OSDev.org

My computer has a floppy drive but I can't figure out how to use it, it is nowhere to be found.

thats just not going to be enough info. where are you looking for the floppy??

does it show in the bios?
if not open the pc and make sure it is plugged in.

is the led constantly on?
if so, the fdd cable is upside down.

what os are you looking for it in?
windows should see it automatically, unix/linux might require you to
mount the drive.

how bad does it grind when you start the computer?
if none at all, it is probably not getting power.
if it is very loud the heads might be out of alignment and then it won't
read a disk that was not formatted on that drive.

I'm sure there are more things, but those are the basics. I hope I didn't insult your inteligence. but you really didn't provide any information so I started small.

Are you saying you don't know how to use a floppy drive in general?

If there isn't anything that looks like a floppy drive on your PC, then....there...probably...isn't..........................?

When the computer starts up it shows floppy drive A but when I log in it is gone. You may be right that it is not getting power though.

where are you seeing that the floppy is present?? from the POST or inside the bios interface?

either way, if it is detecting a floppy then it is recieving power, it could be the cable is on backwards or you OS isn't setup to support the floppy by default. also check your fdd cable, it could be loose or broken

thanks