Prob with win98 recognising cr-rom&cd-rw

Cheez

Howya,for some reason my pc suddenly won't recognise my cd-rom and cd-rw
I tried going into device manager in safe mode and deletin them hoping that on reboot they'd be recognised but alas no!
Whats goin on like?
The primary and secondry(dual fifo) IDE's show up with an ! beside them

Anyone know whats goin on?
Please help,i really need to get these back pretty soon
Thanks in advance

Sleipnir

Sounds like your IDE drivers have a problem of some sort.
What do the details of the IDE properties page show?

you could just download the relevant drivers for your mono or else remove the IDE drivers from device mangler and reboot.

Capt'n Midnight

Boot off the win98 CD or make a startup disk in add/remove programs and boot off it.

This will tell you if dos drivers are working - if not then look at the cables / jumpers / BIOS.

If the drive works then copy the MSCDEX line from the autoexec.bat file on the boot disk to autoexec.bat in c:\
also copy the corresponding /D:MSCD001 type line to config.sys.

Reboot and windows should see the CD through dos drivers - you may be able to remove the lines then - maybe.

[edit] check for viruses - sometimes boot sector viruses do this too.

Cheez

Wadda ya mean for my "mono" (boh)

Anyways the properties of the IDE controllers say

ESDI_506.pdr
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM323\IOS.vxd
if thats any help

Theres an Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
which works the primary and secondry which i deleted and rebooted
but theres still no sign of my CD drives

Hows do i check for a boot sector virus?

Capt'n Midnight

Wild goose chase time- unless you have installed win95.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/RC440BX/lk_issues.htm
Windows 95 with CD-ROM or second hard drives
There are two known issues involving CD-ROM or secondary hard drives: The retail version of Microsoft Windows 95 may not recognize the Intel® 82371EB PIIX4e IDE controller used on Intel® motherboards, causing the BIOS to disable the secondary IDE channel. This can result in IDE devices (such as CD-ROM drives) not being detected or disappearing after the system is rebooted. A utility is available to update the MSHDC.INF file and resolve the issue.

Windows 95 also may fail to recognize a CD-ROM drive that does not comply with the ATAPI specification. A technical advisory covers this issue for Intel motherboards using the 82371EB PIIX4e IDE controller.

However, the driver you are using looks to be an older generic IDE driver (EDSI drives appeared between MFM/RLL and IDE drives - though there is a schism within computer archeology about pre historic events )

kmb

It looks like your ide cable is faulty or loose.Pull it off one and see does it make a difference.
Also reset cmos it may be ide itself problem.

Plug your harddisk ide into the cdrom ide port and try it.If it works reset cmos,if not replace cable.

Cheez

reset cmos?
cmos?
thanks people

SantaHoe

To clutch at yet another straw...
A motherboard of mine has a BIOS option to "Enhance ATAPI performace"... when set to enable, the CD drives dissapeared from Windows9x.
Resetting your CMOS should cover this option I should think (assuming it exists).

Cheez

how do you reset cmos?

aidan_walsh

The CMOS is the chip type that holds information on your computer, like the BIOs, system time, etc.

Resetting it can be motherboard specific, but generally just required changing a jumper setting momenterially. Best to consult your motherboards manufacturer if you have any doubts...

SantaHoe

You don't really have to short the CMOS battery in this case... if you're actually able to boot past the BIOS startup, then you can enter the BIOS setup and make changes manualy.
More often than not, the BIOS is accesible by pressing delete repeatedly as soon as the computer powers on.
Other times it's something like F1, F2... it vairies, but it's most often delete.
Once you're in the BIOS setup menu, there should be an option to 'restore defaults'... that's pretty much what you're looking for.

Cheez

hmm,ok
Did that restore defaults thingy and nothin happened
Have yet to make a startup disk(as i cant get a floppy disk anywhere in the town i live&keep forgettin to ask my friends)
Anyone know where i can get a good sit ewith info on how to build a pc?

SantaHoe

Well what you really want is a bootable windows installer CD... if you can boot off of that, then your hardware is setup correctly (eg. jumpers, bios settings, the drive itself), and the problem lies only in software - ie - windows and its drivers.
If you can't boot off the Windows CD, then you've got a hardware problem... could be that your drive is just dead, a cable/jumper or chipset problem.
The very first thing you want to do is answer the above question... isolate and eliminate the possible areas of failure until you find the fault.
Ask around, someone you know is bound to have a bootable windows cd.

Since you say the problem happened all of a sudden, I'd say it's most likely windows fault, which a reinstall should sort out if no other solutions become apparent.

kmb

Are they turned off in the bios?What motherboard is it?If it is a via chipset run the programme again.May indicate hard drive failure losing system file.

Cheez

Im pretty sure they're turned on in the bios
I can't make a bootable floppy off a cd cuz the drives are fukd
Intel® RC440BX Motherboard
which they dont support anymore
Re-installing windows eh.
Shud be fun