I'm surprised at how unhelpful google can be at times.

Okay, I just bought a 10NRV A00 external floppy drive for my Dell Insp. 5M (don't laugh ), and er uh, I don't know what to do with it . Seeing as how there are no instructions online as to how to install these, I assume you just plug it into the parallel port and let 'er go, ne? Well, no go. (I got it off of eBay and am now fearing the worst.)

Any tips?

Have you tried the manufacturers website?

Yep. I'm guessing this item is either really old or they've chosen to ignore it because I founf absolutely no info on it. Also, it seems they've beeen having trouble lately with their support.

Have you tried it with it plugged in when you restart the computer?

Yes.

In Device Manager, the item "TapeDetection" appears under both "LPT1" and "Standard Floppy Disk Contoller", so obviously plugging the device in is registering in some way; I just can't get it to operate. I searched for both 10NRV-A00 and TapeDetection and found no drivers, yet D.M. has the gall to state that the device is working properly. Also of note is the fact that despite my now-absent internal drive, My Computer still displays an (A) drive, though I only encounter freezing when I press any farther, and on the same note, even after removing all but TapeDetection from SFDC, a restart renders "GENERIC NEC FLOPPY DISK".