Reference number: CH000427

Floppy drive makes noise.

Issue:

Floppy drive makes noise.

Cause:

Drive being or attempting to be read from.

Solution:

A Computer floppy drive commonly makes all types of noises that may be interpreted as bad noises. Although this noise is commonly loud and can sound strange, it is almost always a normal noise. Below is a listing of some of the different times you may notice this noise.

Noise as computer boots

Each time a PC computer boots it will attempt to read the floppy disk drive to verify if a disk is in the drive and if present attempt to boot from that diskette.

Noise as computer accesses floppy

When attempting to access the floppy disk drive you should hear a noise of the drive detecting and then reading the floppy diskette.

Noise when running software

Occasionally when running programs, utilities, virus scanners, games... the computer will attempt to access the floppy drive. Generally, this is because the program has been written to open programs from the floppy or in the case of a virus scanner check the floppy drive to detect any computer viruses.

Noise when computer shuts down

Microsoft Windows users may notice a noise coming from the floppy or the floppy being accessed when shutting the computer down. This is generally caused by the Virus Protection scanning the floppy disk drive for any viruses before shutting down. We highly recommend this because if a virus happened to be on a diskette within the drive and you were to boot from that diskette, it is very likely the computer would become infected or that software would be erased.

Additional information:

• See document CH000302 for additional information about other noises that can come from a computer.