CD-ROM listed but not accessible

[rocknRobin]

Hi everyone, this one is quite confusing. A friend of the family has this old WIn95 box, in perfect condition bar 1 point, the CD-ROM.

Having studied Computer Science for a few years I automatically get pushed in the direction of fixing (or trying to) computers whenever something breaks - even though I did a programming degree and really, have no clue at all with regards the HW.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. On bootup, the CD-ROM is listed as one of the devices loaded, also, in the system devices window in Win95,
according to the OS everything is great 8-/
However, it's only when I try to actually use a CD-ROm, both in windows and DOS, that the computer tells me that

d:/ is not accesible
The device is not ready

Similarly, when I start in DOS, even though MSCDEX is there, the config.sys and the autoexec.bat files are both great, the CD-ROm refuses to
read from that drive.


Now, I don't know whether or not this has anything to do with it, but when I go into control panel and system there is 2 yellow
exclamation marks (bangs)! next to the (1) Intel 81371SB PCI BUS Master IDE Controller and the
(2) Advanced programmable interrupt controller

Both of these devices complain about a conflict of resources. (1) Talks about a conflict with the Standard IDE /ESDI Hard Disk Controller
(for some reason there seems to be 2 of these listed in the system).

Has anyone come across this problem? The WIN95 is OSR 2.1 (I think) version 4.00.950B
If anyone has any ideas I'd sure appreciate it,
Robin Spiteri.

 

[chaps]

Assuming that the cd-rom drive is good-best test put it in another machine and see if it reads. I have found in past that cd-rom drives with read problems will act as you described. The conflict with IDE controller drivers may also be the problem. Try deleting the drivers, or devices in control panel and then reboot and let Windows install new drivers. Sometimes a delete and reinstall is the quickest fix.

Mike

 

[mjinks61]

Go into device manager, and delete the offending devices. Reboot, and let the OS reinstall them. Then do another reboot, and your IRQ conflicts should be gone. I used to have to do this for my modem all the time.
The reason for the second reboot, is so it will save the changes made to the new IRQ's, thus using them on the next boot.

Good luck, and Happy Computing

 

[captainsycho]

All these replies are worth a try but win95 can be especially critical when it comes to its IDE drivers. One good point is that you are using windows 95b. If you were using A I'd firmly believe a format and reload is in order. First of all track down your Motherboard manufacturer and model #. Download the IDE chipset drivers and install them. This should fix your problem with the device manager exclamation point. This is also assuming that the drive works. If the CD doesn't sound like it is spinning up when you insert it you may also have a bad motor (common). Good luck!

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there,

usually when this problem occurs (the exclamation mark) in the Device Manager it tells you that the drives on the IDE string are not functioning correctly, in that they either are defective or another problem like bad cables or wrong jumpering of the drives are in effect...

try disconnecting the CD before booting the machine up and go back into the Device Manager, if the exclamation mark disappeared from the IDE Controller, then you most likely have a failing CD drive...

Ben