Windows 98 crashed a couple of weeks ago and would not boot. I used my startup bootable disk to boot into DOS with CDROM reading capabilities and reloaded Windows 98 from the original CDROM. After a few adjustments I have all my programs running under Windows but I cannot fully access my CDROM in Windows (it works fine in DOS). I seem to have lost my CD driver. I have tried a fix from the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 190303, "How to Use Real-Mode CD-ROM Drivers from Windows 98 Startup Disk," but it only partially helped. I then downloaded a driver from the CDROM manufacturer's (Pioneer) web site and installed it according to their directions. Now I can read a CD's files, but when I try to use an executible file, or a CD has contains "auto startup" the computer crashes. At auto startup or when an attempt is made to open an executible file the computer freezes and various error messages appear. The most frequent seems to be, " A fatal exemption has occurred at 0028:C19D214B in VXD BProtect (01) + 00002AFB. The current application will be terminated. The computer then must be manually shut off and rebooted. What can I do to alleviate this and again be playing my games on CDROM? ____________________________________________ My autoexec.bat reads as follows: @C:\PROGRA~1\GRISOFT\AVG6\bootup.exe @C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NORTON~2\NAVDX.exe /Startup REM rem - By Windows Setup - lh c:\windows\command\mscdex.exe /l:R /d:mscd001 SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\WINDOWS\Twain_32\Scanwiz;C:\PROGRA~1\GRISOFT\AVG6 MSCDEX.EXE /D:PIONEER ____________________________________________ My Config.sys reams as follows: REM device=c:\windows\cdrom\cdrom.sys /d:PIONEER device=C:\ATAPI_CD.sys lastdrive=z ____________________________________________ The computer is: Systemax Mediamax Processor: AMD K6-2 3D-333 Chipset: ALI Aladdin V AGPset Ram: 262MB SDRAM CDROM: Pioneer 36X ___________________________________________ Thank you for whatever help you may be able to offer.

Run msconfig. Select "selective startup". Remove checks from "process autoexec.bat" and "config.sys". Then restart computer. If your CDROM now works, you can remove all references to CDROM by unchecking the appropriate lines in autoexec.bat and config.sys. Post back.

Yeah, you don't need to install dos drivers for normal windows operation. As it is you're loading 2 cdrom drivers in config.sys. In autoexec.bat, mscdex is loading for the pioneer driver. You might check here: http://www.mesich.com/cdrommissing.html

After removing autoexec.bat and config.sys from selective startup Windows booted up just fine, but drive "D" no longer showed up on My Computer or Windows Explorer. I'm still lost.

Go to Mesich's site and follow those procedures. Post back results. cdr missing

I followed all of Meich's directions, but failed to do anything but make the computer not recognize CDROM D or E. However in msconfig I learned that ALi Primary IDE controller and ALi Secondary IDE controller are corrupted. I ten went to the Acer web site to find copies of the drivers, but none were available. I guess now I must search for these elsewhere.

Hi Robert, Who is the manufacture and what is the model number of your computer? Best Regards, Mesich