"write protect" problems w/ floppies

[Brian Lawrence Dear]

Something's wrong with my SCO XENIX 386 (v. 2.2.3) system -- I think.
I can't seem to format floppies anymore.  Can't get mkfs to work.
Keeps coming back with messages like:

      formatting /dev/rfd096ds15 ...
          track 00  head 0  error on dev floppy (0/52), block=0 cmd=00000005
	   status =00000002

      format: error formatting /dev/rfd096ds15
      isize = 288
	m/n 1 15
      Floppy is write protected.
      mkfs: write error 2

      Filesystem creation failed.  Try again.

Now, none of these floppies are write protected.  And I get same error
message if I try to mkfs a 5.25" 1.2MB floppy, a 5.25" 360K floppy, or
a 3.5" 1.44MB floppy.  They all result in same error message complaint.
This is the 1st time this has happened.  Drives work fine otherwise; read
and write floppies fine.  No changes have been made to kernel in ages.
This problem only appeared last wk.  Anyone know what might be causing it>
I can't do backups until I get this thing solved.
 
Thanks in advance for help/suggestions.
 
-- Brian L. Dear
   Coconut Computing, Inc.