[Mocagu]

I have an IBM H76 Pentium 200mhz 48MB RAM windows 95 originally installed

Since I don´t have a cd writer I took out my hard drive and installed it in another computer, I dunno what happenned, but the computer didn´t recognize my hard drive, when I put it back in my computer (IBM H76) it didn´t work either. Of course I pannic cause I had very important info. An exfriend of mine took the hard drive and fixed it, apparently something in the boot sector was modified, my friend told that if the norton antivirus send me a notice about fixing the boot sector, I must not acept. My computer after that worked just great, without troubles, but....

For updating reasons I had to format my computer with windows 98 SE, the problem is that norton antivirus sent me the damm message again and this time I acepted, so the boot sector (apparently) was modified by norton. I installed windows without problems it worked fine but the cd rom was not recognized by the BIOS. It works under windows pretty well but for the BIOS it just doesn't exist. I need to format my hard drive and save my info again, but I'm sure that in the moment I take the hard drive out of the computer, it will not be recognize either in my computer nor in another one. I can't format the hard drive 'cause I can't reboot from the cd rom.

So, I dunno if it's my cdrom unit (i don't think it is), if it's the BIOS version that is not updated, if it's the boot sector modified or what, so far nobody has helped me to solve the problem.


Any help would be really appreciated

[Advertisements]

here are some things to try until a better idea is posted:
1. remove and reinstall the cdrom using device manager
start>settings>control panel>system>device manager>+ next to cdrom
select the device, remove, ok
restart the pc, then look for red or yellow indicators for the cdrom using device manager.
test the cdrom if no yellow or red flags are present.

2. test cdrom using a startup disk
create startup disk - with a blank 1.4 MB disk(if you don not have one already):
start>settings>control panel>Add/remove programs>properties>startup disk>Create Disk

boot from the startup disk, select "with cdrom" option, then observe the cdrom messages to see if the cdrom is recognized and assigned a drive.

3. it is unlikely that the cdrom died at the same time the hard drive was removed, but you can test it in another pc to make sure.

[bdlt]

here are some things to try until a better idea is posted:
1. remove and reinstall the cdrom using device manager
start>settings>control panel>system>device manager>+ next to cdrom
select the device, remove, ok
restart the pc, then look for red or yellow indicators for the cdrom using device manager.
test the cdrom if no yellow or red flags are present.

2. test cdrom using a startup disk
create startup disk - with a blank 1.4 MB disk(if you don not have one already):
start>settings>control panel>Add/remove programs>properties>startup disk>Create Disk

boot from the startup disk, select "with cdrom" option, then observe the cdrom messages to see if the cdrom is recognized and assigned a drive.

3. it is unlikely that the cdrom died at the same time the hard drive was removed, but you can test it in another pc to make sure.

[BePro]

Question:

When you say BIOS doesnt reconize CDROM do you mean:

1. The CDROM does not show up in the BIOS list of IDE devices, or

2. The computer boots to windows even when you have a bootable cd in the drive


If it is not listed anywhere when you get into the BIOS setup, you might want to check your jumper settings.

If the CDROM drive is connected to an IDE cable, and no other drives are conencted to that cable, then the jumper must be set to master

If the CDROM is connected to an IDE cable with another device connected on the same cable, typically teh CDROM will get the slave setting while the other device gets master, unless both devices on the cable are cdroms, then one gets master and the other gets slave.


If your jumpers are correct, and the IBM came with a CD drive as OEM, then the bios should be good enough to know it.

Now, if the CDROM drive you are talking about is a newer one, there is a possibility that the bios does not know it, due to being outaged.

In any case, IBM has an excellent support section on thier site, and you should get a BIOS update, because it helps to prevent errors

[Mocagu]

Yeah when I say BIOS doesnt reconize CDROM, I mean the CDROM does not show up in the BIOS list of IDE devices. I checked the jumper settings and the CDROM drive is connected to an IDE cable, and no other drives are conencted to that cable, and the jumper is set to master.

So, the jumpers are correct, and the IBM came with a CD drive as OEM, but the bios is not that good enough to know it apparently, the question is:

I originally had win95 installed, could it be a problem of the BIOS update? I mean, I formatted the hard drive with win98 could it be that the Bios does not support win98?Am I just crazy? LOL

I'm desperate which is different haha

[Mocagu]

I did tested the cdrom using and startup disk but there's no cd rom option cause there is not a cdrom recognize and it doesn't have and assigned drive.

I don't really think the cdrom died at all, cause otherwise it wouldn't work pretty well under windows.

I suposse it's either the BIOS update or the boot sector of the hard drive, but I'm not sure at all, and dunno anything about boot sector.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bdlt]

it doesn't sound like it booted from the startup disk.

what is your boot sequence?

have you tried changing it?

[Mocagu]

I've tried everything!

The boot sequence is:

1) Hard drive
2) 3.5 diskette

And that's it, of course I don´t have the cdrom option.

For the BIOS there isn't a cdrom, for Windows98 there's one and works just fine. I just want to understand what's going on there! Any idea?

[bdlt]

note - the boot sequence needs to be changed to boot from the floppy. The "with cdrom" option will appear when booting from the floppy. We can look at this later, since the cdrom works in windows.

what do you see in the device manager under crdom? what devices are listed and are there any red or yellow flags?
start>settings>control panel>system>device manager>+ next to cdrom

[bdlt]

For the BIOS there isn't a cdrom, for Windows98 there's one and works just fine. I just want to understand what's going on there! Any idea?

I'm not sure about the bios. I can only suggest a couple of other things to try, if you feel like experimenting.
1. remove the cdrom using device manager, reboot and see if it finds new hardware
2. disconnect the cdrom(with power off), reboot and see if it finds new hardware

otherwise, wait for a bios expert to respond.