My system is not recognizing my cd-roms. I had problems and I think the guy who built it might of screwed up the bios. I have a start up disk. However, I don't know too much about this stuff. I need someone to put it to easy terms so this woman can get it. I don't know if I put the right commands in or not. I kept getting bad command or file. Could someone please help me?
Thank You
Cptplug

First thing we need is more info..
Like what Operating system are you running ?
windows 9x, Me, XP ?
What commands are you running ?


Have you checked the Bios to see if the cd-rom drive is being seen by the bios ?

Is the Bios set to Autodetect ? It should be ?

Was the drive working in the past ?

What if any were the changes made before it quit working ?

That should do for starters :)

Have you tried booting from the startup disk "with CD-ROM support"?

Under what circumstances are the CD-ROM's not being recognised?
When in Windows?
During "Dynamic Auto-Detection" at startup?
During "Static Auto-Detection" within the BIOS Setup?
When you configure the BIOS Setup so the PC boots first from the CD-ROM drive?

Ok guys, I am running windows 98 second edition. Also I am not real good at this stuff at all. My machine does boot up by itself and it shows 2 cd-roms. One master and one slave. However they are not in my computer. I have no insight when it comes to the bios or what I am suppose to do.I also think I don't type commands very well. If you have the time to help it would be greatly appreciated,
Thank You
cptplug

You said:
"My machine does boot up by itself and it shows 2 cd-roms. One master and one slave."
Is that during the normal startup, when the white text shows on a black background?
If the details of all your drives are displayed, then they are all set to "Auto", which is good.
Do the CD-Drives show as SECONDARY Master and Slave, or what?

"However they are not in my computer."
So they don't show up in "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer"?
Do they show up in "Control Panel>Device Manager"?
If so, do they have a yellow exclamation mark or red X against them?

Yes, during normal set up. They don't show up at all in device manager. Thanks again
Also it says master and slave. Master is the cd-rom and slave is cd-rw. Is there a way to slow down the screen so I can see what it all says. It is so fast I can't read it.

Is there a way to slow down the screen so I can see what it all says?
Yes, watch carefully as the information for each drive is displayed in order:
Primary Master = ?
Primary Slave = ?
Secondary Master = ?
Secondary Slave = ?
Hit the "Pause" button on the keyboard immediately after all 4 have been displayed as above, and note which of your drives have which designation. Hit "Esc[ape]" to unpause and continue STARTUP.
Report back here with your findings.

TO CHECK IF THE SECONDARY IDE CONTROLLER IS ENABLED OR NOT
When startup re-commences, hit the "Delete" button [or whichever is specified at the bottom of the screen] to enter the "BIOS Setup" program.
1. NAVIGATE TO "PNP/PCI CONFIGURATION".
a) On the 1st screen repeatedly blip [press & release] the down [or up] buttons on the keyboard to highlight "PnP/PCI Configuration", then blip "Enter/Return". This takes you to the "PnP/PCI Configuration" screen.
b) You should see some setting that indicates that your "PCI IDE 2nd channel" is "Enabled" [not "Disabled"].

c) Whilst there, take note of the setting:
"Reset Configuration Data : Disabled".
This means that the resources allocated to your PCI hardware items [which include your CD-drives], [having been unlocked at some time past to allow detectiion of hardware & non-conflicting reallocation of resources], are now locked & unchanging, and the settings, which have been recorded in the ESCD [Extended System Configuration Data], are given to the hardware at every startup.
At some point you may need to "Enable" "Reset Configuration Data" to take account of hardware which is now being detected as connected, when previously it was effectively not connected or not detected as such [your CD-drives].

d) Also check that the allocation of
"Resources Controlled By : Auto"
is set.

I was told by the manufacturer of my CD-RW drive that it should be jumpered as Master and the CD-ROM as Slave.
Consider switching your jumper settings.

You sent me an e-mail that said the following:
[Don't do this privately. Everyone needs to benefit/contribute.]

"I booted up the machine with the boot up disk in. It said"Secondary-Master-cd-rom, Slave'cd-rw. Then it said" Drive E:=Driver MSCD001 unit 0.Also said Driver F:=Driver MSCD001 unit 1. I typed in A:\>D: DIR. it came up with bad command or file name. Next I typed in A:\>F: DIR. It came up with CDR101:Not ready. Reading drive F. Then it said Abort, Retry , Fail. Am I doing something wrong?"

Drive D is the RAMdrive created by the startup disk, so no point in trying to read that.
Drive E is your Master CD-drive.
Drive F is the Slave CD-drive.

When you tried to read the disk in the F drive [your CD-RW] was there a CD in the drive?
This was a mistake I made a number of times.
To put a CD in one of the two and try to read the contents of the other drive that had no disk in it.
That's if you had typed the command correctly, but you didn't.
You should have typed
A:>dir E: /p [the /p makes it display a page at a time] to look at the CD disk in your CD-ROM drive.
[I'm no expert on DOS commands]

Hi Sylvander, thanks for helping me again. Here are my findings.
Primary Master Disk: LBA, ATA 66, 20526MB
Primary Slave Disk None
Secondary Master Disk: CDROM ATA 33
Secondary Slave Disk: CD-RW, ATA 33

Primary IDE 0 Disabled
Primary IDE 1 Disabled
Secondary IDE 0 Disabled
Secondary IDE 1 Disabled

FDD, COM, LPT Port Disabled
PCI PIRQ [A-D] # Disabled

Reset Configuration data Disabled
I could not find "Resources Controlled by: Auto is set.
I did not do anything because I wanted to give you these findings.Are they going to help us with solving the problem? I will be waiting for your reply. Thanks again for your help
Cptplug

1. These are OK.
Primary Master Disk: LBA, ATA 66, 20526MB
Primary Slave Disk None
Secondary Master Disk: CDROM ATA 33
Secondary Slave Disk: CD-RW, ATA 33

2. These are not!
Primary IDE 0 Disabled
Primary IDE 1 Disabled
Secondary IDE 0 Disabled
Secondary IDE 1 Disabled
Where did you see these?

3. These are not!
Unless you have no need of a Floppy Disk Drive, Serial Port, or Parallel Port and are happy to have them disabled.
FDD, COM, LPT Port Disabled
Where did you see these?

4. I'm a bit puzzled by this:
PCI PIRQ [A-D] # Disabled
PCI IRQ = "Peripheral Component Interconnect" "Interrupt ReQuest".
I don't know what "PIRQ" means.
Perhaps it is "Peripheral Interrupt Request"?
My guess is that this is the PCI system of sharing interrupts, which is VERY necessary and should be enabled.

5. This is OK.
Reset Configuration data Disabled
This is the setting you enable if & when you decide it's time to get the BIOS to re-detect your connected hardware and make new non-conflicting resource allocations [DMA, IRQ etc], and record these in the ESCD to be used at each & every startup.

6. Resources Controlled by: Auto
This setting, or something like it, tells the BIOS to use it's Plug & Play capability to automatically read the resource requirements of all the PCI hardware connected and make allocations that avoid or resolve conflicts.
This is where it helps to know your BIOS and how it works.
Somewhere there should be such a setting.
Either that or your BIOS does this and you have no way to disable that feature.

7. If you send me a personal message or e-mail requesting my "BIOS Setup" document [composed from info on this site], and giving an e-mail address to send it to, I'll send it to you.
It covers all the Settings and has mine marked in red [which may give rough guidance].

8. I think you should go through your BIOS Setup settings and note them all. Mine are noted in my motherboard manual and I update these as I make any alterations. Can you do something similar?

9. At some point you may decide to reset the defaults and it helps to be able to compare the defaults to the settings you have now.
You may then decide to restore [partially or completely] the settings you have now.

10. Did you manage to access a CD in each of the CD-drives using a Windows Startup Disk?

I started up with the boot up disk. I put a cd in my D drive.
I typed A:>DIR E:/P then enter. It read my D drive. Now what do I do? I haven't done nothing yet. Does this mean that I do not have a hardware problem? Thank you
cptplug

That shows there is no hardware problem with that CD-drive. [the reader]
Repeat it for the CD-RW. [Given letter F:]

Hi, it is the pest again. I tried it in F and it also worked. So now what do I do? Is it a windows problem? Thanks again,
Cptplug

Lets take one step at a time.

This shows that there's nothing wrong with the hardware.
It's a BIOS configuration or software problem.

Lets look at previous points:
A) Previous point 1.
Primary Master Disk: LBA, ATA 66, 20526MB
Primary Slave Disk None
Secondary Master Disk: CDROM ATA 33
Secondary Slave Disk: CD-RW, ATA 33
Was this info displayed as white text on a black background in the early stage of startup?
If so, then your drives are probably set to "Auto" detect and are being successfully detected [a good sign].
Go into the "BIOS Setup" [follow the instruction at the bottom, below the disk info, to press "Delete" or whatever] to "Standard CMOS Setup>Hard Disk>Type" and they should all be specified as "Auto".

Then report back.

Your previous point 1. Answer yes this was displayed in the early stage of setup. This is what was listed in Standard CMOS Setup Hard disk
CMOS Setup Utility
IDE Primary Master

IDE HDD Auto Detection Press enter(When I press enter it
detects the hard drive)
IDE Primary Master Auto

Access Mode Auto

Capacity 20526MB

Cylinder 39770

Head 16

Precomp 0

Landing Zone 39769

Sector 63

I wrote the motherboard company. I found out this. This is a issue in Windows. They say to do this. 1. Make a Directory (c:\CDROM) & copy the MSCDEX.exe & OAKCDROM.sys files from Windows\System\Directory.



2. Edit the AUTOEXE.bat & CONFIG.sys files & add these lines :Autoexec -c:\cdrom\mscdex.exe/d: (Name)
Config - Device = c:\cdrom\aokcdrom.sys/d: (Name)

#. Save the files & make sure their in the root directory (c:\)

I am going to wait to see what you guys think of this. I have not really done anything like this before . Maybe someone can explain it a little better? Will I have to do this for both d and e drives? Thank You
cptplug

I'll deal first with "Auto" settings for the drives in "Standard CMOS Setup".
The settings should read something like:

Primary Master : Auto [Your HDD]
Primary Slave : None [You have no 2nd HDD I assume]
Secondary Master : Auto [Your CD-ROM]
Secondary Slave : Auto [Your CD-RW]

The above "Auto" settings make the BIOS "Dynamically Auto-Detect and Configure" all your drives at each and every startup. This means you can swap drives around to different Primary/Secondary & Master/Slave locations and the BIOS will detect the fact and cater for the existing setup. This is the best arrangement. Does your BIOS make provision for this?
What you did and described was to "Statically Auto-Detect" the Primary Master [your only HDD]. This will correctly configure the drive parameters, but if you move the drive after that [without re-detecting] then the parameters will no longer match the drive. Not an ideal arrangement.

You totally lost me on that. What should I try to do? I am getting disgusted with myself. I fell like a real tum tum.
Cptplug

Now to make a start on the second point:

A) This motherboard company is suggesting that you use "Real Mode" drivers rather than the more up-to-date "Protected Mode" drivers.
You should only do that if it is REALLY necessary.
Here http://tinyurl.com/2bgj9 is the Microsoft instructions on how to do it.
Do you have disks with drivers for these CD-drives, or not?
Are they "Real Mode"? [Install Mscdex.exe]
Or "Protected Mode"? [no Mscdex.exe]

Check this http://tinyurl.com/2hpev to see if your CD-drives are listed.

B) They may be correct that this is a Windows problem BUT:
I'd like to know that the drives were being detected by the BIOS and given the resources they need to function.
You said that they do not show up in Device Manager, which suggests they are not being detected. You could check "Device Manager" in "Safe Mode" to see if there are any/multiple copies of the CD-drives. If there are, "remove" all of them, restart, Windows should detect their presence and ask for the drivers. If you have driver disks, then point Windows at the ".inf" file in each case.

c) You said previously [point 2]:
Primary IDE 0 Disabled
Primary IDE 1 Disabled
Secondary IDE 0 Disabled
Secondary IDE 1 Disabled
and didn't answer when asked where you saw these.
They suggest the drives have been disabled, so must be checked out.
There's no point in having drivers installed, but disabling the drives.

D) You didn't answer points 3 & 4 either.

I am sorry. I didn't see points 3 or 4. I will go back to the drawing board and hopefully answer your questions. Thanks again
cptplug

I tried to respond earlier to your 12.04 post but my PC froze before I could submit it.

Take your time. Don't go any faster than the pace at which you feel comfortable.
Is there anyone there with greater experience who can sit with you to do it together?

To explain:
Static Auto-detection
In my BIOS is done at IDE HDD AUTO DETECTION.
This is done manually by the user within the BIOS Setup.
It detects one drive and configures the settings [drive parameters] to match the drive.
This can be repeated for all drives.
The settings remain in place until the process is repeated.
If you change the Master/Slave drive jumpers or move the drive to a different Primary/Secondary IDE connection [therefore controller], no changes are made to the settings and they will no longer match the requirements of the drive so changed.

Dynamic Auto-detection
In my BIOS is set in Standard CMOS Setup.
When drives are set to "Auto", then each so set has its characteristics detected at every startup and the drive parameters [Cylinder, Head, Sector etc] are correctly set.
Because it is done "Dynamically" the settings are always correct at every startup, even if you move the drives around to different connections/controllers and change the jumper settings.

Thanks Sylvander,
I checked Device Manager in Safe Mode. I found multiple copies of the cd-drives. I removed them. I restarted Windows and they never asked for the drivers. I wish I did have someone around that knew more than and I and that wouldn't take too much. Do you know of any good books that could help me?? I hate to keep bothering you. I copy all your replys . Maybe someday I will figure it all out. Thanks again for your help. I don't want to where out my welcome.
Cptplug

Go back into "Safe Mode->Device Manager" and see if the CD-drives have gone or are back in place.

E) QUOTE FROM:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-gb;835833&Product=w98
The wrong drivers...
When you're having a problem because hardware is using the wrong driver, the easiest solution is to restart your machine in Safe Mode. This boots Windows with the most basic set of drivers. Then when you reboot, Windows will discover the [hardware] again and, this time, you can point it at the proper driver; this won't always work for Plug-and-Play devices though, because Windows keeps a list of related drivers and it will maintain any bad links. The solution is to delete the associated INF file that you'll find in the WINDOWS\INF\OTHER directory - this is where Windows keeps files for the drivers you have installed. If you accidentally set the device up to use one of the Windows default drivers (and updating the driver doesn't help), you’ll find the associated INF files in the WINDOWS\INF directory. It's worth noting that this directory is hidden by default, so you'll have to configure Explorer to Show all files.

F) If the CD-drives are back in place in "Safe Mode->Device Manager" it means that the hardware HAS been detected, the [bad] driver ".inf" file settings put back in the registry, and the problem re-created.
You could try to eliminate this problem by emptying [deleting the contents of] the recycle bin, then [temporarily] deleting all the ".inf" files in the WINDOWS\INF\OTHER directory. Then "remove" all instances of the CD-drives in Device Manager, and restart in normal mode to see if Windows says it has detected new hardware [the CD-drives] and asks for the drivers. You would need to be prepared to supply those drivers, so try to find out where the driver ".inf" file is for each driver. Two drives, two drivers, two ".inf" files?
After you've done this you go to the recycle bin and "restore" those ".inf" files to their original home. [Do you know how?]

I went into safe mode. To device manager and the cd-drives are gone.

Sorry to jump in here Sylvander. cptplug , could you provide us with the make and model number of your motherboard, so that one of us may download the manual and have a look at the BIOS settings.

It sounds like Windows is behaving quite properly here (amazing as it seems). I believe somehow your secondary IDE controller has been disabled, or your IRQ settings are askew.

Once we get the BIOS set up correctly, if the problem persists we can troubleshoot more easily.

Could be a simple matter of loose or faulty cables, or a more complicated IRQ problem.

The make and model of the board should be displayed on the initial screen of the BIOS. Use the pause button again to view it.

Hi, Thanks for trying to help me. The motherboard is a Soyo
Sy-P4lS2. As you can tell I am not very good at any of this but you don't learn if you don't try. Thank God you guys are very patient.
Thank you
Cptplug

BIOS settings:

Enter BIOS, press Del while booting.

Go to Standard CMOS Features:
Set:
IDE Primary Master Auto
IDE Primary Slave Auto
IDE Secondary Master Auto
IDE Secondary Slave Auto

Exit to main BIOS menu and go to Integrated Peripherals
Set:
On-Chip Primary PCI IDE Enabled
IDE Primary Master PIO Auto
IDE Primay Slave PIO Auto
IDE Primary Master UDMA Auto
IDE Primary Slave UDMA Auto
On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE Enabled
IDE Secondary Master PIO Auto
IDE Secondary Slave PIO Auto
IDE Secondary Master UDMA Auto
IDE Secondary Slave UDMA Auto

Exit to main BIOS menu and go to PnP/PCI Configurations
Set:
Resources Controlled By Auto/ESCD
PCI/VGA Palette Snoop Disabled
Assign IRQ for VGA Enabled
INT Pin 1 Assignment Auto
INT Pin 2 Assignment Auto
INT Pin 3 Assignment Auto
INT Pin 4 Assignment Auto

Save and Exit BIOS.

This will make sure your IDE controllers are enabled and that the BIOS manages IRQ assignments before going on to the Operating System.

Once this is all set, if you can't see your CD-Rom in Windows, post back.

Good luck:).

Ok , I did what you told me. Windows does not want to load. I went to safe mode and then restarted. It came up with this Error "Problem with display settingd. The adapter type is incorrect or the current settings do not work with your hardware. Maybe I should gey another mother board?? Thanks,
Cptplug

Under PnP/PCI Configurations in BIOS:

What do you have this set to:

Assign IRQ for VGA ?

It should be


Enabled

Try both enabled and disabled to see which Windows prefers.


As a side note, you mentioned you were having problems before and that you felt the person who built your computer messed up the BIOS. What problems were you having?

I was having problems booting up. I had to go through the step by step configuration. He came out and did something to it and then told me he didn't know if he set the bios right or not. I will not ask him for any help. Ok I am going to go downstairs and check what you told me to do. I will get back with you.
Thank You
Cptplug

I guess my settings were screwed up in Display. I changed them and it seems it is working alright. The cd-roms still do not show up. Earlier I said that I had to go through step by step configuration. I meant confirmation. Any thoughts on the problem now?
Thank You
Cptplug

A few things to try:

1.(a)Reseat the cd rom cable. (b) Try a different cable.

2. Check the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers in Device Manager. Open the tree (click on the plus sign). Are there 3 entries? Does the first say something like Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers, and the next two Primary and Secondary IDE Channel? If not, your chipset drivers have not been installed.

3. Try to force Windows to recognize new hardware by using the "Add New Hardware" Wizard in Control Panel.

4. Try using just one drive, set as master. If it doesn't work, try the other by itself, set as master.

I feel if none of these work you will either have to try the real mode drivers or reinstall Windows. But post back before we do anything so drastic.

Thanks for trying to help me but I am not sure I know what to do. Can you please hold that thought for a week. I am leaving in the morning for a vacation. When you say cable to you mean that ribbon? I will check in when I return. Please don't forget about me. Do you feel like you are on the Titanic???? Thanks again for your help. I shall return. I hope?
Cptplug

I am back from vacation. Does any body have any new ideas about my problem?
Thanks
Cptplug

Hi cptplug,

Sorry, I missed this post. Just post another reply in this thread if you don't get a response in a day or two. Best to keep all the info together instead of starting a new thread.

You PMed me with this info:

I went into device manager. Under controllers I only had one listed and it was Intel (R) 82801EB. So does that mean the chipset drivers have not been installed? I tried using Add New Hardware but that didn't help much.

Best to keep this info in the thread also, so that others who may have some insight can see all the info pertaining to the problem.

The fact that Intel(R) 82801EB shows up in device manager under ATA/ATAPI Controllers means your chipset drivers are installed.

Just under where it says Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers are there two more entries, one saying Primary IDE Channel and the other saying Secondary IDE Channel?

Can you go back up to my post about BIOS settings. Please double check all settings under Integrated Peripherals and make sure all are set the way I outlined.

Did you try the other suggestions I gave? Trying with just one drive? Trying new IDE ribbon cables?

Hi Malcore,
I checked all of my Bios settings and they are how you had them written down. I checked in the device manager and the Intel (R) 82801EB Ultra is listed, There is no Primary and secondary IDE Channel listed. I have to go and buy a IDE ribbon. I should try that next?? I have never installed one before. I hope it has instructions. also I am not real sure how to use just one drive. To be honest with you I don't know at all. Can you possibly write it down? I feel another vacation coming on. Thanks Malcore
Cptplug

The motherboard company told me if the operating system does detect the drive try the following steps.
1. make a directory (c:\CDROM) & copy the MSCDEX.exe & OAKCDROM.sys files from the Windows\System\Directory
2. Edit the AUTOEXE.bat & CONFIG.sys files & add these lines:
Autoexec-c:\cdrom\mscdex.exe/d:(name)
Config-Device= c:\cdrom\aokcdrom.sys/d: (name)
3. Save the files and make sure their in the root directory (c:\)
This all sounds like latin to me. I tried to fine that MSCDEX.exe it said it was in C but when I typed it in it "said it wasn't there"I am totally confused. I am about ready to throw it out the window and I am mad at myself because I have no computer smarts.
Thanks
Cptplug

My own take on this problem is that it is a "Windows" or "Windows Registry" problem.

I don't believe this to be a BIOS setup or a hardware problem since both ATAPI drives could be accessed and read from a boot floppy start-up diskette - (that is, once the correct command line entries were used).

Also, the drives' drivers had been previously installed, since the old (ghost) entries did show up in Device Manager in Safe Mode before they were, correctly, removed. They are however not being detected (or allowed to be detected) any more.

You could check the performance tab (RClick MyComputer and choose Properties) and report back what is written there (particularly any reference to protected mode being disabled) if you like.

Sometimes such changes can be corrected by editing the registry but my own preference would be to format your hdd and then do a clean reinstall of Windows. (Having backed-up any important data first).

BTW - What make are the CDROM and the CD-burner?

One final thing you might try is to detach the secondary ide cable altogether and add just one of the devices, as slave, to the primary cable. The rationale of this is to take-out any serialisation problems between the primary and secondary IDE controllers.

Good Luck :)

PS
(a) Even though I don't believe this to be BIOS related there can be little harm at this stage in resetting the CMOS to the default settings. (But do check that all the drives are still being detected correctly in the BIOS if you do this).

(b) A MSKB link http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=151634 for "Protected-Mode CD-ROM Drive Support in Windows" just for reference.

Hi Paul,
Under the performance tab this is listed
Memory - 1022.0 MB of ram
System resource- 66% free
File system - Some drives are using MS-DOS compatibility
Disk Compression- not installed
Pc Cards- no pc card sockets are installed

In the little box below the above It said
Compatibility-mode pageing reduces overall system performance.
Drive c is using MS-DOS compatibility.
I am not sure on how to detach the secondary ide cable and add just one device. Could you please tell me how to do that. I am not going to do anything else until I hear a reply. I don't won't to screw it up any more. When I click on details about compatibility it said something about having a driver that windows did not recognize. I don't care if I have to format c in which I have never done. I don't have very much on the computer. I will be waiting for your reply.
Thank You Paul
Cptplug

The 40 or 80 wire ribbon cable attaches to the mobo at one end and to the master device at the other. I was suggesting just detaching the cable from where it plugs into the mobo. Then uplug one of the CDROMs from the middle or the other end and plug it into the middle connector on the ribbon going to the HDD.

However - there are two other problems.

Firstly, 1 gig of RAM is too much for Windows9x - 512 is the recommended maximum. You will need to reduce the physical RAM to 512 (or less) and best before you do a clean installation of Windows. Then, if you want to add the additional RAM back in (which you only should need to do if you are installing Win2K/XP/etc), you will need to modify the system.ini file so that the vache lines read:-
[vcache]
MaxFileCache=523264
... which means that no matter how much physical RAM you add, that particular installation of Windows can only use 511MB. The setting must be made at a time when 512 or less of RAM is actually installed.

Secondly, you have drives using MS-DOS compatibility (or 16bit or Real) mode. Technically you can tweak the registry to get things back into 32-bit Protected Mode but in my experience this is often hard to be successful at.

All in all I suggest you first reduce your RAM to 512MB and then clean install. Just boot to the Win98 boot floppy with CDROM support and from the command prompt format C: then pop in your Win98 installation CD and run X:\setup (where X is the drive letter of the drive containing the installation CD). Follow the prompts and have your CD key at the ready. ;)

And be aware that the RAMdrive letter [which comes after the HDD letters] will increase the installation CD drive letter by one [from D to E for example].

Very often people are unaware of the NEW letter allocated to the drive holding the Windows CD and specify it incorrectly.
The result is:
"Bad command or file name".

Ok, thanks guys for all your help and being so patient with me. I am off to work on the computer. If you don't hear from me in awhile don't be alarmed. I promise I won't jump off a bridge. I can't swim! Da?
Cptplug

Hi Guys,
Thank you so much for your help. Everything seems to be working fine since I formated C and reinstalled windows. I will keep my fingers crossed. I never did any of things before . You are good teachers and very patient people. Thank you again
Cptplug
Mary Chris

A great result :D :cool:

Paul worked his magic once again.

It's always easy if you know how eh?

Hi Guys,
I felt so good about getting the computer running again that I thought I would upgrade to a faster cd-rom. I think that was a mistake. It doesn't show up in device manager. IT DID NOT COME WITH A DRIVER. Any ideals would I should do?
Thank you
Cptplug

Visit the manufacturers web site for its latest driver.
What o/s are you on? if XP then I would of thought it would pick it up for you.

Hi Rik,
I am on 98 second addition. The web site really sucks. I think I am going to take it back and get something that comes with a driver. The manufacturer is Dynex. It is bad!
Thanks
Cptplug

Did Windows notify you that it had found new hardware?

If it didn't, then it probably didn't detect the fact that this is a different drive, and is still using the driver for the previous CD drive.

UPDATE THE CD DRIVE'S DRIVER
Go to device manager, find that CD-drive, highlight it, click "Properties", click the "Driver" tab, and click "Update Driver".
Then point the wizard that opens to search the Windows CD for a suitable driver.
If it doesn't find one there you could try to search for it yourself.
[In fact it might be a good idea to do that first]
Use the "Find" facility to search the Windows CD for all ".inf" files. [search for *.inf = all files ending with .inf]
If you find a likely looking file, then point the wizard at that.
If Windows doesn't have a driver for that CD drive [because it was manufactured after that OS was produced], you will need to get one as previously explained.

By the way, did you check that your PC has the necessary CPU speed etc to handle that drive. Check the drive documentation to see what it requires.

Under device manager the cd drive isn't there. The cd-rom is 52x speed. System requirements-Windows XP/2000/ME/98/NT/95,IBM compatible,Pentium II 350MHz above with at least 64 MB of memory. Minimum 200 MB hard disk space availiable.Do cdrom's usually come with a driver disk? Also if I would of bought one with a driver would I be having these problems? Maybe I should return it.
Cptplug

"System requirements-Windows XP/2000/ME/98/NT/95,IBM compatible,Pentium II 350MHz above with at least 64 MB of memory. Minimum 200 MB hard disk space availiable"
And does your PC meet these requirements?

"Do cdrom's usually come with a driver disk?"
I'd expect them to. Mine certainly came on a floppy, which included a readme file and "cdsetup.exe" file to install the driver.
There was a minimal instruction on the front of the floppy that read:
"A:\>CDSETUP[enter]", and the readme file gives some detail.

Who are these people who sell a customer a CD-ROM drive but don't supply a [suitable (Win98)] driver?!!! :mad: [Buyer beware!]
And why didn't you check?

It may be that this particular CD-drive doesn't work with Win98, is designed for use with WinXP, and has a driver included in that OS.
We're working blind here. Give us a clue, which CD-drive is it?

You need to find out whether it will work in your system before you decide whether to take it back. Can you phone the shop, give them your details and ask them if it will work? Usually the shops I use will take an item back if it won't work in the system.
One shop did have the cheek to ask for a 10% "restocking fee" after they had covered up the system requirements on the outside of the box with a big sticky label, so I had to open the box to discover them.
I'll avoid using them in future.

I got the cd rom to work. It was my fault. I did not have the jumper on the right pin. I didn't even know there was a jumper on it until I called the company. I swear I must be a blonde. I wanted to learn and I definitly did. Thanks to you guys my computer is running and I feel better about myself. I will not hesitate to write back when I have another problem. You guys are great!
Thanks again
Cptplug
Mary Chris

It's just great to hear that everything is now working. ;) :cool:

Maybe I spoke too soon?????? Now I am having a problem with my sound card. I have a sound blaster live card. I have sound but when I boot up it says that SB IRQ is conflicting with the PCI IRQ. It also says that the Emulation driver is not loading. Everything works. Maybe I should jump to a different forum for sound cards??? I will keep at it.
Thanks
CPTPLUG

Stay here.
I found the following at Creative Labs Support page, and would like to record it here for further consideration and discussion.

Solution ID # 6580
How do I change PCI IRQs?
Our Advice
PCI resources are assigned by a PC's BIOS - they cannot be manually changed in Windows Device Manager. Although PCI devices can share IRQs with each other, this sometimes causes problems so if you want to change the IRQs or prevent PCI devices sharing, you can try the following:

1. In the BIOS under Integrated Peripherals, disable any devices not in use. These could include COM1 (this will free up IRQ4), COM2 (this will free up IRQ3), LPT1 (this will free up IRQ7), USB.

2. In the BIOS under PCI/PNP Configuration, change the option Resources controlled by from Auto to Manual. You will now see a list of the IRQs and beside each, will state whether that IRQ can be used by ISA/Legacy or PCI/ISA PnP. Set as many IRQs as possible to PCI/ISA PnP instead of ISA/Legacy.

If you are still having problems, try updating the PC's BIOS and try changing PnP OS Installed between Yes and No.

Most BIOS's allow you to assign IRQs to PCI slots/onboard devices. However, this IRQ assignment does not happen to the devices directly (meaning you cannot assign a specific IRQ to your soundcard, no matter which slot it is in), but according to an interrupt routing table.
Let's assume this interrupt table specifies that PCI slot 1, AGP slot and on board sound share IRQ 9, assuming that your soundcard sits in PCI - slot 1.
Assigning IRQ 5 to PCI Slot 1 will not resolve the IRQ sharing in any way. All devices that share IRQ 9 will be moved to IRQ 5.

The only way to separate sharing devices, is to relocate the cards in question to a different PCI slot.