# [SOLVED] Win95b 1st Time Install--Won't Boot From CD



## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Ohh dear, where to begin? I'm giving up on the other tech support site I was just at in the hopes that someone here can help. 

I just bought a new system which has an Asus ME-99B motherboard with a Via-Cyrix C3 700 MHz CPU, 128MB RAM, 3.5 Floppy Drive, 10GB EIDE Hard Drive, 40X CD-ROM Drive but no operating system. 

I then went to eBay and got a Win95 OEM (with USB support, it says on the CD) and I have the Product Key number and all. I thought I could pop the CD into the CD player and it would install. Silly me. At first, I would get a C prompt and it wouldn't do anything else. 

In my travels, I've learned that Win95 cannot be booted from a CD. So...I made what I think is a boot up floppy from the Win95 CD. I understand, however, that it has no drivers for the CD?! Also, at first, it was missing the HIMEM.SYS file and my CONFIG.SYS file and an "error on line 2" according to what my computer told me. My old computer that I'm using to write this has Win95 (version a, I think) but I went back and found a HIMEM.SYS file on there and put it on the floppy...likewise, a different CONFIG.SYS file. My new computer seems to like that because it's not complaining anymore about that. 

However....the CD-ROM driver (if that's the problem) was a whole 'nother thing. I went to some site (MicronPC or something like that) and got a Atapi driver (the same make as my CD player). It's supposed to be self extracting although I think I was putting in the wrong DOS commands (!) but eventually, while watching my A prompt blink for the millionth time, I hit on something which asked me if I wanted to write over the files in the diskette drive. I got scared and said no! lol 

Ohh I'm so confused! A friend told me to got into BIOS and change the first choice for the boot sequence to "Other Bootable Devices" (which lists my Atapi CD-ROM), instead of "Removeable Devices" which is my floppy drive--however, this doesn't seem to make any difference at all. My computer still doesn't know how to find the CD drive...and I don't know if that's D or E. I can only switch from C: to A: (and to B: but that's the same as A: I think). 

I'm so sorry--I realize this is a mess and the way I've explained it is confusing too. Can anyone sort this out for me pleease, before I go completely loopy? Thanks very much, in advance. 

Jeanie


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

First click on the link below and download Boot98.zip

Once it's downloaded, double left click to unzip it. Then double left click on Boot98.exe to create a W98 boot diskette. It should prompt you to insert a blank floppy diskette. Insert a blank floppy and click on OK to continue creating the W98 boot diskette. If it doesn't prompt you to insert a blank floppy, stop and let us know. Your going to use a W98 boot diskette to install W95 because it will give you the CDRom support you need to install from the CDRom drive .

Let us know when your done creating the W98 boot diskette and we'll help you through the install of W95 from the CD.

 Make a W98 Boot Diskette


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## dogbonz (Mar 19, 2001)

Bryan,

If you're mentioning www.bootdisk.com , I
believe the Win95 bootdisk has a generic
CD-ROM driver on it. Because of 95s inability
to be installed.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

My link isn't to bootdisk.com. The link I posted is to download a bootdisk creation program I have stored on the web. I prefer to use that bootdisk creation program because it's very simple to use. And it creates a W98 boot diskette which works fine to install W95 from CD.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Hi!

I downloaded from your link and then my zip utility took it and extracted it to Temporary Internet Files. I found it there and checked the properties and it's still zipped (I guess). When I double click on it, I get a warning that says "Running a system command on this item might be unsafe. Do you wish to continue?" What should I say? So no, I haven't been prompted to make a floppy because I don't think it unzipped. (The driver from MicronPC was self-extracting in DOS but I didn't really know how to use that.) What to do? Thanks!

Jeanie


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

It doesn't sound like it unzipped it or you aren't looking in the right place. Your looking for a file called Boot98.exe

Try this,

Start>Find>Files, key in boot98.exe and press enter. Does it find boot98.exe on the hard drive? If so, double left click on it. If it's not found let us know.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Nope, it's not showing up at all in Find Files. That's where I looked first but it's not there. And if I look for zip files I only find boot98[1].zip but it's a 1k file--a shortcut.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

If you can't find it, just click on  this and download Win98.exe. Now double left click on Win98.exe to create the boot diskette.

Let us know once you have the W98 boot diskette created.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Okay...downloading that now...will let you know.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Bryan, I have a box asking "Do you want to install and run "WIN98.EXE" from dos.li5.org?" Do I?


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Go ahead and run it. A box should appear and say "Insert Floppy ...". 

If it doesn't, let us know. 

Assuming it does, insert a floppy diskette and click on OK.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Got it!!  Now what? (gulp)


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Insert the W98 boot diskette in the PC you want to install W95 on and power on the PC. It should boot to a boot menu with 3 options. Let us know when you get the boot menu.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Here, we're going to have a little problem because although I do have 2 computers here, I only have one monitor so I will have to switch back and forth between the two to be able to work on the other AND talk to you. Should you give me the second step also, so I don't have to go back and forth for each step?--however you want to do it is fine with me.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

I'll give it all to you. Follow these steps carefully and you should be fine especially the step where you need to pay attention to the screen for the phrase that tells you what drive letter it assigned to your CDRom.

Insert the boot diskette and power on the PC. It should boot up to a Boot Menu with 3 options. If not, youll need to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to A,C,D

After it has booted to the boot menu, select the option to "Start with CDRom Support".

As it attempts to give you CDRom support, somewhere on the screen at the very end, it tells you what drive letter it has temporarily assigned to the CDRom drive. It will look something like this, "*Drive X =MSCD001*", where "X" is the drive letter that's been temporarily assigned to your CDRom drive for the install. Make a note of what drive letter it displays. If you don't see that phrase on the screen then you didn't get CD Rom support. Stop and do not go any further since you won't be able to install Windows from CD without CDRom support.

Assuming you did get CDRom support, then at the A:\> prompt key in the following and press enter.

fdisk

Leave the default set to "Y" for large disk support and press enter.

Now use the option to "Delete Partitions". Delete any and all you see listed.

Now take the option to "Create a Partition" and create a "Primary DOS" partition. Take all of the defaults during the Primary DOS partition creation.

Now after the PC has restarted, key in the following and press enter.

format c:

When it's done, insert your W95 CD. Then key in the following command at the prompt and be sure to change the drive letter, "X", to the drive letter that was temporarily assigned to your CDRom drive that you should have made note of earlier.

X:\setup


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Thank you so much for all of this!! I'm going to print out what you said and I'll be gone for a bit but I'll come back and let you know what happened. Crossing my fingers.... I'll be back soon to give you the update!! Thanks very much!!


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Your welcome. I'll try to hang around for a while to be sure you got through it ok. If I'm not around, someone else will be here to help. Good luck.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

I changed the BIOS to read 1). Removable Device, 2). IDE Hard Drive, 3). Other Boot Device -- and 4). is something I can't remember... but what I get when the screen comes up with the disk in the drive is all the info about whatever you gave me and that it's called BANANA and all that but I don't get 3 options. After that bit of information appears, I get an A: prompt again.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Sorry, that boot diskette acts a little differently than the one I originally posted for you to download but it will do fine.

Anyway, you should see a phrase like this "Drive X:" just above the A:\> prompt. That's the drive letter that it's assigned to the CdRom drive. Make a note of it. 

At the A:\> prompt key in the following and press enter. 

fdisk 

Leave the default set to "Y" for large disk support and press enter. 

Now use the option to "Delete Partitions". Delete any and all you see listed. 

Now take the option to "Create a Partition" and create a "Primary DOS" partition. Take all of the defaults during the Primary DOS partition creation. 

Now after the PC has restarted, key in the following and press enter. 

format c: 

When it's done, insert your W95 CD. Then key in the following command at the prompt and be sure to change the drive letter, "X", to the drive letter that was temporarily assigned to your CDRom drive that you should have made note of earlier. 

X:\setup


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Ooh thank you! Yes, the drive is called "R." Will go back to the other computer now and try this... (nervous!)  I'll be back!


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

You should be fine. The last step where you insert the W95 CD and run setup, just key in the following at the A:\> prompt, press enter and it should start installing W95 from the CD. 

r:\setup


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

I hope you're still there... I got all the way to the end, I changed the A prompt to my temporary R prompt and typed in set up and it says that CD101 (or whatever it is) is not reading the drive--abort, retry, fail. (sigh)...what to do?


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Insert the W95 CD and try this from the prompt

dir r:

Does it list the contents of the CD on the screen?


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Oh there you are!! (whew) Hang on one sec...let me see...


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Noo.. I'm in the R:\> thing and I typed in dir R: and I get the same thing CDR101 not ready reading drive R ...something like that and the abort, retry, fail.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

But the CD is making a whirring sound in there...


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Click on the link below and then run it to create a new boot diskette. Then insert it in the PC and boot to it. Take the Option for "Start W/CDRom support" and press enter. Then come back here and tell us if you see this phrase appear on the screen *Drive X =MSCD001*

 W98 Boot Diskette


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Hmm. Should I change the boot sequence in the BIOS to look for the CD-ROM first? Would that help? I'd have to restart the computer tho....


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

It could be one of three things, a bad CD, a bad CDRom drive or the drivers aren't giving you the correct support. Try creating this new different boot diskette ...

Click on the link below and then run it to create a new boot diskette. Then insert it in the PC and boot to it. A menu should appear. Take the Option for "Start W/CDRom support" and press enter. Then come back here and tell us if you see this phrase appear on the screen *Drive X =MSCD001*

 W98 Boot Diskette


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Okay.. am downloading new info onto floppy. Will boot up with it and then I'll come back and tell you what I found.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Hopefully that was a misstatement. You don't want to download that file to a diskette. 

You want to download the boot98.exe file to your hardrive and then double left click on it to create a new W98 boot diskette.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

I get "non-system disk or disk error"--whether the CD is in the drive or not, whether I boot up with it or put it in afterwards. I put your original boot up disk in and after the BANANA information, I did get an A prompt. So I read the directory on the win98.exe floppy and it IS listed but I'm not geting anywhere else.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Oh no!! I'm sorry! I DID download it right to the disk. Let me go back and do it again...  !!


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Yaaaaay!! I did get the CD-Rom support option and I did get the MSCD001 on the screen!! Then it said it was starting my computer and that all diagnostic tools were loaded onto drive D. Then it said to type in HELP if I needed it (which I do) and now I have a big blue screen about Win98. This is great!!! But I still don't know what to do. WHen do I put the Win95 CD in? Should I reboot?


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

What drive letter did it list, in place of the letter "X", in that phrase "Drive X =MSCD001"?


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

It says Drive E: is that good?


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

That's good so far. Now insert the W95 CD and at the a:\> prompt do this

dir e:

Does it list the contents of the CD or does it error?


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

A:\> dir e: not ready reading drive E
abort, retry, fail

Oh dear.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Do you have any other CDs you can insert besides the W95 CD?

If so, insert any CD and try that dir e: command. Does it list it's contents?


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Is it normal for the CD drive to be making sort of whirring sounds? The light stays on and it sounds like it's alternately slowing down and speeding up and about 1-second intervals. Eventually it stops and settles down. But everytime I put the CD in, it does that. (It didn't do that the very first time I turned the machine on.) Just thought I'd mention that but I hope I shouldn't be worried...


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Do you have any other CDs you can insert besides the W95 CD? 

If so, insert any CD and try that dir e: command. Does it list it's contents?


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

I can try the ASUS support CD, yes. Hang on one second...


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

No, the other won't work either. Same thing.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Well it can be one of two things,

The CDRom drive is bad.

Or though it says your getting support, the driver really isn't correct, in which case you need to find out the make and model number of the drive and get the correct drivers. Can you call the people you got the PC from and find out if they can get your the exact drivers you need or at the very least, the make and model number of the CdRom drive?

I wish I could stay longer but I've got to get some sleep. I'll check back tommorrow.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

I just wanted to mention, if you'd like to call it a day, you can if you like.  I don't want to keep you up so late and you've been a tremendous help so far!! So if you want to stop for now, that's okay.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Aha! Great minds think alike! lol Well, thank you Bryan for all your patience and your help--you got this computer farther than anyone else has!!  Thank you soo much!! Good night.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Yea, tommorrow's another day. I'll check back tommorrow. Call the people you got the PC from and tell them what's happening. See what they have to say and let us know.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

It's also possible that the cable has come loose on the CDRom drive. Can you open the case and check the cable on the drive to be sure it's pushed into the CDRom drive firmly?

And the other thing you might try, since you've been in and out of the BIOS changing settings, is going into the BIOS and resetting it to the Default Settings. You should see an option to "Load Default Settings".

Then try booting to the W98 boot diskette, take the option 3 from the boot menu to "Start With CDRom Support". Once it's booted to the A:\> prompt, insert your W95 CD and then at the A:\> prompt type in the following and press enter.


e:\setup


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Good morning! Yes, I'll check the cable, reset my BIOS and give it another try. (Have to make some coffee first!) In a little while I'll give the computer store a call and try to get the Atapi make, model & drivers but can't do that yet, as it's only 7:30 there (I'm in NY, they're in California). 

Last night, I noticed that I have something called a RAMDRIVE (is that it?) on Drive D. Drive C is empty and A & B are the diskette drives. I hope all that is as it should be.  I'll be back...


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

The ramdrive d:\ is fine. It's a "virtual drive" that the boot disk creates. Just ignore it, it's perfectly normal.

Anyway, once you've checked the cable and reset the BIOS, when the PC boots up, on the screen at the bottom you should see it "recognize" the drives and display a message on the screen for each drive it finds, that being for your hard drive and the CDRom drive. 

Do you see it "recognize" the CDRom drive as it boots?


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

I'm back. I opened the casing and made sure all the connectors were pushed into the CD drive (the drive moved a bit and I thought I had done it a favor by doing that) but then I powered it up and the light wouldn't come on for the CD and the door wouldn't open(!) and I was getting weird messages like: device driver not found and invalid drive specification for e: So... I opened the casing back up and I pulled the CD box back a bit. That seemed to work and it's okay now.

I reset the BIOS to their default settings.

But...ultimately, I'm still getting CDR101: not ready reading drive e: abort, retry, fail What comes up first, while it's doing whatever it's doing, is a message like this:

Device name: (then it's blank here) MSCD001
Transfer Mode: Programmed I/O
Number of drives: 1

I didn't see that it was recognizing other drives on the way...maybe I don't know what to look for but I didn't see any. Eventually after it checks the PCI buses it tells me "diagnostic tools successfully loaded" and then:

Drive E: = Driver MSCD001 unit 0

Then I get the A:\> but when I type in e:\setup, that's when I get CDR101: not ready reading drive e:

Whew. What do you think?


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## cybertech (Apr 16, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Bryan:_
> *
> 
> The CDRom drive is bad.
> ...


I agree with Bryan, in fact had the same problem this weekend. After replacing the CD the install went perfect. You can pick one up fairly cheap these days.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Something's just not right with that drive. Either it's bad or the connector is not on correctly.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

oh noooo..... Oh that's the worst news. It's a brand new computer! Well, thank you soo much for all your help--at least I learned a lot. 

I'm really sorry to have put you through all that for nothing.

Oh! Is it possible for me to transplant the CD player I have in my old computer into the new computer?--sort of make it a Frankenstein? ("It's alive....It's ALIIIVE!!!") lol 

I don't know what kind of CD player is in my current computer but at least I know I have the drivers for it because I still have the old Gateway disks. What do you think?


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

You should just be able to put it into the new pc and it will be fine. You usually don't need to worry about the drivers. But you do need to be sure it's jumpered correctly. I assume your new PC's CDRom drive is on the same strap as the hardrive and it's the "slave". Am I losing you with this ?

BTW, i'd ask the the company that sold you the PC to ship you a new CDRom drive.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

What is the model of the cd drive.......sorry if you have already said and I missed it.......


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Hmm It's an Atapi drive according to the BIOS. When I don't go into the set up thing, it lists my CD-Rom as a primary slave (I think)...will have to double check that. The primary master is the hard drive, secondary master is "none," primary slave is the CD and the secondary slave is "none." Wait. Let me go check that. I'll be back.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

If that's true then it's a slave on the same strap as the hard drive on the Primary IDE controller which is what I suspected it would be. 

Is that the new PC or your Gateway? Check both ...

And see if you can get some model numbers or any markings from the back of the CDRom drive in the new PC. It still could be a driver issue but i doubt it.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Okay...I'll check both. This is going to take some time and I'll be without a computer for a while but I'll be back as soon as I can.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

I was wrong--the CD-ROM is the secondary master. In the BIOS (still set to default, by the way) it goes like this:

Primary master: WDC WD102AA 
Primary slave: none
Secondary master: ATAPI 52X CD-ROM 
Secondary slave: none

Although it says 52X, my specs for this computer say it's a 40X drive. I'm not sure if it said that in the very beginning before we started this process but that's what it says now. 

I'm going to call the store now and see if I can get any answers from them. Will let you know...


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

To give you an update...the store "support" people only have a voice mail saying they'll call me back within 48 hours! My email to them went unanswered so far. So much for support. 

Just out of curiosity, does one have to uninstall one driver before installing another? Should I try to install other ATAPI compatible drivers or will that create a conflict with the one that's already in there?

Anyway, I'll let you know if and when someone responds with a model # and recommended drivers....


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Another update... no email or phone call from tech support yet but last night, I opened the casing up again to see if I could see any identifying markings on the CD-ROM drive (no luck) but I sort of wiggled the wires and the box itself in the process. When I powered up the machine again with the boot up disk and then put the CD in the drive, I got something that said that it was initializing! And then it said something else (I forget what) and then asked me to press enter to continue or esc to escape. Of course I pressed enter...but then...it went back to CDR101 not ready reading drive e. But--doesn't that mean that my CD drive is loose maybe?--or was that just a fluke?


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

At this point my best advice is to put another CDRom drive into the PC that you know works. I realize you may or may not want to tackle it but that's the best advice I can give you at this point.

Did you ever check the BIOS in your Gateway to see what the configuration of the drives are? If the CDRom drive is also a Master on either one of the IDE controllers then you should just be able to swap it into the new PC without any jumper changes.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Hi again! 

I never did check the BIOS on my Gateway but I will. I'll let you know (tonight) what I've found. Of course, if it comes to that and I do have to transplant one into the other, you know I'll have to come back here for more help! lol I'll let you know about the BIOS.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Just wondering how you made out. Let us know when you get a chance.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Hi Bryan!
I've been too busy to work on the computer lately but one new development is that the tech support people finally emailed me back and told me that it's either a 50X or a 52X CD drive (although their specs say it's a 40X). Anyway, he said your Oak driver is compatible with it--so that's good news. He also said Win95 doesn't need drivers and that it recognizes and loads its own ATAPI drivers, however....he didn't know that I can't even get Windows IN!

I told him I thought the drive might be faulty so he told me to unplug the cable and plug it back in again. If that doesn't work, I suppose I'll consider it dead and get a new one. I've decided not to transplant the other CD ROM into the new computer because I still want to use the old computer and need the CD ROM in there.

I'll do the cable plug/unplug thing in a little while and let you know if anything has changed... wish me luck! 

Jeanie


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

A question I have to ask, why install W95? I'd at least go for W98SE, but I prefer W2K.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

A reasonable question! lol I like Win95, actually, although I'm realizing that it won't be compatible very soon with a lot of software, etc. So...I'll probably have to break down and enter the year 1998 with Windows98! Hope that answers your question...it's just a preference of mine. Of course, at this point, it doesn't really matter WHAT I like, because the CD ROM drive seems to be on the fritz.  Do you know if there's an OS out there that doesn't rely on a CD at all? (My disk drive works great!) lol

Jeanie


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

95 comes on floppies too.....a bunch of them to be exact


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Thank you for letting me know that! That's good news--and I suppose that means that Win98 probably comes on (a lot of!) floppies also? Hm. Although I did order a new CD-ROM drive last night, if I can't manage to install it, I can always just forget the CD drive altogether and go with the floppies I guess. It's nice to know that I have that to fall back on.


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Note to Bryan: Just wanted to let you know, I tried unplugging and plugging the CD ROM cable from the motherboard--in fact, I unplugged and plugged everything on it that was unpluggable! Each time I do that, the computer gets as far as telling me it's initializing, checking my system and do I want to continue?--I say yes and then it goes back to not being able to read the E: drive. I can hear the CD spinning but it gets into this repetitive loop where it sounds like it whirs and then there's a tiny click and it whirs and there's a tiny click...and on and on that way at about 1-second intervals, aimlessly. If there's no CD in there, it doesn't do it but anyway, I think I'm giving up on it. 

The store makes it nearly impossible to return the computer or the components and it's not worth the trouble but the good news is that I ordered a Sony EIDE ATAPI 52X drive for only $25.00 so...it looks like after some surgery, Frankenstein will be up and running, finally. I hope. Thank you for all your help though--I learned an awful lot from you.  (But I may be back for advice on how to put the new drive in, so...beware! lol

Jeanie


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## Friskybits (Oct 13, 2002)

Bryan--
Just wanted to check in to tell you that finally, Frankenstein is ALIVE!! I got the new CD-ROM drive and put it in with no problems (surprise, surprise!). I followed your directions again and it took off like a bat outta hell! hee hee I popped in a modem and then spent the next 10 hours trying to get online but now, here I am! 

So, after all that, it actually was a bad drive! I wanted to come back though and thank you for all your help--I couldn't have done it without your hours of patience and your vast store of knowledge. Thank you sooo much!! And thanks to everyone else too, who offered advice. You folks are the best!!

Jeanie


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

Your welcome, glad to hear your ok now.


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