A new problem.... Plz... Plz Help

[Sharmi Junet]

Hai there,
I am Sharmi.... Have a Pentium 4 system with 40GB HardDisk. I am
using both Windows 98 and Windows XP. Till last week, my system showed
3 harddisk drives(C,D,E) and 2 CD drives (F-CDROM and G-CD R/W) in 98.
But it showed 4 Harddisk drives(C,D,E,F) and 2 CD drives (G-CDROM and
I-CD R/W) in XP.
But, now it shows the E drive as CD drive in 98. When the Performance
tab is watched in Properties, The following details are displayed.
Memory : 224.0 MB of RAM
system resources: 75%-82% free(not simulataneously)
File System :Some disks are using MS-DOS file system.
And the problem description is shown as Drive-E is using MS-DOS
compatibility mode file system.

While the system Boots, Drive E is shown as Driver CDROM unit 0 and
Drive F as CDROM unit 1.

When I tried to access the files in DOS mode, e:/ allows to enter into
the E drive, but when Dir command is given to list the files,
"Not ready reading Drive R. Abort,Retry,Fail?"
message is displayed.

Initially, All the drives, including E used the FAT32 file system.
Now the system performance is completely decreased for the E-drive and
also, has slowed down. What shd I do to solve this?
It makes me mad due to the decreased spped, when I swithchon my
system. Hope ur kind suggestions will turn me bright.
I tried to update the drivers, but in vein. Waiting for ur
suggestions.
Plz, mail to (e-mail address removed) if u have any suggestions or
post a followup.plz
Thanks in Advance
-Sharmi

 

[Rod Speed]

Have a Pentium 4 system with 40GB HardDisk.
I am using both Windows 98 and Windows XP.

Till last week, my system showed 3 harddisk drives(C,D,E)
and 2 CD drives (F-CDROM and G-CD R/W) in 98.

But it showed 4 Harddisk drives(C,D,E,F) and
2 CD drives (G-CDROM and I-CD R/W) in XP.

That's normal if one of the hard drive partitions
is formatted NTFS because 98 cant see that one.

But, now it shows the E drive as CD drive in 98.

That can happen if one of the hard drive partitions stops
being visible to 98, the letters the CD drives get ripple down.

When the Performance tab is watched in Properties,
The following details are displayed.
Memory : 224.0 MB of RAM
system resources: 75%-82% free(not simulataneously)

Thats normal.

File System :Some disks are using MS-DOS file system.
And the problem description is shown as Drive-E
is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system.

Thats normally because 98 sees a hardware
problem with it and uses that mode for safety.

While the system Boots, Drive E is shown as
Driver CDROM unit 0 and Drive F as CDROM unit 1.

When I tried to access the files in DOS mode, e:/ allows to enter
into the E drive, but when Dir command is given to list the files,
"Not ready reading Drive R. Abort,Retry,Fail?"
message is displayed.

More evidence of a problem with that drive.

Initially, All the drives, including E used the FAT32 file system.
Now the system performance is completely decreased for the
E-drive and also, has slowed down. What shd I do to solve this?

Work out what the problem is and fix that.

That can be anything from the ribbon cable not being plugged
into the drive properly to a ribbon cable going bad to the drive
going bad. You've just got to try the possibilitys systematically.

It can also be due to other things like the motherboard going bad.