hello,
this is my first post so please bare with me as I will try to explain the problem I am having and would like to fix if I can? First I will list all info on my PC:

I have a packardbell windows 98 version on the pc, here is the make and model of the packardbell system the best that I have been able to find on it.

Motherboard--- MB880
Chipset----440EX PC1
BIOS TYPE---Phoenix or MAUI-P03
CPU---Celeron
CDROM---goldstar cd-rom crd model number 8320B1
Floppy disk controller----PNP0700---Hardware BIOS I think???

GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE01
GENERIC NEC FLOPPY DISK

when I click properties on the first one it says device type disk drives
manufacturer standard disk drives
hardware version not available
device status
this device is working properly
On the properties on the 2nd driver above says exactly the same as the first.

IN FLOPPY DISK DRIVERS ITS SHOWING:
standard floppy disk controller

in HARD DISK CONTROLLERS I HAVE THIS:

Intel 82371AB/EB PCI BUS MASTER IDE CONTROLLER
PRIMARY IDE CONTROLLER ( DUAL FIFO)

also there says in the system properties part, the performance section the following:

disk compression not installed
and PC cards ---No PC card sockets are installed

PRIMARY IDE SLAVE: (NONE)
SECONDARY IDE MASTER: CRD-8320B-(SM)
SECONDARY IDE SLAVE: (NONE)

Primary IDE master: (maxter 90648D3-(PM)

WHEN I START UP IN DOS I SEE THIS BELOW AS WELL:

Device name: MSCD0001
transfer Mode: programed I/O
Number of drives: 1

MSCDEX VERSION 2.25
Drive Q= Driver MSCD0001 unit o
these are the steps that are different then before, I dont no why it say's drive Q maybe thats one of the problems

we are not sure about this line as well but we dont remember this from before

DOS/4GW protected mode run-time version 1.97
DS-XG PCI configuration utility version 3.10

I also tried this test below:
Q:
and press enter.

Does the driver letter change? no

If so, type

dir, then press enter

Do you see a directory on the cd? no

this was my results from that test:
I went to command prompt.
typed in Q:

and the results are: C:\>Q:
invalid drive specification

C:\>

further info I have if it will help:

I have these inside but dont no where they go or connect to.I only connected the P4 to the power and that seemed to have got the cdrom door to open but nothing more as before it did not even open, these are the other connectors dont no where they all go but they are all loose at the moment in the case:
P5,P2,P6 (the smallest one looks like the P6)

from what I copied inside the case as well:
model--# 90648D3
HDA-13 amp
PCBA-02A
Unique-81A
code--GAS54112
C serial---A3HPJMKC
Jumper--J50
Master/single on
slave off

now for the question at hand please anyone who could help with this is,
I need to get my floppy disk and my cdrom drivers to work.

I can see my cd-rom hard drive located when I start up in DOS mode but dont see one for the floppy disk driver.

I have managed to get the cd-rom door to open I couldnt get that opened before, but I get this error message. D:\is not accessible
the device is not ready same thing when I try the a: driver as well

I have a very large ribbon in the case as well and I seem to have one end with a twist in it that isnt connected anywhere but the other leades on this ribbon are connected up one to the hard drive I beleive and the other 2 go into the motherboard itself. So where would the twisted part of this ribbon go any clues?

So if anyone can please shed some light as to what I might have connected up wrong on the inside as well as how I can get the cdrom to read since it is showing as Q: even though the test failed thats what I see in the DOS mode, but the other device manager showes it as D:??

really stumped so look forward to anyones input into this matter

thank you

libby

It does look like mscdex is specifying Q: as the drive letter of the cdrom but post back contents of your config.sys and autoexec.bat file to make sure. It looks like the drivers are loading OK so I don't know why you get the 'invalid drive specification'.

I think the drive letter specification in dos doesn't affect how windows sees it. So it could be Q: in dos and D: in windows.

The two lines you're not sure about are dos drivers for your sound card.

There won't be any drivers loading for the floppy drive when booting or rebooting to dos.

The ribbon cable with the 7-wire twist is the floppy cable. Typically on the cable there will be connections for two floppy drives. For one floppy drive you would connect the cable to the connection at the end of the cable. So you have one end connected to the motherboard, then a floppy connector, then the 7-wire twist, then the second floppy connector which attaches to your a: drive. The red striped edge of the ribbon cable connects to the #1 pin side of the drive and motherboard connectors.

I'm not sure about the unused connections. But it's common to have some that aren't used.

hello,

thank you for taking the time out to help me with this thus far really appreciate it, if you can tell me step by step how to get my contents of your config.sys and autoexec.bat file to post it as well here then I will be more then happy to give it a try please?

thanks once again and I will await your next reply to this post

libby

Hi, to get the autoexec.bat contents, do this: At the command prompt, type EDIT C:\autoexec.bat and press enter.

To get the config.sys contents, do this: At the command prompt, type EDIT C:\config.sys and press enter. Then just post their contents up here.

Hope that helps and welcome to computing.net.

If God has to teach someone a lesson more than once for them to learn it, it just shows how stubborn they are.

If it's getting to the windows desktop OK you can run SYSEDIT to look at them or run notepad and open c:\config.sys and c:\autoexec.bat and copy and paste their contents on your next post.

hello david,

thank you as well ray 96 for your steps,they both worked, but I found the steps from david easyer for me to follow so here are the files of my system:

autoexec.bat:

@ECHO OFF
Windows\Options\Systools\Hs2dmi.com

IF %CONFIG%==WSUPCTR WIN C:\Suppor~1\SupportC.lnk
C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\SYSTOOLS\DOSMODE.COM
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4

config.sys:

[Common]
Device=C:\WINDOWS\Himem.Sys
Device=C:\Windows\Emm386.exe

[Menu]
menuitem=WIN98,Default
menuitem=WSUPCTR,Support Center
menudefault=WIN98,0

[WIN98]

[WSUPCTR]

There was 6 windows in all that came up, so please let me know if you need to see all 6 of these windows when I typed in SYSEDIT .

and I will then be more then glad to put them all here but wanted to ask ahead of time if you needed them all

I hope by seeing this info above you can please advise me as to the next step here to
try thank you so much for the help

LIBBY

Sorry I haven't gotten back. I've been busy working on another machine.

The config.sys and autoexec.bat files don't show any cdrom drivers loading, which is OK since windows doesn't need those dos drivers to load. So I guess the MSCD001 messages were after booting from a bootdisk, or did you get them when shutting down windows and choosing to restart in msdos mode?

Packard Bell had a unique setup where both the driver and mscdex would load when exiting to dos. If it's happening when you exit to dos, post back the contents of dosstart.bat. It won't show when running sysedit so you'll need to run notepad and open c:\windows\dosstart.bat.

If you've verified the connections are correct, do your cdrom and floppy drive show up in 'my computer' when you boot to the windows desktop? If so, windows is seeing them OK. If they're not there, right click on 'my computer' and choose 'properties' and then 'performance'. So do they:

1) Show in 'my computer'?
2) Don't show in 'my computer' but in 'performance' are running in msdos compatibility mode?
3) Show in neither 'my computer' or 'performance'?

And just to make sure, do the cdrom and floppy work OK in windows and not dos or do they not work in either?