If your ThinkPad does not have a built in diagnostics, you may need to contact an IBM Servicer to test your floppy drive. Refer to your User's Guide for information on testing your floppy drive. Some ThinkPads have a built in diagnostics to test the floppy drive.

If it does not work, then there is a possible hardware problem and you want to test the floppy drive. Once you get to a C prompt, try reading a known good diskette.

When you get the boot menu, select 'Safe Mode Command Prompt Only' to by-pass the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files. If this does not resolve the problem then the next thing to do is to try testing the floppy drive in DOS mode.Īfter powering on the computer, when it states 'Starting MS-DOS' or 'Starting PC DOS' in the upper left hand corner of the screen, press the F5 key (you must be running MS-DOS 6.0 or PC-DOS 6.1 or later) to by-pass the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files.ĭuring boot up, when it says 'Starting Windows 95' or 'Starting Windows 98' in the upper left hand corner, hit the F8 key. To do this, from a DOS command prompt, type PS2 FDD E (Note: You must have ThinkPad Features installed on your computer. Next make sure that the ThinkPad is setup to recognize the floppy drive externally. Make sure that the cable is attached securely to the ThinkPad as well as to the external floppy drive (on some models, the cable can be detached from both ends). will not format a diskette 1.44 meg.Īny ThinkPad running one of the operating systems mentioned above.įor those ThinkPads where the floppy drive attaches, externally, the first thing to check is the connection of the floppy drive to the ThinkPad. TP General - Floppy diskette drive failure under DOS/Windows 3.1x and Windows 95/98įloppy drive (internal or external) does not appear to work under DOS/Windows 3.1x, Windows 95 or Windows 98 or floppy drive may not work correctly, e.g.

Floppy disk not formatted error