[garfluver]

HI!

When I turn on my computer with Windows 98 I get an error message everytime. It says : Diskette drive A error

I can press F1 to resume or F2 to go to set up.

I press F1 and eventually I get to my desktop. Is there something you can help me with to remove this error?

I also noticed that instead of the usual 3 1/2 " floppy it says it's a 5 1/4" ...any idea how this got changed?

Any help is appreciated!

Garfluver

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Hard to say how it got changed but it could be a power spike, or just plain old battery going dead. To "fix" this hit the f2 that it says and change where it says 5 1/4 drive back to 3 1/2 drive.

[shard92]

Hard to say how it got changed but it could be a power spike, or just plain old battery going dead. To "fix" this hit the f2 that it says and change where it says 5 1/4 drive back to 3 1/2 drive.

[garfluver]

Hi Shard92,

Oh, you made it sound sooooo easy! I did F2...and didn't see anything about 3 1/2 or 5 1/4" floppy. I'm not so good at doing this stuff without step by step instructions.

Could you please help me out? Like I said...step by step.

After I turn the computer on I get a black screen with the disk A error message and the 2 options...F1 or F2. After clicking on F2, I'm lost!

Thanks for your help!
Garfluver

[shard92]

Well the problem is not all setups on a computer are the same. What do you see when it goes into setup ( after you press the f2 button. ) WHat kind of computer is this? laptop? desktop? Namebrand? ( dell, gateway, etc) or a bench built?

I can give you an idea but without more info I can't say for sure.....

Usually the floppy settings are on the first page or one that says basic setup. However if it's a laptop or a name brand desktop it may be different.

[garfluver]

I have a Hewlett packard Vectra VL series 4 computer...windows 98 with intel pentium processor 64 MB RAM

when I first turn on the computer I get a black screen with this:

Diskette drive A error
Fixed disk 0: identified
Cd-ROM drive: identified
Mouse initialized
Press <F1> to resume, <F2> to Setup

after pressing F2 across the setup screen I see this:

Main Preferences Configuration Security Power Exit

Under the main menu there's the system time, date, memory, etc.
Under preferences there's password info
Under configuration there's integrated peripherals, video, memory & cache, hard disk drives & PCI devices
Under security there's more password stuff
Under power there's info about drives

Hope this is what you need.

Thanks again,
Garfluver

[wannabe1]

Hi garfluver...Welcome to G2G!

Under the "Main" catagory look for "Legacy Diskette A" fo see that is is set to [1.44MB 3 1/2"]...if it is not, use the arrow keys to select "Legacy Diskette A" and then use the + or - keys to change it to the proper drive (in your case the [1.44MB 3 1/2"]...Press F10 to Save and Exit and then press Enter to actually exit Setup. The machine should then start as advertised. Let me know how this works for you...I'm pulling this info from memory so the wording may be slightly different....

wannabe1

[garfluver]

Hi wannabe...
I went under main menu and there isn't anything about the Legacy diskette A there. I found something under the configuration & from there into Integrated peripherals...but it says "Flexible disk drive A [1.44 MB, 3 ½"]. So looks like it is saying the right thing???

Any other ideas? Let me know.

Garfluver

[wannabe1]

Hello garfluver...

That's the one that is supposed to be there alright. Just for kicks and grins, go ahead and use the +/- key and switch that setting to anything else and then back to 3 1/2", click F10 to save and exit, then reboot...

Have you tried using the floppy drive? You might try saving something to the floppy just to see that it is working.

Let me know if anything changes.

wannabe1

[shard92]

do you get any lights on the drive? If not maybe it isn't getting power. If the light comes on and stays on solid the drive cable ( not the power) may be backwards. If the light comes on and goes out maybe the drive has gone bad.

[dsenette]

if you press f1 instead of f2 does the system boot all the way up? and if so is the floppy drive in device manager (right click my computer > manage > device manager) or windows explorer?

[garfluver]

The drive is in the device manager...I can even put a disk in the drive and get it to open the contents....so am guess that the drive is ok??

The only problem is on startup. It starts right up after pressing F1 to resume.

I was also able to save something on the disk and retrieve it...so any other suggestions?

Thanks for all the ideas and help.

Garfluver

[bdlt]

it's possible that the drive is getting slow in it's old age. it sounds like once the system is booted, the drive works ok. if it's degrading, you might plan on replacing the drive.

as a work around - you might change the boot order. that might allow it more time to get going without causing a boot error. try boot order HD, CD, floppy.

Edited by bdlt, 19 August 2005 - 12:30 PM.

[garfluver]

Thanks for the suggestion...I'll try changing the order. If that doesn't work, I know someone who has a drive they will give me as a replacement.

Thanks again!!

Garfluver