What does I/O error mean?

[Kali]

New hard drive, Windows XP trying to create a new emergency startup diskette (not that the last one did me any good) and it gets almost to the end of the process and up pops a small box with the message "An unexpected I/O error has occurred" and a little button to click that says OK. When I click it the thing goes back to the formatting box and I can start over, this has happened 3 times. What is wrong?



also see: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5205784

[RoyGBiv]

1. Bad disc or bad drive probably ...

I/O error literally means input/output error, which is a generic error message for all sorts of issues dealing with input and output.

If you use a different disc, does the same thing happen?

[Kali]

2. yes tried a different disk

(thanks for the reply)

[RoyGBiv]

3. Weird ...

Well, it could be a Windows problem. With an I/O error, it could be a lot of things actually, and I don't really know how clean the process for making the emergency disc is. I only made one the entire time I was using Windoze because, as you imply, the problems I had were never fixable with it.

Do you use your floppy much, and has it exhibited any other signs of problems? Since it is getting to the end of the process, it sounds like it might be having issues writing to the final tracks, and that could be an indication of a hardware failure. I've had floppy drives that started having mechanical problems after awhile. Or the read/write head could be dirty, or something along those lines.

But I'm just guessing here. Sorry I can't help more.

[Kali]

4. maybe instead of too much use, it is not enough use

as far as I know it's only the second time I have used it! I did the same proceedure a little over a year ago...That disc did not help with whatever went wrong recently, but didn't get error messages at the time. Could new hard drive have problems? I was having some other issues and was close to doing a reinstall even though I just got it back from shop on Tuesday then got the updates to start coming in and for the most part things seem to be fuctioning...

[RoyGBiv]

5. Shouldn't be the hard drive ...

The I/O error happening while you're writing to the floppy would seem to imply the error is with the floppy itself.

You mentioned you just got it back from the shop, so can I assume they did some work on the inside of the case? They may have dislodged something. When you get time, check your cabling and make sure the floppy cable is secured both to the mobo and to the drive itself. That can cause these sorts of errors, although I would expect that to happen at the beginning of the process. Still worth checking.

Too little use can be a problem with mechanical parts. Dust can build up, other random dirt. As mentioned, the read/write head could be dirty and in need of a cleaning.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. I believe you also have the option to make a bootable CD.

If you have a CD writer, and assuming you can set the BIOS to boot from the CD drive, you might want to give this a try. It may be that the floppy drive is misaligned or something. I haven't made a recovery disk (bad me!), so I'm not sure, but I think this is an alternative approach if you can write to a CD.

[RoyGBiv]

7. Thank you ...

I think you just saved my sanity.

You know how you can know what you want to say, but the stupid word just won't come into your head? No? So I am crazy? Yes, I'm talking to myself. I need to be in bed.

Anyway, misaligned is the concept I was searching for, and it just wouldn't come.

I think you're correct about the CD as well.

[ConsAreLiars]

9. I think I first ran into the "misaligned" problem with a

Commodore 64 5-1/4" drive, after I upgraded from the cassette deck. Had a little screw on the bottom to realign things and some enterprising hackers wrote some PD software to help with the fix. Since then, the fix is only to discard and replace the floppy drive. Or use the CD drive. Sleep well, with no tossing and turning about techy terminology to interrupt your rest.

[charlie]

8. One other thing you can do

Try another brand of diskette. Quality control from the remaining manufacturers seems to be spiraling down as floppies drift into obsolescence. I've bought batches where only a couple of disks were reliable.

[Kali]

10. UPDATE

Well, the next day nothing would work so now I have a new computer.

The guy at the store said "5 years? Well you had a good run." and offered to sell a 3 year extended warrantee for 1/3 the price of the new one. I declined, and will schedule computer replacement ahead of tires. GEEZ!

Oh and another wonderful consumer/waste resource issue - a bundle of new printer, monitor etc (using the rebates) is cheaper than just buying the EXACT SAME tower by itself. <shakes head>