I'm trying to help a friend with an old pentium 133 machine that came with windows 95. I formatted the drive and attempted to install windows 98. it won't boot from the cd and i don't even see boot from cd as a boot option in the bios. i booted from the win98 bootdisk floppy but i get a message that says cd driver not installed. i have the driver that i downloaded from the manufacturer website but i don't know how to get it to load. any help is much appreciated.

Booting from a CD is rarely an option on older machines - and not all 98 disks can be booted from.

Never seems to occur to folks to test the bootdisk & CD access prior to formatting?

The DOS driver is loaded from config.sys, and will take the form of:

device=thedriver.sys /D:signature

The 'signature' must match exactly the one used in the autoexec.bat line that loads mscdex.exe

The driver must either be on the disk or else its full DOS path must be specified

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

config looks like this on my disk:

DEVICE=C:\CDROM\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\CDROM\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=20
LASTDRIVE=Z

are you suggesting that i make changes to it? I'm sort of dabbling in unfamiliar territory. Think you could make it simple for me?

Check if your friend has any win95 boot disks with his cd drivers on it.

Gosh - I'd kind of hoped I had already ; )

What you have there is the setup for loading the DOS memory managers from the C: drive - although it seems a bit odd that they are found in the \cdrom folder (as long as that's actually where they are).

Nothing really to do with CDs yet.

For simplicity, copy the CD driver to that folder, then add this line to c:\config.sys

DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\filename.ext /D:whatever

(substitute the actual filename, naturally)

As well, in c:\autoexec.bat there must be a line like

LH C:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:whatever

** note - this assumes the file mscdex.exe is actually present in c:\cdrom

the 'whatever' usually takes the form of MSCD000 - but it can be nearly anything providing both match

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

Hopefully you have all the drivers or at least know the make/model of all the hardware so that you can download the drivers?

As for the boot floppy...get another one because that one has the wrong config.sys file. Try going to bootdisk.com & getting the correct one for your version of Windows. These bootdisks use the letter "R" for the CD-ROM, so after you create the floppy & boot off it, choose "with CD-ROM support" then change to R:\>, type SETUP, & hit ENTER

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Just as a reference, the config.sys file on a Win98SE boot floppy looks like this:

[menu]
menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support.
menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support.
menuitem=HELP, View the Help file.
menudefault=CD,30
menucolor=7,0

[CD]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001

[NOCD]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off

[HELP]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off

[COMMON]
files=10
buffers=10
dos=high,umb
stacks=9,256
devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048
lastdrive=z

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WDC 60GB

Well, sure - usually a bootdisk is used, but for some reason the drive has (supposedly) been formatted and then setup to boot to some form of DOS/Win9x.

There may well be problems ahead with this oddball configuration, and depending on just what else has been done.

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

computer that old may have the cd rom hookep to the sound card even though it use the same type of cable, verify that the cd rom is attached to the mother board not the sound card. otherwise you will have to load the dos sound card driver then the dos cd driver.

If the CDROM drive is indeed a proprietary drive and not an ATAPI IDE drive, the hard drive will need to be set up so it's bootable, with the apprpriate CDROM drivers loaded from the hard drive. Otherwise, the windows setup will "loose" the cdrom drive when it first restarts to "continue to load windows".

(A proprietary drive (as budm stated) is usually connected to a sound or other small interface card (not a disk controller card).

Open the machine and provide the make ~and~ model number of the cdrom drive.

I hope it's not one of those MKE/panasonic/matsus---a drives again.

Heh - let's hope not - things are befuddling enough already.

I'd gotten the impression he was using a bootdisk - but the config.sys seemed to be setup for C:. If that's what's on the bootdisk, there should have been several errors reported.

Ah, well - perhaps we'll be enlightened.

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

the cd rom is a Mitsumi model no. crmc-fx400d

Well Google shows it to be an ATAPI device. Drivers can be found here;

http://www.cdrom-drivers.com/drivers/164/164909.htm

although 98 standard drivers should work. If you download these drivers, username is DRIVERS and the password is ALL.

Now, are you still using a floppy to boot, or are you now booting directly from the hard disk?

i have to boot from the 95/98 universal bootdisk. the hard drive was wiped when i formatted.

Yes - formatting erases the drive.

The config.sys you posted references files on the C: drive that must not be there - which is a source of confusion, to say the least.

As well, nothing in that file (config.sys) has anything to do with the CD drive.

This bootdisk doesn't seem to be all that 'universal'

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

is it possible to remove the c drive and access it from another computer to install the necessary files?

There are many ways to skin a cat - although I'd recommend the simplest rather than going the long way around.

Get another bootdisk - from what you've posted, this one isn't going to do the job.

I find it hard to believe you weren't receiving various errors from that disk, considering it's calling files from a supposedly empty hard drive

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

i think i've tried everything to the extent of my capabilities. i can't get the disk to work from bootdisk.com and honestly, i really don't understand many of the previous posts concerning adding lines to config.sys and others. i may be in a little over my skill level. all i know is i have a formatted hard disk, a windows 95/98 boot floppy, a win98 install cd and no cdrom that the cpu will recognize in order to read the disk. i appreciate everyones help but without some step-by-step instruction, i don't think i'll get it.

Ok - well, try and focus

Instead of proclaiming things don't work, how about explaining what happens when you use the bootdisk.com startup disk??

You do know that the file itself isn't bootable - you have to execute it to create the bootdisk(?)

The config.sys you posted makes not much sense, which is why we've (repeatedly) suggested using another, rather than tax your DOS editing skills any further.

"all i know is i have a formatted hard disk"

Yeah, well, that seems to be all that folks know how to do - which is why it's a good idea to test the bootdisk first - a lesson I hope is not lost upon you.

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

98 doesn't recognize that drive so can't load 98 from cd so go to this link about mistumi driver on right side of page & autoexec.bat/config.sys on leftside of page. i've set these type of drives before for win31 & 95 but has been a while

david

here is link http://www.computerhope.com/cdromd.htm

david

Just to clarify- the file you downloaded from bootdisk.com is not the actual bootdisk...you have to double click on it & it will create a bootdisk.

Make sure your 1st boot device is set to floppy in the BIOS, then just bootup with the floppy in the drive. When the menu pops up, choose "with CD-ROM support" & wait for it to stop at the A:\> prompt. Type R: & hit ENTER, then at the R:\> prompt, type SETUP & hit ENTER again (make sure the 98 CD is in the drive before doing this).

If you do it right, Windows setup should begin

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2500+ Sempron @ 2100mhz
10.5 x 200mhz @ 1.80v
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

ok.... inspired by jboy's words, i gave it one more attempt. i went back to bootdisk.com as suggested by jam. This time i used the windows 98 ALT2 link and created a bootdisk. this one started the machine just as he said. i selected with cdrom support. i got a message that said preparing to start your computer, this make a take a few minutes then i got diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D: when i tried to select drive R: it said invalid drive specification.

The bootdisk can specifiy the drive letter of the cdrom. Many at bootdisk.com choose R: but apparently that's not the correct letter in your case.

It'll probably be E:, but the last few lines that load prior to the final a:\> prompt should tell you the drive letter. So if it's not E: then reboot and notice what is displayed on the screen.

the only drive referenced as it starts is "virtual drive d:" I went ahead and tried every other letter of the alphabet but none of them were a valid drive

If all the letters gave you 'invalid drive specification' then the cdrom drivers didn't load.

Mitsumi made good cdroms but still, that's an old 4x. Maybe it's bad. If that were the case you'd get error messages while booting up with the bootdisk. Did anything like that come up on the screen? Hitting the pause key will temporarily stop it from loading if you need more time to read what's on the screen.

no, there were no errors. everything seemed to run without a glitch. is almost as if it just doesn't recognize the cdrom at all. i'm guessing the driver still didn't load but at this point i'm out of ideas.

"i got a message that said preparing to start your computer, this make a take a few minutes then i got diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D: when i tried to select drive R: it said invalid drive specification"

Every bootdisk I've ever used from that site uses "R" as the drive letter. But as DAVEINCAPS said, watch the screen just before it stops at the A:\> prompt...I just tried it on my other machine & a couple of lines before the A:\> prompt, it looks something like this (your drive letter will probably be different)

Drive G: = driver MSCD001 unit 0

Asus A7N8X-X
2500+ Sempron @ 2100mhz
10.5 x 200mhz @ 1.80v
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

Gentlemen, I'm a little embarrassed. I carefully went through the proceedure again and realized that I was selecting "start windows without cdrom support" instead of "with". I wish I knew how to spell that sound that Homer Simpson makes when he screws up and I would type it here. I am pleased to announce that the cd driver did load and I am now "knee-deep" in my windows 98 installation. All of you folks are brilliant! Many thanks to each of you... Jack

It's Doh!

We're glad you got it going. Sometimes it's the little things that we get hung on

another satisfied customer

Asus A7N8X-X
2500+ Sempron @ 2100mhz
10.5 x 200mhz @ 1.80v
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

I'm glad you stuck with it and got things worked out.

It'll be easier the next time ; )

I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?