CDROM Drives Have Disappeared

[cdogg]

Configuration:

2 IDE CDROM Drives
- one is an Iomega cd-writer (12x10x32x)
Intel mobo and chip
Windows 98
Adaptec Eazy Cd Creator 4.xx

My motherbaord has a built-in ethernet-LAN connector, and as soon as I enabled it in the BIOS, my cd-rom drives have disappeared.

I also have Windows 2000 Pro installed, and that OS can see them just fine.

In Win98, "Start->Setings->Control Panel->System->Performance tab" shows that all my drives are using MS-DOS mode compatibility


What I've tried:
- removing all cd-writer software
- disabling the ethernet-LAN in the BIOS
- remove the devices from Device Manager
- BIOS recognizes the cd-rom drives, but the OS doesn't

* again, Windows 2000 can see them just fine *

Any suggestions?

 

[mcconmw]

It sounds like a resource allocation issue. You may want to try rearranging your CD-Rom connections to try and get new resource settings (be careful with your Master and Slave pins). I would also make sure you are running the latest drivers for the NIC and CD-Roms and have the latest BIOS flash for your MB. Sorry I can't offer anything more. Let me know if none of the above helps and post a more detailed list of your hardware and I'll put some more thought into it. Good luck.

 

[cdogg]

As a second note, the latest drivers are installed for the "integrated" LAN adapter. The cd-roms worked beautifully for the past 6 months. The only change I made was enabling the LAN adapter in the BIOS.

After removing the "Intel PRO/100 VE Network Connection" which is the ethernet adapter and disabling it in the BIOS, the cd-rom drives did not reappear.

In device manager, there aren't any cd-rom devices listed and searching for new hardware finds nothing...

 

[fenix]

It sounds like there are a few pieces missing from this puzzle.
To clarify, are you saying that before you started enabling/disabling the network card, BOTH drives worked in BOTH operating systems?

If so, it sounds like a driver problem. Maybe you disabled the 98 drivers (while you were in 98), and they never got enabled. If you remove a device, it will prompt to reinstall at boot up, but a disabled device will just stay disabled, (red X in Device Manager). You did say that you removed them, could you have meant disabled ?

Each operating system loads the drivers that it is going to need when it boots, and Maybe 2000 uses different drivers, or even the same drivers but they weren't disabled while you were in W2K.

This could account for why they are seen by W2K, and not by 98. If you disabled them in 98, they would still work in W2K. (I think) I haven't tried this, but maybe if they were disabled, and then removed, it might not try to reinstall them at the next boot up.


Are 98 and w2k on their own partition? Or are they sharing the C:/ drive, which I hear is not recommended by MS, but they still let you do it? (???) I have 95 and W2K on the C: and if I didn't see it, I wouldn't have believed it !! So far no problems, but I haven't done much on that computer yet.

It's seems unlikely that a resource conflict would make both drives disappear, but not sure on this one.

Why not try reinstalling the cdroms' drives and drivers again, while in 98. I didn't see you mentioning that. The original CD-Rom drivers are probably in the Windows driver files.
And you probably have the drivers or installation disk for the cd Writer.

 

[cdogg]

As I said before in my last post line 10 and 11, there are no cdrom devices listed in Device Manager. So that should answer your question of whether the device was simply disabled.

In addition, the drivers are pulled from the cdrom devices themselves. It is built-in to a ROM within the hardware. You can determine this by going to the cdrom manufacturer's website and see if they have firmware updates available. Since both devices do, then it is NOT a driver problem.

I also already tried running the Add New Hardware wizard. Tried automatically and manually adding the cdrom devices, but with no avail.

Just to clear up an irrelevant issue, Win98 is installed on the first partition C:, and Win2K is on the second (D.


** BOTTOM LINE **
- This is not a driver problem
- No Cdrom listed in Device Manager
- Cannot manually or automatically find the devices in W98
- BIOS sees the devices

* Please Read the previous posts closely before posting a reply - THANKS *


Can someone please HELP!!!!!

 

[cdogg]

Perhaps there is a corrupted registry setting causing this mess (since it doesn't affect Win2K)?

reghakr, somebody...please help!

 

[Chadda]

I had that same problem with Win98 way back when, it ended up being the NYB virus had invaded my system, and removed all my cd-roms's! Go figure. Removed the virus, rebooted, presto.
Don't know if this will help you, just speaking from past experience.

 

[cdogg]

Found my problem...for those of you who might encounter the same thing


Instead of worrying about the cd-roms and their drivers, check to make sure the hard disk controller is properly installed. In my case, the Intel ATA Storage controller was installed and enabled, but was missing a minor component. On the Performance tab, my partitions showed they were using MS-DOS compatibility. After reinstalling this hard disk controller, everything returned to normal and my cd-rom drives came back.


FYI...