I have been having a problem for a long time with the boot up. My computer will not boot without a floppy boot disk in the drive. It says "Non-System disk error. Replace and strike any key" or something like that whenever I try to boot without a boot disk (AKA empty A: drive). It works fine if I have a boot disk.

Another problem is that the computer will not recognize or detect my cd-rom drive. I have tried reinstalling the drivers and going through all the troubleshooting given. I checked the power cable and the motherboard connection cable and it is hooked up good and when I put a CD in, the lights on front come on. It is a DoubleCD brand (sorry best info I can give). I believe it functioned when I "evolved".

My 3.1 system has been collecting dust for a while now and I just took it out for old times sake. I just want to get it working again for fun.

Are you booting on a floppy which is the same version as the DOS on the HD?

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

"evolved" or not, your post is just a bit bewildering.

If the hard drive won't boot on its own, use your DOS bootdisk - - you know, the one that came with the version of DOS that is actually installed on your machine, and perform the well known

sys c:

"when I put a CD in, the lights on front come on. "

... and that means.... nothing, except that the drive is connected to the power supply.

Won't work without the DOS drivers installed - if it's connected to the soundcard - and I imagine it is on a 386 - then you would need the specific driver loaded in config.sys, as well as mscdex.exe in autoexec.bat

This all seems remarkably.. familiar

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You are actually working on a 386?

WHAT is a "double cd brand??"

Here's the deal. Given that if the above is ?correct? this means that you have an OOLLLDDD computer, and the drivers for the CDROM will have to be configured in DOS, either on the hard drive, or a floppy.

There is not going to be any of this "my computer does or does not detect" and so on, because in a 386, that doesn't happen--again, the drivers must be configured in DOS

Also, the CDROM may be BAD/ defective/ non functional, as well as dirty

It could be hooked up wrong

It could be a so called "proprietary drive" ---I've forgotten, but there are somewhere around 5 different CDROM interfaces, including IDE, Matsus---a, SCSI, and a couple of others I've forgotten the name of. Somewhere, I've got a couple of old sound cards with SEVERAL different CDROM interface connectors, NONE of which can be substituted.

We need the make and model of your CDROM.

We need to know that you know how to hook up the cables, IE not backwards

We need to know that you checked, and set, the master/slave jumper correctly on the drive

We need to determine what kind of interface you are using.

We need to know what you did to

"""I have tried reinstalling the drivers and going through all the troubleshooting given"""

because we have no idea what that statement means.

NOW PAY ATTENTION:

HERE:

http://panasonic.co.jp/psec/en/down/index.html

is the download page if it happens to be a Panasonic/ Matsus---a

That's pretty Sodann funny the anti expression software won't let me properly spell Mat su s h i ta

Pleas post the contents of your config.sys and autoexec.bat file.

If you don't know how to do that, copy them to a floppy, if that's not where they are now, and then on a windlows machine, "drag" them into a notepad window. This will allow you to read the test. Copy and paste it here.

go fiddle around these pages awhile:

http://oldfiles.org.uk/lightspeed/main.html

http://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/

http://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/cdrom.htm

http://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/msdos.htm

A CD drive must be configured in DOS no matter what, in order for Win3xx to use it.

If I'm not mistaken, the 386 IDE interface didn't support 'standard' IDE CDs, and a proprietary interface was the rule - ie a separate sound or interface card was required.

The upshot of that is (naturally) the 'generic' IDE drivers found on modern bootdisks just won't work - - if the thing was setup correctly at one time (and not formatted or redone) then the drivers could very well still be on the drive, or else on the original installation diskettes, if available

(Matsushîta - - heh)

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"Matsushîta - - heh"

Sneaky.

I suppose

松下電器

Is out of the question.

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

"""If I'm not mistaken, the 386 IDE interface didn't support 'standard' IDE CDs,"""

Ya know, jboy, I didn't know that. Probably the earliest CDROM I owned was in fact a Matu----aw ferget it

witha proprietary interface,

but I've fiddled with some Backward Pellches and even though some of these (486) would support an IDE CDROM, many came with proprietary drives hooked to the sound card.

That is, in fact, where I got the sound cards with the "big row" of connectors lined up.

Please don't try and tell me those were the "good old days"

Good old days? Heh - wouldn't dream of it - but simpler, perhaps

I'm not positive, and have never tried to shoehorn one onto a 386 - it's not a problem with the 486's - other than the fact that those typically only came with the one integrated controller, so you were usually limited to one drive and a slaved CD.

I seem to recall this came up often here years ago, and don't recall anyone getting it to work (on a 386) without an interface card - I believe it's the difference between IDE and EIDE.

M2 - good one ; )

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I've had an IDE drive on several 386's and even a couple of 386sx machines. None of them were EIDE. Have a 52x now on an IBM PS/Valuepoint (486DX2-66---without EIDE support). Never had any problems...

Well, there ya go then - I wasn't at all positive - 486's , sure, done that many a time

(Valuepoint? Now that's a blast from the past)

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