| Author |
Message |
Bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 8, 2001 - 7:25 pm: | |
My CD failed as Im told they can do, so I got a new one . Itwould not work properly, only 50% of my disc would read, andthen with difficulty. So I contacted my supplier who sent me a newone. Good so far?
But alas the new cd would not install. Under My computer, the icon for cd comes up, but cd does not work. Under Device manager, no cd drive is identified.
Also under device manager somewother things have suddenly shown up. Both my primary and secondary IDE contollers (whatever they are!) now have yelow exclamation marks on them. Also in PERFORMANCE i have 3 new messages-
compatability-mode paging reduces ovll sys pfmce
Drive c using msdos comp-mode filing systm
Drive d " " " " "
Perhaps all of this is related?
Ive tried reinstallinfg cd software 70 times, rebooted with bootdisc 100 times and have come to the end of my tether. HELP before I smash something! |
Dave
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2001 - 12:56 am: | |
relax.
You probably either don't have the cable(s) hooked up to the drive(s) correctly, or don't have the jumpers set right on the drive(s). For brevity's sake, I'll assume that you have only one hard drive and one cd-rom in your computer. Now your computer has two places to hook up a hard drive or cd-rom: the primary and secondary controllers. They are the pinouts on the motherboard that accept one end of the cable that plugs into your hard drive. What you want to do is attach your hard drive to the primary controller with one cable, making sure to set the jumper on the drive correctly. The jumper may be set to "cable select" or "master" depending on what type of controller you have, but it's probably safe to just leave it the way it was when you got the machine. Next, plug the CD-Rom into the secondary controller, using a separate (yet identical) cable, and set its jumper the same way your hard drive is set (i.e., either "master" or "cable select"). Make sure not to connect either the hard drive or the cd-rom to the middle connector on their respective cables. That should be used for a "slave" drive only. And always put the red edge of the cable closest to the power connector on the drive. If you get the cable reversed somehow, it won't do any harm, but your computer won't boot until you switch it back.
Got it?
Good luck |
V (Vera)
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2001 - 6:46 am: | |
hi
that has happened to me several times. re-installing the hard disk controllers took care of it. they should be on the cd that came with your motherboard if you have one. of course since you can't access your cd drive your stuck. but you can go to the motherboard manufacturers web site, look up the boards model no. and download the appropriate drivers. or if you have access to another pc see if the drivers will fit on a floppy. after that happened to me the first time , what i did, after things were corrected was to copy the drivers for my motherboard from the cd to my harddrive because it's a pain to have to look for them and then take the time to download.
hope this helps |
Bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2001 - 6:00 pm: | |
Thanks Dave, Ive double checked everything and connections seem fine.
I think Vera might be on the right track. Now I have to find out some motherboard details. I suppose its printed somewhere on the motherboard?Im a novice with computers, but learning things the hard way! |
bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2001 - 8:14 pm: | |
No Ive looked on the motheboard- no idetifying marks...HELP |
V (Vera)
| | Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 3:47 am: | |
maybe the markings are hidden under cables? maybe along the very edge?
or while your machine is posting at the time when it has detected your processor and doing it's memory count press your pause button on the keyboard,that will cause things to pause and give you a chance to note down the information on the display. on my pc's that info is up top of the screen. it should give you the make and model no. |
V (Vera)
| | Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 7:37 am: | |
if that doesn't work then use the serial no. from the bottom left of the same paused screen.make sure you write down the entire string,dates and all. these no. are also used to identify the board
go to this site and do a search
http://www.plasma-online.de/index.html?content=http%3A//www.plasma-online.de/english/identify/serial/search_mobo_spot.html
it might be easiest to begin with the guided tour
once you have the manufacturer then you can search by manufacturer type and match up more of the no. till you have what you need |
Bruce
| | Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 9:34 pm: | |
Vera thanks for the advice. But so far no luck. I tried both things you suggested with no results.
I emailed ACER the manufacturer of my computer, giving them all the details on the case of the computer, hoping it would be a simple matter for them to look things up. Their reply was-
"there are no third party drivers for the ide controller, you must reinstall the drivers that came with the os you installed."
As I have no CD ROM that works, I cannot do this. And I wouldnt even know how!
As a last resort Ill reformat my hard drive and try a complete reinstall, but Im afraid the CDROM wont work and Ill be left with nothing. I cant think of any other options.
Incidently, the CD ROM icon shows up when the computer is in SAFE MODE, giving model and speed, but not in normal boot. I wonder why? |
V (Vera)
| | Posted on Friday, May 11, 2001 - 4:12 am: | |
it maybe a shot in the dark but it can't hurt to try. do you have a (win98) (what os are you using anyway?) folder somewhere on your hardrive? manufacturers sometimes make a mirror image of win98 on the harddrive for installation. it contains everything for a full install. if so maybe the drivers you need would be in there.
something to try if you haven't had enough of it already. go to add new hardware. let it automatically detect and see if it comes up with the controllers. if it asks for the install cd redirect to the drivers folder in the win98 folder,( they may be buried in the folders) it may show all the compatible drivers or you may get to select the manufacturer then select what you think is closest to what you need
if it doesn't auto detect then you can select don't detect i'll select the hardware i want to add. click "next" and keep looking till you find hard disk controllers if you don't see them they may be under "other devices" look till you are offered a list of manufacturers and select acer, choose the driver you think might be it.
i really hope this works for you.
it's not unusual to see all the listings of all your hardware in safemode if you look further you may even notice duplicates that don't show up in normal boot.those duplicates can sometimes cause problems.
try booting with the startup disk (do you have one) if it is win98 there will be cd support at boot ,that may be an indication of what to expect if you format |
Ivan Krsnik
| | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 11:45 am: | |
I am disabled and I am not able to change cd`s from my cd-rom drive. I have to call someone to change them for me. Is there some easy way to unlock files so I can load entire cd-roms on my hard drive? |
V (Vera)
| | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 12:35 pm: | |
hi
there is a program that i have used called Norton Virtual Drive by Symantec. what it does is make an image of the cd onto the harddrive and assigns it a drive letter. it's a "virtual" drive and there's no need to have the cd in the drive the way you need to with some programs. the copy i have is for win95 but it works on my win98 systems. if you have enough harddrive space, the instuctions say you can have as many as 22 virtual drives. maybe this would take care of your needs. i like the program.
maybe someone else will have other suggestions |
Lyndon Price
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 1:35 pm: | |
Hi,
I,ve got my hands on a second hand notebook(toshiba) portege 3480ct with win2k i need to get around the password but have no idea's how? I can't ask the previous owner as i don't know where they are
cheers
L |
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