D drive doesn't exist?

bigkirby · 11-23-2003, 04:40 PM

Hi all!

This is basically my story, I've got a 4 year old PC (powerspec) with Windows 98. I needed to install a CD burner so I purchased one from Digital Research Technologies and went ahead to install it myself. Basically (according to the directions on the box) I popped out the old one and installed the new one in the same place and hooked up the wires and turned it on. The computer operates the same, appears to detect the drive on startup (and the light goes on when it starts up, the tray opens/closes, etc) but the computer has no icon or options anywhere to open or access the D drive. Basically the drive dissapeared according to the computer.

So in a nutshell, what can I do to remedy this problem? I need to burn a few CDs before I leave town tomorrow about noon.

I really appreciate any advice you can give!

-Kirby

originel · 11-23-2003, 04:46 PM

hmm...been a while since i've delt with win98.

my first instinct is that the previous drive has some custom drivers for it (which old cd-drives needed for DOS). if you could...post your autoexec.bat file here (it's a hidden file in the root directory of your C drive).

Also go into the control panel and click on system and go to device manager and see if any drivers aren't getting loaded (They'll have a little exclamation mark over them)

Also try going to control panel->add new hardware and have it do a full scan.

Bovon · 11-23-2003, 05:08 PM

Did you set the jumper to master or slave?

What was the one you took out?..master or slave?

What else is on that IDE Chanel...do you have the drive on the primary or secondary IDE?

Unless the CD drive is some kind of proprietary drive, it is probably ATAPI...and Windows 98 will detect and install it. The old drive is not in the system now, so Win98 will not load any drivers it could have used.

Did you look in Device Manager to see if its there?

Chances are, its not jumpered correctly, the IDE cable is not pushed all the way into the socket (motherboard and CD drive), or its not being detected by the BIOS on boot..

Tell us these things, and we can hopefully fix it.

bigkirby · 11-23-2003, 08:25 PM

I think that took care of it! Thanks guys!

Bovon · 11-23-2003, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigkirby
I think that took care of it! Thanks guys!

Erruhhhh..its a common courtesy to let others know exactly what was found and helped fix it...these threads are archived for years, and some other poor soul will be searching for answers..if you found a problem area, tell us.

John Prophet · 11-23-2003, 11:06 PM

has to be jumpers in a case like that.

originel · 11-23-2003, 11:20 PM

hmmm...i don't think it was jumpers actually....cause of the " appears to detect the drive on startup" quote. invalid jumper settings would cause the bios to not recognize the drive.

As Bovon mentioned it's common courtesy to post what the problem ended up being...not to mention i'm curious

Bill in SD, CA · 11-24-2003, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by originel
...not to mention i'm curious

You and me both.

Bill

John Prophet · 11-24-2003, 10:24 AM

I think by "appears to detect" that he just means lights etc..not bios.