HP CD-Writer 8230e Install

[YoungManRiver]

Gang,

Over several moves, with things in storage in another state, I've lost my install disk for my HP CD-Writer USB 8230e.

I've been to all the web support and driver sites, downloaded till my head hurts, installed, re-installed, but the system never recognizes my drive. I'm on my Laptop, which is Win98se. I get the "USB hub" installed OK, the "Adaptec Easy CD Creator" and "Direct CD" installed OK, but the drivers for the writer itself are not working.

Everytime I reboot, I get the "Found new Hardware" message and routine. I try installing from both the HP software side, I've downloaded, and from the Windows "New Hardware" side but both get to a certain point and hang. Windows give me the further message of "This driver is not compatible with your hardware". Nothing I do is of avail.

I tested the drive to make sure it works and my other computers with Win2K and XP work just fine with it.

I'm a little desperate here needing to back-up and burn a couple priority CD's!

Hoping someone else has gone through this and conquereed it.

YMR

 

[ski]

After you d/l the driver, are you pointing to its location(normally a .inf file) during the driver installation process?

 

[greyted]

YoungManRiver:

I apologise in advance if you have tried these instructions:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...k&os=20&product=58866&dlc=en&docname=lpg40892

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

Sir Winston Churchill

 

[cdogg]

Also when stepping through those instructions, be sure you are using the driver that's compatible with Win98, which you can find here:
HP 8230e Win98 driver

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[YoungManRiver]

All,

None of this is of any help as there is a missing .inf file, which is the file that defines the CD-Writer to the OS, Win98 in this case.

When the USB is installed and working and the Adaptec/Roxio is installed and working right, but the Device Manager still shows the CD-Writer as undefined, then you understand the problem.

If I try to Remove the CD-Writer def, there; then I still get stuck on either the Refresh or the Reboot, because this .inf file does not exist to define the hardware device.

YMR

 

[cdogg]

YMR,

Missing *.inf file? That's new information here.

This is what you posted before:

Everytime I reboot, I get the "Found new Hardware" message and routine. I try installing from both the HP software side, I've downloaded, and from the Windows "New Hardware" side but both get to a certain point and hang. Windows give me the further message of "This driver is not compatible with your hardware".

If you remove the device from Device Manager and reboot, the "Found new hardware" wizard should complete. After it does, run the utility from the link I posted (click here) and everything should be fine after that.

If that isn't working, please be more specific about at what point it is failing.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[YoungManRiver]

CDogg,

What I'm saying is the .inf for the USB config was there and installed, and the .exe for Easy CD Creator/Direct CD ran OK, but still getting the <b>"Found new Hardware"</b> message because the .inf for the drive itself is missing.

All the site I searched on the net did not contain this .inf.

I've downloaded over 100 sets of drivers for this and none of those driver set contain the .inf needed for the CD-Writer to find and config itself.

Every .inf in those files give the message <b>"This driver does not contain information for your device"</b>.

This would be simple if I could find that missing .inf, but have not found it anywhere.

YMR

 

[cdogg]

OK, well the way I understand it is that most USB devices have "firmware" built into them, which makes them Plug & Play compatible. Firmware is programmed with the necessary data needed to install a basic driver in Windows, which is read as soon as its detected. Technically when seen for the first time, the OS should install the driver software on its own without the need for any install disk.

That's why when you first posted that you lost yours, I was thinking "no big deal". The disk you spoke of contains the CD-burning and Software Backup applications, and likely doesn't contain the actual driver. I had an internal HP 8210e a long time ago, and this was the case.

I'm certain that since this is an optical device, it especially would have firmware. Therefore, it would seem that if you could completely remove the device from Windows, the OS would be able to do a fresh install using the firmware info.


A couple questions:

1) Is the CD-Writer still showing in Device Manager?

[tab]* You said you tried to remove it, so if it's there now, then I assume the detection
[tab] process after rebooting is completing to some extent (otherwise it wouldn't have
[tab] come back). If it's there, try removing it and rebooting again without trying to
[tab] force an install using the software you have downloaded.

2) One thing I've noticed on my PC with some flash memory drives, changing to a different USB port might help. Have you tried this?


If you get to that point of almost giving up, know that a format and clean install of Windows is always your last resort. It helps in other ways to go this route anyway (improved performance, removes spyware/adware, etc).

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[YoungManRiver]

CDogg,

Remember "Plug N Play" started in the Win95/98 era and not all drivers were fully integrated into the PNP until WinME and WinXP. I'm running Win98se on this box, and W2K Server (SP4) for network controller.

Neither are accepting the full load and always bomb. No the Device is not present in Device Manager but tries to install itself when the Message shows, but without the correct .inf file it can never install itself.

I think I can get around this on the W2K machine, since it has an Install from Windows Update option that the Win98 box does not have, but I will still need the right .inf to get the install completed on the Win98 box.

YMR

 

[cdogg]

YMR,
I understand your ongoing point about the *.inf file, but I believe you are missing the point about firmware. Firmware gives me the ability, for example, to move a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive from one PC to another without the need to install any drivers or software. Everything Windows 98SE needs is right in the firmware.

Now, unless you are talking about a *.inf that is a Windows system file, perhaps that's a different story. However, realize that HP does not supply an INF file that is needed by the OS to use the drive or install a driver. That's my point.

And in the case that you are talking about an OS file, then of course a reinstall of the OS (or a clean install) will fix that...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884