Missing CD ROM after installing XP Pro

[Ian]

Hello

I have been trying to install XP Pro onto my PC for some
time now. The OS repeatedly 'loses' the CD ROM drive mid
install.

I have tried the fixes on the MSKB, articles 320553,
314060 and 315350 without any satisfaction. These are all
registry edits involving that section that covers the CD
ROM. The items referred to, upper and lower filters do
not exist, so can't be deleted.

In case there was a hardware conflict I've gutted my
machine and installed with just the RAM, HDD, Video card
and CD ROM in place. No result.

I've tried removing the CD ROM, booting the PC, then
replacng the CD ROM and rebooting the PC. No result.

I've changed my BIOS so that the PC uses PIO not UDMA, no
result.

I've tried a different CD ROM make, again, no result.

I'm not sure I'm using the right newsgroup here, if not
which one should I be in?

If anyone ahs any ideas what the problem is I'd be
delighted to hear something. I've had the disk too long
now to take it back and get a refund (so much for
oerserverance being a good idea....)

Please HELP ME!!!!!

Thanks

Ian

 

[Guest]

What make/model PC

Make of: MoBO, HD, graphics card, and type of memory installed

 

[Ian]

The PC is one I built to my own spec.

Mother board is an Asus, graphics card is a creative labs
Video Blaster with 128 meg on it, the RAM is just standard
133 mhz DIMMs bought from PC World (big high street PC
retailer if you're not a Brit), not sure of the
manufacturer. I usually try to stick to well known
manufacturers so that I have less problems.

I know the HDD, CD ROM and graphics card are on the
compatibility list. I stopped checking the rest when I
was told that the computer wouldn't boot and load from the
CD with non compatible parts... ?? Sounded odd, but the
informant ought to know what they're talking about!!

I've had the bits for a while so don't have the exact
model information to hand. I'll be back inside the PC
again soon and get the information off the components then.

Thanks for the reply.

Ian

 

[Maurice N]

The PC is one I built to my own spec.

Mother board is an Asus, graphics card is a creative labs
Video Blaster with 128 meg on it, the RAM is just standard
133 mhz DIMMs bought from PC World (big high street PC
retailer if you're not a Brit), not sure of the
manufacturer. I usually try to stick to well known
manufacturers so that I have less problems.

I know the HDD, CD ROM and graphics card are on the
compatibility list. I stopped checking the rest when I
was told that the computer wouldn't boot and load from the
CD with non compatible parts... ?? Sounded odd, but the
informant ought to know what they're talking about!!

I've had the bits for a while so don't have the exact
model information to hand. I'll be back inside the PC
again soon and get the information off the components then.

Thanks for the reply.

Ian

Hello Ian,
Just a few quick points: #1. Be sure to look at your cable for the CDRom. Is it the right type for this drive? and where did you connect the drive: to an IDE connector on the motherboard? or piggy-back to an HD? It's best to have it directly to mobo.

Did you review all the BIOS settings to insure all devices / channels will be detected?

Is this a "fresh" setup? or an upgrade? and which version of XP is this? an OEM or retail ---- Home or Pro --- Upgrade edition?

Further: You should visit the "hardware" group & the "xp setup" group.
for hardware issues on XP:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware

for Windows XP os-install issues, see this newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment

 

[Ian]

Maurice

Thanks for the reply, I'll try the other resources you
pointed me at.

To answer your questions, the CD I'm using is a Dell OEM,
A friend bought a Dell PC which came with XP, but prefers
Linux, I'm starting to see his POV.....

The CD drive is on a new IDE cable connected to the
secondary IDE connector.

The HDD I'm trying to install to is brand new and has not
other software on it.

Not too sure about the BIOS, I've been told to disable the
UDMA option and have done this, other than that the BIOS
is as it came from the factory. It reports my CD ROM and
HDD accurately during boot up.

I've followed the MSKB articles to get to the CD drive
section in the registry, here XP reports the exact name,
make and model of my CD drive, it just wont 'talk' to it.

Thanks Again

Ian

-----Original Message-----


Hello Ian,
Just a few quick points: #1. Be sure to look at your

cable for the CDRom. Is it the right type for this
drive? and where did you connect the drive: to an IDE
connector on the motherboard? or piggy-back to an HD?
It's best to have it directly to mobo.

Did you review all the BIOS settings to insure all

devices / channels will be detected?

Is this a "fresh" setup? or an upgrade? and which

version of XP is this? an OEM or retail ---- Home or
Pro --- Upgrade edition?

 

[Guest]

Your problem might be the "DELL OEM DISK," it could be coded to only work on a dell computer.

 

[Maurice N]

Maurice

Thanks for the reply, I'll try the other resources you
pointed me at.

To answer your questions, the CD I'm using is a Dell OEM,
A friend bought a Dell PC which came with XP, but prefers
Linux, I'm starting to see his POV.....

The CD drive is on a new IDE cable connected to the
secondary IDE connector.

The HDD I'm trying to install to is brand new and has not
other software on it.

Not too sure about the BIOS, I've been told to disable the
UDMA option and have done this, other than that the BIOS
is as it came from the factory. It reports my CD ROM and
HDD accurately during boot up.

I've followed the MSKB articles to get to the CD drive
section in the registry, here XP reports the exact name,
make and model of my CD drive, it just wont 'talk' to it.

Thanks Again

Ian

I guess I'm a little confused as to whether Win XP is already installed or not.
If you searched the registry, this should mean you already have a working Windows.

Do use the hardware group.
You want to make sure you have a "standard" IDE cable with 40-pins / 40 wires (ie, the old standard) (not the newer 80-wire ones meant for the latest hard drives).

On the CDROM hardware, you should follow the makers' instructions on setting plus your physical setup --- as to setting for Master, Slave, or Cable select. If this device is directly connected to the motherboard, then it needs to be Master.

 

[Ian]

Maurice

The situation is this, XP will boot from the CD and load
onto my new HDD. During the installation phase, just
after the hardware set up is complete, the install
programme asks for the location of the SP1 files, which
are on the CD. At this point it is not possible to find
the CD using the browser.

Once I've bypassed the requirement for this file and a
couple of others I have a working install of XP, but one
that does not see the CD - RW it was loaded from. I've
now tried a different CD, just a plain Samsung 32 speed I
borrowed, the result is the same.

I've tried to copy the SP1 files to my current HDD and
boot with that as the primary slave, XP doesn't seem to
like the files on a none NTFS disk though (my current HDD
has win 98 on it)

The cable is a standard IDE, I put a new one in (came with
the new HDD) to se if that helped and still no
improvement. The CD - RW is set to master and is the
master drive on the secondary IDE port.

I'm starting to think that the OEM CD may well be coded to
not work on any other build, but was told this was not the
case.

The PC is due for upgrade at the end of the year, guess
I'm stuck with 98 until then.

Thanks for the help.

Ian

-----Original Message-----


I guess I'm a little confused as to whether Win XP is already installed or not.
If you searched the registry, this should mean you

already have a working Windows.

Do use the hardware group.
You want to make sure you have a "standard" IDE cable

with 40-pins / 40 wires (ie, the old standard) (not the
newer 80-wire ones meant for the latest hard drives).

On the CDROM hardware, you should follow the makers'

instructions on setting plus your physical setup --- as to
setting for Master, Slave, or Cable select. If this
device is directly connected to the motherboard, then it
needs to be Master.