An I/O Device Error May Occur When You Access the Floppy Disk Drive in Windows XP Service Pack 1 (811839)

SYMPTOMS

You may experience intermittent problems when you try to access the floppy disk drive on a computer that is running Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1). For example, when you try to copy files to a floppy disk by using Windows Explorer, you may receive the following error message:

The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when Windows dynamically changes the computer processor power state to a deeper idle state (from the C2 state to the C3 state).

RESOLUTION

Try to access the floppy disk again. If the problem persists, increase the time that must elapse before Windows XP promotes the processor from a C2 to a C3 power state. For additional information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

811840 How to Change the PromoteLimit Value for the Transition from C2 to C3 Power States

For information about the appropriate setting for your computer, contact your computer manufacturer.