Help! -- Floppy drive problem in Win XP Pro!

[funkys]

Ok, let me try to explain what is going on and hopefully someone has run into this before.........

I recently setup two new computers......they are running Windows XP Pro (with service pack 1) and they seem to be running fine......everything checks out in the device manager (all of the drivers seem to be fine) but I am having a problem with the floppy drives.

It seems like neither of the computers are recognizing the floppy drives as FLOPPY DRIVES. They have them listed fine under My Computer, but they act like they are trying to use them like a hard drive.....let me explain further.

When I go into a program.....lets say MS Word....and I save a file to the floppy drive....it saves fine. But then when I go to open another file....it automatically looks on the floppy. (Which is fine since that is the last place I saved a file.) But here is where things start to get strange......If I remove the disk from the floppy drive after I saved the file....and then try to open another file....the computer hangs....it will not do ANYTHING.....It will stay this way until I put a disk in the floppy drive.....then it accesses the disk and acts like everything is fine....

I did the EXACT same thing above on an older system of mine...(also running Windows XP Pro with service pack 1)....but when I went to open a new file (without having a disk in the floppy drive) it gave me an error saying that there was no disk in the floppy drive and then it let me access the hard drive without any problems......

So you see.....the two new systems seem like they are trying to use the floppy like a hard drive (they do not recognize that there is not a disk in the drive) I even tried going through My Computer and accessing the floppy drives.....and instead of telling me to insert a disk (like on my old system)...... both of the newer systems just hang.....until I put a disk in.....then they act fine.

I am at a COMPLETE loss!!!! If ANYONE has ANY idea what the problem may be....or a possible solution....it would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!

Thanks in advance to everyone!!!!

I hope to hear some suggestions soon.......Later and thanks again!!!!

[LooseChippings]

Which version of Word do you use?

In Word 2002 (Office XP) have Word Open

Tools > Options > File Locations > Modufy ...

[funkys]

Its not just MS Word.......it does it in ALL programs.....that is why I believe that it is in Windows itself.....

Sorry for any confusion....I just used Word as an example.....

[qfisheye]

You know there isn't much to a floppy. We do not configure or anything. XP or any operating system just puts it on the system. You proved it works by writing to it. When you go (as in your example) into word, after you saved to "a". Don't you have a choice when you go to open the file, to pick the source(like "a" "C" or cd rom? If I am reading what you say, I thing its working ok? When you open WORD it asks what location the source is or what file. XP will know where it was saved. To check if its working properly: control panel/system/hardware/device manager/left click + on floppy/under that right click on floppy drive/left click on properties. GOOD LUCK