Hey All,
While in the process of fixing up an old computer for my nephew, i removed the useless floppy drive (he won't need it). Now on bootup the computer displays "Floppy Disk Fail" and then will at the bottom displays that you can continue without it by pressing F1. This works perfectly, however, it gets tedious and i don't want him to have to hit F1 every time he wants to use his computer, nor do i want him hitting the wrong button and letting his curiosity mess up the computer. I was wondering if there was any way to create a Batch file or something else to automatically "hit" the F1 key?

Any help is greatly appreciated as his birthday is a few days away.

-Siperdo

P.S. don't know if this helps or hurts but it is using windows Xp as an os.

Hello and welcome siperdo! I have marked your thread as open in readiness for the rest of the fabulous tech team here at PCHF to have a look. They will be a long shortly.

I don't think there is a way to execute a batch file on startup but, something in the BIOS will probably need to be changed so you don't get this error when you boot

Hello siperdo and Welcome!

You should be able to dis-able the Floppy seek in the BIOS, as Crush alluded to.

Have a look here and see if that helps you.

Barring that, if the case already has the slot for the floppy, why not just leave it in there?

Sir Trews, good reply.

siperdo, if by removing the floppy drive you are creating a "hole" in the chassis, that could affect the way the chassis fans cools the electronics.

Unless you have something to fill that space I'd live the floppy in, but just leave it disconnected.

Your boot problem is probably because the BIOS has a boot order and the Floppy drive is probably first.

You want to eliminated the floppy from the boot options.

If the computer has a CD drive, then make it the first boot drive and the C: drive the second boot drive.

Wouldn't the extra hole improve air flow and help the fans to dissipate heat?
right now i have the cpu running at about 35 degrees Celsius, which is 20 degrees lower than when i started working on it. Whether it can be attributed to that or not, i don't know, but its seems to be helping more than it is hurting.
New problem though.

I rebooted the computer and doubled the RAM to 1 gig, but it seems that the computer is freezing up 600X (no exaggeration) more than it used to.
Can switching out keyboards and mice constantly cause the computer to freeze up? Should it on a computer that has been "Improved"?
Thanks

-Siperdo

If you know more about chassis air flow than the engineers that designed the chassis, that's your call.


You might give this a read...
How to Reset Your BIOS - wikiHow

I must agree with Gandalf here Siperdo.

Just having another opening does not mean you have better cooling airflow!

The cases are designed to move air across the fans of both the PSU and CPU AND have a way to vent that air OUT!

Your case will not benefit from having the Floppy slot just open. Let the vents designed into the case do the job.

Remember.. you double the working components, you very well can double the temps those components will have to work at.

Fact of electronics...

Once one shuts down the power to the part in question? The temp drop is immediate.
However, if the damage has already been done?
It's done.