floppy drive grinding noise

[gstock04]

I'm getting a floppy drive grinding noise that happens at somewhat random times and will keep going until I can shut down the program that seems to be the cause of the problem. Today it happened when my fiance sent an e-mail in outlook. Other times it has happened when I close a different program. I'm running XP on a P4 2.4ghz. I've checked the task manager when this is happening, and nothing out of the ordinary seems to be showing up there. I'm running an updated 2004 Norton AV with virus defs as of 12/15/2004. I run system scans two times per week and I also use Ad-Aware and Ad-Watch. This problem has been happening for quite some time now, but I can sometimes go a week or two without it happening. Any thoughts?

[ski]

Borrow a floppy drive from another system, and see if the same thing happens.
If the problem goes away, then the drive is probably bad.

If the problem is still there with a different FD, then disable NAV if it's running in the background.
If no good, then replace the FD data cable.
If no luck, then connect a different power lead to it.

[Paul Komski]

Possibly http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=34068