3 1/2 floppy disk

[RBK25]

my floppy disk has worked fine for a couple years and then all of a sudden it will not take a disk. i can put the disk in until about 1 inch is left. when i do try to put one in it will make grinding and squeaking sounds . the device manager says that it is working properly.

[redwench]

dont argue with grinding and squealing. toss it and get another one. theyre cheap.

[Shalome]

Take a flashlight, open the door of the drive, and look inside. Sounds like the shutter of a disk may have broken off and gotten lodged in the drive (happens ALL the time -- or at least it used to when everyone had 3.5 in drives..). If you can't see anything stuck in there, toss the drive and buy a new one. They're cheap.

[RBK25]

surprisingly i know even less about hardware than i do software. would a dummy like me be able to install this drive without messing anything up. i have looked at a couple of sites for floppy drive installation but cant seem to find anything that is aimed for a laptop. maybe there isnt much difference?

[redwench]

with extraordinarily rare exceptions, you dont need to do anything except hook up the new drive exactly the way the old one was. power cable only goes in one way and in one port. floppy cable might be reversible, but most of those are one way now too.

its a 5 minute job.