[newbie] Can't Access Floppy

[dalet]

  Out of the blue, my first floppy drive (3.5" 1.44 megs) won't read disks.  Nothing 
seems to have changed in /etc/fstab or in the mounting sequences.  Makes no difference 
if I am logged as a user or root.  Is there something unseen that could prevent my 
disks from being seen?  The indications I get suggest that there is no disk in the 
drive.
  I suspect a bad drive or ribbon, but I want to rule out a configuration problem 
before I replace it.

TIA...
       -DM