CDROM drives disappeared from "My Computer"

Hardware is probably just fine but drivers in Windows are not.

Check BIOS settings and ensure that all IDE/SATA controllers are enabled (most likely are) and that ACPI is enabled (under Power Settings usually).

Install chipset drivers - most likely cause of glitch if it's a new OS install

If not a chipset driver issue, remove and re-install devices with exclamation marks/question marks from within Device Manager.

Need more details if the above doesn't work.

It's not a new OS install, it has been working all the time then suddenly cdrom drives were gone. No new programs has been installed, and the pc is not connected online it's a standalone desktop with no internet access.

Still need to go through steps.  Chipset drivers could be corrupt or BIOS may have changed.

Since this is Win98 TA, assume OS is Win98.

There is another possibility. A boot record virus, or incompatible MS-DOS driver or program run from CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT can switch off Windows 32 bit disk access.
Open  My Computer - Properties - Performance
There could be some clues about why the 32bit disk access is switched off.

thanks for all the suggestions, and I will get the info as soon as I can. communicating via emails/IM and telephone, he can access someone's pc if he needs to.
yeah it is a Windows 98 upgraded from 95.

Only one user on this computer, I don't think it's a virus, though it doesn't have an antivirus installed, but not much chance for it to be infected I'd be surprised if it is. he doesn't do much on this pc but backup his cds and make cds from his LP albums, it's an old pc but only used on weekends.
It always works, it's just surprising now those drives disappeared.

I think he would want to reinstall windows if this doesn't get fixed but he doesn't want his files gone.
This is a Pentium 233 MMX multimedia something, with CDROM and a CDR-CDRW burner, not much that I know about it.

Depending on what you find out about the computer, the chipset drivers may well have been installed by Windows 98/98SE using its own resources from CD, in which case a dirty reinstall back to C:\Windows MIGHT fix the problem IF it is related to corrupt drivers.

A great many Pentium II (Slot 1) 233 MHz motherboards are based on the Intel 440 chipset, and Win98/98se will not prompt for a driver CD if reinstalled.  Some of the genuine Intel 440-based chipsets have onboard audio eg. Yamaha OPLSaX that need to be installed separately, but a reinstall should leave the audio drivers as they are.  Other non-Intel boards based on the same chipset may have alternative integrated audio and could have integrated video rather than the AGP on the Intel 440-based boards.

One issue that IS worth mentioning, if my assumption is correct about this being a 440 chipset based motherboard, and that is the fact that it was upgraded from Windows 95.  I recall that there were issues with the "Bus Mastering IDE Controller" drivers for many boards of that age when installing Windows 95.  An updated driver referred to as PIIx4 was required for Windows 95 to identify the 82371AB (or SB - older PIIX3) controller chip and in turn enable both IDE channels.  It also sometimes required editing of the files MSHDC.INF, MACHINE.INF, and USB.INF. This applied to all Intel motherboards based on the 430HX, 430VX, 430TX, 440FX, and 440LX chipsets, and respectively to those with Pentium, Pentium Pro, and Pentium II Processors. There's always the possibility that some glitch has retrograded the drivers back to the previous Win95 ones.  This is a remote possibility, but worth knowing about just in case, and can be addressed if other conventional methods don't work.

I think it is quite important that you ascertain the make and model (and Revision where possible) before trying to locate chipset drivers for a reinstall of either Windows or just the chipset drivers to start with. Programs like Everest, Belarc Advisor, etc, are too large for a floppy.  I have an idea, given that most system reporting utilities require installation from from *.exe files that are too large to fit on a floppy and that the user has no internet access and cannot use a CD.

Intel Chipset ID Utility (old version 2.91):
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-support/8264/eng/ChipUtil.exe
It's a simple standalone *.exe (120 KB) that will run from floppy and tell you the chipset, although not the processor.
It will ID all Intel chipsets from 430TX through to the 925X, but will only ID Intel ones and may not properly report accurately for other non-Intel boards.
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-support/8264/ENG/readme.txt

For a more comprehensive report than anything previously mentioned, the user could download the last of the AIDA32 utilities to a functional computer as they were before Lavalys bought AIDA32 it and it became Everest.
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/AIDA-Download-6969.html
That *.zip file can be unpacked on the host computer, all the *.LNG (language) files deleted, and the remaining files zipped and spanned to two floppies for unpacking into their own folder on the user's machine to run as a standalone program that needs no installation.

Get the user to generate a report from AIDA32 as follows:
1. File > Preferences > Report > Security > untick  boxes to include confidential and personal information.
2. .. > Preferences > Summary > tick all the boxes
3. Report Menu > Report Wizard > Next
4. System Summary Only > Next > Plain Text  > Finish > Save to file.
5. Copy the 5 KB file to a floppy and email/IM it as a zipped attachment to you from a functional PC.

There's also the problem of getting new downloaded chipset drivers onto floppies if they need to be reinstalled, so I would suggest downloading them to any functional computer with WinZip installed, and zipping up the driver installation packages to span across as many floppies as it would require.  That way the user can unpack the drivers to their own hard drive folders from floppy ready for reinstalling.  

Bill

(before anyone gives me a lecture)

I couldn't upload the file to EE-Stuff.com as it came as Invalid file upload, I don't know why, so I posted it here.(I'll delete it when I close this question)

Quite obviously a VIA chipset motherboard (VIA Bus Master IDE Controller).  Chipset drivers apparently have not yet been installed.

Assume that primary and secondary controllers were removed from Device Manager and allowed to re-install.  That is effective in many cases.

Has there been any hardware added to PC recently, including USB devices?

The correct chipset driver should be the "Retro Chipset VIA 4 in 1 Drivers" version 4.43 from link below.

http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=6&CatID=1110

Socket 7 motherboard probably has an MVP or Apollo chipset.  May want to verify chipset used or post motherboard model.  Everest Home will help identify hardware components.  It is available here:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

>>Chipset drivers apparently have not yet been installed.<<
What does that mean? It has always been working for years and nothing was changed.


>>Assume that primary and secondary controllers were removed from Device Manager and allowed to re-install.  That is effective in many cases.<<
I assumed he already did that though.


>>Has there been any hardware added to PC recently, including USB devices?<<
No nothing has been added he assured me on that. He hardly used this pc now, only for burning CDs, and editing music,(making CDs out of his LP albums)

He might have Aida32(not sure about it) I'll check on that or Everest.

thanks for the suggestion, a 3.98mb wouldn't fit in a floppy.

A code 10 error is usually related to drivers or a resource conflict.  If there are chipset drivers available, it is best to install them.  Otherwise you can try a repair install or a clean install of Win98(SE) to re-install intrinsic OS drivers.

It is possible that chipset specific drivers were replaced by Windows generic drivers or that Windows drivers are corrupt.

To reiterate: the easiest, and usually effective, solution for such errors --> remove devices and let Windows re-install them.

Are both optical drives on secondary IDE controller or is one installed on primary controller along with hard disk?

rpggamergirl
Thanks for posting that report.  Nobody has yet to give you a lecture, but the "ee-stuff" repository supports *.ZIP files, so it would have uploaded had you zipped the *.txt file :-)

As willcomp has stated, it tends to indicate that the "chipset" drivers are not installed, are incompatible, corrupt, not being loaded, or some other reason covered by the Code=10 (0xA) error code.
http://www.usbman.com/Guides/Error%20Codes%20Explained.htm

There IS something the user could check first, and that is to make sure that the file ESDI_506.pdr exists in the C:\Windows\System\IOSUBSYS folder.  Obviously talk the user through setting the system to show all file types.

IF the user has a cache of the Windows 98 setup *.CAB files in (usually) the C:\Windows\Options\CABS folder, then he could first try renaming it to ESDI_506.OLD and extracting a fresh copy from the local *.cab files using the following command in a DOS window or from the Start Menu's "Run" field.

extract   /A  C:\Windows\Options\CABS\BASE4.CAB  ESDI_506.pdr  /L  c:\windows\system\iosubsys

I've double-spaced the spaces for clarity, and he should change the path to reflect the local CAB files folder if it exists elsewhere.  It might be easier for the user to extract the ESDI_506.pdr file from the CD using WinZip rather than having to give that command over the phone.  It's in "WIN98_51.CAB" (Win98SE) and " WIN98_46.CAB" (Win98 First Edition).  Reboot when done.

I notice something unusual in the report under the "Standard IDE Controller" section:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\enum\ISAPNP\ESS1868_DEV0003\FFFFFFFF
This DOES indicate that this is a pretty old machine (my first 2nd-hand Pentium 166 MMX computer used an ESS1868 chip) BUT as far as I am aware, the ESS1868 chip was/is an onboard AUDIO chip, and nothing to do with the IDE Controller.

I'll look into this ess chip issue, but I am really curious to see what AIDA or Everest report about the chipset before suggesting drivers.  Windows 98 SHOULD have installed the chipset drivers for such an old PC, but there were a lot of odd-balls around then that had some mix-and-match OEM motherboards, and Microsoft was more in cahoots with Intel than VIA, so native resources were fewer for VIA chipsets.  I suppose it's well worth at least trying out the "Retro 4-in-1" drivers recommended by willcomp.

Bill

Hmmm.  Didn't reload Q to see updates.
rpggamergirl:
>>> "a 3.98mb wouldn't fit in a floppy" <<<
The download link for the "Retro version 4.43" as suggested by willcomp is a *.zip file of 1.05 MB, which fits easily on a floppy.
http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/VIA_4in1_443v.zip

I've just checked the installer package, and it should change the listed devices in Device Manager as follows:

"VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller" ----> Same
"Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)" ------> "Primary Bus Master IDE controller (dual fifo)"
"Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)" ------> "Secondary Bus Master IDE controller (dual fifo)"

It should also copy the files:
"vatapi.vxd" to the C:\Windows\System\IOSUBSYS folder
"ViaMach.inf" to the C:\Windows\INF and/or C:\Windows\INF\Other folder

thanks for all the suggestions, I'll have more info soon or probably on weekend.
Yes it is a very old machine purchsed in 1998 I think.

I have a headache, and all these infos are also making my head spins, and it's 1pm still no lunch, lol.
I'll keep you posted, thanks again.

Re ESS1868 sound chip:  It was commonly used on ISA and PCI sound cards.  Perhaps mounted on some motherboards, but that was not common practice (integrated sound) in AT motherboard days.

BillDL - thanks for the assist.  Drivers may not be the solution, but they are definitely one of the first things to address.  I apparently was not able to get that across.

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions.
He just informed me that he saw this cheap deal at K-Mart, brand new AMD pc package for $700.00 dollars and he bought it. He doesn't want to fix the problem anymore, he just want to use the hardrive and hook it up to another 98 machine(probably another question).

The AMD pc package also came with a B\W printer.

Hmmm.  Ask him if you can keep that old machine and see if we can eventually resolve the problem.  It will make the suggestions made so far worthwhile in the end, and think of the glow of conceited pleasure you will achieve in so doing :-)

>>Ask him if you can keep that old machine and see if we can eventually resolve the problem.  It will make the suggestions made so far worthwhile in the end, and think of the glow of conceited pleasure you will achieve in so doing :-)<<

Good idea, but he already threw it away apart from the harddrive which he tried to slave it on another 98 system but it turned out that it was too hard to access the only spot where he could put it to.

Thank you all for your suggestions, eventhough this question wasn't resolved on this thread, a lot of suggestions here will be of benefit to others who may have the same problem. So I will award points for your efforts.(don't be surprised how little the points are, I just did it so all participants get something) Most points went to BillDL and willcomp.

Thank you all.

Thank you very much for that gesture rpggamergirl, it is appreciated.
And thank you for such great feedback.  It saves a lot of guesswork.

It was time to retire that dinosaur anyway.  We gave it our best shot and thanks for the assist.

Thanks again for all the help, very much appreciated, :)