# Solved: error !! Promise Dos device driver is not installed !!



## shadyside (Aug 14, 2013)

Hello, I turned my Dos Ibm ps/2 computer on and after trying to boot the following message appeared " Error !! Promise Dos device is not installed !! below that the following messages appeared "Bad or missing c:\dos\setver.exe - error in config.sys line 5" and "Bad or missing c:\dos\ansi.sys - error in config.sys line 7" The computer will not do anything else. Any suggestions on this booting problem?


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

i do not, but I have marked it 'unsolved' for you.....and welcome to TSG.


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## shadyside (Aug 14, 2013)

valis said:


> i do not, but I have marked it 'unsolved' for you.....and welcome to TSG.


 thanks


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

no worries....be patient, we'll get someone with the dos skills to assist.....


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## foxidrive (Oct 20, 2012)

Check if you have a c:\dos directory to begin with - it seems that it is missing or that files which live inside it normally are missing.

The promise driver will probably be some controller or other hardware which you'll need to identify. There are hardware identification programs for Dos like these:

PC-Config | Hardware diagnostic utility.
Hwinfo | Hardware detection & diagnostic program.
Checkit Advisor | Hardware analysis & advice package.
Microscope | PC hardware diagnostics package.


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## shadyside (Aug 14, 2013)

foxidrive said:


> Check if you have a c:\dos directory to begin with - it seems that it is missing or that files which live inside it normally are missing.
> 
> The promise driver will probably be some controller or other hardware which you'll need to identify. There are hardware identification programs for Dos like these:
> 
> ...


I forgot to mention that I replaced the cmos battery. This occured before the error messages appeared. Would this have anything to do with the errors. If I hit del. while booting the computer will let me into the cmos util. setup menus, can I fix the problem in there, otherwise I don't have a hardware diagnostic util. disk and would not know how to use it if I did. Is this something I can fix or should I get a tech. Thanks for all your help


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## foxidrive (Oct 20, 2012)

The CMOS has probably lost the settings for the boot device - presumably a hard drive, and maybe the type of floppy drive(s) too. It should have an option there to autodetect the HDD and then you can set the boot drive (and floppy type 3.5" 5 1/4" etc) and save the settings. 

Older machines needed the CHS settings of the HDD entered but I doubt your machine is that old - it would be a very slow one in the order of less than an ~80 MHz CPU.

If you still have issues, let us know if you are booting off a floppy disk or hard drive and any other details you can think of.


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## shadyside (Aug 14, 2013)

I am booting off a hard drive-I can get to the cmos util. setup by hitting del. button. In the menu I loaded cmos & bios defaults, saved and exitted still getting same error. there is a IDE HDD auto dect menu that showing primary & slave information what is this and is this where the problem may be?


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## foxidrive (Oct 20, 2012)

The error message you gave initially indicates that the config.sys file is running.
If the hard drive is not accessible then it is booting off floppy disk.

To figure out if the hard drive is setup correctly - when the dos prompt appears type

dir c:\

and then

dir a:\

and tell us what you see: IE if there is an error message or if you see files and directories.


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## shadyside (Aug 14, 2013)

You were correct. While in the cmos utility setup menu - I reset the bios & cmos defaults and that didn't get rid of the error message, however after going into the pnp/pci config menu and restoring the defaults I noticed it disabled the hdd auto detection. the light went of on the b: floppy drive when booting and the computer booted from the hard drive with no problem. It appears that when the cmos battery died, the computer cmos & bios settings were changed from the defaults. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me resolve this problem, I will definitely seek your expert advice again.


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## foxidrive (Oct 20, 2012)

I'm glad that you sorted out the problem.


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