[lukevulpiani]

Please help, on booting my computer I am getting the following two errors.

The first is FDC error and then I/O Channel error.

This prevents the computer from loading and I have to switch off and then on several times before it will eventually load.

What is the problem and what can I do to solve it as I am quite worried.

Thanks,

Luke

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Most likely a faulty floppy disk drive.

Ridiculously cheap and easy to replace.

Either that or the actual physical floppy disk controller on your motherboard has gone, though this may be no great loss if you don't actually use the thing.

[Neil Jones]

Most likely a faulty floppy disk drive.

Ridiculously cheap and easy to replace.

Either that or the actual physical floppy disk controller on your motherboard has gone, though this may be no great loss if you don't actually use the thing.

[lukevulpiani]

Most likely a faulty floppy disk drive.

Ridiculously cheap and easy to replace.

Either that or the actual physical floppy disk controller on your motherboard has gone, though this may be no great loss if you don't actually use the thing.

Thanks for the reply, could you elaborate a bit more? Think its the floppy disk controller on my motherboard thats gone, whats the best way to replace/solve this? Ridiculously cheap and easy - I'm a computer novice so please take it easy with me!

Thanks!

Luke

[Neil Jones]

Well if the Floppy Disk Controller has gone, then, well, I very much doubt that you'll be able to do much else with it other than replace the entire board.

No, replace the floppy disk drive first to see if the problem goes away. If it does, problem sorted. If not and you don't use the floppy disk anyway, just turn it off in BIOS and leave it.

[lukevulpiani]

Ok so basically your saying the floppy disk drive is f@@@@d. I can probably live with this, more of a concern is the fact on loading this error comes and won't log on. How can I get round this? by disabling the drive? otherwise I have to boot ten or more times.

Thanks very much for your help, gratefully appreciated.

Luke

[lukevulpiani]

How do I turn the floppy disk drive off in BIOS?

Thanks,

Luke

[Neil Jones]

Turn off your computer.

Turn it on again.

Repeatedly press F1, F2 and Del (one of them will work) to get into Setup.

Where you go from here depends entirely on your motherboard, as it'll be in a different place on different boards.

If present, look into the Standard CMOS Setup menu - use arrow keys to select and press Enter.

Otherwise open up various menus and look for what will be described as either Drive A, 3.5" Floppy or just Floppy.

If you have a branded system such as an earlyish Dell or a HP or a Compaq then its anybody's guess as to where the option you need will be, as they like to shift options around.

General rule of thumb here; change nothing if you don't know what it does. Take it up the local computer shop and ask them, because it may not be a faulty floppy, or a faulty controller, this is the sort of error that can really only be sorted by somebody physically in front of it first trying various things.

[lukevulpiani]

Thanks very much for your help.

Have repeatedly tried pressing F1, F2 and Del on restarting but none take me into the boot menu. I'm on Toshiba laptop satellite 1400, any ideas?

Luke

[Neil Jones]

Oh it's a laptop. That'll be fun to replace, make enquiries as to the availability of external floppy disk drives if you need the floppy. It'll be cheaper.

Anyway the general way to get a Toshiba to get into BIOS is to boot it up then hold down a key during POST until it complains about a stuck key (the one you're holding). There's then usually an option to press F1 or another key to enter Setup.

Toshbia BIOSes change like the wind with every revision of every laptop putting new things and new options in every different place. Plus they're totally non-standard and look nothing like you'd see on a desktop machine.

Edited by Neil Jones, 01 November 2005 - 06:10 PM.

[lukevulpiani]

Thanks very much for your help, I'll give it a go.