# [SOLVED!] win98 won't read cd-rom drive



## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Hi all! Candy, hope you DON'T read this...lol. Anyway, have an ancient Packard Bell and all of a sudden it won't recognize the "q" drive. When I double click my computer it is listed there but nothing "reads" it. Please help!


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## putasolution (Mar 20, 2003)

Is this with all cds, music and datea or just burned cds?


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

I don't have any burned cds, but what I tried were several kids games cd and the original win98 cd that came with it.


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## putasolution (Mar 20, 2003)

And can you hear the drive spinning?

If you can hear it, try deleting the cd rom drive in Device Manager and rebooting. It may be a case of faulty drivers and the reboot will re-install them


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Yes, i can hear it spinning...is it ok to delete it if all i have is the original cd's that came with the pc??


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

ok, deleted it from device manager and rebooted. It is listed again in device manager but no difference as far as reading it. I think my kids have so much garbage on it that I really want to reformat the hard drive and start over but I can't do that without it reading the cd-rom drive.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Karol, boot to a command prompt using a 98 boot disk with cdrom support. The cdrom will move one letter ahead (hopefully) and be recognized, try changing to that drive letter, with a good cd in the drive, and type 

dir
and press enter

If you get an error message there, the drive is probably a goner.

Watch the info scroll by when you are booting to the boot disk to be sure a boot disk will include those old packard cdrom drivers. We may need special ones.


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy...this is what I found:
a:dir reads the floppy
b:dir reads the same floppy
c:dir reads the hard drive
d:dir reads MS-RAM Drive (whatever that is!)
e:dir attempts to read the cd-rom (the lite goes on and I can hear the disc spinning...but then I get the message "CDR101: Not ready reading drive E (Abort, Retry or Fail)"


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Sounds like it's time to replace the drive  I'm sure you have tried more than one cd


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

I have! No other options?? It just happened in a snap...maybe that's how it DOES happen!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yep, sometimes they die a slow death and torture you on the way out, sometimes they go in gentle peace 

You can get them almost free after rebates anymore. I have even picked up some free after rebate. Always have an extra one or two on hand for unexpected deaths 

You could buy a cd cleaner lens kit, and give that a whirl, but it IS a very, very old drive


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy, thanks for your help. I certainly trust what you are saying...you have been proven right MANY times by me! The only reason I am toying with the idea of it being something else is because the kids have really been fooling with it and now I am getting messages about explorer not responding, lot's of freezing, sometimes the cd-rom door won't even come open...other times it does (doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason). What I really want to do is reformat that hard drive (OH NO...here we go again! lol) and see if that makes any difference, but can't do that if it won't read that cd-rom. At least that's how I see it.

P.S. Twice this morning while rebooting, it got stuck on "Verifying DMI Pool Data............."

Also, whenever I get on and try to click on "my computer" it just hangs and does not list the items in my computer. Then I do a CTRL-ALT-DELETE and close "my computer" (because it is not responding) and then usually "explorer" stops responding! What a mess!


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## putasolution (Mar 20, 2003)

Causes of Verifying DMI Pool Data are:

Corrupt boot files on the computer. 
Settings for hard disk drive are not correct. 
Boot devices not set properly. 
BIOS corrupt or misc. setting not set properly. 
Connections loose or disconnected. 
Bad Hard disk drive or other bad hardware


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

> _Originally posted by justkidzmom:_
> *Candy, thanks for your help. I certainly trust what you are saying...you have been proven right MANY times by me! The only reason I am toying with the idea of it being something else is because the kids have really been fooling with it and now I am getting messages about explorer not responding, lot's of freezing, sometimes the cd-rom door won't even come open...other times it does (doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason). What I really want to do is reformat that hard drive (OH NO...here we go again! lol) and see if that makes any difference, but can't do that if it won't read that cd-rom. At least that's how I see it.
> 
> P.S. Twice this morning while rebooting, it got stuck on "Verifying DMI Pool Data............."
> ...


I will only add one more thought  (well maybe later, I'll have more) BUT, in PURE DOS MODE, there are no software issues involved. If the drive can't even read with nothing else involved, as I mentioned, you might try cleaning it, and as PAS mentioned, you might check connections. Those two obstacles aside, the drive needs replaced........


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy...took some time to get back into this "thing" this afternoon. I was able to use the cd-rom so I put in the master recovery floppy and cd and started the pc. It seemed to go thru the process of reformatting the hard drive. Guess what? 
It now stopped reading the cd-rom...again! Now I have NO idea what shape that darn pc is in. I know you suggested a new cd-rom...where do I get one?? Remember, i have NOOOO idea about these things so you will have to guide me...Wal-mart? If I get one will I be able to install it? (I don't think my pc has ANYTHING left on it...i reformatted it...at least I think I did!) Ughhhh! Probably should not have reformatted...Help?

P.S. The reason I went through with the reformat is because...i opened the case and the cable was loose on the cd-rom drive and I secured it. Then the cd-rom seemed to work so I thought "what the heck, might as well start this thing from square one". I know...enough thinking from me!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Since you mentioned you 'fixed' it for awhile by moving cables, can you try a different cable? Is it on the same cable with the hard drive or by itself?

You can get them at CompUSA, OfficeMax, Office Depot, Best Buy. I have often picked them up free after rebates.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50205017&pfp=cat3

Edited for typo


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## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Since you reseated the cable and still had problems, and you don't mind putting a new one in, they are not that difficult or expensive (and they usually come with new cables). 

Just make sure the jumpers are configured same as your original one (for master or slave).

Otherwise typically all you need is a phillips head screw driver.

Take the cables (power and data) off the old one.
Remove the 4 screws
Slide the old one out
Put the new one in (sometimes due to space it is easier to put the cables on before it is in the fully back position)
Then screw it so the front is flush again.
Put back the cables (if they aren't already)


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

In that old PB, it may be a bit more difficult than that, hopefully not, but sometimes those old machines made it hard to get to things in order to remove them


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## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Sounded like he was willing to try and could at least get his fingers in the to mess with the cables. That is usually a good sign. Most of the times where it is difficult to remove a drive, it is also very difficult to get at the cables. Also from his posts, it does some more like the CD ROM is simply defective so there aren't too many good choices available.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

She's a she


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## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Hopefully "she'll" be able to get the old one out and the new one in ;-)


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

LOL Candy! 



> _Originally posted by AcaCandy:_
> *Since you mentioned you 'fixed' it for awhile by moving cables, can you try a different cable? Is it on the same cable with the hard drive or by itself?
> 
> http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50205017&pfp=cat3 *


Like I would know where the hard drive is! 

Anyway, there is an interface cable that comes out and plugs into the green board (Motherboard??)..there are 3 tiny wires (black, red and white) that come out and are wrapped in a gray wire that connect to a different area of that green board...and last but no least...black, red and yellow wires that come out and are wired into another part of the pc.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, on the one that plugs into the green board  is there another item connected to it, some cables have two connectors on them, although yours may have only the connector to the green board and the connector to the cdrom drive 

The other one goes to the sound input, don't disconnect that one if you like to hear music 

And the other one is for the power. Be sure that one is tightly attached. If you have another one of those hanging around loose inside, you might connect it to that one, just in case the problem lies there


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

The interface cable goes directly into the green board...by the way, is that the motherboard?? And about the power one...it has a plastic end on it that says "PE". There is another one hanging in there that says "PC" and a blank one. Can I try either of those? Thanks for bearing with me Candy...I know I am a pain! 

My husband says I missed my calling and should have gone to computer classes instead of...well, you know, having fun!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

All the power connectors are the same, except for the floppy drive power.

Yes, the 'green board' is the motherboard  But they can be different colors too 

Be sure that the gray cable is very secure into the back of the cdrom as well as to the motherboard.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=299637&cmid=dsr&ref=dsr

Look what I found


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy...you are incredible! How do I know what to be looking for??? Have no idea the technical "stuff"...that Bob was referring to...jumpers, slaves, masters?? Anyway, by the time I got to the site you linked me to..."sold out". Had to do my son's b-day party today so I guess I missed out.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Oh well, they'll have it again. I think if you just check the connections as it stands now, we can figure out if something is loose. If you end up buying a new drive, we'll jump thru those hoops later.


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

ok, i am calling it a night...I'll probably check back tomorrow. Thanks for your effort so far...and by the way...read thru that random last night about the adult site...lol...took me about 45 minutes! Talk to you soon...thanx


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Talk to your hubby and I'll talk to mine


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy, I am going to bump this thread up...trying to work on it today. Here is my goal: I would like to get Win98 loaded back on this thing and get it set-up with the primary goal being - kid's games! With that being said...I think I need to replace the cdrom first (correct?), so that I can use it to re-install windows. Now, can someone please help me find the exact specs I need for the CDRom so I know what to look for while shopping??? My closest stores would be Staples and Wal-Mart. We do not have Office Max, CompUsa or anything like that! Quite rural here! Anyway, Candy, you mentioned a 52X24X52 CDRom. Stupid question...how do you know that is what I need? Do the numbers stand for speed, size, capacity??? Have no idea, that is why I would like someone to explain it to me! Anyway, enough info to get me started. Any replys would be appreciated! Thanks!


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

The last thing to be seen alive and breathing on the pc is:
Blue Screen:

Preparing drive...
Recording current bad cluster
Complete
Formatting 9.758.2M
Writing out file allocation table
Complete
Calculating free space (this may take several minutes)...
Complete
Transferring files...
CDR101: Not Ready reading drive Q
Abort, Retry, Fail?r
CDR101: Not Ready reading drive Q
Abort, Retry, Fail?

Now it is just sitting there...I took the master recovery cd out of the cdrom and reinserted it but no luck...just hanging there! Thanks for any help!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Karol, pretty much any cdrom drive should work on that system, we obviously don't want to put too much $ into it which is why I suggested that one at only $10 after rebates. There should be others that will come up, sometimes for even less. I have 2 or 3 extras in my closet ranging from 32X to 52X that I got free after rebates. The one I mentioned is also a burner too, which isn't important for that PC, but what I was thinking is that you might rip the cdrom out of another computer and put the nice new burner in your 'good' system 

Without going back and re-reading everything, have we tried reading the cd from dos with a boot disk?


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

ummm, don't think so...but if you read my last 2 posts it pretty much tells you where I am at with the blue screen. As far as I know, the thing is reformatted but unable to load windows on it because of the need for the cdrom. Now, I know comp101 would help with this, can I still use DOS if the system is not reloaded? If so, just walk me thru it...step by step of course, LOL. Take me from square 1...turning on the pc! Thanks!


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy, whenever you have a chance, I would like to try to work on this "thing" some more...so, if you can help me try to read the cd from DOS, I would appreciate it! Thanks.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Karol, sorry, missed you last post for some reason.

Do you have a boot disk? If not, go here and download one.

http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files010.shtml

Get the 98 disk, save to desktop, NOT to a floppy, double click on the file and follow instructions to create the disk.


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Thanks Candy...I have a 98 start-up disk already! Believe it or not!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, hopefully it's not just a startup disk as some of those are to work in conjunction with the restore cd only.

When you boot with it, are you presented a menu to choose to start with or without cdrom support?


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

option wo start with cd-rom support/without cd-rom support or view the help file with 30 seconds to choose


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy, as I was replying to you, it chose "with cd-rom support". Now I have a message that the diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D. And now I am at the a:\>


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, the cdrom drive letter should move one ahead, so put a disk in the drive, give it spin up time, then type

E:
and press enter

If it changes, type

dir 
and press enter

File listing or error message?


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

file listing


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Really? The files on the cd for sure????


Do you have a normal Windows install cd then? Or just the restore cd? Can the restore cd be run from this point?


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

yes really...you didn't expect it to be easy from me did you??? lol Now, all that I have is the master restore cd. That is what i did the directory listing of. I would like to run it but not sure how...?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I'm just surprised because I thought we'd pretty much figured out the drive was bad, or hit and miss at best.

Is there a setup.exe on it? Or install.bat file listed?


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy...I am assuming they are the files on the cd:
Apps 
Bootcat Bin
Command 
Dosmenu 
Floppy 
Osboot Img
Tools 
Win98 <Dir)

That is the listing for e:


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Try to get to the win98 directory by typing

cd(space)win98
and press enter

Then see if there is a setup.exe either by typing setup or doing a dir again.


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

okay, got to E:\WIN98.dir

Volume in drive E is 17220401

CDR101:Not ready reading drive E
Abort, Retry, Fail?


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Apparently it is "hit or miss"


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You can try cleaning the cd itself, but I think we'll both have more hair left in the end if you'll just break down and get another drive


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Yep, thinkin' your 100% right! (about getting another one). What specs do I need to go to a comp store and ask for one?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

The least expensive one


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy...bought one...installed it...yippee! Now, as I was trying to "reload" windows98 because I had reformatted the hard drive...it froze at a certain point. I shut it down, reformatted it AGAIN and while it was "reloading" windows98 the second time, it froze again. Any advice?

The screen says:
All of this info is in a box--
CPU Clock
Diskette Drive A
Diskette Drive B
Blah, Blah, Blah

Then after the box it says:
Verifying DMI Pool Data...............

Please wait while Setup updates your configuration files.
This may take a few minutes...

Completed updating files, continuing to load Windows....

This is where it freezes. The power light is on and the other light to indicate the hard drive is working is on also.


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## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Can you take out or disable everything you don't absolutely need. For example, remove any network cards, sound cards etc. Just leave in the video card.


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Hi Bob, thanks for the reply. You will have to bear with me here...pretty much a rookie. Don't know what the different cards are  I guess you read the history on this darn thing...thought just the cdrom was going bad so I replaced it today and am trying to reload win98 on because I had previously reformatted the hard drive. Anyway, if you can help me identify the cards, I am willing to try removing them to get this thing reloaded. Thanks


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Karol, are you sure it is freezing? That is an older system, sometimes it just takes a while. Glad to hear you got a new cdrom, hopefully you got a good price 

What Bob is referring to is sound card, modem, LAN (Nic) card, anything that we don't need to install windows.


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy, yea, I'm sure....it's been a good hour now. I reformatted that thing before and it was a relatively smooth and speedy process. Anyway, are you also suggesting that I get rid of all of the extras? If so, I need a little refresher on what is what so I don't take out the wrong things...never worked on the guts of that machine before! Thanks!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Well, I had a long explanation typed up and my post timed out on me 

So, you'll remember the motherboard, the big green thing?  Anything that is connected to it that you can see underneath or ontop of where the monitor is plugged into, namely modem, ethernet card, soundcard, etc. Unscrew the one screw holding it into the slot and gently remove it.

Now, you also know, you need to have the computer unplugged from the power outlet first. The only thing we want attached right now is the keyboard, mouse and monitor. Also, the bios setup is set back to boot from the cdrom first, right? And the bios setup sees the new cdrom and is happy? And please refresh my memory, this isn't a Comcrap is it?

EDIT: I scanned back to the first page, PB....almost as bad  I'm hoping it's not going to be one of those 'if I can't find my original hardware, I'm not installing' restore cds


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy, okay, understand all of your post except the bios setup...not sure how to do that. Please help me with that and then I will start unhooking modem and sound cards...think they are the only 2 there. Also, 2 funnies  My cat keeps trying to get inside the packard hell to chase the fan...he may not be around very much longer and...you mentioned that you timed out on your post...well, can't tell you how many times this darn thing has shut down on me 'cuz I still have not replaced that cpu fan and it stops spinning and then the thing boots down! LOL I am working on that problem with mobo in the security forum...driving him crazy too! Meanwhile, I just keep sticking my finger in there and giving it a spin...YIKES!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Lol, don't cut off any fingers, and whatever you do, don't let the cat be harmed......see this post  http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?t=224125&goto=newpost

Bios, should be DEL, F1, F2, sometimes when the first screen appears, it gives you a clue to enter setup. However, if your cdrom disk was taking over before, it should be ok. I'm following the other thread too.......I'm just leaving it to mobo


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

lmao at that post...my pc's are on the floor! Anyway, I will unhook all of those "extras" and post back to see what's next. Thanks


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Mine too, I really don't get the five foot deal  

After you have everything ripped out, just try to restart with the restore cd in the drive again and see how far you can get.


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy...going to have to call it a night...kidz...husband...cat...dog...taxes...no wait, they're done...anyway, going to go. Hopefully I will have time tomorrow night to work on this a little. If not, Wednesday for sure. Thanks for your help...talk to you soon.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

No problem, my cat wants her bath, so I'm short for time too


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Hi Candy...I unhooked the internet card and reformatted the beast again. While loading win98 it got stuck at the same place again...with the hard drive light on


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Candy, want to give you an update. After the pc froze while loading win98, I shut it down and rebooted it with no discs in. It came up with the option to load in safe mode. I chose that. I went into win98 in safe mode and tried to add new hardware. It would not allow me to do that in safe mode. So....I put the floppy in for the new cd-rom. I ran the install program from the floppy. Amazingly enough...after I loaded that new cd-rom...win98 continued to load all of the files without freezing! Now I seem to have what I recognize as win98 however, I am not sure if everything is correct. I can't imagine that the proper way to load the new cd-rom was what I did...but you mentioned that PB might not like loading win98 when there was hardware added that wasn't original...guess i "sneeked" in the back door??? My next question...all I want that pc for is for the kids games. Is there anything I can delete or remove that would optimize it for games or should I leave it as is and just try to load the games on? Thanks! Oh, and I would enjoy your feedback on this post and what I did...or didn't do! LOL


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

As long as 98 is installed and running, don't worry about how you got there. My best guess is that at some point the cdrom was happier with dos drivers, although I don't know why. If you'll look at the autoexec.bat and config.sys files, via start, run, sysedit, something is probably loading there, so on the reboot it picked it up and finished the install. Most newer cdroms don't need drivers, so again, not sure if it has something to do with your old system or not.

There are some things you can delete in 98, I usually zap the online services first thing (AOL, CompuServe), other than that, is the computer going to be connected to the internet? If so, you'll want to do the 98 updates, there's probably about 40 of them. You may find it easier to order the cd from MS (it's free, it's been posted a couple of times on the site, if you can't find it, let me know and I'll link it here).

Other than that, does everything appear to be ok? No driver issues in device manager?


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Hi Candy...thanks for the reply  No, that pc will not be connected to the internet. Now when you say "zap" them...right click my computer, open c drive,program files, and delete online services? Other than that, I think all is well...?? As far as I know there are no driver issues...should I check that?

Autoexec.bat:
REM ******CD-ROM*******
rem - by Windows Setup - C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CDROM001

@ECHO off
Windows\Options\SysTools\DOSMode

SET BLASTER=A220 15 D1 T4

CONFIG.SYS:
[COMMON]
REM ******CD-ROM******
DEVICE=C:\CDROM\CDROMDRC.SYS /D:CDROMM0001 /UDMA /Q

DOS=HIGH,UMB
Device=C:\WINDOWS\Himem.sys
Device=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.Exe NoEMS
BuffersHigh=20,0
FCBSHigh=1,0
FilesHigh=20
StacksHigh=0,0


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yep for whatever reason that drive is happy that way, I'm assuming you can still access the cdrom via my computer? 

As for the online services, I start by taking the icon off my desktop then deleting that folder. It's not a real big deal, I just hate an operating system that want to assume I want AOL, CompuServe and the likes on my computer


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## justkidzmom (Apr 22, 2003)

Yep Candy...the Q drive is listed on my computer and the internet providers have been zapped! Hey, I think this thread is solved! Many kudos again for helping me...and what a breeze it was to install a new cd-rom  I am sure I will be in touch with you AGAIN when that cpu fan arrives...who will be laughing then?? Have fun!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Post that one back to mobo's thread 

Marking solved 







*thank God I convinced her to get a new cdrom  *


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