drive as the A drive. Now I have bought a 3.5-inch drive, which I would like to be the A drive, so that the older one becomes B drive. Could you tell me what things to look out for?

Your first step is to check the cables. For floppy cables with a wire twist, the end-most connector is for drive A and the connector just before the twist is for drive B. Make sure these are connected right.

Next, check the floppy drive jumpers. The floppy drive which you want as the A drive should have its jumper setting as DS0 (Drive select 0); the floppy drive for B should be DS1 (Drive Select 1). Finally, check the CMOS settings. In Standard CMOS setup, configure drive A and drive B as appropriate or use the option of swapping floppy drives. This should solve the problem.

I recently installed an extra floppy drive on my Pentium II machine running on Windows 98. After this was installed, Windows gives a lot of read or write errors whenever I try to read/write from/to the drive. I even reinstalled Windows, but the problem persists.

Reinstalling Windows will not solve the problem as this is a problem of the floppy drive. It could be that during installation, you left the terminating resistors in place on the second floppy drive. The terminating resistor pack on the drive is at the end of the chain cable.  Check that the terminating resistors are in place on drive A and remove the terminating resistors from the second drive (probably drive B).If this is not the cause of the problem, check if the signal cables are installed securely on both drives. Faulty cables can cause signal problems, resulting in read/write errors.

I tried to make a Windows 98 Sstartup disk from the Add/Remove Programs in Windows’ Control Panel. But even after many tries, I am unable to do so. It always shows up some error and stops the process midway. Is there any other method to do this? The problem does not lie in the method; bad sectors on the floppy disk or a damaged first sector are root causes of this problem. To solve the problem, first try a different disk, if you have not done so already. Be very sure that you eliminate the problem of faulty disks before trying anything else. Next, check the settings of your anti-virus software, if any. Some anti-virus software could cause conflicts in floppy drive operations. Disable the anti-virus program while making the Startup disk and see if the problem is solved. Finally, check the CMOS settings. Verify the floppy drive parameters against the actual physical drives in the system, then make sure that the correct data is entered in CMOS.

However, if you would like to create a bootable floppy using another method, you could do so from pure DOS mode. Insert the floppy disk in the drive, enter the following command

C:\>format a: /s

and press Enter. The /s switch will copy the system files on the floppy.

 

CD-ROM drive does not read disks

My CD-ROM drive is listed in the Windows Device manager, but it refuses to operate. It does not read disks and sometimes a few buttons of the CD also do not operate. Please help.

It could be that the drive is aging and is malfunctioning. However, before going for another drive, you should try the following. Check the connections of the drive. It could be that one or more buttons of the drive are badly connected. The problem could also lie in a micro-controller which is defective or which fails to reset properly. Another cause of the problem is that the drive gets missing or bad voltages from power supply. In such cases, you may need to have the CD-ROM drive checked by your vendor.

Whenever I insert a CD in the CD tray, the CD tray comes out automatically after a while. Sometimes, it refuses to eject and sometimes it refuses to go in. Please help me fix this erratic behaviour.

Such behaviour is often caused due to dirty sense switch contacts or bad connections in the CD drive. There could also be other reasons why this may happen, such as worn out or stretched belt of the drive, poor or gummed up lubrication, defective motor or bad connections to the motor, stripped gear or other mechanical damage, defective micro-controller or other logic circuitry. Chances are that none of these problems can be fixed by you, nor are they easy to diagnose. Your best bet would be to get the drive and the system serviced/checked by an authorised service engineer.

When I insert a disc in my CD-ROM drive, the operations take too long to complete. For example, Wisndows Explorer takes a long time to show the contents of the disk. Sometimes, this simply fails and I end up rebooting the PC. Please help me fix this problem.

If this problem occurs only with a particular disc, chances are that this disc is dirty, scratched, or defective. If this problem occurs with most of the discs, then you could try cleaning the drive first, which would involve cleaning the dirty or damaged objective lens.

If this does not fix the problem, then there is something seriously wrong with the drive. There could be problems such as a faulty sled motor or drive IC, faulty control logic, bad cables, faulty tracking or CLV servo, or an engaged transportation lock. You will have to get the drive checked.

It is possible to access the CD drive in Safe Mode. To do so, you must first edit the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files to load the real mode CD drivers. Then, restart Windows in Command Prompt that loads the modified Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files, which in turn, will load the CD drivers.
Now, enter the following command
Win /D:M
and press Enter, to start Windows in Safe Mode with the CD drive support.

I recently purchased a CD, which claimed to have a few good software. However, when I used it on my PC, my drive refused to read it. However, when one of my friends used the CD on his drive, the CD worked, although it gave a few ‘seeking’ problems. However, the software got installed without a glitch. There is no problem when my drive reads other CDs. What exactly is the problem?

It is very likely that the CD you are talking about carries pirated software. Such CDs are actually CD-Rs (recordable CDs), which can be quite variable in quality. They are often produced on a low cost writer of questionable design and calibration. It would be advisable not to use such CDs, neither on your drive, nor on your friend’s drive, which somehow reads the CD.

Apart from the problem being caused because of the CD-R being of inferior quality, it is quite common for a CD-R disc to play or read fine on one drive and not even get recognised on another drive. This is because there is a difference in the manufacturing process of different CD-Rs. This implies that different CD-Rs have different properties like reflectivity, etc. Thus, there is variation in the ability of different drives in reading different CDs.

I have upgraded from my old 10x CD drive to a new, 52x CD drive. Is it possible to use my old drive as a stand-alone CD player?

For most common CD drives, this is possible. All you need is a voltage regulator/adapter to power the drive. You would, however, face a problem in the controls. Usually the controls are also available in the form of combinations of a couple of buttons on the drive. You will either have to find this yourself, or search the Net to find out the button combinations for your particular drive. Usually, such a combination will give you play, eject, next track functions or a volume control that can be pushed to start play and move to the next track. There is usually a jack on the front panel, where you can plug in your headphones. If you need to plug in the speakers of your stereo system, you will have to use a suitable adapter that will allow the line outputs in the rear to be connected to the CD or AUX inputs of your stereo system.

The problem occurs if there is an incorrect entry in the registry. Please be careful while editing the registry and make a backup first. Go to Start > Run. Type regedit and click OK.  Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and modify the binary value for the NoDriveTypeAutoRun key to 0000 95 00 00 00. This should take care of the problem.

A CD-R requires an uninterrupted data stream from the hard drive to write successfully to a CD. A buffer underrun message appears when the data stream is interrupted. This may also occur if another program interrupts the writing process or if your writer’s write speed is set too high. Try recording at a lower speed. Make sure that no other program is running which could possibly interfere with your CD writing process. Examples of such programs are usually fax programs, e-mail programs, screen savers, etc. Close or disable any such programs. To be sure, you could also try turning off the power saving features of the PC. Basic maintenance of your PC and some tweaks would also help. This should include scanning and defragmenting the hard disk regularly. In the Windows temp folder, clean the files and folders that you do not require often.  

CD-Rs allow enough space to hold at least 74 minutes of CD-DA audio CD format. The format defines the number of tracks on the disc that contain digital audio data and the error correction routines that save sound from minor data loss. The format allows for a total of 74 minutes of digital sound to be transferred at a rate of 150 kilobytes per second (KB/sec) and 90 seconds of digital silence. The silent area, called the ‘lead-out’, is included so that a CD player realises that it has reached the end of the disc.

Your recording software does not include the area reserved for the lead-out, when it tells you the capacity of the disk. Thus, data can be burnt on the reserved area, and possibly into a few blocks past the end of it. This is referred to as ‘overburning’ a disc. This depends on a couple of factors, especially the CD-R disk and the writer units. If a writer isn’t able to overburn, it will usually reject the cue sheet before writing begins.

To overburn, you need a software that won’t refuse to exceed the disc capacity. For example, CDRWIN warns you that the write may fail, but will allow you to continue anyway. Nero has a preference under Expert Features, called ‘enable oversize disc’, that allows the longer write.

Overburning can also cause write errors. Depending on the disc and your player, you may have trouble seeking out tracks near the end of the disc. The disc surface past the end of the area reserved for the leadout may be unreliable. 

I want to know the difference between the various types of DVD drives, namely, DVD-ROM, DVD-R and DVD-RAM drives.

DVD-ROM drives, which are the most commonly available, are read-only devices and no data can be written on them by the end users. DVD-R drives can write data to writable DVDs. However, after data is written, it can no longer be modified on the disc. A DVD-RAM drive can write and modify data an indefinite number of times on the corresponding DVDs. So, essentially the difference between these three categories of DVDs is very similar to that between CDs, CD-Rs and CD-RWs.

Actually, this is a common problem faced by many DVD drive users, but the problem does not lie in the drive. To begin with, check if you have the right and/or the latest drivers. Driver problems are the major cause of playback problems, freezing screens while playing DVDs, and giving error messages. You will usually find the latest drivers on the site of the manufacturer of your drive. At the same time, also make sure that you have the right drivers for your graphics adapter and DVD decoder.

Next, you should check if the DMA or Sync Data Transfer box is checked in Windows. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager. Here, choose CD-ROM, and click on driver properties. Click on the Settings tab and make sure the appropriate box is checked, depending on whether its an IDE drive or SCSI drive. If you are using an AMD processor, or a VIA chipset, you may still face a problem; in this case, uncheck the DMA option and restart. 

Finally, you could try a few basic tips while playing DVDs. Close any unwanted programs that are running in the background. Allocate more memory to the DVD Player, if there is an option for this. SCSI DVD-ROM drives should either be the first or last device in the SCSI chain, with appropriate terminations. If you are viewing the DVD on a TV, you could face problems because of a long cable or poor contrast settings.

I recently copied a movie file from a DVD to my hard disk drive. Now I have the essential software to play it, but when I try to play it, I get an error message saying, "Cannot play copy-protected files". What is wrong?

DVDs store DVD video as a .VOB file, which is essentially a specialised MPEG-2 file. Most MPEG-2 decoders and players can play them. However, all movies on a DVD are encrypted with CSS copy protection. This is an encryption technique and the corresponding decryption keys are stored in the normally inaccessible lead-in area of the disc. If you copy the contents of an encrypted DVD to a hard drive, these keys are not, or rather, cannot be copied. So when you try to play the VOB file, the software decoder tries to request the keys from the DVD-ROM drive, which fails and shows the error message.

My DVD plays movies well, but there is an audio lag in the movie. You might as well mistake it for a lip sync, which is not actually the case, as the DVDs are of good quality. Is there a problem with my DVD drive or does it have something to do with the soundcard? Please note that other audio files play very well.

No, this is neither a problem of the soundcard, nor of the DVD drive. The problem occurs because the audio and video codes are getting processed at different speeds. This happens because some other program is interfering with the movie, or there is some other program running in the background. Sometimes, this could also happen if the screen saver is activated. Try disabling the screen saver, check your power saving settings and close all background applications including any TSRs (Terminate and Stay Resident). This should fix the problem.

I recently brought a high end PC, which includes a DVD drive. Now, whenever I try to play a DVD, I get the following error: ‘Illegal DVD Region. The region of the DVD movie that you are trying to play does not match the authorized region of your DVD player’. What does this mean?

Movie DVDs are usually given a region code, which is basically to protect the film-maker’s copyright. There are many issues and arguments on this particular subject. You can only play DVDs that are made for your region. If you don’t do so, you may get a ‘Region Code’ error. You do have options to change the DVD’s region, but there is a maximum limit to the number of times this can be done. If you exceed this limit, you may get an ‘Out of Region’ error. However, the cause of the error in your case is that the DVD drive was probably not pre-configured when it was installed on your PC. Therefore, when the DVD drive is initiated, it is attempting to configure the proper region. You should change the region and select the appropriate region using a DVD region code table. You can find this on the Web site of the DVD manufacturer. 

I have a particular DVD that always gives me an error message that reads something like this, "0x80004003 player region is 0". This does not happen in other DVDs. Is there a way to solve this problem?

Please refer to the above question for a brief introduction on the subject. However, the error here, occurs because the particular DVD probably indicates to DVD player that it supports all regions, which could be a mistake, or an error.  What you could try is setting a different region that correctly tells the DVD player which region it supports. After the region has been changed, the DVD  should play. However, as stated above, there is a limit to the number of changes you make.