Microsoft KB Archive/161510

= Floppy Not Detected on Ascentia 910N Laptop =

Article ID: 161510

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

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This article was previously published under Q161510



SYMPTOMS
When you install Windows NT on an AST Ascentia 910N laptop computer, the floppy drive is no longer detected. If you run Control Panel and choose Devices, the system indicates that the floppy disk driver is not started. If you attempt to start the driver, the following error is returned:

Error 0121

Could not start floppy service,

the semiphore timeout period has expired.



CAUSE
This problem occurs if you attempt to run the Ascentia 910N from battery power rather than AC power. Power management is not supported in Windows NT, thus when Windows NT is booted with the system running on battery power, the floppy disk is not recognized.



RESOLUTION
According to AST Technical Support, upgrading the BIOS to revision 2.5 should alleviate the problem. If the problem still occurs after upgrading the BIOS to 2.5, download the file Set4nt.exe from the AST Web page. This file is a self-extracting executable that contains the Set4nt.com utility as well as a readme file. This utility was used to correct the problem on computers with BIOS earlier than 2.5.



MORE INFORMATION
The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by AST Computer, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

Additional query words: Ascentia

Keywords: kb3rdparty kbprb KB161510

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