Disappearing CD Rom driver
 

I have a recurring problem with the driver for my CD disappearing after boot up and windows not reading the drive.

If I go into the CMOS on boot up I can reload and save the default values which brings it back temporarily.

I have reinstalled Win98 and run Nortons Utilities which has not changed the situation.

Can anyone suggest where I should start looking for the problem?

Thanks

The CMOS back-up battery would be the obvious candidate. Especially iof the machine is a few years old and spends a lot of its time switched off. What about the system clock - has that played up at all?

I had a similar problem on my old P-100 at home (on mine it was the HDDs that would not read!) but re-detecting the HDDs seems to have fixed the problem (although we were warned of a power outage this morning and I switched off before leaving for work - hope it boots when I get back home!)

I suspected maybe the battery when I kept having to go back into CMOS. But there is no problem with the clock at all so I don't think the problem lies there. Plus the fact that the PC is less than 2 years old.

More info please.

Do you have real mode drivers for the CD in the Autoexec.bat and config.sys files in your root directory, or is it running the Virtual Win driver?

Does this happen all the time, or just occasionally?

Have you disabled the auto detection of all drives other than your Hard Drive (s) in the BIOS?

What type/brand of CD ROM is it?

If it worked OK initially then started playing up, what software/hardware did you load/change immediately prior to the fault?

Have you run sfc.exe (from the 'run' on the start menu)? This may pick up the odd changed file in WIN that may be having a hernia. Some software loads its own files, overwriting the WIN files, and this can cause problems, although this is a hardware fault and not likely to be the cause.



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When all else fails, read the manual!

Try this:

Click: START > RUN, then type "sysedit" and press ENTER.

In the Autoexec.bat window insert the following line: (one line)

rem - By Windows Setup - C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD000 /M:8 /L colonD

(Where I've written colon put ':' I can't write colon D without that smug face being shown!)

Save, Restart and let me know if it worked.


[This message has been edited by InTheAir (edited 06 July 2000).]

InTheAir - sorry but putting REM in front of any line in the autoexec.bat or config.sys actually remarks the line out i.e. it does not carry out the action.
Island Jock, if you boot up with the windows startup disk and select with cd-rom support does it work.
If a line has been inserted by some software into the autoexec of config files that has added the mscdex command you may need to rem it out as the ide controllers that are loaded by windows do not like this at all. With the BIOS set to autodetect primary/secondary ide devices does the cd show up in the boot screen. Otherwise it sounds like your battery needs changing, or even a BIOS update.

I have a similar problem with my Dell notebook after it has been to sleep, see thread about power management. Tech support can't fix it, after many hours of trying. Can you be more specific ie machine type, when does the fault occur, can you reproduce the fault?

Thanks all for the helpful input so far. I obviously have a few options to work through to try and sort the problem.

In the meantime, can anyone see something obvious in this autoexec.bat file. I havent touched dos much for years now, but this don't look right.


SET SNDSCAPE=C:\WINDOWS
@PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\PROGRA~1\WIN98RK;%PATH%
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2
@C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NAVDX.EXE /Startup
rem ---------------------- MTM ATAPI CD-ROM ----------------------
rem - By Windows Setup - C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MTMIDE01 /D:MSCD001 /V
rem ---------------------- MTM ATAPI CD-ROM ----------------------

@echo off>C:\Windows\STARTM~1\Programs\StartUp\kak.hta
rem - By Windows Setup - del C:\Windows\STARTM~1\Programs\StartUp\kak.hta

Copy one removed.

[This message has been edited by Agent86 (edited 07 July 2000).]

Islander Jock. Not connected to the lost CD driver but the last two lines which refer to kak.htm means that you have been attacked by a virus...The kak worm. I am unsure of the full details but it does attach itself to Outlook as a signature (kak.htm) and does a few other nasties.
See this site http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=10509&

Islander Jock. Not connected to the lost CD driver but the last two lines which refer to kak.htm means that you have been attacked by a virus...The kak worm. I am unsure of the full details but it does attach itself to Outlook as a signature (kak.htm) and does a few other nasties.
See this site http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=10509&

Having real trouble sending this reply so if it turns up more than once excuse the fumblings of a newbie!!

Thanks heaps to all who have responded.

Max, someone else here also suggested that to be the problem. Will deal with it as soon as I can. I'll let you know how I get on.

Avagoodweegend all

IJ

Suggest you check your cabling particularly the power connection on the CD Rom (check for security and any splayed pins) and also the IDE cable connection on the CD Rom and the motherboard.

Well the damn thing is coming up with "checksum error" every time I turn the power on now and going into CMOS setup so the smart money appears to be on the CMOS battery. Being the simplest thing to do, that will be my next step.

While I'm in there though DimSim will also check the cabling as suggested.. Thanks