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CDROM drives disappeared. 2

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jhumbo

Technical User
May 7, 2003
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When I go into My Computer my 2 cdrom drives aren't there. They worked just a bit ago. I think my BIOS detects them and I've tried switching IDE cables and such but it didn't help.
 
There was an exclamation by my ide controller before, but its gone now.
 
Also I found out that there are 2 different drivers located on my system for my ide controller. You got any instant messagers man? might be a tizzle quicker
 
I just recently fixed a guys computer that had this problem. the cause of his was the "AntiCMOS" virus. It removed both of his cd drives and reduced the conventional memory through the bios. Maybe you could go to Symantec's website and do an online virus scan. All I did to fix it was repair the Master boot record with a startup disc. I performed this on a winME machine but the solution should be the same. Long shot but maybe this will help you. Good luck!
 
The exclamation mark indicates that the driver for the port wasn't operating. You have to have the port right before it can allow the CD to be seen.

Yeah, I wanted you to remove it. System should rebuild it on reboot.

Do a google search on 82371ab and you'll find some info on what happens. This is mostly related to 95s, but it is where I've spent 4 days getting a transplanted hard drive and CD working.

Do you know what chipset is on the M/B. May be time to look on mfgr's site to see if there are driver problems.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
 
Alright I will try the removing. What do you mean by chip set (im such a n00B)? I use pentium 3 if that what you mean. Also do you have msn messenger or aim or something?
 
Oh and I didn't have that virus dillio. Thanks for the input though.
 
Well I removed the device and restarted and it reinstalled fine but the CDROM drives still don't show up, and there isn't an exclamation point by the controller.
 
Try deleting the primary and secondary disk controllers and any cd drive that shows up. reboot and see if that helps. Deleting the primary and secondary controllers is also a good thing to do if you are making a HDD transplant.Just do it before firing it up in the new PC.
 
Suggestion

Try reversing the IDE connections (put HD on 2, CDs on 1).

Other suggestion.

Disconnect HD and boot from win98 floppy (with CD support).
Can you access CD's from the dos prompt?
 
Dude, I can't restart to dos currently. Wolluf: my cdroms go into my m/b and my hardrives go into my pci card controller. Want me to try and switch my cdroms to the controller?
 
Now you tell us that you have 2 controllers.
Might help if you would tell us why you have the second controller. And any other hardware that might be a possible conflict. And the manufacturer of the 2nd controller.

Yes , it might be time to try the CDs on the 2nd controller.

You asked about chipsets. There are various chips that are designed to tie the processor to all the other devices that can be put on the M/B. The board manufacturer will chose a family of interface chips based on what they want to do and the other purchase constraints like speed and price. And you can get M/Bs with problems if there are driver problems with the chipsets. Or , like with 95, if the OS doesn't recognize the chipset correctly.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
 
The PCI controller came with the computer and the hard drive has always been hooked up to it. My cdroms are hooked into my motherboard, and always have been. Its a gateway comp and it has been virtually untouched hardware-wise. I will try the cdroms on the card and I will look to find out what m/b i have.
 
I had the same problem, It was a virus.
get norton with lastests def. and scan all.

Rod
 
The machine I spent 4 days on was also a Gateway. Had 2 intel 82371ab chips installed. And no matter what Gateway drivers I installed the secondary IDE was incorrectly identified and the CD wasn't there.
Ended up with a driver off drivers.com that reloaded primary, secondary, and bridge. And everything was happy.

My problem was migrating a ghosted hard drive from something else and attempting to get 95C to work with the M/B.

You might want to see if you are fighting the same problem.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
 
Well it's not a virus.

I did switch the cdroms from the m/b to the pci card. Now my drive F: the NEC one works, but not my faster DVDROM. After I first started my computer up it reinstalled my drivers for the controller, the intel dillio, and some other stuff (i had to rotate some cards because the cord wasn't long enough). After my comp then restarted, I went into My Computer and some weird fatal exception blue screen came up (something in VXD module maybe???) After that my comp restarted again. Then I was working and everything was fine and out of the blue it installed my primary and secondary harddrive port things. Now as I said one works and one doesn't.
 
Ed, how can I be sure that I have the same problem you did, and if I do, how do I fix it? Thanks.
 
You'll need a flashlight. Open the case and look on the motherboard. May be 2 chips about 1" by 1" with solder connections on all 4 sides. If they are there you read the chip numbers.
If they are intel 82371 you may have the same problem. Solution on the 95 I was fighting was a google search for drivers. Downloaded , then unzipped, then used the setup which was part of the zip. That installed the definitions needed for 95 to install the right drivers.

I haven't installed 98 on any of the gateway boards I have so I don't know if it ids the chips differently.

Since the CDs are on an expansion card now, you could get into the BIOS and disable the onboard controllers in the CMOS. This might resolve some potential problems. And you may need to load a DVD driver.

I still would be curious why you have a 2nd controller installed. Did you buy the machine used?

An alternate solution for discovery would be to go to the gateway site and see what they list for your machine. Or use Belarc to see if it can get specific. You could also download the gateway update program to run and see if you need some new drivers.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
 
I bought the machine from gateway. The devices were connected as follows: CDROM WAS in the m/b. Hd IS in an Ultra66. Now they are both in the Ultra66. I will look at the motherboard for the chip. Posting back soon.
 
I looked and I do have that chipset installed. Any idea how to fix my first cdrom drive?
 
Can only offer what worked for 95C. Went to google, looked for info on the 82371ab, clicked on the site that led to drivers.com, registered there, downloaded a file BMIDE_95.zip to the machine, unzipped it, and ran the setup.

That loaded the files necessary for 95 to load the correct drivers. Next reboot , the hardware detector found the right drivers, and on the next boot the CD was detected.

There is also the Gateway site with drivers and a driver check program that you can use to make sure your drivers are up to date.

You could also do a google search on "disappearing cd drives". That should point you to some of the same info I needed.


Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
 
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