Windows 7 access to floppy drive

[ruggb]

This topic appears not to ever have been answered.
I have floppys with "stuff" that I need access to.

The floppy drive appears in Windows Explorer.
Inserting a floppy and clicking the drive in WE yields "Please insert a floppy disk...." error message.

I have 2 systems with W7 and floppy drives. Neither one is accessible via W7. I can boot the system with Hiren's boot disk and load WXP mini and access the floppy, even run a setup program.

So the floppy hardware is all functional.

I uninstalled the floppy driver and floppy controller driver and rebooted so that it reinstall both and still can't access it.

So what is the issue???????????? and how do I (and many others) fix it.

AND don't be a jerk and talk about using USB stick -

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, I've checked for similar issues on the Internet. It seems it's a BIOS issue. Some solved it with a BIOS update ( http://ramblindan.org/?p=1616 )
Another option would be installing XP too (dual boot).

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Ok, I'll be a 'jerk' anyway. Floppy support in Windows Vista, 7, & 8 has been deprecated for quite some time. You'll find that a USB attached floppy drive will work much better than the hardware on the motherboard. Failing that then, yes, transfer the files to a thumb drive using XP.

 

[Brett928S2]

Ok, I'll be a 'jerk' anyway. Floppy support in Windows Vista, 7, & 8 has been deprecated for quite some time. You'll find that a USB attached floppy drive will work much better than the hardware on the motherboard. Failing that then, yes, transfer the files to a thumb drive using XP.

Hi

I agree...we had so many businesses with files on floppy with this problem , that we started selling USB EXTERNAL FLOPPY DRIVES, in my shops,... we sell quite a few as well

All the best Brett

 

[ruggb]

All right All ready. It wasn't about a USB FLOPPY drive it was about ppl recommending USB flash drives.
I have 2 systems with floppies and am resisting spending more money but apparently that is the only real answer.
I'm sure Gigabyte isn't going to fix the BIOS. I'll just have to use my Hiren's disk and miniXP when I need it. thx

 

[alexoiu]

I've read somewhere... try disabling HPET (high precision event timer) in BIOS.

 

[ruggb]

alexoiu
Of course, this is like the printer issue I had which was resolved by turning of windows firewall. SAY WHAT? - how does a firewall stop a usb printer from working? It's a Windoz thing.........

SO HOW does this timer stop the floppy from working - BUT IT SURE DOES.
disabled it and the floppy works - so now I need to find out what benefit the timer gives me.

THX

 

[alexoiu]

http://www.w7forums.com/check-if-you-having-floppy-drive-problems-t5690.html

"Here's a possibility: HPET can set to use either edge- or level-triggered
interrupts. Edge-triggered interrupts are also used by legacy devices,
such as floppy disc drives. If your BIOS sets HPET to use edge-triggered
interrupts, they will interfere with the floppy drive access. This also explains
why some systems have no trouble when HPET is active. Those systems
use level-triggered interrupts."
More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Precision_Event_Timer

 

[ruggb]

I went back and enabled HPET but set it to 32bit operation and the floppy works that way also. I didn't see any option for triggering, but I didn't look as I read ur post after the fact.

Interestingly, Gigabyte has no clue how to fix the issue other than to tell me W7 doesn't support it.