How Do I Get Rid Of My Floppy???

try booting to safe mode, finding the floppy drive's entry in device manager and deleting it...if it comes back (windows displays a "found  new hardware" wizard when you reboot)  you probably have some piece of hardware in the system that is being misidentified.  At that point I'd disconnect all external devices except monitor, power, keyboard, and mouse...then delete the floppy drive from device manager in safe mode again, restart, and see if it comes back.
When did that floppy drive icon start showing up?
good luck
jeff

The floppy drive icon has been there... well... forever.  The only thing is, once getting rid of the floppy, the icon changed from 3 1/2" to 5 1/4".  How bizarre. :)  I'll try your suggestions and get back to you.  Thanks for the reply!

Go the the bios and change floppy type to NONE, also disable the FDD controller in the advanced BIOS features, then if you still have it in windows - delete it, it will not come back - I guarantee it...

Zvitam.

definately a good step, I skipped this because he said:
<< All BIOS settings are set to not look for a floppy device>>
jeff

Okay... here's where we are at.  As stated in the original question, all BIOS referrences to the floppy are disabled, already.  When in Safe Mode, the only referrence to the floppy drive is the "Floppy Controller".  I removed that and it did not come back.  However, My Computer is still reporting the 5 1/4" floppy.  Grrrr.  Thanks for the ideas.

that's so weird...did you try removing all your external devices like I mentioned?

Here is a detour  (it deos not actually solve the problem, is just hides the drive from my computer)

You can add the NoDrive entry of type REG_DWORD to the registry. Open a registry editor, then navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer registry subkey. From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value, then type the name NoDrive. The values for this data type range from 0x0 (the default setting), which disables the value and displays all drives, to 0x3FFFFFF, which hides all system drives (i.e., A through Z). Other values include

0x3—hides drives A and B

This is part of Windows Group Policy, but may help you locally.

Good luck,
Zvitam.

Hi there,
try going into device manager, highlighting the floppy drive entry, right click on it and click on 'Disable'. You will get a message saying that it will not function etc. Click OK. Now when you go into My Computer the floppy drive should be missing

Hope this helps

Michael

tfjeff - haven't tried removing devices, yet.  I got too tired, last night.  Will probably try that today. :)

zvitam - I considered that, but that would mean the "drive" is still out there in MS-DOS compatibility mode, possibly sucking that little bit of performance out of my machine (not that it's powerful to begin with...).  If at all possible, I just want to get rid of the thing. :)  Thanks, though!

daleoran - As stated above, the floppy drive is no longer listed in the device manager, at all.  However, it still shows up in the My Computer window.  It's quite the mystery where the computer thinks I have a 5 1/4" drive attached.  Thanks!

If you don't make any reference to it, it will not affect you system performance at all.

Hi
Can you right click on it in My Computer
Select properties
Click on the 'Hardware' tab and select the floppy drive from the list - hopefully it will be listed.
Click 'properties'
Then where it says 'Device Usage' select 'Do not use this device'

Michael

zvitam - Thanks for letting me know that.  I've noticed that, as my machine runs awhile, my memory sinks to below 50% free.  The system says it's because drive A is using MS-DOS compatibility mode.  I'm a little confused by that.  Are you 100% sure that would not suck my system resources?

daleoran - I tried following your instructions, but did not see a Hardware tab where you specified.  Are those instructions for Windows ME?

Sorry they're for XP :(

Michael

dharvell,
does the 5.25" drive still show up in my computer in safe mode?

You can use Tweak UI>My Computer>Drives and uncheck A:

tfjeff - I can't remember if the 5.25" shows up in Safe Mode, or not.  I'll check that, as well as do your disconnecting of peripheral test, either tonight or tomorrow... depending on how much time I find formyself. :)  Thanks!

Best wishes ,
oh its the device enumeration problem .
click on start ->Run->msinfo32->Ok
go to components.
under this go to storage .

Note the registry key as follows.

 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
    fdc
    Registry Key:                               HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\enum\ACPI\*PNP0700\0

Note:   First backup the registry .

open the registry editor start->Run->regedit ->OK
goto the key.
right click on it and delete.
restart the system .

if this does not work reinstall operating system under expert guidance again .
AS THIS IS THE  ONLY OTHER OPTION.

Thanks for the info, CAPANDGLOVES.  I'll give that a shot.  Restoring the OS doesn't help, as this has always been a problem, through several installs.  So, I'll give the MSINFO32 a try.

Thanks again!

Best wishes

The device enumeration is an option while installing the OS .
Will let you know if you choose to go for an OS reinstall .
By the way one more thing
 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
    fdc
    Registry Key:                              HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\enum\ACPI\*PNP0700\0

The actual registry key as it appears under storage (msinfo32)
for your system needs to be deleted.It might not be same as for my system.


Best regards .
cap and gloves

TFJEFF - Finally tried your ideas, but still cannot get rid of that darn floppy.  Thanks for the suggestion!

CAPANDGLOVES

Oops -

CAPANDGLOVES... looked in MSINFO32 and could not find a fdc listed...

I reckon most of the suggestions are worth keeping. They may not have helped solve dharvell's problem but I think they could be useful to others.
recommend

PAQ/ Points refunded

Michael

let me just say that i am running win98SE  with NO floppy and i get the 5 1/4" floppy too and ms dos compatibility mode too    i think it is part of windows for it  will try the suggestions soon  but doing a cleanup range now.

compfixer101

No comment has been added to this question in more than 21 days, so it is now classified as abandoned..
I will leave the following recommendation for this question in the Cleanup topic area:
PAQ/ refund

Any objections should be posted here in the next 4 days. After that time, the question will be closed.

compfixer101
EE Cleanup Volunteer