Word Processing problem

Hi All,
Hope this is the correct forum!!
XP Home (3)
M.S. Works.
Works has been running well for ages, I save my work to floppies. Now when I
attempt to access the floppies I get the message. Works cannot open
"A:\Name.wps". File may be in use by another application, file may not be
supported by installed converters, or file may be corrupt.
Some of the folders open, but not all. I am at a loss as to what to do. Any
help would be appreciated.
Cheers.
Classic

"Classic 42" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
Hope this is the correct forum!!
XP Home (3)
M.S. Works.
Works has been running well for ages, I save my work to floppies. Now when
I attempt to access the floppies I get the message. Works cannot open
"A:\Name.wps". File may be in use by another application, file may not be
supported by installed converters, or file may be corrupt.
Some of the folders open, but not all. I am at a loss as to what to do.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers.
Classic


Have you tried the disks in another machine? The floppy drive may be going
bad, or is just in need of cleaning. You can probably still pick up one of
the cleaning disks at a computer store or Radio Shack.
How many times have you re-written the disks? They don't last forever
either.

SC Tom

"SC Tom" wrote in message
...

"Classic 42" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
Hope this is the correct forum!!
XP Home (3)
M.S. Works.
Works has been running well for ages, I save my work to floppies. Now
when I attempt to access the floppies I get the message. Works cannot
open "A:\Name.wps". File may be in use by another application, file may
not be supported by installed converters, or file may be corrupt.
Some of the folders open, but not all. I am at a loss as to what to do.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers.
Classic


Have you tried the disks in another machine? The floppy drive may be going
bad, or is just in need of cleaning. You can probably still pick up one of
the cleaning disks at a computer store or Radio Shack.
How many times have you re-written the disks? They don't last forever
either.

SC Tom
Thanks for your input Tom, Floppies have only been written to the once. I
found a 3 1/2 floppy disk cleaner in a drawer and applied it but with no
result. When accessing the floppy disc I get the splash screen with the
Microsoft Works Logo and the files, but when I try to open a file I just get
the same message as before. i.e "A:\Name.wps." etc.Also
"May not be supported by installed converters".
How do I check the last bit.
Thanks.
Classic

On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:48:37 +0100, "Classic 42"
wrote:

Hi All,
Hope this is the correct forum!!
XP Home (3)
M.S. Works.
Works has been running well for ages, I save my work to floppies. Now when I
attempt to access the floppies I get the message. Works cannot open
"A:\Name.wps". File may be in use by another application, file may not be
supported by installed converters, or file may be corrupt.
Some of the folders open, but not all. I am at a loss as to what to do. Any
help would be appreciated.


First of all, note that this is *not* a word processing problem, nor
is it a Windows XP problem. If you can read some of what's on the
diskettes, but not all of it, almost certainly the problem is with the
diskettes themselves or with the diskette drive.

What's written on a diskette always has a limited life, and diskettes
are a very poor medium for your critical data.

If you are lucky, the problem may be with the drive rather than the
diskettes (try the diskettes in another computer to find out), and you
can solve the problem by replacing it (the are very inexpensive). But
for the future, I strongly recommend that you *stop* using diskettes
for this purpose.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote in message
...

On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:48:37 +0100, "Classic 42"
wrote:

Hi All,
Hope this is the correct forum!!
XP Home (3)
M.S. Works.
Works has been running well for ages, I save my work to floppies. Now
when I
attempt to access the floppies I get the message. Works cannot open
"A:\Name.wps". File may be in use by another application, file may not be
supported by installed converters, or file may be corrupt.
Some of the folders open, but not all. I am at a loss as to what to do.
Any
help would be appreciated.


First of all, note that this is *not* a word processing problem, nor
is it a Windows XP problem. If you can read some of what's on the
diskettes, but not all of it, almost certainly the problem is with the
diskettes themselves or with the diskette drive.

What's written on a diskette always has a limited life, and diskettes
are a very poor medium for your critical data.

If you are lucky, the problem may be with the drive rather than the
diskettes (try the diskettes in another computer to find out), and you
can solve the problem by replacing it (the are very inexpensive). But
for the future, I strongly recommend that you *stop* using diskettes
for this purpose.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Thank you for the advice. I will use an external H/D in future and will
attempt to open the diskettes on another machine, I only hope that I can
recover the files.
Classic

On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:31:59 +0100, "Classic 42"
wrote:


"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote in message
...

On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:48:37 +0100, "Classic 42"
wrote:

Hi All,
Hope this is the correct forum!!
XP Home (3)
M.S. Works.
Works has been running well for ages, I save my work to floppies. Now
when I
attempt to access the floppies I get the message. Works cannot open
"A:\Name.wps". File may be in use by another application, file may not be
supported by installed converters, or file may be corrupt.
Some of the folders open, but not all. I am at a loss as to what to do.
Any
help would be appreciated.


First of all, note that this is *not* a word processing problem, nor
is it a Windows XP problem. If you can read some of what's on the
diskettes, but not all of it, almost certainly the problem is with the
diskettes themselves or with the diskette drive.

What's written on a diskette always has a limited life, and diskettes
are a very poor medium for your critical data.

If you are lucky, the problem may be with the drive rather than the
diskettes (try the diskettes in another computer to find out), and you
can solve the problem by replacing it (the are very inexpensive). But
for the future, I strongly recommend that you *stop* using diskettes
for this purpose.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Thank you for the advice. I will use an external H/D in future and will
attempt to open the diskettes on another machine, I only hope that I can
recover the files.


You're welcome. I also hope you succeed, and good luck.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Classic 42 wrote:
Hi All,
Hope this is the correct forum!!
XP Home (3)
M.S. Works.
Works has been running well for ages, I save my work to floppies. Now
when I attempt to access the floppies I get the message. Works cannot
open "A:\Name.wps". File may be in use by another application, file
may not be supported by installed converters, or file may be corrupt.
Some of the folders open, but not all. I am at a loss as to what to
do. Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers.
Classic

Will Windows Explorer list the files on the floppy? If not either the
floppy drive or the diskette are bad (as others have said). If yes, then
your problem lies elsewhere.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

"dadiOH" wrote in message
...
Classic 42 wrote:
Hi All,
Hope this is the correct forum!!
XP Home (3)
M.S. Works.
Works has been running well for ages, I save my work to floppies. Now
when I attempt to access the floppies I get the message. Works cannot
open "A:\Name.wps". File may be in use by another application, file
may not be supported by installed converters, or file may be corrupt.
Some of the folders open, but not all. I am at a loss as to what to
do. Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers.
Classic

Will Windows Explorer list the files on the floppy? If not either the
floppy drive or the diskette are bad (as others have said). If yes, then
your problem lies elsewhere.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Thank you DadiOH,
They must have been bad diskettes 'cos
when I tried other diskettes (over 25) on this machine I could open all of
them, pics, text, HTML, saved email, the lot. So it wasn't the floppy drive.
As I said before I am now saving my work to an external H/D
Thank you all for your invaluable input. I'm getting to like this help
group!!
Classic