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Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A'

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In news:j2c5lc$861$1@Kil-nws-1.UCIS.Dal.Ca,
Richard Bonner wrote:
> BillW50 (BillW50@aol.kom) wrote:
>> Richard Bonner <ak621@chebucto.ns.ca> typed:
>
>>> BillW50 (BillW50@aol.kom) wrote:
>>> (Re: Using Either `A. or `B' to Access a Single Floppy Drive)
>>>> You could disconnect it and use one of those USB floppy drives too.
>>>
>>> ***   Yes, but I don't want to have to carry yet another peripheral.
>
>> No I was thinking of trying this for troubleshooting purposes. Not
>> as a permanent solution.
>
> ***   Oh, OK.
>
>   Hmm, that still won't help because a USB floppy drive will take on
> the letter assigned to it via the USB drivers. In the case of my
> laptop, it would be Drive `H'.

Oh wow, really? When I use mine, it becomes drive A if there isn't an 
onboard floppy. And drive B if there is one.

>>>> That would work if your BIOS isn't too old and supports it.
>>>
>>> ***   With DOS (and probably other operating systems), the BIOS need
>>> not support USB. My DOS USB drivers take care of the requirements,
>>> as long as there is a USB port, of course.  (-:
>
>> That is all well and fine and everything. But those DOS USB drivers
>> are worthless if you wanted to boot from an USB device in the first
>> place. Now you have to hope the BIOS supports booting from USB in
>> this case.
>
> ***   Ahh yes, you are correct. Unfortunately, my Pavilion's BIOS is
> 1999 or 2000 and has no provision to boot from the USB port.  )-:

My two Toshiba 2595XDVD from '99 doesn't allow booting from USB either. 
Worse they only have one USB port and top speed running at USB v1.1. 
Thank goodness for CardBus USB 2.0 ports. ;-)

>>>> Say are you booting the OS or have a needed driver on this drive?
>>>> That might change the behavior.
>>>> --
>>>> Bill
>>>
>>> ***   I don't understand what you are asking. The laptop hardware
>>> and operating system did not change. I was having some odd issues
>>> and then had corrupted data on the hard drive. I swapped a new hard
>>> drive for the old and this floppy drive issue started.
>
>> Well if you boot from this floppy, some files on the floppy may
>> become locked. Like Command.com and some drivers. And the OS might
>> disallow using this drive as nothing else but drive A and that is
>> it. If you are booting from a hard drive, well then you should be
>> okay as long as you don't have any open files on that drive.
>
> ***   Since I reinstalled everything, I am indeed booting from the
> hard drive. If I boot from a floppy, yes, it is automatically
> designated as drive `A'.

Well that is normal. ;-)

>   You have given me an idea, though. I must ask for a disc-to-disc
> copy and designate the target as `B' to see what happens.

Yes that would be interesting how it handles that.

>> And speaking of replacing the hard drive... are you sure none of the
>> OS files are not corrupt? As if they are, that would explain all of
>> your problems.
>> --
>> Bill
>
> ***   I am not sure, but all seems to work as it should otherwise.
> However, I will take that as an advisement and reinstall the operating
> system.
>
>   Before I try that though, I must boot from a floppy to see if I can
> access `B'. If so, then that might indicate a corrupt OS file on the
> hard drive.
>
>   Thanks for the help.

Yes running DOS from the floppy should tell you what really is going on 
here. ;-)

-- 
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3 

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Thread

Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) - 2011-08-08 15:21 +0000
  Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' "Anthony R. Gold" <not-for-mail@ahjg.co.uk> - 2011-08-12 22:22 +0100
    Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) - 2011-08-13 14:00 +0000
      Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-08-13 14:57 -0500
        Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) - 2011-08-14 14:12 +0000
          Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-08-14 11:09 -0500
            Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) - 2011-08-15 22:13 +0000
              Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-08-16 02:01 +0000
                Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) - 2011-08-16 11:19 +0000
                Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-08-16 11:47 +0000
                Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) - 2011-08-17 16:05 +0000
              Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-08-16 07:10 -0500
                Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) - 2011-08-17 16:13 +0000
          Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-08-16 02:00 +0000
            Re: Laptop Only Recognises Drive Letter `A' ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) - 2011-08-16 11:16 +0000

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