Troubleshooting Guide
2–12 www.hp.com Troubleshooting Guide
Troubleshooting Without Diagnostics
Solving Diskette Problems
Common causes and solutions for diskette problems are listed in the 
following table.
✎
You may need to reconfigure the computer when you add or remove 
hardware, such as an additional diskette drive. See “Solving 
Hardware Installation Problems” for instructions.
Solving Diskette Problems 
Problem Cause Solution
Diskette drive light stays on. Diskette is damaged. In Microsoft Windows XP, right-click 
Start, click Explore, and select a 
drive. Select File > Properties > 
Tools. Under Error-checking, 
click Check Now.
Diskette is incorrectly 
inserted.
Remove diskette and reinsert.
Drive cable is not 
properly connected.
Reconnect drive cable. Ensure that 
all four pins on the diskette power 
cable are connected to the drive.
Drive not found. Cable is loose. Reseat diskette drive data and 
power cable.
Removable drive is not 
seated properly.
Reseat the drive.
Diskette drive cannot write 
to a diskette.
Diskette is not 
formatted.
Format the diskette.
1. From Windows Explorer select 
the disk (A) drive.
2. Right-click the drive letter and 
select Format.
3. Select the desired options, and 
click Start to begin formatting 
the diskette.
Diskette is 
write-protected.
Use another diskette or remove the 
write protection.










