CD-ROM Problems 1

[Galaphile]

Okay.
I have had this drive for a while now, and i have not been able to get it working since i re-formatted my hd.
I have been fooling around with it, and now windows is telling me that i have no cdrom drives set up. I looked at my config.sys and noticed that all has been erased, so i copied one off of my old boot disk and got my primary working again. Then with some fooling around with the config.sys, windows tells me i have no cd drives again. the config.sys is the same as from the boot disk and i have not done my best to put everything back to when the primary was working but to no avail.
I have my cmos set to auto, and i really need to get atleast one of my cd drives working soon.
My primary is a Creative CDRW 6424, and the secondary is a Delta OIP-CD4800A.
Drivers are doing little to help, I have downloaded some because i can't find my disks atm and they just say device is working properly.

 

[roamer1]

Hi Galaphile

Which WIN version please?

If you can boot to a CDROM enabled floppy (Win98 boot disk): are both CDROMS present and accessable?

 

[Galaphile]

I use Windows ME, and No, if i use my boot disk i still get no cd roms.
Here is my Autoexec.bat
SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
SET COMSPEC=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM
SET windir=C:\WINDOWS
SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\PROGRA~1\MOVIES~1\BIN
SET PROMPT=$p$g
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
and here is my config.sys
[menu]
menuitem=HELP, Help
menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support.
menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support.
menuitem=QUICK, Minimal Boot
menudefault=HELP,30
menucolor=7,0

[HELP]
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001
devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048

[CD]
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001
devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048

[NOCD]
devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048

[QUICK]

[COMMON]
files=10
buffers=10
dos=high,umb
stacks=9,256
lastdrive=z
device=display.sys con=(ega,,1)
country=004,850,country.sys
install=mode.com con cp prepare=((850) ega.cpi)
install=mode.com con cp select=850

 

[roamer1]

first of all, The reason your ROMS are not available is because there is no MSCDEX.EXE statement in the AUTOEXEC.BAT

If the Autoexec and config that you posted are from your C drive they are not needed or proper. RENAME them and restart without them. Windows does not need them to start, and windows configures your CDROMS AFTER it starts. do your CDRoms work now?

If the autoexec and config you posted are from your boot disk they have been tampered with and I think you should make a new startup disk. Try the new startup disk and see if your roms wake up off of that.

 

[Galaphile]

Okay I made a new startup disk and it recognizes both of my roms, but then its drops me to 'a' drive.
What now??
What do you mean "If the Autoexec and config that you posted are from your C drive they are not needed or proper."
Where else would they be? on my boot disk?
No my AUTOEXEC.BAT is different, but my CONFIG.SYS is the same as the one posted. (after making a new startup disk)
How come after modifying the CONFIG.SYS in the firstplace, i got my burner back and running?

 

[roamer1]

The fact that the CDRoms work off the boot disk is actually good news. That proves the hardware is functional and can basically run.

it also indicates that the problem is probably due to configuration of some kind in Windows. The thing that bothers me in your initial post is:
"I have been fooling around with it, and now windows is telling me that i have no cdrom drives set up. I looked at my config.sys and noticed that all has been erased..."
It is common for C:\CONFIG.SYS and C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT to be empty in a Win9x (including WinME) installation. They are there for backward compatability only (kinda).
It is highly unlikely that your CDROMS need to be set from config.sys- in fact, the drivers loading early could be preventing Windows from loading them later.

I don't yet know why your CDROMS are not showing up for sure, but I do know they don't need to be forced from CONFIG.SYS. Especially the Creative CDRW as I own one and it works PNP on all vers of Windows.


Try this:

COPY C:\CONFIG.SYS and C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT to a floppy so that you can restore them later if needed.

EDIT C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT- remove ALL except the PATH statement
EDIT C:\CONFIG.SYS- Remove ALL
START>SHUTDOWN>SHUTDOWN
Start it back up.

Do your CDROMS show up?

 

[Galaphile]

Oh wow.. The burner is back up.
I do not fully understand how Windows PnP works but it did recongnize the Creative CDRW.
But now i'm back to where i started. My burner is working but the other is not.
I am beginning to think that the Delta has a hardware problem.
So assuming that the Delta is not PnP, and i cannot find any drivers for windows, what else can be done? Cleaning?
System Manager tells me that i have another cd drive and it is working properly, but it cannot read any disks and when i insert one it keeps trying to read but nothing happens.

 

[Galaphile]

*UPDATE*

From a little testing i have come up with something.
When i have a CD in my Delta during boot, windows will not find my roms.
When i dont have a CD in my Delta during boot, windows sees my roms.
What does this mean??
What is IDE-0? My CMOS is set to scan IDE-0 for boot disk.
Is IDE-0 my Delta?
Is my Delta broken or not setup right?

 

[roamer1]

Galaphile,

Good. Progress.

Start>Shutdown>Restart= Hold F8 down (or Ctl) to get the Dos boot menu. Boot to safe mode.

RClick (Right Click) on My Computer. Choose Properties.
on the Device Manager tab, open the (+) along side each entry EXCEPT "System" (stay outta there).

What you are looking for is EXACT DUPLICATES. If any are found DELETE BOTH Instances. Also look for obvious extras- If you find 2 hard drives and you know you only have one, delete the one that is not proper, etc. Be careful, and if in doubt, Don't.

Restart normally- it may need to redetect some stuff- let it find the stuff it needs. Check the CDROM again.

 

[Galaphile]

Okay..
Well i found two set of duplicates...
I had 2 Monitors and two Generic IDE Disk Drives (type 47)
I deleted all copies and when i restarted i had to setup a new monitor, np.
But now i still have two disk drives. (were you expecting something like that?)
I have a CDROM controller for the creative (i downloaded drivers)

 

[roamer1]

Huh. Dunno. It is normal to look for boot on IDE0, but it might be useful, if you have an option in CMOS, to "Set Boot Sequence" to "C only" just to remove Bios issues from the table. If you need to boot from a CDROM you can always change it back.

 

[roamer1]

How many Hard Drives do you have? You can have more than one. Each Hard drive will show up as a "Disk Drive"

 

[Galaphile]

I've done a lil testing.
I think that whatever i have my boot set to it will check my cdrom.
I have disabled secondary boot and it checked the rom, and i put it back and it checked ide-0.
I think that IDE-0 is my primary hard disk (i have two)
and there are no other options that seem like they could be hard disks. there is CDROM, lan etc etc but no disk drives.

 

[roamer1]

The only thing that makes sense is that your Delta CDROM is Master on IDE0 and your Primary Harddrive is Slave on IDE0. It might be worth looking to make sure they are jumpered right. If the CDROM and HDD are on the same cable, Make the HDD Master and the CDRom slave.

Sorry dude- I'm running outta bullets here.

 

[Galaphile]

That doesn't seem like it is the case, I have had the rom working fine before i formatted my hard drives.
Well i appreciate all your help, atleast i've learnt a few things.
I think i will email Delta and check out some reviews on the product.

 

[roamer1]

Good luck

 

[Galaphile]

Problem solved.
It was as simple as opening up the CDROM and using compressed air to clean the lens.
Thanks for all your help tho Roamer1

 

[roamer1]

Congrats!
Happy to help- thx for the star