reinstalation of CD ROM drive

look in the BIOS and check if the 2nd HD is still mentioned there...  If it is, try to select the option (none) for the 2nd HD.
Did you plug the cable in the CD as it was ?  Is pin 1 on the cable corresponding to pin 1 on the CD drive ?

Follow dlanssens instructions above, then when you reboot win95 should automatically detect it.  Also check that the cable is plugged into the motherboard properlk and hasn't came loose.

CD was never disconected, and 2nd HDD is not mentioned in the BIOS (none).

1. Check that the ribbon cable from the motherboard to the CDROM is pushed in properly at both ends, maybe you pulled it out a bit doing the hard disk.
2. If the CDROM is the only device on the ribbon cable then make sure that it is set to "Primary".
3. If the CDROM is sharing a ribbon cable with a hard disk then make sure that one of them is set to "Primary" and the other to "Slave"
4. If it still doesn't work then do this:-
A. Go to Control Panel then System then Devices and delete the CDROM. Look under any reference to Other Devices (with a yellow question mark icon) and make sure your CDROM isn't in there either, delete it if it is.
B. Re-boot the PC
C. If the PC doesn't find the CDROM then in Control Panel use the Add/Remove Hardware and let Windows find it for you.
Hope that sorts it out.

pug_nut:  I don't mean to pick apart your answer, but there are some things said that need clarification.  My comments follow and correspond to the numbers in the "Answer" above.

2:  If the CD is the only one on the cable, then depending on the drive, it either needs to be set as Master, or Standalone.  Consult the drive manual, or markings on the drive for proper configuration.

3:  Do not connect the CD-ROM as Master to a hard disk as slave.  Rather connect it as a Slave to the hard disk (if this is the configuration).

4:  If Windows does not see the drive correctly, then Device Manager will not show a driver at all.  And Add New Hardware Wizard will not find it either.  Attempting to manually install a driver will only cause more problems.

OK, for my comments.

1:  Does the BIOS display that it recognizes the drive?  If not, check all of the above.
2:  Are you using any drivers in your config.sys, and Autoexec.bat files for the CD-ROM?  If so, remove them (for now at least).
3:  It sounds like you are back at your original hardware configuration. right?
4:  Does Device Manager show any devices with a yellow exclamation point?
5:  Does Device Manager show a driver for the CD-ROM?

Let me know what you find, and we will go from there.

When everything was working right, BIOS would give a message "Hitachi CD..." right after Initializing PnP devices. I don't get that message now, but everything is connected properly because nothing was disconnected in the first place. When I boot the system from the Win startup disk with the CD suport, it works.
Device menager does not show any CD ROM devices. There are two devices that are marked with yellow "!": Primary and Secondary IDE controller. There is also OPTI Dual PCI IDE controller that works fine.

jason_s, you are right, I should have used the word "master" where I actually used "primary".
However Device Manager CAN sometimes show a device which isn't working properly, and may or may-not give you the reason why. A classic reason is when a device is installed twice, often the second installation is under Other Devices and when it is deleted everything starts to work again. OK, maybe thats not true for a CD ROM, maybe it is.
BobSamonik, are you SURE it was the BIOS which reported "Hitachi CD...", I think it is more likely that it was Config.sys and Autoexec.bat loading which caused the message to appear, that's why your Win startup disk works. That also proves that there is nothing wrong with the cable, dip switches or hardware.
Try the following:-
1. Find the file mscdex.exe on your C drive, note down which directory it is in.
2. Find the file hit-ide.sys on your C drive (it might be called something slightly different, try searching for all .sys (*.sys) files).
3. Use Notepad to open your config.sys file on the C drive, and make sure that it contains a line saying DEVICE=C:\{the correct directory structure here}\HIT-IDE.SYS /D:MSCD001
if not then add it and save subsistute HIT-IDE for whatever it is really called.
4. Use Notepad to open your autoexec.bat file on the C drive, and make sure that it contains a line saying C:\{the correct directory structure here}\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001
if not then add it and save
If you need to look at an example, then look at the autoexec.bat and config.sys on your win setup disk (write protect it first)
If the hit-ide.sys and/or mscdex.exe files are missing then copy them from your win setup disk to your C drive. It might be called something different to hit-ide.sys, look for something with cd or ide in it with .sys on the end.
This proceedure will load a dos 16 bit CDROM driver at bootup, why the Windows 32 bit driver is not working, I cannot say. Maybe there is a setup disk on the hitachi web site.

No harm done pug_nut.  Just that computers are an exact science in most cases.

BobSamonik:
>  Device Manager does not show any CD ROM devices. There are two devices that are marked with yellow "!": Primary and Secondary IDE controller.

With this problem, the CD-ROM's Win95 driver will not be loaded.

>There is also OPTI Dual PCI IDE controller that works fine.

What is this device?  If you don't know, remove it, and reboot.  This could be the cause of the problem.

Remark out the MSCDEX driver in Autoexec.bat file as it can cause this type of error in some cases.

Scan for a virus from a clean boot disk, as some viruses will show up this way.

If after reboot, the yellow exclamation still shows up on the controllers, then try this.  (This will get involved, and can be slightly different form one system to another.)
Boot into Safe mode (hit F8 on "Starting Windows 95" text message on boot) then remove ALL devices under hard disk controllers.  You may not be able to remove the Primary and Secondary IDE controllers.  If this is the case, go to Start/Run, type Regedit and hit OK.  Hilight "My computer" at the top of the listing.  Go to Registry/Export Registry file, type in a name (e.g. 1-15-99) and hit enter.  This makes a backup of your current registry settings.  Store this file in a safe place incase needed for restoration later.  Then go to Edit/Find, type in FIFO and hit OK.  This will find the Primary IDE controller (single, or dual fifo).  Hit tab, and Hilight the entry CHILD0000, and hit delete.  then do the same for CHILD0001, etc.  Hit F3, and it will search again.  It will then find another Primary IDE controller (single, or dual fifo) listing.  Hit Tab, and delete all listings under "hdc"  0000, 0001, etc.  Then shutdown, and restart the system.  When the system boots back up, it will find the controller, and install the drivers for it.  It will prompt you to reboot several times.  Hit no to the reboot until you are back at your desktop.  Then shutdown, and restart.  The CD-ROM should work at that time.

If not, let me know the results, and we will continue.

Guys, I think you're complicating this too much.
The CD worked before.
Everything is back as it was, except for no CD.
From what was said, I think the secondary IDE port somehow got disabled in CMOS.

Bob,
Just enter CMOS setup and enable it. (Ask if you need details)
BIOS will then recognize and report the CDROM as before, and Windows will detect and install it correctly the next time it loads.

Regards,
Ralph

rmarotta,
If the secondary IDE port was disabled, then the CD ROM wouldn´t work when the PC is booted from the win setup disk, would it? So it´s not that.
BobSamonik, go ahead and check your autoexec.bat and config.sys as I said.
The yellow ! devices could be many things, my Compaq produces one of these for a temperature sensor. As long as none of the yellow ! devices are a CDROM, then don´t worry about them (at least with reference to the CD ROM problem).

>  "If the secondary IDE port was disabled, then the CD ROM wouldn´t work when the PC is booted from the win setup disk, would it? "

That depends on the Dos driver being used.........
(Some search all possible addresses and IRQs for drive firmware)

Bob,
Any progress with this yet?
We need some feedback from you.
Ralph

Try with this Bob!
   First, likes pug_nut's comment, go to System panel and delete all entry under CDROM device (hope there's still one ;-)).
   Run Regedit, choose HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Service\Class\CDROM. Delete everything under this key, usually shown as "0000' key. You can launch Regedit by type regedit at Run dialog. Remeber, just everything UNDER above key or you'll damage your system.
   Restart your system. enter BIOS setup and make sure if there's any option ask you if your system is an PNP must be set to YES (enable it!). Then start Windows. Hope it then recreate your CDROM information.
   And... another "?" for u. Did you attach your CDROM to your IDE interface or an sound card!?

OK, I have a PC with an Award BIOS, and a Hitachi IDE 8X CD ROM.
The Award BIOS does not report the existance of the CDROM, but it does report the existance of both the primary and secondary hard disk controllers. You need to go into the BIOS (usually by pressing "del" or "F10" or something during the bootup), and make sure that BOTH controllers are enabled.
Next comes the message Starting Windows 95.
config.sys does its stuff next, and reports the existance of the CDROM.
autoexec.bat does its stuff next, and assigns a drive letter to the CDROM.
finally Windows comes up and loads its CDROM driver (though you can´t see that happening).
If you have set up config.sys as I said, and it doesn´t work, then it means that the driver cannot contact the CDROM, this can only be if the controller is disabled, or the CDROM is not connected or broken or something. config.sys and autoexec.bat do not depend on the registry or anything else, they are good old fashioned DOS mechanisms. Try it, even just as a fault finding mechanism. You need them to run in DOS mode anyway.
You can see if a controller is enabled from Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Device Manager, Look under Hard disk contollers, you should see primary and secondary hard disk controllers. If not then you have to go into the BIOS setup and I just said to fix that.
Good luck.

Everything in Autoexec and config.sys that was refering to CDROM was remed out by Windows Setup.

I will give a chance to the rest of the suggestion.
If I don't post anything here in a day or two it means I got myself into bigger trouble than I was before ;)))


P.S. The LED is flashing on my CD ROM...

It seems that answers are mistakenly accepted here all the time.
When you accept (grade) the "proposed answer" in the green box, it closes your question and awards the points to that person.  Please reject any answer proposed if it doesn't answer your question, or you are not satisfied that it solves your problem.  Many experts can then participate in a solution for your problem.
When the solution is found, you can then simply invite the expert of your choice to submit his answer for you to grade.

Ralph