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CD drives quit simultaneously



 
 
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  #31  
Old November 28th 05, 04:39 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

"ms" wrote in message ...
snip
Before I do some (for me) drastic steps, a basic question occurs.

My controller setup originally occurred when the tech set up my BIOS in
1997. The machine ran really troublefree until 2001 when he added a
second CD writer and second hard drive. It ran fine for years until
about 4 months ago. Until then, my W98SE was far less trouble than I see
on this ng, or hear about from friends. I maybe had 3-5 BSOD a year.

Starting 3 months ago, I got black screens on startup. Virus and spyware
scans seldom show anything. The tech said tape over the insert key held
down, may have caused the black screens.


He said my lineup of partitions
between 2 physical drives was wrong. I pointed out they were working
like that for 3 years, he renumbered them for a "normal" lineup.
The machine is fine for the last month, but then the CD drives died. The
Recycle bin is OK, there's a hidden file that's the problem.
When he renumbered the partitions, I don't think it would effect the
controllers.


With 2 physical drives, I had a C and D partition on one drive, my CD
writer drive was E, the second drive had F, G and H partitions. The
second CD drive was not hooked up then. He said that does not follow
windows standard lineup. Except it worked fine for 3 years after he
installed the CD writer drive and the partitions numbered themselves
that way. He just didn't notice at the time, and since it worked, I was
happy.


I believe you are mis-remembering. Your CD drive could not have a drive letter
between the letters of the partitions on the first drive and the second drive, at
least not in Win9x. Hard drive partitions are always enumerated before optical
drives....always.

glen:
What do you mean by
"he renumbered them"? You current drive configuration shows that the first

physical
hard drive has drives C: and E:, while the second physical drive has drives D:,

F;,
and G: This means that you have a Primary on the first drive (C:\), and a

Primary
on the second drive (D.


He changed the nomenclature that way.

Unless you have an operating system on both those
physical drives, there is really no reason to have any primary partition on the
second drive....an Extended partition with Logical drives would have served just

as
well. I think you may mean that the tech changed the first partition on the

second
physical drive to a Primary, which shuffled drive letters around. Is this

correct?

I'm sure you're right. So it worked for months after that, as you see
it. Also, I cold boot each day, so if something is wrong, it shows up.

Which leads to my basic question below.


If my controller lineup is basically wrong, how reasonably could both CD
drives work fine for about 3 years?


There is nothing wrong with the "lineup"....there is only something wrong with the
fact that you are seeing the secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) in msinfo32, but
not in Device Manager. I have no idea how recent this occurence is. Your
description of the CD drive letter being between those of the hard drive partitions
sounds erroneous. It appears the tech changed the order of the drive letters by
making a primary on the second physical drive....for which there really is no
reason, but there is nothing "wrong" about that either. However I cannot tell for
sure what was done, as I am not confident in all the info you have given regarding
the past history of the drive letters.


Since the tech you refer to changed this somehow, despite the fact that there

were
no problems, perhaps you should ask him these questions, since only he knows

what he
actually did, and why.


The suggested changes are serious enough IMO that I will print this out
and see him.

But any comment on the above is appreciated.


The issue of the missing controller in DM could be due to a lost BIOS setting that
needs to be re-enabled, or a faulty cable, or a dead drive, or a faulty controller
on the motherboard, or.......
Without getting hands-on, I can not tell what is happening. Hence the suggestion to
go back to the original tech and get an accurate history and have him check the
components and configuration. You could simply have gotten the controller disabled
somehow. Even an electrical surge can change BIOS settings.

I would like to know what the tech does and what is found.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


  #32  
Old November 28th 05, 05:10 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

Thanks again, Glen.
Maybe a clue, below:
glee wrote:
"ms" wrote in message ...


snip

Before I do some (for me) drastic steps, a basic question occurs.

My controller setup originally occurred when the tech set up my BIOS in
1997. The machine ran really troublefree until 2001 when he added a
second CD writer and second hard drive. It ran fine for years until
about 4 months ago. Until then, my W98SE was far less trouble than I see
on this ng, or hear about from friends. I maybe had 3-5 BSOD a year.

Starting 3 months ago, I got black screens on startup. Virus and spyware
scans seldom show anything. The tech said tape over the insert key held
down, may have caused the black screens.

He said my lineup of partitions
between 2 physical drives was wrong. I pointed out they were working
like that for 3 years, he renumbered them for a "normal" lineup.
The machine is fine for the last month, but then the CD drives died. The
Recycle bin is OK, there's a hidden file that's the problem.
When he renumbered the partitions, I don't think it would effect the
controllers.


With 2 physical drives, I had a C and D partition on one drive, my CD
writer drive was E, the second drive had F, G and H partitions. The
second CD drive was not hooked up then. He said that does not follow
windows standard lineup. Except it worked fine for 3 years after he
installed the CD writer drive and the partitions numbered themselves
that way. He just didn't notice at the time, and since it worked, I was
happy.



I believe you are mis-remembering. Your CD drive could not have a drive letter
between the letters of the partitions on the first drive and the second drive, at
least not in Win9x. Hard drive partitions are always enumerated before optical
drives....always.

I am a senior with bad sleep, and my memory is not what it used to be,
but I really had this lineup, copied from old system audit data:

Drive letter C:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 4994 MB
Free space 3425 MB
Space available to caller 3425 MB

Drive letter D:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 3021 MB
Free space 1250 MB
Space available to caller 1250 MB

Drive letter E:\
Type CD-ROM
Disk space usage Cannot reliably detect

Drive letter F:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 1066 MB
Free space 297 MB
Space available to caller 297 MB

Drive letter G:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 1066 MB
Free space 869 MB
Space available to caller 869 MB

Drive letter H:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 302 MB
Free space 302 MB
Space available to caller 302 MB

C and D were partitions on my master hard drive, F, G and H were
partitions on my old (became slave) hard drive. In 2001 he installed a
new larger hard drive as master.
At that time- IIRC- windows renumbered the partitions, as what used to
be C, D and E on my old small hard drive, with F as the CD, became the
above when the new hard drive was added. My old CD reader drive was
disconnected and replaced with the CD writer.

When, several months ago, I had the black screens, he looked at my
lineup and said it was abnormal, as you say. So he changed it, now the
CD drives are at the end.

glen:
What do you mean by

"he renumbered them"? You current drive configuration shows that the first


physical

hard drive has drives C: and E:, while the second physical drive has drives D:,


F;,

and G: This means that you have a Primary on the first drive (C:\), and a


Primary

on the second drive (D.


He changed the nomenclature that way.

Unless you have an operating system on both those

physical drives, there is really no reason to have any primary partition on the
second drive....an Extended partition with Logical drives would have served just


as

well. I think you may mean that the tech changed the first partition on the


second

physical drive to a Primary, which shuffled drive letters around. Is this


correct?

I'm sure you're right.




So it worked for months after that, as you see
it. Also, I cold boot each day, so if something is wrong, it shows up.

Which leads to my basic question below.


If my controller lineup is basically wrong, how reasonably could both CD
drives work fine for about 3 years?



There is nothing wrong with the "lineup"....there is only something wrong with the
fact that you are seeing the secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) in msinfo32, but
not in Device Manager. I have no idea how recent this occurence is. Your
description of the CD drive letter being between those of the hard drive partitions
sounds erroneous.


See above.

It appears the tech changed the order of the drive letters by
making a primary on the second physical drive....for which there really is no
reason, but there is nothing "wrong" about that either. However I cannot tell for
sure what was done, as I am not confident in all the info you have given regarding
the past history of the drive letters.


Since the tech you refer to changed this somehow, despite the fact that there


were

no problems, perhaps you should ask him these questions, since only he knows


what he

actually did, and why.


The suggested changes are serious enough IMO that I will print this out
and see him.

But any comment on the above is appreciated.



The issue of the missing controller in DM could be due to a lost BIOS setting that
needs to be re-enabled, or a faulty cable, or a dead drive, or a faulty controller
on the motherboard, or.......
Without getting hands-on, I can not tell what is happening. Hence the suggestion to
go back to the original tech and get an accurate history and have him check the
components and configuration. You could simply have gotten the controller disabled
somehow. Even an electrical surge can change BIOS settings.

I would like to know what the tech does and what is found.


I realize this is as much trouble shooting as can be done remotely. And
I will post back, may be a little while and so a new thread.

But please comment on the new data above, I ran for years trouble free
with a oddball lineup, ???

Thanks again for your help.

MS
  #33  
Old November 28th 05, 05:36 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

I have no idea how you managed to have the drive letters in that order, with the CD
drive enumerated *before* the partitions on the second hard drive, unless some
third-party drive letter assigner app was in use, or the operating system was not
Win9x.
Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=51978

I would like to hear the tech's explanation of how it got that way and what was done
to correct it in the first place.

If anyone reading this thread is still sticking it out this far along, I would be
happy to hear how it is done without using a third-party utility running at boot. A
mystery to me......
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"ms" wrote in message ...
Thanks again, Glen.
Maybe a clue, below:
glee wrote:
"ms" wrote in message

...

snip

Before I do some (for me) drastic steps, a basic question occurs.

My controller setup originally occurred when the tech set up my BIOS in
1997. The machine ran really troublefree until 2001 when he added a
second CD writer and second hard drive. It ran fine for years until
about 4 months ago. Until then, my W98SE was far less trouble than I see
on this ng, or hear about from friends. I maybe had 3-5 BSOD a year.

Starting 3 months ago, I got black screens on startup. Virus and spyware
scans seldom show anything. The tech said tape over the insert key held
down, may have caused the black screens.

He said my lineup of partitions
between 2 physical drives was wrong. I pointed out they were working
like that for 3 years, he renumbered them for a "normal" lineup.
The machine is fine for the last month, but then the CD drives died. The
Recycle bin is OK, there's a hidden file that's the problem.
When he renumbered the partitions, I don't think it would effect the
controllers.

With 2 physical drives, I had a C and D partition on one drive, my CD
writer drive was E, the second drive had F, G and H partitions. The
second CD drive was not hooked up then. He said that does not follow
windows standard lineup. Except it worked fine for 3 years after he
installed the CD writer drive and the partitions numbered themselves
that way. He just didn't notice at the time, and since it worked, I was
happy.



I believe you are mis-remembering. Your CD drive could not have a drive letter
between the letters of the partitions on the first drive and the second drive,

at
least not in Win9x. Hard drive partitions are always enumerated before optical
drives....always.

I am a senior with bad sleep, and my memory is not what it used to be,
but I really had this lineup, copied from old system audit data:

Drive letter C:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 4994 MB
Free space 3425 MB
Space available to caller 3425 MB

Drive letter D:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 3021 MB
Free space 1250 MB
Space available to caller 1250 MB

Drive letter E:\
Type CD-ROM
Disk space usage Cannot reliably detect

Drive letter F:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 1066 MB
Free space 297 MB
Space available to caller 297 MB

Drive letter G:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 1066 MB
Free space 869 MB
Space available to caller 869 MB

Drive letter H:\
Type Fixed drive
Total space 302 MB
Free space 302 MB
Space available to caller 302 MB

C and D were partitions on my master hard drive, F, G and H were
partitions on my old (became slave) hard drive. In 2001 he installed a
new larger hard drive as master.
At that time- IIRC- windows renumbered the partitions, as what used to
be C, D and E on my old small hard drive, with F as the CD, became the
above when the new hard drive was added. My old CD reader drive was
disconnected and replaced with the CD writer.

When, several months ago, I had the black screens, he looked at my
lineup and said it was abnormal, as you say. So he changed it, now the
CD drives are at the end.

glen:
What do you mean by

"he renumbered them"? You current drive configuration shows that the first


physical

hard drive has drives C: and E:, while the second physical drive has drives D:,


F;,

and G: This means that you have a Primary on the first drive (C:\), and a


Primary

on the second drive (D.

He changed the nomenclature that way.

Unless you have an operating system on both those

physical drives, there is really no reason to have any primary partition on the
second drive....an Extended partition with Logical drives would have served

just

as

well. I think you may mean that the tech changed the first partition on the


second

physical drive to a Primary, which shuffled drive letters around. Is this


correct?

I'm sure you're right.




So it worked for months after that, as you see
it. Also, I cold boot each day, so if something is wrong, it shows up.

Which leads to my basic question below.


If my controller lineup is basically wrong, how reasonably could both CD
drives work fine for about 3 years?



There is nothing wrong with the "lineup"....there is only something wrong with

the
fact that you are seeing the secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) in msinfo32,

but
not in Device Manager. I have no idea how recent this occurence is. Your
description of the CD drive letter being between those of the hard drive

partitions
sounds erroneous.


See above.

It appears the tech changed the order of the drive letters by
making a primary on the second physical drive....for which there really is no
reason, but there is nothing "wrong" about that either. However I cannot tell

for
sure what was done, as I am not confident in all the info you have given

regarding
the past history of the drive letters.


Since the tech you refer to changed this somehow, despite the fact that there


were

no problems, perhaps you should ask him these questions, since only he knows


what he

actually did, and why.

The suggested changes are serious enough IMO that I will print this out
and see him.

But any comment on the above is appreciated.



The issue of the missing controller in DM could be due to a lost BIOS setting

that
needs to be re-enabled, or a faulty cable, or a dead drive, or a faulty

controller
on the motherboard, or.......
Without getting hands-on, I can not tell what is happening. Hence the

suggestion to
go back to the original tech and get an accurate history and have him check the
components and configuration. You could simply have gotten the controller

disabled
somehow. Even an electrical surge can change BIOS settings.

I would like to know what the tech does and what is found.


I realize this is as much trouble shooting as can be done remotely. And
I will post back, may be a little while and so a new thread.

But please comment on the new data above, I ran for years trouble free
with a oddball lineup, ???

Thanks again for your help.

MS


  #34  
Old November 28th 05, 06:37 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

You got me, Glen - I'm lost here as well...
About the only way I can conceive of it happening is if there were multiple
entries for the CD in the DM, and this process locking the drive letters
somehow.

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"glee" wrote in message
...

If anyone reading this thread is still sticking it out this far along, I
would be
happy to hear how it is done without using a third-party utility running
at boot. A
mystery to me......
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm



  #35  
Old November 28th 05, 06:49 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

"glee" wrote in message
...
| I have no idea how you managed to have the drive letters in that
order, with the CD
| drive enumerated *before* the partitions on the second hard drive,
unless some
| third-party drive letter assigner app was in use, or the operating
system was not
| Win9x.
| Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters
| http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=51978
|
| I would like to hear the tech's explanation of how it got that way and
what was done
| to correct it in the first place.
|
| If anyone reading this thread is still sticking it out this far along,
I would be
| happy to hear how it is done without using a third-party utility
running at boot. A
| mystery to me......

I won't try it, BUT... I can think fixing the CD-ROM letter in it's
Device Manager Properties, Settings tab, might do it. That & possibly
making the hard drives to be "removable" in their Properties.

Burn this post after you read it, which is NOW.


| --
| Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
| http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
|
|
| "ms" wrote in message
...
....snip


  #36  
Old November 28th 05, 07:06 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

Yeah - I thought of that, but by the time you can force the 'removability',
they've already been re-allocated drive-letters.....

OTOH, fixing the CD Drive shouldn't do anything, much, as it's theoretically
not allowed to occupy such a space, and the drive letter should have been
re-allocated before Windows first loaded after the addition of the second
drive.....

What about this scenario......????
1) Install new HD as master leaving old HD as Slave
2) Boot to old HD/Windows
3) fdisk/format new drive from Windows
4) COPY (note - copy, rather than xcopy) the files from C: to the new
partition on the new drive
5) reboot and pick up the pieces with a SYS.C:
In theory, enumeration should still move the CD - but would it be too
confused?


could be fun one to try, sometime!

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"PCR" wrote in message
...
I can think fixing the CD-ROM letter in it's
Device Manager Properties, Settings tab, might do it. That & possibly
making the hard drives to be "removable" in their Properties.

Burn this post after you read it, which is NOW.



  #37  
Old November 28th 05, 08:31 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
| Yeah - I thought of that, but by the time you can force the
'removability',
| they've already been re-allocated drive-letters.....

I don't know. Remember Blanton? Some time before he was swallowed by an
alligator in Florida, I BELIEVE he said there is a very early access to
the Registry during a boot to Windows. Can it be "removability" is one
thing the boot is looking for, & letter assignments would be affected?

|
| OTOH, fixing the CD Drive shouldn't do anything, much, as it's
theoretically
| not allowed to occupy such a space, and the drive letter should have
been
| re-allocated before Windows first loaded after the addition of the
second
| drive.....

I don't know. It might work regarding other removable drives.

|
| What about this scenario......????
| 1) Install new HD as master leaving old HD as Slave
| 2) Boot to old HD/Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=51978
Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters

Hmm. Although the above article doesn't quite say so,...

.......Quote..........
3. Regardless of whether a second floppy disk drive is present, MS-DOS
then assigns the drive letter C to the primary MS-DOS partition on the
first physical hard disk, and then goes on to check for a second hard
disk.
.......EOQ.............

....whatever primary partition is boot to becomes C:\. With 2 partitions
on the old HDD, now there is Cartition, Dartition, & E:CD-ROM. The
one that is C:\ is the one that was boot to, or so I understand it.

| 3) fdisk/format new drive from Windows

I believe a reboot is necessary after the FDISK to see a partition
letter. Now, normally, things would become...

C:letter on old drive, a Primary partition.
D:letter
on old drive, if it's an Extended partition on new drive
on new drive, if it has a Primary partition
E:letter on old drive
F:letter the CD-ROM

| 4) COPY (note - copy, rather than xcopy) the files from C: to the new
| partition on the new drive

That wouldn't affect drive letters.

| 5) reboot and pick up the pieces with a SYS.C:

I don't believe that has an affect on drive letters. Although it makes
the new drive bootable, it doesn't in itself cause the drive to boot. It
also would have to be made the Active partition.

| In theory, enumeration should still move the CD - but would it be too
| confused?

(It won't be any more confused than I am, anyhow.)

|
|
| could be fun one to try, sometime!

No! Burn this post after you read it!

|
| --
| Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)
|
| Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
| http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm
|
| http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
|
| Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to
NG's
| "PCR" wrote in message
| ...
| I can think fixing the CD-ROM letter in it's
| Device Manager Properties, Settings tab, might do it. That &
possibly
| making the hard drives to be "removable" in their Properties.
|
| Burn this post after you read it, which is NOW.
|
|


  #38  
Old November 28th 05, 10:16 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

Ah - you spotted the hole in my theory! ( the need to reboot after fdisk)
Why burn a good post?


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"PCR" wrote in message
...
"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
| Yeah - I thought of that, but by the time you can force the
'removability',
| they've already been re-allocated drive-letters.....

I don't know. Remember Blanton? Some time before he was swallowed by an
alligator in Florida, I BELIEVE he said there is a very early access to
the Registry during a boot to Windows. Can it be "removability" is one
thing the boot is looking for, & letter assignments would be affected?

|
| OTOH, fixing the CD Drive shouldn't do anything, much, as it's
theoretically
| not allowed to occupy such a space, and the drive letter should have
been
| re-allocated before Windows first loaded after the addition of the
second
| drive.....

I don't know. It might work regarding other removable drives.

|
| What about this scenario......????
| 1) Install new HD as master leaving old HD as Slave
| 2) Boot to old HD/Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=51978
Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters

Hmm. Although the above article doesn't quite say so,...

......Quote..........
3. Regardless of whether a second floppy disk drive is present, MS-DOS
then assigns the drive letter C to the primary MS-DOS partition on the
first physical hard disk, and then goes on to check for a second hard
disk.
......EOQ.............

...whatever primary partition is boot to becomes C:\. With 2 partitions
on the old HDD, now there is Cartition, Dartition, & E:CD-ROM. The
one that is C:\ is the one that was boot to, or so I understand it.

| 3) fdisk/format new drive from Windows

I believe a reboot is necessary after the FDISK to see a partition
letter. Now, normally, things would become...

C:letter on old drive, a Primary partition.
D:letter
on old drive, if it's an Extended partition on new drive
on new drive, if it has a Primary partition
E:letter on old drive
F:letter the CD-ROM

| 4) COPY (note - copy, rather than xcopy) the files from C: to the new
| partition on the new drive

That wouldn't affect drive letters.

| 5) reboot and pick up the pieces with a SYS.C:

I don't believe that has an affect on drive letters. Although it makes
the new drive bootable, it doesn't in itself cause the drive to boot. It
also would have to be made the Active partition.

| In theory, enumeration should still move the CD - but would it be too
| confused?

(It won't be any more confused than I am, anyhow.)

|
|
| could be fun one to try, sometime!

No! Burn this post after you read it!

|
| --
| Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)
|
| Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
| http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm
|
| http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
|
| Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to
NG's
| "PCR" wrote in message
| ...
| I can think fixing the CD-ROM letter in it's
| Device Manager Properties, Settings tab, might do it. That &
possibly
| making the hard drives to be "removable" in their Properties.
|
| Burn this post after you read it, which is NOW.
|
|




  #39  
Old November 28th 05, 11:10 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously

ms wrote:
HP 8200 CDWriter and Mitsumi CD drive in W98SE
I don't use the writer drive very often, but it usually makes data CD's
with few coasters.
Last time, I was making backup data CD's, made several fine. I reboot
before each try, much better success.

The next new Imation blank CD became a coaster. I rebooted and tried
again, same result. Then the next time I inserted a CD and clicked on
the CD drive in Explorer, I got a "drive not ready" screen. From then
on, that's all I get, regardless of the disk contents in the drive.

My original CD Drive, a Mitsumi, normally works fine. When the HP
started giving me the screens, I tried the Mitsumi and get the same
screen now, so both of them seem to have started the same issue at the
same time.

At cold boot, the HP drive light comes on briefly as normal in the
bootup process. Normally, the drive light is on continuously if a disk
is present. Now, the light comes on when I open the drive door, blinks a
few times after the door is closed, goes out, even with a CD present.
The drives appear to be still connected as they show up in Explorer
the HP lites up so it has power, both drive doors open, properties
seemed normal in Device Manager.

The drive is 5 years old, but has not had much use, so I believe wear is
not the issue.

An earlier post:
quote
--------
From: "PCR"
Subject: No CD-ROM
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 16:51:15 -0500
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q237948
Troubleshoot CD-R_W
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=218617
Troubleshoot CD-ROM or DVD-ROM

I guess, a first try would be...
(1) Boot to Safe Mode. (Hold F5 as you boot, or hold CTRL for the
Startup Menu, & select Safe Mode from that.)
(2) "START, Settings, Control Panel, System, Device Manager tab".
(3) Open the CD-ROM branch, by clicking it's plus sign.
(4) Highlight each drive in that branch, & click "Remove".
(Safe Mode may reveal the presence of a "ghost".)
(5) Close up, & boot to Normal Mode.

Hopefully Windows will find the correct drivers, & all will be well.
---------------
end quote

I went to Safe Mode, deleted the entries, rebooted, "rebuilding
database" screen. In Device Manager, they still say "working properly,
no drivers listed, they still do not read the CD in the tray.

Advice?

TIA

MS


Thanks to all, this thread must end until I get back from the tech.

MS
  #40  
Old November 28th 05, 11:20 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default CD drives quit simultaneously- some results

glee wrote:

I have no idea how you managed to have the drive letters in that order, with the CD
drive enumerated *before* the partitions on the second hard drive, unless some
third-party drive letter assigner app was in use, or the operating system was not
Win9x.
Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=51978

I would like to hear the tech's explanation of how it got that way and what was done
to correct it in the first place.

If anyone reading this thread is still sticking it out this far along, I would be
happy to hear how it is done without using a third-party utility running at boot. A
mystery to me......


Glen, thanks very much for the help. I will compile a composite message
for him, he is a one-man show, busy, so I may not have results for a
month. Will post a new message then.

The ULTIMATE irony of all this to me, including the later comments by
PCR and Noel Paton, is that my old P166 ran so troublefree for so many
years, and even after the odd lineup since 2001, ran fine. I will bring
it to him working fine except one CD drive is dead, and I wonder how it
will be when I get it back after the major rearrangement to make it
normal. My PC is the last one I would think was working wierd, as I use
it very conservatively. Every day is different.

MS
 




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