No ATAPI CD rom driver found !

[Parangles]

This is not my week - all three in the house got problems.

Just booted up one that I'm getting ready to sell, which was working fine and got the message above.
No CD drive is showing up on My Computer. It was fine , all I did recently was to install AOL to try and make it more saleable.
Where can I find a generic driver ? On the OS disc ? I've no idea what brand the drive is.
Thanks,
Chris

[Jason Padgett]

What OS is installed on the computer? Is the drive showing up in the BIOS?

P.S. How does AOHell make a computer more appealing to buyers?!

[Parangles]

Thanks Jason, I don't see any CD listed in 'Main" in BIOS,
ATAPI CD ROM is listed as the 3 item in the 'Boot" sequence.

It's regular Win98(not SE) on that machine.

Everyone I ask if they know anybody that wants to buy a nice used computer says 'Does it have AOL ?'
I suppose they've seen it on TV The power of advertising !

Chris.

[GaryRouth]

Hi Parangles

Like Jason, I'm wondering if you see the cd-drive in the Bios. Go ahead and enter Bios Setup & take a look (or just speed-read as the screen flashes by at startup). Is the cd-drive in that box an IDE type? If it's really ancient and connected to a port on the sound card, it will probably need real-mode drivers loaded. You'd get those from the manufacturer's website.

If it's a regular IDE cd-rom drive (and not a CD burner), then all the support it needs should be built into Windows. Did you add any hardware, or have you been inside the box lately? While you're in the Bios, you can also try the FORCE ESCD UPDATE option, which will force the motherboard to detect your hardware from square one & update accordingly - if the CD is OK, it should find it. If not, either the cables aren't right, or the drive is dead. (You don't need to go back in and change the Force ESCD option back to Disabled, by the way: it only runs once, and then disables itself)

Are you using a selective startup or normal (in msconfig)?

Not sure that a Registry setting could confuse driver location, but you could also try uninstalling AOL, and running scanreg/restore from DOS [Clean Boot into DOS from either your Win9x Cd, or a bootable floppy, then run the restore]. Select a restore date prior to the cd's disappearance.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[p.s. . . . if your Bios doesn't list the drive from within the Bios Setup screens, just make sure that the port it's connected to is set to AUTO - for automatic detection. . . also, make sure your 1st boot device is the hard drive, in case it's accidentally trying to boot something else (like a removable drive, that has a disk left in it)]

[Parangles]

Couldn't find a FORCE ESCD update option. Saw 'reset config data'....clear extended system config data ESCD" Selected "yes" and rebooted. Still no CD. Gary the Pc is a 3 year old HP Pavillion- Yes IDE type CD I presume. Yes ROM not RW
I now think I know what caused this situation.
A few days ago I jumpered an old hard drive to 'slave ' and connected it onto the 'slave' connection of the IDE ribbon so I could see what was on the old drive. I removed it soon after but I think that was what caused the CD drive to get lost. I did not hot connect it -ie connected with power off, booted up, then shut down and disconnected.

I just changed start up from Selective to normal and that did not help. I am now getting some 'drive space 3' program opening every time I boot up.
What a mess !!
Is this info any help ? I'll try the restore from DOS in the morning.
I've had it for today.
Thanks for all your help.
Chris.
PS: just found a floppy with a copy of the original config.sys
and autoexec.bat that I made a few years ago. Can that help?
If so what do I do with it ?

[Parangles]

Restored from regedit in DOS and now it won't boot up at all
even with a boot floppy/start up disc, set to safe mode. Just get wallpaper with no icons, start button not functioning, error message.
Anyone want to explain how to start all over from scratch?
How does that ' Born to lose ' song go ??

[GaryRouth]

Goodness, try another registry date to restore (anything but the one you just used). Probably too many changes happening. Did you uninstall AOL first?

It should, however, boot from a floppy disk, even if you have a dead hard drive. Enter Bios Setup again, and make sure that the floppy is the first device in the boot order list. Probably isn't first right now, and the system is having a wild ride with the current settings stored on your hard drive.

By the way, I imagine you mean you restored using scanreg/restore in DOS -- and that "from regedit in DOS" is a typo?

What does the error message say?

Truthfully, since it's giving you fits, and you're going to sell it. Might just want to save all your product and license keys, and whatever unique files you wish to keep, and reformat/reinstall. Might save time, since you're hunting down what seems to be old conflicts, likely caused by things loading in that shouldn't be.

You really want a normal boot process on a machine that you're selling (even on one you're giving away).

If that HP still has all its original hardware, you can use their Recovery Disk set to do the whole kaboodle (It should reformat, reinstall Windows, and reinstall most of the bundled software all in one step ---and you don't have to hunt around for odd drivers).

Whichever way you decide, post if you have more questions
. . . Gary

[Parangles]

Gary , your advice was spot on , but I just didn't follow it correctly.
I took the pc to a repair shop and they did exactly as you suggested- restored to a date prior to the problem occuring.

Someday when you have the time please post a detailed proceedure for this in the " Tips and Tricks' section. It will be
valuable info for many of us, that we can print and keep.

Thanks again,
Chris.

[GaryRouth]

Hi Parangles

I'll have to brush up on the little "gotchas" that you need to look out for when doing a restore, but that's probably a good idea for a Tips & Tricks entry. I have a Windows 98 Registry book I can use to refresh my tired old memory.

I'm among the techs who are somewhat reluctant to recommend restoring the registry with scanreg/restore, because it's best left for special situations, or sometimes desperate situations. And it's really only important for those who are running Win95 or Win98 - because the WinMe customers are usually running System Restore (ditto for the Win2000/WinXP crowd). Nice tool to know about though, it comes in handy when it's the right one for a job.

If I'm lucky and have a slow weekend at work, I'll brush up on the Registry "caveats" and try to fix up something readable.
_____
By the way: I do still recommend fixing up the background job/drivers/utilites situation on the pc that you're selling, at least to the point where it doesn't need a selective startup just to boot successfully. It's putting a bit of a burden on the buyer, for their future changes to the system. I like the idea of the HP Recovery Disks (ONLY IF you haven't changed the hardware! - since you wouldn't have to hunt around for drivers) - or reformatting and reinstalling a clean system.

Best of luck, and Happy Holidays
. . . Gary

[mike breck]

Hi Parangles,

You may find this thread useful:

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...+In+Windows+98