Wierd Win98 drive recognition problem

Hi,
I built this PC a few years ago and hav always had a problem with the
dirve recognition in Win98. I get this non-existent drive showing in
'My Computer' and Windows Explorer. AND, my CD drive raely shows up. I
have three hard drives in the PC, partitioned as Drives C:, D:, E:,
F:, G:, H:, I:, J:, and K:. Those partitions all show up correctly in
wondows. But windows also shows a Drive L:, with an unusual drive
icon: a grinning cow! That non-existent drive is, according to the
'properties' a CD-RW drive, but it is always un-accessible. And my
actual CD-RW drive, when it does rarely show up, shows up as M: drive.


So I have a double problem he how to get ris of the non-existent L
drive and how to get the PC to find my CD-RW drive.

I tried installing a new CD drive, but it makes no difference: the CD
drive only shows up about once in every 30 boot-ups.

I've no idea whee the grinning cow icon came from. I have a vague
recollection that it might have appeared after installing some
shareware program or other. Another thing that may have be relevant in
all this is that once, I had one of thpse LS-120 floppois in the PC as
well as the normal Floppy drive. But that LS-120 drive was taken out a
long time ago - but I can;t remember if that was the same time that
these problems started.

I have relinstalled Win98 several times but it makes no difference.
The motherboard is an Abit BH6 with a Celeron A300.

Any suggestions, other than buying a new computer, would be greatly
appreciated.

Thank you.

Don

you have a 'drive imager' loaded?

"Don Rojo" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I built this PC a few years ago and hav always had a problem with
the
dirve recognition in Win98. I get this non-existent drive showing in
'My Computer' and Windows Explorer. AND, my CD drive raely shows up.
I
have three hard drives in the PC, partitioned as Drives C:, D:, E:,
F:, G:, H:, I:, J:, and K:. Those partitions all show up correctly
in
wondows. But windows also shows a Drive L:, with an unusual drive
icon: a grinning cow! That non-existent drive is, according to the
'properties' a CD-RW drive, but it is always un-accessible. And my
actual CD-RW drive, when it does rarely show up, shows up as M:
drive.


So I have a double problem he how to get ris of the non-existent
L
drive and how to get the PC to find my CD-RW drive.

I tried installing a new CD drive, but it makes no difference: the
CD
drive only shows up about once in every 30 boot-ups.

I've no idea whee the grinning cow icon came from. I have a vague
recollection that it might have appeared after installing some
shareware program or other. Another thing that may have be relevant
in
all this is that once, I had one of thpse LS-120 floppois in the PC
as
well as the normal Floppy drive. But that LS-120 drive was taken out
a
long time ago - but I can;t remember if that was the same time that
these problems started.

I have relinstalled Win98 several times but it makes no difference.
The motherboard is an Abit BH6 with a Celeron A300.

Any suggestions, other than buying a new computer, would be greatly
appreciated.

Thank you.

Don

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 15:12:52 GMT, (Don Rojo) wrote:

snip
Any suggestions, other than buying a new computer, would be greatly
appreciated.

Thank you.

Don

Have you tried going into SafeMode and then into system properties and
eliminate any extra/duplicate drives showing under your CD-ROM
catagory?


--
The Seabat

"Don Rojo" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I built this PC a few years ago and hav always had a problem with the
dirve recognition in Win98. I get this non-existent drive showing in
'My Computer' and Windows Explorer. AND, my CD drive raely shows up. I
have three hard drives in the PC, partitioned as Drives C:, D:, E:,
F:, G:, H:, I:, J:, and K:. Those partitions all show up correctly in
wondows. But windows also shows a Drive L:, with an unusual drive
icon: a grinning cow! That non-existent drive is, according to the
'properties' a CD-RW drive, but it is always un-accessible. And my
actual CD-RW drive, when it does rarely show up, shows up as M: drive.


Uninstall clonecd, that is the source of the virtual drive.

With regard to recognition of the other drive, check the manufacturers
documentation with regard to jumper settings particularly if it is a Western
Digital drive.

MJP

"Don Rojo" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I built this PC a few years ago and hav always had a problem with the
dirve recognition in Win98. I get this non-existent drive showing in
'My Computer' and Windows Explorer. AND, my CD drive raely shows up. I
have three hard drives in the PC, partitioned as Drives C:, D:, E:,
F:, G:, H:, I:, J:, and K:. Those partitions all show up correctly in
wondows. But windows also shows a Drive L:, with an unusual drive
icon: a grinning cow! That non-existent drive is, according to the
'properties' a CD-RW drive, but it is always un-accessible. And my
actual CD-RW drive, when it does rarely show up, shows up as M: drive.


So I have a double problem he how to get ris of the non-existent L
drive and how to get the PC to find my CD-RW drive.

I tried installing a new CD drive, but it makes no difference: the CD
drive only shows up about once in every 30 boot-ups.

I've no idea whee the grinning cow icon came from. I have a vague
recollection that it might have appeared after installing some
shareware program or other. Another thing that may have be relevant in
all this is that once, I had one of thpse LS-120 floppois in the PC as
well as the normal Floppy drive. But that LS-120 drive was taken out a
long time ago - but I can;t remember if that was the same time that
these problems started.

I have relinstalled Win98 several times but it makes no difference.
The motherboard is an Abit BH6 with a Celeron A300.

Any suggestions, other than buying a new computer, would be greatly
appreciated.

Thank you.

Don

Is it a Jersey or Friesian.......it can make a difference.

toy

I tried installing a new CD drive, but it makes no difference: the CD
drive only shows up about once in every 30 boot-ups.

That and many of the other problems you list are the classic signs of
an over loaded PSU. Nothing taxes a PSU like drives. Many of them spin
up all at once. The ones with enough juice are detected at bootup, the
drives with out enough juice, aren't.

On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 17:16:29 +0100, "MJP"
wrote:


Uninstall clonecd, that is the source of the virtual drive.

Aha! Thank you! I'm so glad to find out what that non-existent drive
was!

With regard to recognition of the other drive, check the manufacturers
documentation with regard to jumper settings particularly if it is a Western

The jumber settings were one of the first things I looked at. They are
correct.

Don

On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 09:06:10 -0700, "JAD"
wrote:

you have a 'drive imager' loaded?

I'm not sure. What is a drive imager?

Don

MJP's post...

"Don Rojo" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 09:06:10 -0700, "JAD"
wrote:

you have a 'drive imager' loaded?

I'm not sure. What is a drive imager?

Don

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 13:23:16 -0400, AndrewJ
wrote:

I tried installing a new CD drive, but it makes no difference: the CD
drive only shows up about once in every 30 boot-ups.

That and many of the other problems you list are the classic signs of
an over loaded PSU. Nothing taxes a PSU like drives. Many of them spin
up all at once. The ones with enough juice are detected at bootup, the
drives with out enough juice, aren't.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think that's the cause. I've
disconnected my secondary master and secondary slave drives, leaving
only one hard drive and the CD-RW drive - but there is no improvement
running the PC likat that. It still doesn't usually see the CD-RW
drive. I'm wondering if it's an IRQ conflict - but don't know how to
change the IRQ setting for the drive. Any suggestions, anyone?

Don