"The device is busy"

I plan on installing a SATA drive with a clean XP pro install but I need to load drivers from floppy disk.
Problem, the floppy drive is not is not reading the disk. The device mang shows the drive with updated driver (I uninstalled and reinstalled the floppy device as well as the controll port device and had no problems.). When I try and format the disk from the command promt I get a message that "The device is busy". I bought a new floppy drive and installed with the same result. Could there be a problem with the registary? Is there a way to override whatever is locking the floppy and thinks it's running?

 

Do other floppy diskettes read in the drive?
Is the drive activity light on all the time?

 

No, neither of the drives read the disk. When I reversed the drive connection I did get the power all the time so I change it back. I removed the drive and all connections and uninstalled in device manager. When i rebooted the system detected new hardware "Floppy drive" and installed it even though I had not replaced anything! I used system restore also with no help.:cry

 

The system thinks the device is in use i guess cuzz i get the message "The device is busy" when I try and format. Any idea how to overide that?

 

Try swapping the cable end-for-end, or try another cable.

 

Yeah, that was one of the first things I tried..(