I need a PB expert 1

[ScaryJerry]

My neighbor called me over to straighten out her computer, a Packard Bell C110. After looking at all the files and junk that she has collected on the hard drive over the years, I felt that doing a complete restore would be the best bet. She said that there is nothing on the drive that can't be re-loaded, so I put the recovery 3.5" floppy and CD in their respective drives and turned the computer on. The 3.5" floppy went to the end of its routine and then gave the message, "Unable to determine CD-rom drive. Error level is 100." That is as far as I can get.

I have tried to look for some support, any support, on the web, but there isn't much there. Some things I plan on trying are:
1. Replace ribbon cable on CD-Rom drive
2. Reset CMOS
3. Run Norton Anti-virus
4. Run fdisk
5. Select a different CD-Rom driver. (It is a Memorex CD402E replacement CD-Rom and when I delete the driver and manually re-install it, I am given about 3 or 4 choices. I always used the first choice. Maybe I should try other drivers and see what happens?)

Does anyone know what the problem is? Or have any other suggestions I can try. The neighbor think I am a computer dummy since I can't even do a simple recovery. HELP! Thanx for any assistance.

--Jerry

 

[mainegeek]

The "replaced" CD-Rom driver probably doesn't exist on the PB Floppy Disk. Boot from a Windows Boot disk intead. Selecting "Start with CD-Rom Support. Then run the restore from the PB Restore CD. Another way would be to add the "replaced" CD-Rom driver to the PB Floppy Disk and then
modifying some files on it.

 

[mudskipper]

Maingeek is right. Your PB floppy disk does not have the drivers for your CDROM drive. I have run into that exact problem a few times now.

Most of the time, it is easiest to use maingeeks second option. I would like to clarify a bit, however....

Using a different computer, first MAKE A COPY OF THE PB BOOT DISK. That way, you will always have the original if you can't remember what you changed, or how it looked before you started slicing and dicing on it! Next, modify your copy of the PB disk so that your CDROM driver is included. You will have to do this by A) copying the driver itself on to the floppy--this is easiest if you copy it into the same directory that the others are on. That way you can just copy what PB's config.sys says if you are unsure of how to edit it. B) edit the floppy's config.sys to call that driver (you will see examples of how it should look on the PB disk) C) ensure that the autoexec.bat also looks correct for the info that you have added.

One disclaimer--some of the PB floppies don't call mscdex.exe in autoexec.bat, but instead call it in their own program (that you won't likely be able to edit if this is the case). If so, ensure the your CDROM name in config.sys is the same one that PB uses (eg DEVICE=a:\V330_11C.SYS /D:MSCD001 - mscd001 is the name). If you use a different name, then that MSCDEX will be looking for the wrong CD name and error out.

I hope that this info helps... please post back with any updates and/or questions! Mudskipper
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