CD-ROM isn't fully recongnized in my new system

[Lou3]

I've almost finished building my new system, but I can't get the CD-ROM to work. The BIOS lists my drive by exact name during start up, but there's no mention of it in CMOS. I've tried installing real mode drivers, but nothing seems to work.

Since the bios can identify the drive down to model number, I assume the hardware connections are good. It seems like a driver problem, but I'm stuck. Any tips?

 

[michec]

Is the CD-ROM not showing up in your OS? I don't think any CD-ROM will show up in CMOS. The auto-detect thing in CMOS is for hard drives only, since CD-ROMs don't have CHS values.

As long as you have the proper master/slave jumper set, it should be detected. The other thing you might want to try (don't know what motherboard you're using) is if you have the CD-ROM connected to a UATA100 channel and there are UATA33 channels also on your motherboard, stick the CD-ROM in the UATA33 channel.

It would be helpful if you could give us more info (OS, motherboard, where you have the CD-ROM and HDD connected, master/slave info, etc.)

 

[rw120555]

I agree with Michec - there is a lot of info missing, I don't understand the CMOS bit, and Michec's suggestions sound good. Also, for reasons I have never understood, sometimes it works if, in the bios, you set the ide port that the cdrom is on to "None." The OS may still detect it and this may resolve any conflicts you have.

Speaking of conflicts, you might go into device manager and see if it is indicating there are any problems, e.g. 2 devices conflicting with each other.

 

[michec]

What I understood the BIOS and CMOS stuff was:

BIOS = when the system boots up and there is the counting of memory and detection of PNP devices and SCSI cards; sometimes HDD and CD-ROM info is listed here

CMOS = pressing the DEL key (or whatever key to get into setup); if you go into the main screen where there is time/date info, HDD characteristics, what's on A: and/or B:, whether to halt on all errors or not; the CD-ROM is not shown in here as the info listed in the table is for HDD only (CHS info)

 

[baldy]

the newer boards will display the cd roms by manufacturer in the bios also, at least my Iwill does and I believe my K7V-T did it too.

have you activated the proper masters and slaves in the bios, are the jumpers set properly on the CD player(s)? just a place to start.

baldy

 

[Lou3]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm sorry if my descriptions of the CD drive recognition was confusing (BIOS and CMOS stuff). Michec got it.

About the hardware: motherboard is an ASUS CUBX-E; HDD is connected to the ATA 100 primary master and is properly recognized by the system; and the CD-ROM is plugged into the ATA 33 secondary port and set as secondary master (jumper on CD drive properly set too).

This is a new system, so there is no OS at the moment. I'm working from a boot disk. The boot disk won't support the cd drive, so I can't install Windows 98.

By the way, I noticed in that part of start up where the system counts memory etc. that the CD drive is listed with a D0 in front of it, followed by "D1 none" through "D4 none." I wonder if this means that the system has assigned my CD-ROM as the D drive. I already have a logical drive called D: on my HDD.

I hope this isn't too confusing. This is my first time building a PC from the ground up, and it's the first time for me to be this involved with the BIOS, CMOS, and that kind of thing. Everything else went great, but the CD drive is killing me. It's just a matter of getting past this so I can install Windows. I'd appreciate any insights you have.

 

[rw120555]

This is starting to make more sense. I get those "D"s, complete with device names, at bootup too; I think they just refer to the ide port that the device is on, not to drive letters. Just because the bios detects it doesn't mean that the OS on your startup disk has to. For example, I've created startup disks, and on one computer, the cd will work fine, and on the other, the cd drive isn't recognized. Someday I'll have to figure out why, preferably before disaster strikes.

You may just need to add cd drivers to your startup disk. See this MS knowledge base article..

Did the cdrom come with any drivers? Often they have a disk with drivers you use for dos or win 3.1. Or, you can get them from the company web page.

If I was getting really frustrated, I might be tempted to take that HD, plug it into another machine, copy the win98 cd onto it, put it back in my new machine, boot with my boot disk, and then run the setup utility. Of course, I'd get even madder if it still didn't work, and I've never tried this, but it seems like it would work.

Good luck. RW

 

[baldy]

Go here, make a new boot disk, it has all you will ever need and then some.

I make all my boot disks from this site.


http://www.drd.dyndns.org/index2.html

baldy

 

[michec]

On my Asus A7V, I also get the "D" listings during bootup, but I only get D0 through D3, and that is for the UATA100 channels. The UATA33 devices appear right after the memory count finishes. The UATA100 devices appear after the screen clears. For me, this is what shows up in my UATA100 device listing (in parentheses):

D0 = 1st UATA100 master (DTLA-307030)
D1 = 1st UATA100 slave
D2 = 2nd UATA100 master (DTLA-307030)
D3 = 2nd UATA100 slave

I'm not sure what chip your UATA100 channel is based, but I imagine it would be Promise, as the CUBX isn't based on a VIA chipset. The A7V also uses a Promise chipset, so I'm a bit puzzled why there is a D4 showing up in your list.

I would suggest trying to connect your HD as primary master on the UATA33 channel instead of on the UATA100 channel. Once you install Windows and load up the Promise UATA100 drivers, then switch the HD over to the UATA100 channels. Windows needs the Promise driver loaded to see what is on the UATA100 channels. I don't know if this is causing the problem, but that's what stands out to me right now.

Also, check that your UATA100 cable is connected properly - with the blue end connected to the motherboard and the black end connected to the HD. Black is for master, gray is for slave.

 

[GregANDTCH]

Asus CUBX-E

Promise 100 drivers

I think michec is right.
It sounds like your cd-rom might be connected to the primary ultra33 instead of the
secondary one.