no option in HDD type for CDROM. If I just leave it unfound or user defined [all zeoes] a win98 boot disk can't find it when it uses its cdrom drivers. The award bios 4.05 is from gigabyte with a SiS chipset. Gigabyte doesn't have an upgrade for the series 4 bioses, I assume they are not flashable. So, do I have to throw out the mother board or is there an easier way? [I'm using a 486 133 accelerator]. Surely those old 486s had somecdrom availability?

The drivers in your Win 98 Boot disk might only be able to find IDE CD-ROM drives. It is possible that you have an older Mitsumi, Sony or Panasonic/Matsushi ta Kotobuki CD-ROM drive. Open the computer and get make and model of your CD-ROM drive. See how the CD-ROM drive is attached by ribbon cable. It will be one of the following methods. 1) SCSI CD-ROM drive attached to a SCSI controller with a 50 pin ribbon cable. 2) Connected to same ribbon cable as hard drive. In that case it is an IDE CD-ROM drive. 3) Attached by ribbon cable to a sound card. The connector, in this case will be labeled similar to one of the following; Sony MKE Mit IDE 4) Attached to a CD-ROM controller card by ribbon cable and has RCA connectors on the outside to connect the CD-ROM output to external speakers. Whatever setup you have, Go to the manufacturer's website to get drivers. In the case of the sound card connection, you will want to find the sound card drivers and install them first. Many times the sound card software will prompt you to install the CD-ROM drive also. Good Luck

Check the Jumper Setting on your drive! I had a similar problem.