Floppy has "No Physical Devices Available" on Dell PowerEdge 2900

[BennTech]

I have ESXi 3.5 on a Dell PowerEdge 2900 III, which has an internal floppy. However, the floppy doesn't show up anywhere in the ESXi configuration and the VMs' floppies have the host device radio button disabled & DDLB says "No Physical Devices Available". I can boot the server off the floppy, so I know the drive is working--ESXi just doesn't detect it. Any clues for troubleshooting?

And, yes, I know I could do a client connect or upload a floppy image, but that's not always available or as convenient. (Besides, what else am I supposed to do with all these dusty floppies lying around?)

--Bennett

[nick_couchman]

Do you know what interface the PE2900 uses for the Internal Floppy? It could be USB, which might be a problem to get working with ESXi, as most USB devices aren't supported in ESXi.

[BennTech]

Standard floppy drive to 34-pin connector on the motherboard (right next to the IDE connector I had to use to swap out the unrecognized SATA CD drive).

[BennTech]

Anyone with a Dell PowerEdge 2900 III & floppy: does your floppy work with ESXi?

[IanF201110141]

I have the same problem on my system but I added my floppy drive after the original installation.  Did you ever find a solution?