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I have reinstalled Windows 95a onto a Packard Bell Multimedia C119 (not the original hard drive) about 80 times, or maybe 7 or 8 times, and every time it finishes installing, the CDrom drive shows up and works great. Usually upon the next bootup, the CDrom drive becomes "uninstalled" in the BIOS, and won't be installed no matter how I try in Windows or setup. It works in DOS when I boot up using the Win 98 boot disk to format the drive for another reinstall, and there's no problem with the machine when it shows up. Just it only shows up once, or maybe twice if I'm lucky. Anybody got any thoughts on this?
I'd be somewhat surprised for there to be an entry in the BIOS for a CD on an old 120MHz machine - are you certain of that??
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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I agree with Jboy, CD drives weren't always recognized by the Bios in the old days.
You probably need to install the driver in config.sys and install mscdex in autoexec.bat.You will need a line something like the following in config.sys
devicehigh=c:\cdrom.sys /d:mscd0001 /L:G
You will have to alter the 'c:\cdrom.sys' to the location and name of your cdrom driver
The '/L:G' assigns the drive letter to the drive (in this case G). If you omit it, the drive will be assigned the next available letter.And a line something like the following in autoexec.bat
loadhigh c:\windows\command\mscdex.exe /d:mscd0001
Make sure that it points to the location of your mscdex.exe fileUse Notepad to add the lines!
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Hi jboy & ham30,
Yeah, but hard to see how DOS can find it and load the driver if the CD is not in BIOS.
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
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Windows won't require the DOS drivers for normal operation - something else is occurring, but I'd wager the BIOS is not involved as described
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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You say it works OK in dos when using the bootdisk. Is that always true? On a normal bootup into windows when the cdrom doesn't show, if you then reboot with a bootdisk do you have access to the cdrom?
If so, it sounds like a windows problem. One thing you might check: During one of those events when it gets lost, right click on 'my computer' and choose 'properties'. Look in 'device manager' for any problems indicated by a yellow ? or ! Then click on 'performance' and see if anything is running in msdos compatibility mode.
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As an aside, W98SE might be different but (for reasons I won't bore you with) I have both my CD-ROM & CD Writer set as "Not Installed" in BIOS.
Both still appear (D & E) in Windows and work quite normally.
Derek.W
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If I remember right, Win95 does not have a built in driver like Win98. Maybe I'm losing my mind, but I seem to remember having to load the driver and mscdex using config.sys and autoexec.bat for windows in Win95.
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"Maybe I'm losing my mind"
I'm afraid so - in Win9x, the DOS drivers are required... for DOS only
BIOS recognition of CD drives is pretty unlikely on a 120MHz machine (regardless of whatever OS), and on some machines, entering the CD as an IDE drive can be problematic
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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Yeah, for proprietary drives 9x installs a 'cdrom controller' for the cdrom in lieu of config.sys drivers. But IDE drives don't need additional drivers.
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Ok, thanks for the correction Jboy. Maybe I was thinking of the proprietary drives that I had used back then.
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Sure - even the earliest incarnation of 95 used its own Win32 CD drivers - the drive here seems to be an IDE if the generic boot disk works.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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I have a theory.
Just suppose that the CD drive is slow to initialize. On a floppy boot, it has enough time to wake up before config loads the driver. On a HD boot it doesn't. [With or without config.]
Derek, I for one would be very interested to hear why you have CDs not installed in BIOS.
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
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Mechanix2Go
Long story about what appears to be a dodgy CD writer (drawer opening during boot and Windows frezing at desktop on Nero InCD. Problem has existed for several years. I've seen similar problem posted around too.
The BIOS fiddle cured the drawer opening problem (no really sensible reason to disable the CD-ROM too, just decided to kill them both off). A batch file is used to delay InCD to last and this cures the Windows desktop freeze.
Seems like the CD-Writer is very slow to initialise at times. Yeah, I know, time I bought a new one but apart from the above it works just fine. When it really stops I'll do something about it.
Told you it was long and boring....
PS. Hey, what a laugh. The above was in response to the last part of your #2, as it mentioned my name. Just read the first bit now and it sounds like we maybe on similar ground. Excuse backward reading LOL (UK you know).
Derek.W
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Hi Derek,
Not boring; interesting.
For the presemt case I would use the F8 menu and just wait a few minutes. If that gets it to work consistenly in 9x, then either make a menued config [or autoexec with the approproate delay or replace the drive.
Like you, I won't toss it as long as it "works".
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
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I am so sorry. I have reported something incorrectly that will very probably affect the outcome here. I can't access the CDrom drive in DOS. I formatted the drive using the Win98 bootdisk, COULDN'T boot up with CDrom drive, and so installed with floppy disks. Once 95 was established, the drive showed up, but only for one or two bootups, as I said. That was consistant for several installs.
The drive isn't listed in the BIOS as a CDrom drive, but as a secondary master IDE (uninstalled), and the jumper on the drive is set for cable select, moved from master setting.
With regard to other questions, if they're still relevant: using F8 and starting up slowly made no difference, and is it worrisome that pointing find at "autoexec.bat" came up empty? I threw what was suggested into notepad and saved it as autoexec.bat in C:\. No difference in terms of coming up with a device, just a note that the device it referred to wasn't there.
Thank you all so much for the time and suggestions, it was really great to come back so soon and find all that discussion about this.
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Just in case it's a plugging issue. If you use 'Cable Select' it must be used on 'both' drives. Do not use cable select on one drive and Master or Slave on the other. I suggect 'not' using cable select.
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"The drive isn't listed in the BIOS as a CDrom drive, but as a secondary master IDE (uninstalled)"
Actually, that means it's not listed at all (as expected)
Not having an autoexec.bat is hardly a cause for alarm - the DOS startup files aren't essential to Windows, but since you seem to have wanted one, fine - although there's more to it than that (fwiw)
I would certainly try jumpering the drive as master (if that's what it is connected as), and/or try different cabling, as suggested
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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