Windows XP Device Manager – Floppy Disk Controller and Drives

Was working on a friend computer having error with Windows XP Driver, the audio device is not recognized by Windows XP when I noticed that Floppy disk controller and Floppy disk drive are listed on device driver even no such device are installed.






Out of curiosity I wanted to know how can disable it. My quick search reveals below:

When you disable the floppy controller in Device Manager, it may also be disabled in the computer's Basic Input/Output System (BIOS).

When you disable the floppy controller in Device Manager, it may also be disabled in the computer's Basic Input/Output System (BIOS).

This issue occurs because of a problem with the Plug and Play BIOS used by some computers.

To resolve this issue, contact the computer manufacturer to inquire about the availability of an updated BIOS for your computer.

To work around this issue, re-enable the floppy controller in the computer's BIOS. For information about how to do so, contact the computer manufacturer.

This is from Microsoft...

I also tried disabling floppy controller in the BIOS, it was easy but when I checked device manager it is still there....

Disabling it on the device manager may be the easiest for the moment.








This process will disable the device but still show it on Device Manager so I guess we have to contact motherboard manufacturer to get BIOS update or anything..

Windows 7 Driver Manager

If you've been reading my post here, you'll notice that "Windows Device Manager".

I like this windows facility for acting to be the central control system for compute devices drivers and resources. So how it looks like in Windows 7?

Here is what we got.



















OK, it looks fancier and eyes friendly but for functionality and features I guess it is mostly the same with windows XP and Vista.

So if you find something new please comment so we can add :)

I still love this feature for managing Windows Driver.

Windows Device Manager, Plug and Play

With the advent of plug and play technology, hardware installation is almost like snap of fingers. Windows do it by automatically allocating resources for the device, see below resources allocation:

1. Interrupt request (IRQ) line numbers.
2. Direct memory access (DMA) channels
3. Input/output (I/O) port addresses
4. Memory address ranges

These are all available in the device manager> device properties > Resources tab.
Every resource must be unique for every device.
















If no conflict windows will use its default windows drivers and your plug and play device is ready to go.

Windows Device Manger

Windows default facility for providing information about how the hardware on your computer is installed and configured, and how the hardware interacts with your computer’s Operating System (OS). Device Manger allows computer administrator to install, update, and modify device drivers for installed hardware on your computer. This is also the best place to go for any device driver troubleshooting.

I personally like this facility for giving a good overview of all devices you’ve installed on your computer.