Floppy drive (A: drive) is driving me nuts!

[Rich Bartucci]

Worsening in recent weeks -- until it has begun to
erratically slow up just about everything. Almost without
any sort of reliable predictability, a movement of the
mouse pointer, perhaps a button-click, and frequently even
simple text *keyboard* input -- is the operating system's
erratic and nonsensical attempt to access the A: drive
(the computer's "floppy" drive) whether there's a disk in
there or not.

It seems like the damned machine is randomly interpreting
command input -- mouse or keyboard -- as if it were an
order to open a file or execute a program on that A:
drive.

For instance, I just moved the mouse curser around, and
the computer tried to access the A: drive, in which I now
leave a blank 3.5-inch disk at almost all times. If I
don't do that, the damned drive just *GRINDS* for several
minutes before giving up. I just ejected the disk a
moment ago, for example, and hit the "desktop" button --
and the A: drive tried to "seek" a nonexistent floppy
before clearing the screen to the desktop.

I find nothing about this on the Web with any sort of
specificity. If anyone knows what's going on (how this
idiocy started, and how to stop it), would you please e-
mail me? Thanks.

-- Rich Bartucci

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

First, check your antivirus software settings as they may be accessing or
trying to access the floppy drive to check for virus as a normal part of
their monitoring.

Second, try clearing the recent documents list. Right click Start, select
Properties, click Customize on the Startup tab, go to the Advanced tab and
under Recent Documents, click "Clear List."

If none of the above resolves it, check the following Knowledge Base
Article. While the title doesn't address your issue specifically, the fix
may resolve this issue for you:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q282470



--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"Rich Bartucci" > wrote in message
...
> Worsening in recent weeks -- until it has begun to
> erratically slow up just about everything. Almost without
> any sort of reliable predictability, a movement of the
> mouse pointer, perhaps a button-click, and frequently even
> simple text *keyboard* input -- is the operating system's
> erratic and nonsensical attempt to access the A: drive
> (the computer's "floppy" drive) whether there's a disk in
> there or not.
>
> It seems like the damned machine is randomly interpreting
> command input -- mouse or keyboard -- as if it were an
> order to open a file or execute a program on that A:
> drive.
>
> For instance, I just moved the mouse curser around, and
> the computer tried to access the A: drive, in which I now
> leave a blank 3.5-inch disk at almost all times. If I
> don't do that, the damned drive just *GRINDS* for several
> minutes before giving up. I just ejected the disk a
> moment ago, for example, and hit the "desktop" button --
> and the A: drive tried to "seek" a nonexistent floppy
> before clearing the screen to the desktop.
>
> I find nothing about this on the Web with any sort of
> specificity. If anyone knows what's going on (how this
> idiocy started, and how to stop it), would you please e-
> mail me? Thanks.
>
> -- Rich Bartucci

[Maureen Goldman]

>"Rich Bartucci" > wrote:
>Worsening in recent weeks -- until it has begun to
>erratically slow up just about everything. Almost without
>any sort of reliable predictability, a movement of the
>mouse pointer, perhaps a button-click, and frequently even
>simple text *keyboard* input -- is the operating system's
>erratic and nonsensical attempt to access the A: drive
>(the computer's "floppy" drive) whether there's a disk in
>there or not.

That sounds like an inactive shortcut pointing towards the floppy
drive. Locate and delete it via Start, Search

Top line *.LNK
Text a:\