OK, this all seems correct. in /proc/ide/ide0/hdb I find several files. "model" shows iomega zip 100 atapi. "driver" shows ide-floppy version .97. "media" shows floppy. Trying to access the zip still shows an error "mount: special device hdb4 does not exist" Remember, if I have a disk in the drive at start up, it operates properly. There must be some program running at start up that fudges this up. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Actually, that you are reading that string from /proc indicates that > your ide-floppy driver is already loaded. Yep, so you probably just have to find the right device for accessing the zip drive. Look at the /proc/ide/hd?/model files. Thanks, cat /proc/ide/drivers did produce "ide-floppy version .97" along with other ide drivers that are working just fine. For example, my IDE CDRW is assigned to sd0 & operates just fine (I assume it uses the ide-scsi driver). Where do I go from here? I sure appreciate all the help. At 08:27 PM 11/8/2001, you wrote: >Carl Zeilon <cznews at att.net> wrote: > > > > I'm running Mandrake 8.1. There are only 4 *.o.gz files in > > /lib/modules/2.4.8-26mdk/kernel/drivers/ide (ataraid, hptraid, > > ide-tape, & pdcraid) modprobe ide-floppy returns "can't locate module > > ide-floppy" Kudzu is a program that is supposed to detect changes in > > hardware & then configure it for you. It works great for my SCSI 7 disk > > changer that I only use so often. I remember someone raving about how > > well 8.1 mounted/unmounted removable drives. Please help > >Well, it might be compiled into the kernel, or otherwise pre-loaded. `cat >/proc/ide/drivers' to find out. You might find other interesting stuff in >the /proc/ide hierarchy..