Floppy LED ON all the time

[GRS]

I have Mandriva 2010 64 bit as the host Gnome desktop.
I have XP pro Sp2 32 bit installed as the guest

All seems to work except i an getting strange results with the floppy.
I do not have the floppy activated as part of the boot sequence
I also have in Virtualbox ¨settings/general/advanced the box for ¨Remember runtime changes¨ unticked.
(Have also tried it with the box ticked)

If I mount the floppy (with or without a disk in it) the moment I start the XP boot the LED comes on in the floppy drive and stays on until I either unmount the floppy or close XP down. The drive motor is also going all the time.

If I boot XP without the floppy mounted the LED in the floppy drive does not come on and stay on until I mount the floppy.

I know the floppy drive is working okay and that the disk is okay as well.

With XP running, the floppy mounted in the set up of Virtualbox most o the time when I try to read the files on the floppy drive
I get a message to ¨Please insert a disk in Drive A:¨

Some times by mounting the floppy drive in Mandriva first before I start XP then mount the floppy for XP the floppy will read the files on the disk but you knew know.

Any ideas on where I short start to fix the problem?

Before any one asks. Yes I do need the floppy for this application. I can not use an image because of copy protection on the floppy (bad sector type I believe)

Thanks