My two CD drives are found by the Bios but not by Windows.

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meirman - 28 Aug 2005 18:23 GMT

Using Win98SE.

My 2 CD's show in the grid displayed by the Bios before dos starts,
and there is a "Multimedia Device", I think it is called, listed in
the table that follows that, also before DOS starts. The lights on
each one blink on during the testing at computer-start-up.

But after Windows starts, there is no trace of either CD drive. I
don't remember if they ever showed up in Windows, but now they don't.

All this hardware is from my friend, who gave me an old mother board,
a harddrive**, a RD-W CD drive and another CD that plays DVD's. But
not all from the same computer.

In Device Manager, there were a lot of yellow question marks, for
hardware he didn't give me, I assumed. So I deleted the lines with
yellow ? marks.

Either right after that, or maybe before that (my apologies), the CD's
stopped working in Windows. Also, in regular mode, there are no
devices listed in Device Manager, but there is a long list of entries
in Safe Mode. That seem strange.

Please, what should I do?

PS. I thought even fancy CD's should still perform basic functions
without the software that accompanies them. (Is that so??) But I
replaced one with a basic CD only. There was no change.

**I am only using the HD for testing, until I clone my current HD,
which I want to do the same day I start using the new computer.

Meirman
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Ron Martell - 28 Aug 2005 19:46 GMT

>Using Win98SE.
>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
>Please, what should I do?

Go back into Safe Mode and check the Device Manager entries.

1. Delete anything and everything in the "Other Devices" category.
2. Delete all entries for devices that you *know* do not exist.
3. If there are duplicated entries for any device delete all entries
for that device. There is no way of determining which of the entries
is the proper one. EXCEPTION: "IRQ holder for PCI IRQ Steering" type
entries in the System Devices category can legitimately be duplicated.
In fact there may be 4 or 5 of these. They do not need to be deleted.

Shut down and reboot the computer. If the CDROM drives are still not
showing up in Device Manager run the "Add New Hardware" wizard in
Control Panel and see if that will detect them.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

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Microsoft MVP
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In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
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glee - 28 Aug 2005 20:08 GMT

Apparently you are using a hard drive that was in another system, and you are trying
to use the Windows installation already existing on that system. That is the
probable cause of all the problems. You can *sometimes* use a hard drive with
Windows already installed from another system, if you remove ALL the devices in
device manager from Safe Mode, then restart in normal mode and let Windows start
detecting the new hardware. Does *not* always work. Another method that does not
always work is to open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) from Safe Mode, and delete
the entire ENUM key, at HKLM\Enum; then start in normal mode and let Windows detect.

Often the only cure is to format and install Windows fresh, so it can detect the
hardware correctly.

If you plan to clone your hard drive from another system, to put in there, you will
have to do much the same first, with that one.

Signature

Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

> Using Win98SE.
>
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
> or not you are posting the same letter.
> Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

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meirman - 31 Aug 2005 23:27 GMT

In microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion on Sun, 28 Aug 2005 15:08:27
-0400 "glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> posted:

>Apparently you are using a hard drive that was in another system, and you are trying
>to use the Windows installation already existing on that system. That is the
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>If you plan to clone your hard drive from another system, to put in there, you will
>have to do much the same first, with that one.

Thanks Ron and Glen, I will try all these things. Have a lot of work
for work though, so it will take some time to know the answer.

P&M&M

Meirman
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