[skysurf]

Hello,

I recently bought a <a href="http://www.goroyalpc.com">Royal</a> Laptop with Windows 98. It has a 266 mhz MMX Processor with a 3.02 GB Hard-drive and a 32 mb RAM. I did not get the laptop with a CDROM drive and just bought one a couple of weeks ago. It is a 24X CDROM with a PC-MCIA card. I could use the CDROM drive fine in Windows 98, but Windows 98 was giving me a lot of problems so I decided to reinstall it.

Thus, I reformatted my computer and rebooted it with a boot disk with the CDROM drivers. I have all the necessary lines in my config.sys and autoexec.bat files. However, after countless tries, I am still unable to access my CDROM drive. My computer loads the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files, loads the D:\ drive with the CDROM drivers, and after a long time, finally goes to the command prompt. During this time, the computer powers up my CDROM drive, and it seems like it is trying to read it. However, when I try to access my D:\ drive by typing perhaps the "dir" command, it gives an error message saying it cannot read the drive and asks me to Abort, Retry, or Fail, during which I have to Abort.

I contaced the tech support of the CDROM drive company many times and they said that the rechargable batteries and the laptop might not be providing enough power in DOS mode, and asked me to buy a PS/2 Adapter for it. Would this fix the problem? Is there any other way to access my CDROM drive?

I would sincerely appreciate any help!

Thanks!!

[This message has been edited by skysurf (edited 04-10-2000).]

[LarryCore]

Moving to the hardware forum since this is not a DOS issue, but a driver issue - we handle drivers in the hardware forum.

Please go there to look for replies.

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[LarryCore]

The problem here is that you need to load the DOS level PCMCIA drivers before the CDROM drivers will work correctly.

Or did you do that? How about posting your CONFIG and AUTOEXEC so we can take a look?

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[skysurf]

Here is what I have in my Autoexec.bat file on my bootdisk that I created:
<ul>
<LI>A:\mscdex /D:ARCCD01 /L[/list]and the statement in my Config.sys:
<ul>
<LI>device=a:\st24xcdr.sys[/list]
When it goes thorugh these statements, it seems like its trying to read the CDROM, because I can hear the CD inside spinning and the red light on my CDROM drive is on. It displays a bunch of statements about loading the CDROM drive, and seems like it stalls for about 10 minutes. But finally, it returns to the command prompt of D:\ which is supposed to be for the CDROM drive, but I am unable to access it.

I contacted the tech-support again today and they don't think that it is a power problem anymore. They say that it might be that the computer does not recognize the PCMCIA slot. Is this a possibility? They told me to look in the BIOS to make sure that it is not in Cardbus mode, but I didn't find anything about the Cardbus or the PCMCIA.

I was also wondering whether I need DOS to be fully installed on my computer. Right now, everytime I start my computer, it asks me for a bootdisk instead of going straight into DOS. I would appreciate any help!


[This message has been edited by skysurf (edited 04-11-2000).]

[Magus]

Find and load the PCMCIA drivers as Larry suggests and also change your Config.sys to read:

device=a:\st24xcdr.sys /d:arccd01

If your C: drive is truly empty, then transfer the system files from the boot disk to the hard drive with the following:

sys c:

[This message has been edited by Magus (edited 04-13-2000).]

[ich]

FYI: This topic was duplicated at http://www.helponthe.net/tsgbb/Forum9/HTML/002278.html I have closed the other thread.

[skysurf]

Another question(s):

Do I add the PCMCIA driver commands in the autoexec.bat or the config.sys? I haven't added them to the bootdisk yet. Also, I thought the computer could access the PCMCIA drivers since the CDROM turning on and spinning the CD means that the computer can connect to it during booting with the boot-disk, or does it?

[LarryCore]

The CD spinning just means that it has power. That doesn't mean the computer can access it.

PCMCIA driver usually go in the config.sys - they should have an install program that will do the job for you though.

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Get free stuff and help out a poor computer tech (NEW DEAL ADDED 4/17/2000):
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[skysurf]

Thank you all VERY MUCH for your support. I finally figured the problem out. You were all right. I had to load the PCMCIA drivers before the CDROM drivers in the config.sys file. Now I can access my CDROM.

Thanks a lot to everyone on this site! Just wanted to say that this is probably one of the best sites on the net and not to mention one of the most useful too. Keep up the good work!

[ich]

FYI:
Renamed the post and added PCMCIA to the title so it'll be a little more descriptive if someone's searching prior posts.

ich