Following on from Mikes suggestion, you could also isolate WinMe and satisfy
yourself by confirming that it isn't a WinMe issue:-

Boot from your WinMe Startup (floppy) Disk and select option 2) - Start with
CD Support and at the very end of the boot process, it should tell you that
"Your CD-ROM is drive X"

(NB drive X may not necessarily be the same letter as you would expect to
see in WinMe.)

Insert your WinMe CD into the CD-ROM drive.

Now, at the A:\ prompt, type "X" (or whatever letter above, and no quotes)
then press Return

At the X:\ prompt, type "dir" (no quotes) then press Return.

Do you see any sort of directory listing running down the screen?

If not and/or you get an error report, then it sounds like your CD-ROM is
either dead or there is a hardware/cable issue - as Mike had suggested.

Mart



"ng_reader" wrote in message
...
Yes,

My thoughts as well. Perhaps looking to avoid that, as it can be a
knuckle
buster.

But, I am now on my 3rd drive, 2nd manufacturer, and still trying to
figure
it out.

Does it get easier once I get to XP? sigh

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
I don't think it's necessarily a driver problem since you've confirmed
that you have another optical drive working fine but it could be the
controller on the motherboard. Assuming that it is an IDE/ATA drive have
you tried switching from master to slave (or vice versa) or swapping to
the other controller?
--
Mike Maltby



ng_reader wrote:

Oh yeah, that was my first thought.

In fact I returned the drive to my retailer with that same thought
process.

But, going through the same machinations led to the same results. So,
it's not the drive.

I want to believe it's a driver issue. But cannot find any
corroborating information.