# win98 gone awol on laptop



## moesghost (Jul 31, 2002)

i have a problem with my laptop, which is running win98. this laptop has been bought second-hand, and i'm not sure of its previous life, but was assured it worked ok.

problem. not recognising cd rom.
cannot boot into windows 98 gets as far as this message on black screen, press ctrl+alt+ S for system configuration. I can do this successfully, but everything in there seems ok. (I have not changed anything). when I use the win98 bootup floppy disk, I can access C: and I can see that the windows folder is there, but I cannot get it to boot into windows. if I type win or windows, it tells me that it is a bad file command. I have used the sys C: command and been told that it has been successfully transfered. Is a full re-install necessary?. Another thing is that I can see the D: prompt but cannot access its contents when I put in a cd.

any help please.

thank you.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

So what happens if you do this,

Insert the W98 bootdisk and power on the laptop. It should boot up to a 3 option boot menu. Select the option to "Start with CDRom Support". 

Now 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. Do you see that phrase appear on the screen and if so, what drive letter is listed?

And one other thing, since you got this laptop, has it ever booted in W98 or has it done this from the start?

BTW, I may not have time to get back here to reply later today but this will get the thread started. I'm trying to see if you get CDRom support from the W98 boot diskette and if so, verify that it is indeed giving you the drive letter D like you mentioned above.


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## moesghost (Jul 31, 2002)

The message appearing is as follows,

Drive D: = Driver OEMCD001 unit 0.

Then when I go D: the D prompt appears, but if I do a DIR of it I get the following message, even when there is a CD in the tray.

CDR01: Not ready reading drive D
Abort, Retry, Fail.

Windows was working on it at the start, but some one else was working on it, and this is the result. This other person says they accidentely tipped it of the edge of the desk. that is what I am being told.

Thanks again


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

If you go into the BIOS setup, do you see the CDRom drive list and is it set to "Auto Detect"?

Have you tried to put any other CD besides the W98 CD and see if you can get a DIR listing for it?


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## moesghost (Jul 31, 2002)

I cannot see any listing for the the D drive in the BIOS. 

Its the same , no matter what CD I try the mesage is CDR01: not ready reading drive d.


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

In the setup BIOS, are the IDE channel-0 Primary and Secondary and IDE channel-1 Primary and Secondary set to "Auto Detect" ? If not, set them to AutoDetect and see if that helps.


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## moesghost (Jul 31, 2002)

The c drive is being is set to autodetect, I cannot see any mention of channels IDE or secondary like on an ordenary PC. Is ther something wrong with the setp BIOS. it tells me under the devices that 

FLOPPY FRIVE =1.44MB
HARD DRIVE C = 1444MB
SERIAL PORT 11RQ 4
PARALLEL PORT = IRQ7
IrDA (HPSIR) = 1RQ3
AUDIO PORT IRQ5
MIDI PORT =300H
WAVE TABLE ENABLED,

I can explore the hard disk drive and view and change the cylinder heads, sectors, etc, but no mention of the D drive at all.

That is all I am getting under the devices tab.

All that is under the system tab is the following

CPU TYPE pentium 
CPU CLOCK 133MHZ
SYSTEM DRAM 32768 KB
CACHE (EXT) 356 KB

Under the boot devices I have changed from floppy disk to the hard drive, when I do this and reboot the hard disk just sounds as if it is spinning but will not boot up.

just something else 

there is a mention in the booting up devices
of a pcmcia card which is an option for bootinig

Would this have anything to do with the problem?.

I am thinking maybe a complete install is necessary. i would prefer to get windows back without a complete install if possible

Another thing: On bootup I can access the menu which contains Safe Mode etc. but if I pick any of the options it just tells
me that it is bypassing the startup files and just goes to the a: prompt. and reports that the windows setup files cannot be found.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

What is the make/model of the laptop.....


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## griffinspc (Nov 16, 2001)

> This other person says they accidentely tipped it of the edge of the desk. that is what I am being told.


 Is there any physical damage noticable from this "tip over the edge"? Particuarly with the CD tray area.

Is it possible the CD connection is damaged which means that the hardware being accessed doesn't really exist?

With this:


> Then when I go D: the D prompt appears, but if I do a DIR of it I get the following message, even when there is a CD in the tray.
> 
> CDR01: Not ready reading drive D
> Abort, Retry, Fail.


It suggests that you do not have a drive.

Do you hear any spin when inserting a CD at any time? Any activity? When you press the button to open the tray does it glide out smoothly and recess back with the disk smoothly?

Just getting more info as well as candy's request for make and Model so we can rule out physical damage.


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## moesghost (Jul 31, 2002)

The make is an MBC notebook
Model No: 6200T

The FCC ID: is L4P6000t12, made inTaiwan. 
The make of the CD-ROM drive is TEAC 

This is the number appearing for the CD-ROM drive when the notebook is starting to boot (38E) 1.0D

The CD-ROM tray opens out smooth enough when the button is pressed, and when I insert a CD and close it by hand, which you have to do, it seems to close smooth enough. Then a green light comes on and the spinning sound starts, but only for a few seconds (maybe 30) and then the green light goes out and the spinning sound stops.

The tray does not seem to retract itself, without using your finger to push it right in until it locks. Is the CD-ROM tray damaged?.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Is the cd external or built in?

This is an Epson laptop?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

> _Originally posted by john1:_
> *im presuming its built-in. *


Gave that up for lent, john


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi moesghost,

You may find that the CD unit wont work since its fall.
Check and see if you have the cabfiles on board.
at the C:\> prompt type: dir/w then press enter








you're looking for WIN98, on mine its top left.
If its there, then the cabfiles are probably there too.
To see whats in it, put cd(space)win98 then press enter
Then put dir and press enter.
you will hopefully see a list of cab-files.

John

ps
A/C i might give this up soon if i dont get it right


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## griffinspc (Nov 16, 2001)

> The tray does not seem to retract itself, without using your finger to push it right in until it locks. Is the CD-ROM tray damaged?


 It's hard to say. Since you hear it spinning and the indicator light works then it would seem OK at least as far as power to the unit.

The problem is we don't know if the pins that connect the drive to the motherboard are damaged which means that software and drivers looking for the drive, aren't finding it.

john1 is going in the direction of you restoring Windows from the cab files. (Is that right john1?)

One thing that I'd try since it's been around a bit and since it hit the floor at least once, is a cleaning. That's if john1's idea doesn't pan out.

The laser may have been knocked out of alignment or it just may be dirt. Try spraying a light amount of compreesed air into the drive bay and also you can try a cleaning CD. It will have a small brush wich is designed to clean the lens. I think it's more likely an alignment problem than a cleaning one but you never know, maybe it never hit the ground. It's possible the CD hasn't been recognized for a long while.

You can buy both a cd-lens cleaner disk and a can of compressed air pretty cheap. I've never used the cleaner disk on a laptop but unless it's too thin I think it will work. I go with the air first.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi,

yes griffinspc, thats what i was thinking, i think the
reg/restore only goes back for four restarts, so thats
probably out. If its been dropped, the CD unit is
unlikely to work without specialist attention. That just
leaves the possibility of a restore from the cab-files.

If that option is not available either then things will
get a little more involved.

Regards, John


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## griffinspc (Nov 16, 2001)

Yup, agreed. Darn laptops. if it were a desktop it would be fairly easy to diagnose a physically bad drive.


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## moesghost (Jul 31, 2002)

I have looked for the cab files but they are not there.

I have reformatted the C Drive, and tried to reinstall 
windows from floppy disk, now it tells me that it cannot read
some of the installation files. I think I need a new disk drive, and
probably a new CD-Rom drive as well, (cost permitting).

Thanks for your help guys

Much appriciated.

great site, I will be a regular visitor from now on.

Thanks again


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## griffinspc (Nov 16, 2001)

That's too bad but consider this:


> this laptop has been bought second-hand, and i'm not sure of its previous life, *but was assured it worked ok.*


 Is there a possibility of getting your money back?

Also from your description 133 MHz processor, 1.4 GB HD, I don't think you said, but probably max's out at 64 MB RAM. Think real hard before putting any money into this machine.

You'd be far better off looking for another used machine (one that hasn't been dropped) that might have a value Celeron processor, 128 MB RAM, a 4 or 5 GB hard drive and Win98 or blank (cheaper) if you have a full Win98 CD.

Your existing machine will run very poorly with those specs on all but solitaire and notepad even if you got it to work.

Just a thought, hope you don't mind.

*EDIT:* Just noticed this when proofing my work (SYSTEM DRAM 32768 KB) That's even worse, 32 MB RAM. Dump this puppy if you can.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi moesghost,

Sorry to hear the cabfiles are not on your Hard Drive.
You say you have formatted the HD now?

You say you are trying to re-install Windows from
floppy disks, would that be 95 or 3.1 ?

So it cannot read some of the files?
Fortunately, this is no reflection on your Hard Drive.
The HD doesnt actually read the floppies,
It is more likely that the floppies weren't recorded
on this floppy drive, or that they've deteriorated
a bit. Floppies are notoriously unreliable.

Chances are that the HD is OK.
Do you have scandisk among your floppies?
That will check your HD.

That Ram that griffinspc mentioned is a bit low, but
you may find its been increased by previous owners.

Could you give me a bit of an update,
Cheers, John


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