CD drives quit simultaneously

:-(
We were just starting to get into it! eg
Please be sure to post back with the exciting conclusion (or next chapter in the
never-ending story?), or at least email me at glen.vee @ gmail dot com

I do believe I will try to track down MS MVP Bill Blanton, as PCR mentioned....Bill
is quite knowledgeable about disk enumeration and the like.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"ms" wrote in message ...

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

MS

| Ah - you spotted the hole in my theory! ( the need to reboot after
fdisk)

That's what I thought. Probably you could achieve the confusion you seek
with some 3rd party partitioner, though, such as BootIt NG.

| Why burn a good post?

No, I don't want anyone to try these things! Burn this one too!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
|
|
| --
| 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.
| |
| |
|
|
|
|

I don't know whether Glee can get Blanton back to us, or whether it
would take P. Pan to do it! As Glee wondered, do you know whether you
have a letter assigner installed, such as...
http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/
Letter Assigner by Vadim Burtyansky
...., which seems very powerful indeed. I don't know what it's .exe would
be. Maybe... "START, Find, F/F, LetAssig.exe". Does it show up?

Anyway, show us your letter assignments before you go. Is the CD-ROM(s)
still in the middle of the partitions? It could be this was/is part of
the original problem, though one of those CD-ROM was also not activated
in Device Manager, IIRC. What are the CD-ROM letters now in Explorer,
&...

(1) "START button, Run, MSInfo32". Use CTRL-Mouse to highlight relevant
info & the Edit menu to Copy it...

Windows-managed swap file on drive C (6458MB free)
Available space on drive C: 6458MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive D: 6232MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive E: 773MB of 2792MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive F: 7979MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive G: 7786MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive H: 7620MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive I: 6174MB of 6174MB (FAT32)

(2)
(a) "START button, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt"
(b) FDISK /Status
(c) Use the "MARK", outline text with mouse, "COPY" button to post the
results.

C:\FDISK /Status
Disk Drv Mbytes Free Usage
1 19092 8298 57%
C: 7996
E: 2798
2 38169 100% Full drive
D: 7996 One partition
F: 7996
G: 7996
H: 7996
I: 6187


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"ms" wrote in message
...
| 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

Well, I got ahold of Bill B, who has been busy with his new house, and he has not
seen this in Win9x either. he suggested the same as Noel, that perhaps the drive
got marked as removable when it was set up. We will have to wait and see what is
reported.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"glee" wrote in message
...
:-(
We were just starting to get into it! eg
Please be sure to post back with the exciting conclusion (or next chapter in the
never-ending story?), or at least email me at glen.vee @ gmail dot com

I do believe I will try to track down MS MVP Bill Blanton, as PCR
mentioned....Bill
is quite knowledgeable about disk enumeration and the like.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"ms" wrote in message ...

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

MS

FYI -
Letter Assigner installs by default to C:\LetAssig
the executable is LetAss32.exe
(and it doesn't like networked drivesg)

--
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 don't know whether Glee can get Blanton back to us, or whether it
would take P. Pan to do it! As Glee wondered, do you know whether you
have a letter assigner installed, such as...
http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/
Letter Assigner by Vadim Burtyansky
..., which seems very powerful indeed. I don't know what it's .exe would
be. Maybe... "START, Find, F/F, LetAssig.exe". Does it show up?

Anyway, show us your letter assignments before you go. Is the CD-ROM(s)
still in the middle of the partitions? It could be this was/is part of
the original problem, though one of those CD-ROM was also not activated
in Device Manager, IIRC. What are the CD-ROM letters now in Explorer,
&...

(1) "START button, Run, MSInfo32". Use CTRL-Mouse to highlight relevant
info & the Edit menu to Copy it...

Windows-managed swap file on drive C (6458MB free)
Available space on drive C: 6458MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive D: 6232MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive E: 773MB of 2792MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive F: 7979MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive G: 7786MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive H: 7620MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive I: 6174MB of 6174MB (FAT32)

(2)
(a) "START button, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt"
(b) FDISK /Status
(c) Use the "MARK", outline text with mouse, "COPY" button to post the
results.

C:\FDISK /Status
Disk Drv Mbytes Free Usage
1 19092 8298 57%
C: 7996
E: 2798
2 38169 100% Full drive
D: 7996 One partition
F: 7996
G: 7996
H: 7996
I: 6187


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"ms" wrote in message
...
| 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

Thanks. I'm surprised you 'n him would USE that kind of language! Glee
too! I suppose, then, ms must look for "START, Find, F/F, LetAss32.exe",
then!

I DID scour the WEB page(s) & even tried looking inside the downloadable
with no success. It does seem to have an excellent write-up & much
promise.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
| FYI -
| Letter Assigner installs by default to C:\LetAssig
| the executable is LetAss32.exe
| (and it doesn't like networked drivesg)
|
| --
| 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
| ...
....snip

Thanks for the info. As you can see, it's taken a long time for me to get back to
this thread. I will finally see the tech next Thursday briefly, he will get into
it later in January. So don't want to tamper with anything at this point. I will
post back after the initial look, he has said it is very difficult to solve when a
CD drive dies like mine, more later.

MS
PCR wrote:
I don't know whether Glee can get Blanton back to us, or whether it
would take P. Pan to do it! As Glee wondered, do you know whether you
have a letter assigner installed, such as...
http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/
Letter Assigner by Vadim Burtyansky
..., which seems very powerful indeed. I don't know what it's .exe would
be. Maybe... "START, Find, F/F, LetAssig.exe". Does it show up?

Anyway, show us your letter assignments before you go. Is the CD-ROM(s)
still in the middle of the partitions? It could be this was/is part of
the original problem, though one of those CD-ROM was also not activated
in Device Manager, IIRC. What are the CD-ROM letters now in Explorer,
&...

(1) "START button, Run, MSInfo32". Use CTRL-Mouse to highlight relevant
info & the Edit menu to Copy it...

Windows-managed swap file on drive C (6458MB free)
Available space on drive C: 6458MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive D: 6232MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive E: 773MB of 2792MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive F: 7979MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive G: 7786MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive H: 7620MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
Available space on drive I: 6174MB of 6174MB (FAT32)

(2)
(a) "START button, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt"
(b) FDISK /Status
(c) Use the "MARK", outline text with mouse, "COPY" button to post the
results.

C:\FDISK /Status
Disk Drv Mbytes Free Usage
1 19092 8298 57%
C: 7996
E: 2798
2 38169 100% Full drive
D: 7996 One partition
F: 7996
G: 7996
H: 7996
I: 6187

Well, that's quite a BUSY tech, if you can't see him till Thursday &
then some time in January. Definitely, he'll want to see your
LetAss32.exe, IF you have one. Glee & Paton want to see, too! Also,
he'll want to know what your current drive letters are. So, you may as
well show us!

Is there a gap in drive letters showing in MSInfo32 & Fdisk /Status?
Perhaps also review as Glee posted whether any CD-ROM is disabled in
Device Manager.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"ms" wrote in message
...
| Thanks for the info. As you can see, it's taken a long time for me to
get back to
| this thread. I will finally see the tech next Thursday briefly, he
will get into
| it later in January. So don't want to tamper with anything at this
point. I will
| post back after the initial look, he has said it is very difficult to
solve when a
| CD drive dies like mine, more later.
|
| MS
| PCR wrote:
| I don't know whether Glee can get Blanton back to us, or whether it
| would take P. Pan to do it! As Glee wondered, do you know whether
you
| have a letter assigner installed, such as...
| http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/
| Letter Assigner by Vadim Burtyansky
| ..., which seems very powerful indeed. I don't know what it's .exe
would
| be. Maybe... "START, Find, F/F, LetAssig.exe". Does it show up?
|
| Anyway, show us your letter assignments before you go. Is the
CD-ROM(s)
| still in the middle of the partitions? It could be this was/is part
of
| the original problem, though one of those CD-ROM was also not
activated
| in Device Manager, IIRC. What are the CD-ROM letters now in
Explorer,
| &...
|
| (1) "START button, Run, MSInfo32". Use CTRL-Mouse to highlight
relevant
| info & the Edit menu to Copy it...
|
| Windows-managed swap file on drive C (6458MB free)
| Available space on drive C: 6458MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
| Available space on drive D: 6232MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
| Available space on drive E: 773MB of 2792MB (FAT32)
| Available space on drive F: 7979MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
| Available space on drive G: 7786MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
| Available space on drive H: 7620MB of 7979MB (FAT32)
| Available space on drive I: 6174MB of 6174MB (FAT32)
|
| (2)
| (a) "START button, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt"
| (b) FDISK /Status
| (c) Use the "MARK", outline text with mouse, "COPY" button to post
the
| results.
|
| C:\FDISK /Status
| Disk Drv Mbytes Free Usage
| 1 19092 8298 57%
| C: 7996
| E: 2798
| 2 38169 100% Full drive
| D: 7996 One partition
| F: 7996
| G: 7996
| H: 7996
| I: 6187
|
|