I have this persistent PITA that i just can't fix

floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation
end_request: I/O error, dev 02:00 (floppy), sector 7

Sometimes it won't let me use the floppy drive. This is Kanotix ( a knoppix derivative) installed to hdd. I stopped autofs then:

update-rc.d -f autofs remove

Sometimes it gives an I/O error on the cdrom. I do not like autofs because i have a dvd+rw drive and everytime a dvd+rw disc is mounted it counts as a write! Certainly I have googled for this but everything i find seems to end the same- no solution. Any ideas at all are greatly appreciated. Thanks.