Hello,
I wonder if anyone can help.A friend has an old 486.The CD Rom ribbon cable plugs into what looks like an IDE connector on the sound card (ISA one),as opposed to an IDE port on the motherboarrd as is more usual these days.Unforunately,the machine will not recognize the CD Rom,and all I get is a 'PCI configuration failure' message.I wonder if anyone has seen this before?.I'm not sure if the exact message is 'pci read configuration failure' now I come to mention it.Its one or the other.I'm having a bad memory day today!
Thanks for any advice,and all the best,
Ray

------------------
Now that I have achieved A+ certification,I realise how much there is still to learn...

Does this machine even have PCI slots? Is there an IDE port on the motherboard? You might be able to check the website of the drive manufacturer to see if this model drive can only be attached to a sound card interface. As I remember, those ISA sound card/CD-ROM hookups were proprietary and model-specific. Mitsumi, Panasonic and the one I can't recall. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/redface.gif Does the sound card itself work without conflicts? Have there been any hardware or software changes, or is this a new problem that arose on a previously working system? For sure, this will need DOS-mode drivers and the appropriate entries in the config.sys and autoexec.bat files. I don't think the Windows-supplied drivers will work in this case. More details would help -- OS version, upgrades, etc.

Did the CDROM ever work in the machine? Did it stop working recently because of changes made to the machine? If yes and yes http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif then you probably need to re-install the CDROM drivers.

As tjay says, you need to identify the make and model of the CDROM.

Then you need to tell us your operating system: Windows 95? 98? XP?

Then you need to find the appropriate drivers, either Windows drivers if the CDROM is supported by Windows, or DOS drivers if it isn't.

Then you need to install them http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

But first, what is the make/model of the CDROM and what is the operating system?

------------------
sleddog
[sleddog.f2s.com] (http://www.sleddog.f2s.com)

Hello,
My friend is away for a few days,so I cant find out what make the Cd Rom is.
I'll let you know.
thanks,
Ray

------------------
Now that I have achieved A+ certification,I realise how much there is still to learn...

I have a problem similar to that of Ray's. On a computer with a 486 DX2 CPU running Windows 95. I am trying to install Windows 98. I ran fdisk and format during which time I kept getting a message that the boot disk sector would be modified, which I accepted. When I boot using the floppy disk that came with Windows 95 CD, during the boot process and right after loading the driver for the CD-Rom comes the message: error: PCI READ CONFIGURATION FAILURE. But the boot process continues and the Windows 98 setup starts. On the screen it says "Scanning System Registry", then "Copying files needed for Windows Setup". So it is reading from the CD.
Next a box appears that says "Setup is preparing the Windows 98 Setup Wizard, which will guide you through the rest of the setup process. Please wait."
At this point, a black rectangle appears on the screen or sometimes a box that says "Divide by Zero or Overflow error." Then the computer freezes and will do nothing else.
I don't know if this is the same problem that Ray has or not, but can someone tell me what is happening and how to correct the problem?

Look in the BIOS Setup at...
PnP/PCI Configuration or similar.

Are any IRQ's reserved for legacy ISA?
Any IRQ's so reserved are no longer free to be allocated by a PnP PCI system of resource allocation.
These limit the PnP system's freedom of action.

Whenever you alter the set of connected items of PCI hardware you shoud "Force Update the ESCD".
You do this by setting [at the same location as above]...
Reset Configuration Data : Enabled
Doing this makes the BIOS redetect all the connected items of PCI hardware, detect their resource requirements, make non-conflicting resource allocations to meet those requirements, record those in the ESCD, and those will be used at each future startup [until the ESCD is "Force Updated" once more].
The BIOS then resets...
Reset Configuration Data : Disabled
So as to lock the ESCD settings once more.

When attempting to meet the demands/requirements of all the connected PCI hardware...
The BIOS PnP system can only do the best it can with the resources made available to it. Reserving too many resources for legacy ISA will "tie it's hands" and may make it unable to meet the needs of ALL the items of hardware.

In that circumstance there may be a "PCI configuration failure" because one or more devices are not having their needs met.

Does this machine even have PCI slots? Is there an IDE port on the motherboard? You might be able to check the website of the drive manufacturer to see if this model drive can only be attached to a sound card interface. As I remember, those ISA sound card/CD-ROM hookups were proprietary and model-specific. Mitsumi, Panasonic and the one I can't recall. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/redface.gif Does the sound card itself work without conflicts? Have there been any hardware or software changes, or is this a new problem that arose on a previously working system? For sure, this will need DOS-mode drivers and the appropriate entries in the config.sys and autoexec.bat files. I don't think the Windows-supplied drivers will work in this case. More details would help -- OS version, upgrades, etc.

The one you can't recall is Creative Labs.

BTW welcome back tjaymadison, haven't heard from you in awhile