Thanks, I'm going to try tonight. Much appreciation to all. Jeff

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Krystyna: i clicked on PCI BUS Master IDE Controller, then properties, but i don't have a settings tab. just GENERAL DRIVER RESOURCES. Those are the only 3 tabs. How do I find Channel Settings?

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use a win98 startup floppy. when it asks if you want cd support say yes. this should tell you if it is the hardware or windows giving you the trouble.

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In device manager, under the 'PCI Busmaster IDE controller' is there a 'primary IDE controller' and a 'secondary IDE controller'? Maybe the OS is only seeing one channel and that's why you don't have the 'settings' option. You may want to check in cmos to verify both channels are enabled. If the drive is not in msdos compatibility mode, then as phil suggests, boot from the bootdisk and see if you can access the cdrom. You say this started after you upgraded, but did it start immediately afterwards or did it work OK for awhile?

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I only have PCI BUS Master IDE Controller listed in device manager. How do I check in cmos to find if both channels are enabled? (this is what i cannot find), because I don't have a setting tab, after i click properties, after highlighting PCI BUS Master IDE Controller in the device manage, in system, in control panel. This problem did not happen right after the upgrade. Thanks

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I only have PCI BUS Master IDE Controller listed in device manager. How do I check in cmos to find if both channels are enabled? (this is what i cannot find), because I don't have a setting tab, after i click properties, after highlighting PCI BUS Master IDE Controller in the device manage, in system, in control panel. This problem did not happen right after the upgrade. Thanks

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I'm not familiar with that cmos but there should be an option on one of the pages to enable/disable the IDE controllers. It might be too late now, but since it's apparently not due to the upgrade you may be able to restore a previous registry. Only the last 4 or 5 registry dates are kept so if it's been longer than that then all the registries will have that problem. But to restore a registry choose to shut down windows and restart in msdos mode. Then at the c:\windows> prompt type: scanreg/restore and enter. When it's done, see if it'll reboot normally. This assumes the bios is seeing the cdrom. If the bios isn't seeing the cdrom windows won't either. So restoring a registry won't help. So check that first before attempting a registry restore. Also boot with the bootdisk to see if the bootdisk sees it.

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You could also try completely removing the IDE controller entry in Device Manager. Then reboot, and Windows will redetect and install the controller again, hopefully with both Primary and Secondary this time ! Good luck Krystyna

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Here's some new information: I have yellow mark in drvice manager next to adaptec SCSI. When I click on it I get Adaptec-AHA151/1510/etc. Then try to update the driver for it. I get error b/c I;m missing sparrow.mpd and looks for windows 98 cd. when i direct it to my d: drive it says that there is no sparrow.mpd there. I don't know if it's b/c it can't read cd rom. very confused.

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You may need to check Dell's site for your specific model. If you've got a SCSI adapter maybe your HD and/or cdrom are SCSI also. The advice we've given above assumed an IDE configuration. But, the sparrow.mpd file is on the windows disk. I can email it to you. I'm not sure what it does, but if that's what's causing the problem maybe getting that file will fix it. Let me know.

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Yea, if you could email that file to me, I think it would solve the problem. I know it's on the windows disk, but I can't read it, so you emailing it would probably (hopefully) save the day. jeffreylance@juno.com Thanks, Jeff

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OK, it should be there. I included installation instructions. Post back results.

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Thank you, but i think it's just beyong repair.

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You may want to run regedit and delete the Enum key from Hkey_Local_Machine. That will remove all the hardware references in the registry. When you reboot, windows will reconfigure everything as if it was a fresh installation. You'd need to have all the drivers ready to reinstall. Another thing to try is an an over-the-top reinstallation. That would keep your existing software also. If you want to try that, post back and we'll tell you how to do it.

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I'd like to try the over-the-top. Only b/c I'm not sure if I have all the drivers to reinstall. Please tell me how. THANKS!

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Assuming you have a full version 98 cd, bootup with a bootdisk and choose cdrom support. Sometimes bootdisks temporarily change the cdrom drive letter. The last few lines that load before the final a:\> prompt will tell you the cdrom drive letter. Sometimes the generic drivers on the 98 cd won't see a laptop cdrom. If that's the case, instead of a cdrom drive letter it'll give an error message instead of the cdrom drive letter. If that happens, stop there and post back and we'll have to locate the correct drivers. If everything loads OK then at the a:\> prompt type: ren c:\windows\win.com win.old and enter. This renames win.com so that you can use a full version cd in what is essentially an upgrade situation. Then with the 98 cd in the cdrom, at the a:\> prompt type: e:\setup and enter, where e: is the cdrom drive letter that was displayed when it was booting. If it asks if you want to replace your OS or exit setup, choose to replace. As part of the setup process, you'll be asked what directory to install windows in. It will default to windows.000 because it detects you already have a directory named 'windows'. Choose 'other directory' and change windows.000 back to windows so that everything installs in your old directory. The rest of the installation should proceed normally.

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Daveincaps you're awesome, it worked!!!!!! thanks a million jeff

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You're welcome. Sometimes a reinstallation is the only way to get things straightened out.

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when I boot up I get "Diskette drive 1 seek failure" and go to check if the cd-rom is connected and it is not. Please help me.

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Diskette drive 1 is your floppy drive HTH Woof Curiosity may have killed the cat but at least the cat wasn`t bored

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