Win98 slower without a floppy drive?

[Leo V]

Hi,
I've built myself a new PC, and I haven't included a floppy drive. (No, I'm NOT one of the iMac people; I simply never use a floppy and want to evade the cost/cable clutter). I borrowed a floppy just to boot up the first time, then installed Win98 Second Edition.

The problem is, Win98se keeps detecting SOME kind of an A: drive. Now that I've set everything in the BIOS to ignore floppies, Win98SE thinks that there exists a "Removable Disk (A /forum/smile.gif". I didn't really care, until I saw under the Windows->Performance tab, "Drive A: using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system"! This supposedly reduces averall system performance.

Is that just a glitch, or am I really losing performance because I don't have a floppy? How do I deal with it?

Thanks,
Leo V.

[Susan]

I had some problems a while back trying to disable my floppy in WIN because I installed an LS 120 Drive in it's place. WIN continued to list the floppy...

I asked whether anyone knew of what the registry entries would be to delete, but didn't get any answers.

Yes, my system was slower (WIN98) and part of this I blamed on my Virus Protection.

Anyone know?

[Leo V]

I've tried using Windows2000 Release Candidate 1, and it actually completely eliminates the A: drive (only displays C: and D: ); it doesn't give me any **** about reduced performance. However, I'm waiting for the retail Win2000 due to hardware support. Meanwhile I'm stuck with Win98SE, which seems to require backwards 1980's hardware to work its fastest (kinda shows it's built on DOS) /forum/wink.gif

[Rookie]

You could try: Hkey Local Machine> Enum> Flop and delete that key.
I havent tried it but you said this was a fresh install? So you may have no qualms about doing it over if that causes more problems than it solves?
Better wait to see if one of the more learned ones on this board concur unless you feel like living dangerously.
Rookie

[Carl Uman]

You say that you have set everything in bios to ignore floppies... what settings did you change? This will help to be sure you have everything. Also what bios do you have AMI or Award?

[SoopaStar]

Leo:
couple of things you may want to try. First, right click on My Computer and choose properties. Then, click on Performance. Next, click the File System button, then the Floppy Disk Tab. Take the check mark out of "Search for new floppy drive...". Actually, everyone can do this unless you install a floppy drive every so often. The other thing to do would be to disable it in your Bios if possible. I did that on an Intel SE440BX motherboard and I think I am going to do it on my Abit BX6 rev 2. If that doesn't work, then goto the my computer properties again, click on Device manager, then the floppy disk controller and in the General tab, disable that peice of hardware. This shoudl also free up the IRQ and other stuff used by that device /forum/smile.gif
Hope that helps.

-SS-

Paul

[Leo V]

Thanks guys, but it _seems_ that I did everything right. BIOS settings (Abit BE6, AWARD BIOS):
Standard CMOS: Floppy (A/B/etc): None
Detect floppy on bootup: Disabled
Report No FDD for Win95: Yes
FDD Controller: Disabled

I also made sure that the Win98 options were likewise set correctly: Don't locate floppy on bootup; there was NO trace of the floppy drive either in the Device Manager OR in the Enum section of the registry. A complete mystery. I can't wait till the final Win2000 is completed.

[Susan]

Leo, I did all those things also...

It wasn't until I did a reformat and reinstall without the A: drive and just used my LS-120 drive that it stayed away.