problems with my A drive

aloren26 · 11-29-2005, 12:15 PM

I am at wits end here, and I hope someone here can help me!
I need to do a reformat on my computer. Usually I have someone else do it, but I figured I would take the bull by the horns and try myself.
I already had a WinME startup disk from last reformat. I shut my computer down, put the disk in the A drive and started it back up again. The light on the A drive lit up, but it didn't read the disk like it did last time I saw it do at the start of a reformat. I thought maybe I had to create a new one. So I tried to use the startup disk I already had to create a new one. I got this message:
Setup cannot properly initialize the disk that you inserted.
Error: Disk sector was not found.
Click OK to continue

I figured the disk was bad. I went and bought new disks. After putting in a new disk and trying to create a startup disk, I got the same error.
Both times, the light lit up for the A drive and I could hear it 'turning' the disk.
I googled bad sector and found out I should run scandisk on the A drive and mark sectors as bad. But when I try to do that, it lights up, but then it tells me there is no disk in the A drive, but there is.
My neighbor gave me an old disk she ran across with jokes on it. It is formatted, and when I click on the A drive from My Computer, the contents came right up. But the blank formatted disk she also sent over also won't work, once again the disk sector was not found.
I did manage to get one of the new disks formatted and it got to 60% of creating the startup disk. Then it said:

Setup cannot properly initialize the disk you are using
Error: disk write fault

Anytime I try to put a new disk in and access it from My Computer, it says the disk is not formatted, do I want to format it now? I click yes, then it says:

Windows cannot format this disk. Either the selected capacity is not valid for this disk, or the disk is damaged and may need to be replaced.

Surely I didn't buy a whole box of bad disks?
I thought maybe my drive needs to be cleaned. If this is right, how do I clean it? With dust-off? I will admit I have never cleaned it, so that is a total possibility.
Thanks for any help. I am ready to tear every last hair out of my head!

aloren26 · 11-29-2005, 12:48 PM

To be more specific, when I try to do a scandisk on drive A, this is what I get:

ScanDisk cannot check this drive because there is no disk in it, it is not formatted, or a disk utility has locked it. Insert a valid disk in the drive or wait for the utlity to finish, then restart scandisk.

And in case it matters, I am on a Dell Dimension 8100.

Chevy · 11-29-2005, 03:46 PM

Sounds like a bad floppy drive. If it's under warranty, get with Dell. If not, you can pick up a new drive for very little $$ ($10 or so).

11-29-2005, 12:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
aloren26 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2 OS: WinME	problems with my A drive I am at wits end here, and I hope someone here can help me! I need to do a reformat on my computer. Usually I have someone else do it, but I figured I would take the bull by the horns and try myself. I already had a WinME startup disk from last reformat. I shut my computer down, put the disk in the A drive and started it back up again. The light on the A drive lit up, but it didn't read the disk like it did last time I saw it do at the start of a reformat. I thought maybe I had to create a new one. So I tried to use the startup disk I already had to create a new one. I got this message: Setup cannot properly initialize the disk that you inserted. Error: Disk sector was not found. Click OK to continue I figured the disk was bad. I went and bought new disks. After putting in a new disk and trying to create a startup disk, I got the same error. Both times, the light lit up for the A drive and I could hear it 'turning' the disk. I googled bad sector and found out I should run scandisk on the A drive and mark sectors as bad. But when I try to do that, it lights up, but then it tells me there is no disk in the A drive, but there is. My neighbor gave me an old disk she ran across with jokes on it. It is formatted, and when I click on the A drive from My Computer, the contents came right up. But the blank formatted disk she also sent over also won't work, once again the disk sector was not found. I did manage to get one of the new disks formatted and it got to 60% of creating the startup disk. Then it said: Setup cannot properly initialize the disk you are using Error: disk write fault Anytime I try to put a new disk in and access it from My Computer, it says the disk is not formatted, do I want to format it now? I click yes, then it says: Windows cannot format this disk. Either the selected capacity is not valid for this disk, or the disk is damaged and may need to be replaced. Surely I didn't buy a whole box of bad disks? I thought maybe my drive needs to be cleaned. If this is right, how do I clean it? With dust-off? I will admit I have never cleaned it, so that is a total possibility. Thanks for any help. I am ready to tear every last hair out of my head!

11-29-2005, 12:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
aloren26 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2 OS: WinME	To be more specific, when I try to do a scandisk on drive A, this is what I get: ScanDisk cannot check this drive because there is no disk in it, it is not formatted, or a disk utility has locked it. Insert a valid disk in the drive or wait for the utlity to finish, then restart scandisk. And in case it matters, I am on a Dell Dimension 8100. Last edited by aloren26; 11-29-2005 at 12:52 PM.

11-29-2005, 03:46 PM	#3 (permalink)
Chevy Retired Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Notlob Posts: 5,452 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	Sounds like a bad floppy drive. If it's under warranty, get with Dell. If not, you can pick up a new drive for very little $$ ($10 or so).