Hi
I'm looking for a solution to this problem
My A Drive has started to spin up on start up and it didn't do this before this Saturday just gone.
I have RESTORED my Windows ME PC to before this started but that did not cure this problem.
A while back now ( Some Time Last Month ) I installed a CARD READER which when left connected did spin my A drive on start up, but when I removed it from the USB port this stopped. I have not used it since and my A drive has started to spin on Start Up or Re-Boot. I've just looked at my A drive and the green light was still glowing um-mm? not noticed that before either.
Regards
Full Version: A Drive Spins Up On Start Up
QUOTE(El_Tel @ Apr 21 2008, 09:54 AM) 
My A Drive has started to spin up on start up and it didn't do this before this Saturday just gone.
Just check you boot sequence in the CMOS/BIOS. Mine is set to run from floppy first but it only runs for a few seconds. If it can't find a floppy then the main drive takes over.
I could be way off the mark, but I've had something similar happen.
Short story, I opened a file associated with a small cataloging program for data cd's that was on a floppy. Then I did it to myself again several months later. Only this time notepad got associated with my A: drive because I stupidly opened a notepad that was on a floppy disk. Found out recently that the same thing can happen reading a Word.doc from a floppy! lol!
Fred Langa had some tips about this behavior too.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that it might have something to do with the Card Reader file association. Or by coincidence you've opened a file of some kind from a floppy and the association to it got "stuck" in a: drive.
My Autoexce.bat was okay. What I had to do was search my registry for all instances of the various file associations until I found an entry that mentioned a: drive. Once deleted, the chattering a drive went away. The three times it happened to me, I looked for .mss (that was the little catalog program), .txt and .doc. There were lots of hits, especially in classes that I kept clicking through, but I finally found them.
Edit: Also, have you made any changes in your antivirus? It could be scanning your a: drive on boot.
Short story, I opened a file associated with a small cataloging program for data cd's that was on a floppy. Then I did it to myself again several months later. Only this time notepad got associated with my A: drive because I stupidly opened a notepad that was on a floppy disk. Found out recently that the same thing can happen reading a Word.doc from a floppy! lol!
Fred Langa had some tips about this behavior too.
QUOTE
LANGA LIST TIPS:
Actually, there are several possible reasons for this behavior. One of the most common is that the floppy drive is in the "Path" that Windows searches when it's looking for a file to open or save. When there's no floppy in the drive, the drive heads seeks several times (and you hear "puka puka puka...") until Windows realizes there's nothing there to read, and gives up.
The Path is usually set in your Autoexec.bat file. There are several ways of seeing (and editing) what's in your Autoexec, but the one that works on all versions of Windows is to open Notepad, and then use File/Open to open the Autoexec.bat file, usually located in the C:\ directory.
In the Autoexec, you'll usually see a Path statement: this tells Windows where to look for files and in what order.
For example, PATH = A:\; C:\; C:\WINDOWS;...
would instruct Windows to look to retrieve or save files first on the A: drive, then in the root directory of the C drive, then in the windows directory on C:, and so on. Generally speaking, a Path shouldn't contain any references to any floppy drives because by their nature, they're used for temporary storage and often won't even have a disk in them.
To prevent this, just delete the reference to the floppy. In the above example, the Path would read PATH = C:\; C:\WINDOWS;... Reboot after saving your edit, and you're done.
(If your system doesn't have an Autoexec.bat, just create a standard text file with Notepad and either save it as or rename it to c:\autoexec.bat; that's all there is to it.)
Sometimes, especially after installing software from a floppy, the A: drive may be temporarily appended to the path, leading to the same effect---but this goes away after a reboot.
There are other ways you can get unwanted floppy activity, but those are the prime culprits!
Actually, there are several possible reasons for this behavior. One of the most common is that the floppy drive is in the "Path" that Windows searches when it's looking for a file to open or save. When there's no floppy in the drive, the drive heads seeks several times (and you hear "puka puka puka...") until Windows realizes there's nothing there to read, and gives up.
The Path is usually set in your Autoexec.bat file. There are several ways of seeing (and editing) what's in your Autoexec, but the one that works on all versions of Windows is to open Notepad, and then use File/Open to open the Autoexec.bat file, usually located in the C:\ directory.
In the Autoexec, you'll usually see a Path statement: this tells Windows where to look for files and in what order.
For example, PATH = A:\; C:\; C:\WINDOWS;...
would instruct Windows to look to retrieve or save files first on the A: drive, then in the root directory of the C drive, then in the windows directory on C:, and so on. Generally speaking, a Path shouldn't contain any references to any floppy drives because by their nature, they're used for temporary storage and often won't even have a disk in them.
To prevent this, just delete the reference to the floppy. In the above example, the Path would read PATH = C:\; C:\WINDOWS;... Reboot after saving your edit, and you're done.
(If your system doesn't have an Autoexec.bat, just create a standard text file with Notepad and either save it as or rename it to c:\autoexec.bat; that's all there is to it.)
Sometimes, especially after installing software from a floppy, the A: drive may be temporarily appended to the path, leading to the same effect---but this goes away after a reboot.
There are other ways you can get unwanted floppy activity, but those are the prime culprits!
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that it might have something to do with the Card Reader file association. Or by coincidence you've opened a file of some kind from a floppy and the association to it got "stuck" in a: drive.
My Autoexce.bat was okay. What I had to do was search my registry for all instances of the various file associations until I found an entry that mentioned a: drive. Once deleted, the chattering a drive went away. The three times it happened to me, I looked for .mss (that was the little catalog program), .txt and .doc. There were lots of hits, especially in classes that I kept clicking through, but I finally found them.
Edit: Also, have you made any changes in your antivirus? It could be scanning your a: drive on boot.
Hi
Sorry for not getting back sooner, but I have been trying so hard to sort this out, as the whirling A drive was worrying me...
To clear this up ( my omission, as I'm a prime ID 10 T PC user
), My PC as far as I know is set to Boot from A drive first, as it does glow on start up with no noise, then loads Windows to the point were I have to Log In with my password. The A drive only starts spinning after " Log In ". And then only after several things have started to load, it is hard to locate which one as they all load quite quickly and sometime 
crashes, then scan disk kicks in on re-start.
I have StartRight which loads programs with timed intervals, which I have doubled the default start times between each program in the event to locate the
A drive spinning. When I located a program, I got StartRight to disable it then switched off my PC then Re-Booted. I continued until I had nothing left even my sygate personal free firewall and that 
pesky A drive still spins. I then started to put things back and changed to start order IE: my firewall now start first in stead of last.
Now I'm up for any more idea's or my PC gets the D.F.A.V.G.H.
Sorry for not getting back sooner, but I have been trying so hard to sort this out, as the whirling A drive was worrying me...
QUOTE(Keithuk @ Apr 21 2008, 12:29 PM)
Just check you boot sequence in the CMOS/BIOS. Mine is set to run from floppy first but it only runs for a few seconds. If it can't find a floppy then the main drive takes over.
To clear this up ( my omission, as I'm a prime ID 10 T PC user
), My PC as far as I know is set to Boot from A drive first, as it does glow on start up with no noise, then loads Windows to the point were I have to Log In with my password. The A drive only starts spinning after " Log In ". And then only after several things have started to load, it is hard to locate which one as they all load quite quickly and sometime crashes, then scan disk kicks in on re-start. QUOTE(mommabear @ Apr 21 2008, 07:00 PM)
I could be way off the mark, but I've had something similar happen.
Short story, I opened a file associated with a small cataloging program for data cd's that was on a floppy. Then I did it to myself again several months later. Only this time notepad got associated with my A: drive because I stupidly opened a notepad that was on a floppy disk. Found out recently that the same thing can happen reading a Word.doc from a floppy! lol! ( QUOTE El Tel " How did you sort this out " )
Fred Langa had some tips about this behavior too.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that it might have something to do with the Card Reader file association. Or by coincidence you've opened a file of some kind from a floppy and the association to it got "stuck" in a: drive.
QUOTE El Tel " Would this include using a Briefcase on a USB memory stick on someones else's PC. "
My Autoexce.bat was okay. What I had to do was search my registry for all instances of the various file associations until I found an entry that mentioned a: drive. Once deleted, the chattering a drive went away. The three times it happened to me, I looked for .mss (that was the little catalog program), .txt and .doc. There were lots of hits, especially in classes that I kept clicking through, but I finally found them.
Edit: Also, have you made any changes in your antivirus? It could be scanning your a: drive on boot. QUOTE El Tel " No "
Short story, I opened a file associated with a small cataloging program for data cd's that was on a floppy. Then I did it to myself again several months later. Only this time notepad got associated with my A: drive because I stupidly opened a notepad that was on a floppy disk. Found out recently that the same thing can happen reading a Word.doc from a floppy! lol! ( QUOTE El Tel " How did you sort this out " )
Fred Langa had some tips about this behavior too.
QUOTE
LANGA LIST TIPS:
Actually, there are several possible reasons for this behavior. One of the most common is that the floppy drive is in the "Path" that Windows searches when it's looking for a file to open or save. When there's no floppy in the drive, the drive heads seeks several times (and you hear "puka puka puka...") until Windows realizes there's nothing there to read, and gives up.
Sometimes, especially after installing software from a floppy, the A: drive may be temporarily appended to the path, leading to the same effect---but this goes away after a reboot.
There are other ways you can get unwanted floppy activity, but those are the prime culprits!
Actually, there are several possible reasons for this behavior. One of the most common is that the floppy drive is in the "Path" that Windows searches when it's looking for a file to open or save. When there's no floppy in the drive, the drive heads seeks several times (and you hear "puka puka puka...") until Windows realizes there's nothing there to read, and gives up.
Sometimes, especially after installing software from a floppy, the A: drive may be temporarily appended to the path, leading to the same effect---but this goes away after a reboot.
There are other ways you can get unwanted floppy activity, but those are the prime culprits!
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that it might have something to do with the Card Reader file association. Or by coincidence you've opened a file of some kind from a floppy and the association to it got "stuck" in a: drive.
QUOTE El Tel " Would this include using a Briefcase on a USB memory stick on someones else's PC. "
My Autoexce.bat was okay. What I had to do was search my registry for all instances of the various file associations until I found an entry that mentioned a: drive. Once deleted, the chattering a drive went away. The three times it happened to me, I looked for .mss (that was the little catalog program), .txt and .doc. There were lots of hits, especially in classes that I kept clicking through, but I finally found them.
Edit: Also, have you made any changes in your antivirus? It could be scanning your a: drive on boot. QUOTE El Tel " No "
I have StartRight which loads programs with timed intervals, which I have doubled the default start times between each program in the event to locate the
A drive spinning. When I located a program, I got StartRight to disable it then switched off my PC then Re-Booted. I continued until I had nothing left even my sygate personal free firewall and that pesky A drive still spins. I then started to put things back and changed to start order IE: my firewall now start first in stead of last.Now I'm up for any more idea's or my PC gets the D.F.A.V.G.H.
Does it read a floppy disk properly? Will it format a blank floppy disk?
Clear out the Documents menu
In 98 its start - settings - Task bar & start menu - Start menu programs - Clear
Not sure about ME
If a floppy drive was used recentoy the system is still looking to access it as it is in the Documents menu.
In 98 its start - settings - Task bar & start menu - Start menu programs - Clear
Not sure about ME
If a floppy drive was used recentoy the system is still looking to access it as it is in the Documents menu.
QUOTE(Eyesee @ Apr 26 2008, 10:12 AM)
Clear out the Documents menu
In 98 its start - settings - Task bar & start menu - Start menu programs - Clear
Not sure about ME
If a floppy drive was used recentoy the system is still looking to access it as it is in the Documents menu.
In 98 its start - settings - Task bar & start menu - Start menu programs - Clear
Not sure about ME
If a floppy drive was used recentoy the system is still looking to access it as it is in the Documents menu.
Hey, thanks! I'll try that the next time I do it to myself again, before I spend a couple of hours plowing through my registry.
Thats the fix Mommabear. No registry hack required!
Clear out the recently used documents menu
El Tel
I have plenty of Id 10 T interface cards sitting around.
How many do you want?
Sometimes we all miss something so simple.
Clear out the recently used documents menu
El Tel
I have plenty of Id 10 T interface cards sitting around.
How many do you want?
Sometimes we all miss something so simple.
Hi
Remember me saying in post 4...
Well when my PC crashes and since my A Drive started spinning, I have also noticed that scan disk was no longer complete; it will kick in after a crash; get as far as approximately 5 blue bars then restart. It would re-start with either 3 or 4 blue bars then re-start some ten plus times. When It stumbles on the first blue bar for a further 10 plus times; I'd generally given up and pressed cancel. Windows would continue to load, my PC seemed to function OK as I was concentrating on A drive problem
Yes it will read and format a floppy disk
I never got around to doing this bit with the scan disk problem getting worse. This was now getting just a bad as the A drive problem, on the next crash I went into safe mode; don't ask me why but I did. Scan disk seemed to take ages over forty minuets but not one crash. I then Re-Booted forgetting the clear out the Documents, I was about to Re-Boot again, when with delight the A Drive did not spin.
I'll take six off your hands for now.
A drive no longer spins, thanks for all your help.
Remember me saying in post 4...
QUOTE(El_Tel @ Apr 26 2008, 11:19 AM)
then scan disk kicks in on re-start.
Well when my PC crashes and since my A Drive started spinning, I have also noticed that scan disk was no longer complete; it will kick in after a crash; get as far as approximately 5 blue bars then restart. It would re-start with either 3 or 4 blue bars then re-start some ten plus times. When It stumbles on the first blue bar for a further 10 plus times; I'd generally given up and pressed cancel. Windows would continue to load, my PC seemed to function OK as I was concentrating on A drive problem
QUOTE(garmanma @ Apr 26 2008, 03:12 PM)
Does it read a floppy disk properly? Will it format a blank floppy disk?
Yes it will read and format a floppy disk
QUOTE(Eyesee @ Apr 26 2008, 03:12 PM)
Clear out the Documents menu
If a floppy drive was used recentoy the system is still looking to access it as it is in the Documents menu.
If a floppy drive was used recentoy the system is still looking to access it as it is in the Documents menu.
I never got around to doing this bit with the scan disk problem getting worse. This was now getting just a bad as the A drive problem, on the next crash I went into safe mode; don't ask me why but I did. Scan disk seemed to take ages over forty minuets but not one crash. I then Re-Booted forgetting the clear out the Documents, I was about to Re-Boot again, when with delight the A Drive did
not spin.QUOTE(Eyesee @ Apr 27 2008, 02:36 AM)
El Tel
I have plenty of Id 10 T interface cards sitting around.
How many do you want?
I have plenty of Id 10 T interface cards sitting around.
How many do you want?
I'll take six off your hands for now. A drive no longer spins, thanks for all your help.
What usually causes the A drive to continue to try to reads is if you remove the disk before you close the file out, I have done this several times not thinking being in a hurry. The fix I like it is a good quick one, keeps you from having to find the diskput it back to let it close out properly.
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