diskette magic : contents only show up after 3 secs

mobo : Asus A7N8X-X
RAM : 512MB DDR
OS : XP Pro SP2 fully updated
installed BIOS release : v. 1010

Whenever I try to read out a diskettes content - new or old diskettes doesn't matter at all - a message pops up stating "device not ready, check blah blah";
Then after 3 seconds the message disappears and a dialog opens in which the diskettes contents are shown. From that moment on I can do whatever I like with diskettes ( reading from and storing to diskette is no problem then ), until after a reboot of the system, after which the story begins again as described above.

There's also an AV installed (NOD) but it has nothing to do with that : the problem was there before the AV or even anything else was installed.

For the rest the system doesn't show any problems at all whatsoever, just this diskette magic.
I've googled the heck out of it but while there are some others referring to the same problem, I never couldn't find any solution. This problem is keeping me busy for 3 months now : I can live with it - by all means what's 3 seconds to wait ? - but the problem just shouldn't be there in the first place imho, because other machines don't show up this weirdness, that means I never ever saw it before on any other machine.

There's no update for the BIOS available AFAIK ; No error messages system wide or in Event viewer. Nothing out of the ordinary in Device Manager.
I already replaced the floppy disk cable for a brand new one, albeit I couldn't spot any damage on the old one, not even with a magnifying glass.
The mobo was brand new, as were all other components of the system.PSU = 450W Levicom.

Any suggestions, ideas ?

 

Bios-> "Advanced"-tab -> Advanced bios features -> Boot up floppy seek-> Disable.

 

is disabled from hour nr. 1.

 

Ah, too bad. I thought that would solve it, because I could reproduce the message after booting with it enabled while a floppy was in the drive.

 

Figured it out BJ.
Go into setup, then MAIN (default page), you'll have a Local Diskette or something along those lines listed (lol, I just went there to get the exact name and forgot, go figure), make sure it's set to "None".
You're set

 

Reread my post #1 : about half way you'll see something about AV(NOD) ...
Further : the setting you're mentioning is UNchecked.

As stated, the problem is with the mobo, not the OS or NOD, it's the mobo or its BIOS, or both or some weird combination of those two.

But never mind, I've ordered a USB floppy drive which should be at my place within a couple of days. We'll see what happens with that one. I'll keep you posted.

 

Ahhh well, my problem only started when I installed NOD.
So I'm good, good luck with it

 

You mean this one ?

 

No, I meant the BIOS, forget to mention it, my bad =)

 

Aha, now I see.

How can NOD be the reason for creating a problem in the BIOS ?

Setting the BIOS option to none regarding the diskette drive just tells the BIOS there's no diskette drive in the machine. This seems to me like throwing an axe into the BIOS, telling it something ain't there while in reality it is there. But if it solves your problem and your happy with it, then it should be OK for you.
As posted in post #6 above this implicates I'm right in that the problem lies with the mobo or its BIOS, not with NOD. Nevertheless I'm going to try your fix and see where it takes me.

 

I don't have my diskette hooked up at all to my mobo, it's physically unplugged. So for me, it's a non issue.

 

I see, that's the difference. On my machine there is a diskette hooked up. So your problem is solved Kuba. Removing the drive from the BIOS while being hooked up to the machine makes it only inaccessible and unrecognized to Windows, so it's no solution to me. I guess I'll just wait for my USB drive to arrive.

 

Actually, the drive wasn't hooked up at all. But the BIOS was set to tell the comp/OS that there was. As weird as that may sound.

 

Tested the diskette drive under linux : there it shows no problems at all.

Today I got my ordered USB diskette drive ( http://www.plextor-europe.com/products/px-fd1u.asp?choice=PX-FD1U ).
I tested this one and it workes like a charm, I can make and restore images throught its usage.That's the only thing I need a diskette drive for. I removed the original build in diskette drive from the machine and removed it from the BIOS. My problem is solved. Thanks for all the suggestions and advice.