Windows 3.1: the CD-ROM does not work, but the 'busy' light is on; the BIOS says it is 'not installed'. This occurred after a 'btrieve error' (file table full, though it wasn't) which we hoped to remedy by reloading our library catalog into the computer (only to discover the CD-ROM didn't work, which meant we couldn't). Are we having fun yet? Anyway, I know nothing about Windows 3.1. Any advice? CD-ROM pooped? Or do I need to find new drivers?

Check the jumper setting.
Or the cabling.
CD-Rom shuld stand as Master...

Me again. Here's more details about situation (I wrote from home last time and the computer was elsewhere [at work]). Apparently, they put in a new CPU (by 'new', I mean Intel from 1989). Our BIOS settings are all screwed up (set back to default settings with 5 1/4" floppy set for a: drive, for example). To Stian: Checked cables. I even deliberately put ribbon cables on upside down to see if I would get a 'hard drive failed' or similar message. No response. As for jumper setting: no jumper 'hats' cover any of the pins; this old piece of crap doesn't use any coherent labeling (like M/Sl), so I'm not all that sure where I'd put them anyway.
To continue: the busy light is on, so obviously it's getting power, right? I installed new drivers which were recognized by the system. Then I got an error message regarding the missing CD-ROM: 'no devices attached OR powered down OR communication failed'
Crazygirl going crazier

is mscdex installed too? i dont know if itll help , sounds as youve got a real dinosaur on your hands (must work in a school or somethin' ;)
i dont know if theres a specific bios setting that needs to be set to get a really old box to recognize a cdrom, but i do know that with both dos and win31 -cuz it runs on dos- need the mscdex extention loaded as well as a cdrom driver- this allows dos to recognize the cd as though it were a hard drive or somthin.
if its not in your autoexec.bat file its gotta be added like so:
C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:MSCD001
-assuming dos is on your c drive-
p.s. im not sure whether the /S is a setting specific to my cdrom, or just a standard paramater,so try it without if it dont work with it.

It's important to have the correct settings in the BIOS - also, earlier BIOS's didn't detect CD drives - check and see. It would help to know the specs for this machine '89 processor could be a 486 - which would mean no CD auto-detect.

If the CD drive is on its own ribbon, then jumper it as 'master' - if it shares a ribbon cable with the hard drive, jumper as 'slave'

If the light stays on it could be that the ribbon cable is on backwards (the red or coloured side goes to 'pin1' - both on the drive & on the controller)

CD drives need to be setup in DOS for Win3xx to recognize them - but it sounds like that's already so since you're getting error messages - what's generating the message, Windows or DOS?.

Drive could be kaput - or a bad cable maybe.

Don't forget the driver in config.sys !
DEVICE=c:\xxxxx.sys /L:D

for example L:D D:\ -> CD-drive letter

Thanks for the advice guys. To Jboy: CPU details: Intel 486DX. Definitely no auto-detect. How do I force it to detect my cd-rom then? Also my CD-ROM shares a ribbon with my floppy drive, which works fine. BIOS [AMIBIOS 1985-1992] reads D: drive (which is supposed to be my CD-ROM drive) as a hard drive [which it reads as 'uninstalled']. No settings specific to a CD-ROM.
To Dominicus and KaTo: Mscdex line is in both config.sys and autoexec.bat. I'm not sure if the driver is the right one: I used Sony CDU-33A driver. I know that my CD-Rom is Sony and that it was made in 1992. I opened the case to see if there was more detailed info on the drive itself, but no luck. Haven't tried played with jumper settings yet . . . I'll followup.
Happy trails to all.

Back in 1992 the CD-ROM drives were not the standard device they have become since then.You may have a propietary Sony drive and a bad one from what you say.CD-ROM drives and hard disks drives use a 40 pins cable that can be shared and the diskette drive uses a 34 pins cable.The CD-ROM drive if you change it will be Slave on a 486 computer(the hard disk is Master)because these computers had only one EIDE port standard.The bios settings is for the hard drive only on a 486.If your office is on a tight budget why not go for a used HP or Dell Pentium II 400 MHz or more with at least 256 Mo of RAM .You will easily connect to the Web with this and update your office procedures and customer service.You can retain the dot matrix printer if you have one and keep using it.A copy of Windows 98 or 98 SE with the hardware drivers is all you need to upgrade.Ask the seller for a copy of the drivers for video, sound ,modem etc.on a CD.If you upgrade the 486 to Windows 9X(choose Windows 95b or 95c in this case) you will need about 32 Mo of RAM to operate a word processor suite like Office 97 .The newer Office 2000 is a lot more adapted to office work using the Web for e-mail etc.If you have a Windows 3.1 program to run it will be 'compatible' with Windows 9X .Good luck.

Yep, much as I love the old 486 machines, they can't hold a candle to anything made in the last 5 years or so.
Your Sony CDU-33A appears to be an old 'twin spin' (2x speed) proprietary drive - which means that it's very slow and likely runs from a sound card or special (non IDE) interface. It's unlikely that it's on the same cable as the floppy, for the reasons mentioned by Petit Jean.

Probably does need to be set as 'slave'.

fwiw it should be setup for DOS as follows:

in CONFIG.SYS

devicehigh=c:\cdfolder\cdrive.sys /D:MSCD001

(the italicized parts will be specific to your driver & its location on your machine

in AUTOEXEC.BAT

lh c:\dos\mscdexe.exe /D:MSCD001

While you should be able to make it work if it hasn't suffered mechanical failure, I would have to agree with Petit Jean's post - upgrading to a low end Pentium machine with better hardware would be inexpensive, and much more satisfying.

Let us know how you make out.

if it is a 2x sony it might have to be connected to the soundboard, or slaved to the harddrive , not the a: drive. i recall that was nessecary for all the soundblaster cdroms, and they were sonys of the same type.
sound cards that are soundblaster compatible generally have at least one set of pins that fit sonys, (which have less pins than the standad cdrom, 34 i think), and alsoone or more sets that fit the standard 40 pin one-i recall my 486 had to have the cd hooked up there- i dont remember which driver it was bit the cdu-33a seems to ring a bell-if it works for those soundblaster cdroms itll work for yours, i think.
dont know how much help this will be but......
Good Luck.

Hi! Me again. Actually, our library (what else would still use a 486?) has several more up-to-date computers (everything from Windows 98 to XP), but our head librarian insists on using the 486 for our patron card catalog search (even though we also have a catalog search available on our other machines). I don't know why she is so attached to it, but she wants it fixed if possible. So . . . I have another question . . . Could my Sony CDU-33A drivers be the wrong ones, or were they pretty standard for 1992? At this point, I'm assuming that the drivers are wrong, but I really don't want to search for more drivers if I don't have to. I don't have any switches on my jumper setting at all (someone lost them?), so would the harddrive not automatically assume master status? When I'm at work today I'll check to see what's sharing the ribbon with the CD-ROM. Cheerio!

Hello Crazygirl,

lots of advice from everyone so far, but you seem to have missed what was said in a couple of postings. Early Sony CD-ROMs required a special interface (SCSI), which usually came on a sound card. If you continue to leave that computer on and the CD-ROM attached to your floppy drive cable, you could burn it out; I would de-attach it immediatly. Ribbon cables for floppy drives have power going thru certain channels, and they are different than those in CD-ROM SCSI cables.

2X & 4X CD-ROMs are so cheap nowadays; what you need is an "IDE" CD-ROM drive (one that you can have on the same ribbon cable as your harddrive). If you wish to keep the SONY however, you will need to find a soundcard with a SONY CD-ROM interface (old soundlblaster-16's had them, as well as some other soundblaster-compatible companies' cards). That may be a more labourious task however; it may be easier to look for an IDE CD-ROM drive (ebay is plentiful of them).

James

Sorry if it appears that I was ignoring some of the advice. I'm used to dealing with software-specific problems [and in more--er--modern machines] so when you start talking about sound cards I admit I'm a little leary. All I know is that the CD-ROM does share a ribbon with the floppy (34-pin), which is all plugged into (presumedly by your words) the sound card? The harddrive is also plugged into this card on a separate ribbon. The combination worked fine before our computer crashed, which is why I haven't pursued the sound card issue. Same with the jumper settings (there weren't any switches on the pins before the crash, so why do I need them now?)
On drivers: my Sony is actually a 31CDU, so my 33CDU drivers were fine.
Well, I'm on the verge of admitting that my CD-ROM is crapped out permanently. It's that stupid busy light that keeps me thinking it might be salvageable (why is it on???) James, I will definitely take your advice and abandon the SCSI connection for IDE. Well, guys, if nothing else, I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the infamous 486 :)
Crazygirl

Sounds like some sort of multi-function card then. Never knew of one that ran everything like that one seems to - it sounds unique.

Ok, well if it all worked prior to this problem, then likely it is jumpered correctly and the software is properly configured.

Chances are that the drive has gone bad - you could try a new cable, but from the sounds of it, might be difficult to find one.

Best bet might be to pick up a new or used IDE CD drive, set it to slave and run it from the same cable as the hard drive. If that cable doesn't have the extra socket, you can purchase a standard 40 pin cable with the 3 sockets on it.

You'll need to install different drivers of course, but if you get a new drive, driver disk should be included - or you can use one of the generic ones like oakdcrom.sys from Win98.

Hey crazygirl,

hope I wasn't too rude! and hope my 3 cents worth wasn't more confusing than anyone else's 2 cents worth :)

come back & leave us a post if you get that "new" drive and need more help, it's been our pleasure!

James

Hey guys! Well, yesterday was my last day at that particular job (it was an internship), so my torch will be passed on, along with all your advice. I'll probably drop by, just to see how they're doing (I hate abandoning projects). Jboy: yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a multifunction card (I couldn't find any coherent labeling [like 'soundblaster'] to identify it. Go figure. No offense taken James. I need as much advice I can get :) You'll probably see me haunting this site again.
Crazygirl signing out . . .

If the floppy and hard drive also attach to the same controller this almost has to have been a SCSI drive. There were more universal drivers for them back then.
For general information IDE CD=ROM drives had no connection to the hard drive back then and had a separate controller just for them. Then came sound card connections just before Eide came along. An Eide CD-ROM will have jumpers in the back for master and slave settings.
What you have or had to do was find out what kind of CD-Rom you had and what was bad. The light means something is bad--ribbon, controller or drive. It probably would not be drivers if nobody lost or changed them.

I'm back. Definitely a SCSI drive (Sony CDU 31A) by the sounds of it. I assumed that the ribbon was ok (since the floppy drive that shares it works fine). Since the CD-ROM and hard drive share same controller and the hard drive is working, can I now assume that the CD-ROM drive is completely fried? (I don't work at the library in question anymore, but I'll pass on the info. This particular 'project' continues to irk me).

Well, it does seem likely, although I suppose it could be a failure on the card.

But, yeah, it's not the drivers, probably not the cable, so process of elimination.

I've certainly had newer hardware go bad. Best bet, as mentioned previously, would be upgrade to a more standard CD drive (or computer *g*)

Can someone please email th set of cARDSOFT pcmcia drivers for windows 3.1 or dos? Thanks. 'they keep disappearing...'