Thanks for the tip. As a newbie, I need more info though. I ran lsmod & saw that there is no ide-floppy module loaded. I found the likely module here: /lib/modules/2.4.8-26mdk/build/drivers/ide/ide-floppy.c The /build directory points to /usr/src/linux-2.4.8 What exact command do I issue to load this module? Then I need to load this automagicly. I need to modify /etc/rc.d/init.d, correct? How? Here is more info on how the zip is operating now. It does function correctly if I boot with a disk in the drive. Kudzu, which runs at boot time, gets pissed & times out. If I then run kudzu, it configures a "generic serial modem". everybody is happy ;) If I then boot with no disk, you guessed it....