HELP!!! Windows dont see cr-rom

[SeaHarp]

I rebooted into dos to see what I was expecting when I partition my hard drive(as I am very new to all of this) and I must have hit something when I exited because now windows tells me there is no cd-rom installed. I also have a burner on the same IDE but it does'nt recognize either, not even in system devices. They are set on auto detect in my bios, but still nothing. What did I do and/or how do I undo it?

 

[SeaHarp]

Can anybody help??? please

 

[MinniePin]

Hi seaharp, does the BIOS detect CD drives? what version of windows are you using?

 

[SeaHarp]

Yes it does detect them. I'm using windows 98se. Everything was fine until I got a little curious, I must have his something.
I just noticed when I go to my computer>>>system devices>>>>performance under file system is states: "Some drives are using MS-DOS compatability"

Then if you go down to the box where you can select an item it says
"Compatability-mode paging reduces overall system performance.
Drive C is using MS-DOS compatability mode file system" This is probably simple but I am at a loss.

 

[MinniePin]

check your config.sys and autoexec.bat in your c:
if you are using w98se, you shouldn't need cdrom device loaded in your config.sys and autoexe.bat files. I'm not a win9x user so I won't be a big of help. From what I know, W98se is good about picking up your devices w/o deviced loaded in above files. commenting them out will get rid of performance errors. pretty sure.

 

[SeaHarp]

I'm not sure on how to do this though?!

 

[PowerJoe]

Try this NoIDE thing

-PJ

 

[MinniePin]

ok. here are few things. First, make sure you have a win98 boot disk made. so if something goes wrong, you can always boot your system from boot disk and change the autoexec.bat/config.sys back to way it was.
the performance/compatibility messages you see are results of dos drivers loading. this actually is normal if you upgraded your window from previous version or device drivers were loaded into W98se when not needed.
here is what I would do, but remember have a backup of both files.
make backup copies of both files. both are in c:\ dir.

copy autoexec.bat autoexec.bak
copy config.sys config.bak

using explorer, edit autoexec.bat
since you are using win98se, you can comment everything out except for 'path=xxxxxxx'

open config.sys using notepad.
comment out the device for cdrom.


actually, you may want to post what's on your config.sys and autoexec.bat
this maybe easier.

 

[SeaHarp]

I dont ever have a clue where to find these files. I went to c:\dir. and it said there was no such file. I cant find autoexe.bat or bak or config.sys .......this is all greek to me. Sorry but I appreciate that you are trying to help, I hope I'm not waring your patience thin.

 

[thorin]

"c:\dir"

He meant that as two seperate things "c:\" and "dir" re-read his post there's a space in there.

Also note that when he says "comment out" he means add "REM " (with a space) to the start of the lines.

Thorin

 

[SeaHarp]

Its still greek! I'm suppose to add REM what? When I said I was new at this that is pretty much what I meant. So if I'm told to do a triple quasi autoexec.bat/bak with a little REM thrown it, what I'm saying is that I dont understand. Try to think back to when and if you were fairly new at this. How would you like it explained to you? Thanks

 

[MinniePin]

hi seaharp, open your windows explorer. go to your c: drive. by default your windows sytem files are hidden. so in explorer, goto view and change the options so you can see all files(including system files). once you have done this you'll see autoexec.bat and config.sys file on c: drive. open each file with notepad and post them. it will make more sense to all of us.

 

[bacillus]

do what PowerJoe's link suggest you do! it's simple & should sort you out.

 

[SeaHarp]

Minnie Pin

I really appreciate your help and patience. I hope that works because my bios detects both drives and I hear my cd start at start up but then stops.

Bacillus
I tried that link but that does'nt apply. that shows if you see a conflict what to do but my device manager does'nt show a conflict........It does'nt even show an icon for where the cd & burner were....non-existent. But thanks

 

[MinniePin]

no problem. if it's easier, you can always mail me your autoexec.bat and config.sys, I'll take a look at it.
good luck

 

[SeaHarp]

Minnie Pin

I got there (thank) and opened config.sys w/ notepad and all I was looking at was a blank pad. Still there was no autoexec.bat to be found anywhere. Now, there was autoexec.dos, autoexec.dos1 and MSDOS autoexec but nothing but a blank page. That is except for MSDOS autoexec. which windows immediately told me there was no such file. Any more suggestions please.

 

[bacillus]

as far as I know,this problem has three known causes. 1) Wrong IDE drivers installed. 2) the NOIDE entry in the registry 3)a bad Master Boot Record.

The Master Boot Record may not be really bad but if Win doesn't like it then your stuck in DOS Mode and no CD-rom support. Try to do a quick FDISK /MBR from a good Boot Floppy

 

[SeaHarp]

The only problem is that this has run fine for a 1 1/2 years until I booted up into dos just to see what i might be in for when I partition my drive in the future and when I exited I think I hit one of my "F" button when I hit ctrl + alt. + del. and when it rebooted It just came up saying there was no cd rom installed on my computer.(I think it told me because my cd player boots up w/ my system.

I dont know how to do a quic FDISK, but wouldnt that erase everything on my hard drive?

 

[SeaHarp]

Well, I went into Dos and re-installed my cd-rom driver. and after a little more playing things worked but my rom and burner flopped letters, no biggie. However when I go into my system properties under performance it says that drives c,d,e (hdd, burner, & rom) is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system. How do I get this back to normal? Thanks

 

[Gearbox]

SeaHarp, Did you check for (and delete) the "NO IDE" string in your registery as PowerJoe suggested. I have had this happen to me a couple of times when I tried to run an old DOS program. Each time I ended up in MSDOS Compatability Mode, and unable to recognize my CD ROM Drive in Windows 95. My system acted exactly as you describe and only way to recover was to edit registery.

 

[nightowl]

Have you run a virus scan recently? I had the same problem awhile back and a boot record virus was to blame. I do not remeber the exact name but it had "exe" in it.