BIOS/CD-ROM Query

have a fairly old system(Pentium 90MHz) that runs Win95.....i reformatted the system(saved all drives via program called MyDrivers)...........when i attempt to startup the system, the CD-Rom does not seemed to be recognized(the BIOS does not see it( the 3.5, the 5.25, the two hard drives(C & D) all show up on the BIOS screen.....i have noticed that with my newer systems, the BIOS indicates that the CD-Rom is present ( whether via IDE features or the boot up (A,C,CD-Rom), etc............i have checked the ribbons(switched them from CD-Rom to Circuit board and vice versa)..........(the ribbon travels direct from board to device)....i have changed the pins from Master to Slave........i have looked at the config.sys file ( /D:MSCD000.....is something suppose to be added after this point (i.e. /L:E in light of the useage of C and D via the hard drive?..........i have switched ribbons from other machines( the CD-Rom does work in other machines that i have..............i think it has to do with the device drivers but if the CD-rom is not being recognized initially, what difference would it make at the driver stage( installation thereof)?...is there some sort of diagnostics program or procedure that would allow me to find out where the problem with "this" machine lies?......also, there are 4 large internal power hookups (one travels independently from power box{it goes to C}, another powers the 5.25 along with the small 3.5 power, the third and fourth power the D and the CD-Rom, maybe i have these arranged incorrectly.................please advise...........Thank You!!

 

Is the system that recognizes it an older system too? If so, are you loading real mode drivers for it perhaps?

What happens if you make the cdrom the slave and attach it to the master hard drive?

 

silly question? on the CD-Rom device, is the the little plastic device placed on the two pins to enable the master or is it placed on the slave to enable the master . also, the question about the system i don't quite understand...please reiterate.....i will attempt the master drive/CD-rom slave configuration....Thanks for the quick response!!!

 

The main C drive should already be jumpered master.

On the cdrom, there should be markings MA / SL / CS (maybe the last one.....maybe not)

You will want the little plastic device to cover up and down over the SL position.

Regarding the system question.....is the other computer that recognizes this cdrom about the same age? Or is it newer or older?

 

in terma of the age of the computer visa vi the device, they are about the same.....however i also went so far as trying another CD-rom on the system and it too does not respond ( both CD-rom, in other words, work!!).........the problem has to be somewhere in the BIOS recognition phase ( i would suppose ), it does not sense the device............i even went so far as the replicate the config.sys file of a system where the CD-Rom does work correctly, still no success MSCD000 and MSD001 ( i have used drivers such as: oakcdrom.sys, the aspi's..., cdrom.sys, etc, etc......please advise further!!!..........we WILL resolve this problem

 

Have you tried booting with a Win98 boot disk and choosing "Start with CDRom support".? A lot of older computers will not list the CDRom drive in the BIOS and the only way windows will recognise it is if the DOS drivers have been loaded in the autoexec and config system files. If the CDrom works in another computer then then generic drivers included on the Win98 boot disk should work.

Kilowatt

 

i did try the Win98SE-OEM boot disk.........it booted up and went thru the typical steps and the ramdrive did its thing and placed a diagnostics on drive E but still no CD-Rom availability....i was hoping for drive F at this point......i am now trying to create a Mod Boot disk via the web site http://www.nu2.nu/aspi/..... i am guessing that maybe it has something to do with SCSI files even though the ribbon is originatiing from an IDE connection on the board (just a query!)