CD prob...please help

[edshaw]

I just finished reviewing about 50 threads from a search and didnt find a solution.

The comp in question is my kids hand me down that i have rebuilt multiple times. K62-400, Asus P5A, win98.

One day the cd rom wasn't showing up in windows explorer, device mgr, etc. I replaced it with a new one from my stock (good sale at office depot $15... 52x magicspin iomagic..anywho...). Same thing, nothing.

Finally noticed the secondary ide controller had the yellow exclamation but couldn't reload motherboard drivers off the cd.

Totally re-installed win 98 twice. Recognizes the cd fine in bios and boot from cd but when windows fires up it's gone.

Went through the bios and everything looked fine but reloaded bios defaults for the hell of it.

Checked the system clock and it's holding so the battery is fine. (saw this in another thread)

Switched cd from secondary to slave on primary (yes i swapped the jumpers on cd and hd and changed bios)... nothing.

Swapped out secondary 40 pin ribbon with new one that came with the cd, replaced cd on secondary and changed all appropriate drive jumpers and bios settings.

It doesnt make sense, cant see it being hardware since it's recognized in bios and will boot to a cd but just doesnt appear in win98. Ready to rip the guts outta this thing

[mike breck]

Hi edshaw,

Try booting into Safe Mode and removing the secondary IDE controller plus any entries for CD-Roms (you may have a few duplicates). Reboot and let Windows redetect the IDE controller and CD-Rom.

See if that helps.

[edshaw]

Nope, same thing. Figured as much since it isn't recognized as slave on primary either. But thanks for the attempt.

[Iman74]

It definetly sounds like a driver or conflict issue. Besides seeing that there is an exclamation on the secondary controller, did you check what was Windows explanation for it? That usually gives you a good idea of what is wrong and how to approach it. Second, Windows doesn't always have the right drivers, did you try searching the web for the drivers for that board?

[Alfie]

Have you installed the Via 4in1 drivers?
Win98 does a better job on busmastering,so skip the installation of that,but do install the other ones.
That is if the system is using Via chipsets.
If the hard drive is a Western Digital,download the utilities for the drive and do a diagnostic.
Is it a Western Digital hard drive?
To test secondary ide hook your hard drive up to it and see if the system sees it.

[edshaw]

It's a hydrid amd/via chipset and 4in1 are incompatable.

Since it doesnt wotk slaved under the c hd on ide1 either i'd say ide2 is irrelevent or the hd wouldnt work either.

Note: this comp doesnt have net access so difficult getting files to it.

[glc]

The P5A is neither Via nor AMD - it's ALi Aladdin 5.

Search the registry for a "noide" or "badide" key and delete it.

Unofficial P5A Site