Solved: Invalid Drive Specification

Invalid Drive Specification

Saw something like this posted before, but the poster abruptly stopped. Anyway, my old machine with Windows 95 would only boot to a C: prompt. I'm looking to clean install Windows 98 on the system. Before discovering bootdisk.com I followed another site's advice on creating a boot disk, creating a new config.sys and autoexec.bat, and saving certain files before performing the suggested "deltree /s c:\Windows" at the C: prompt, which I've done. In creating the autoexec.bat and config.sys files, I was told to copy certain files to my A: drive, where I was creating these files. I couldn't find the suggested himem.sys and emm386.? file, of which I can't recall the extension. I followed through with creating the new autoexec.bat and config.sys, and copied the mscdex.exe and aspicd.sys drivers from my system to a floppy. I have the system requirements. Just can't get the system to read my CD-ROM, which is designated D:. Where do I place these CD-ROM drivers? I've already tried placing them directly on the hard drive and executing them. The aspicd.sys did nothing, the mscdex.exe gave me "usage: MSCDEX [/E/K/S/U] [/D:(driver) ... ] [/L:(letter)] [/M:(buffers)]". By the way, both the boot disk I created and the one from bootdisk.com takes me to the A: drive, I type "sys C:" and restart the computer, but nothing is different. Just some notes about files missing or corrupted. Please assist, and thank you before hand for even attempting to assist. Also, I appear to have a drive B:, though I shouldn't, and it reads like my floppy, which is my drive A:.

Jeff

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Did you try downloading a Win98 bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com?
If you used a Win98 bootdisk and the CD-Rom was not detected then there is good chance your CD-Rom is not supported by the drivers on the disk. You will need to get the correct driver for the CD-Rom.

And to let you know all bootdisk will take you to the A:
At the A: type "E:\setup" assuming E is your CD-Rom, if not then insert the letter for the drive in that command.
Note: the Win98 bootdisk will make a small partition on the HD which will move the CD-Rom drive letter up one letter.

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ASKER

Thank you for the quick response and insight. I have, however, already tried
everything you mentioned, before reading your response. After all this, I even
tried switching the starting order of my A: (floppy), C: (fixed), and SCSI (D:
CD-ROM) drive (these are all the drives I have), because I read that, with a complete reinstall and after formatting the hard drive, it's possible to boot from the CD-ROM, and thus the Windows 98 disk. Didn't work.

I'm getting random error messages since the formatting. They are: "The following file is missing or corrupted: Himem.sys" "There is an error in your config.sys file on line 1" "The following file is missing or corrupted: cd1.sys" "There is an error in your config.sys file on line 5" "Device driver not found: 'banana'" "No valid CD-ROM device drivers selected"
That's the errors, and that's the order they're in. And yes, it does say
"banana".

How do I find out my brand and model of CD-ROM so I can get the proper drivers? I've read quite a bit about drivers, but I haven't found a definitive answer where to put them and what constitutes properly executing them, especially when the mscdex.exe driver calls for a bunch of parameters. What other drivers for the CD-ROM or otherwise do I need at
this juncture? Where on the system do I place the drivers so they are
recognized? Hope this helps. Don't hesitate asking anything. I'm no computer expert but I've read more about Windows 95 and 98 in the last couple days to begin to qualify as
an expert in what won't work--unfortunately.

jeff

"because I read that, with a complete reinstall and after formatting the hard drive, it's possible to boot from the CD-ROM, and thus the Windows 98 disk. Didn't work."

That is only if your BIOS supports booting to the CD-Rom, and then of course you need to go into the CMOS setup and change the boot order to be sure the CD-Rom is first boot device.

"I'm getting random error messages since the formatting. They are: "The following file is missing or corrupted: Himem.sys" "There is an error in your config.sys file on line 1" "The following file is missing or corrupted: cd1.sys" "There is an error in your config.sys file on line 5" "Device driver not found: 'banana'" "No valid CD-ROM device drivers selected"
That's the errors, and that's the order they're in. And yes, it does say
"banana". "

Is this when booting to the HD or to a bootdisk?
What OS did you install?

Does your computer meet the minimum requirements for Win98?

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Also have you ran a full scandisk on the HD (surface scan also)

ASKER

Not sure if the bios allows for booting from the CD-ROM or
not, but it was mentioned at a web site, so I went into
the bios and changed the startup order from A, C, SCSI
to where SCSI was listed first--out of desperation.
Didn't work anyway. The errors mentioned in my last
post are during a regular startup to the hard drive. It
does exceed 98 specifications. I'm trying to install
Windows 98. It's an older computer, probably built in
'96-'97. Also, above the error messages it still reads
"Starting Windows 95...". Is this normal after
reformatting the hard drive, though it did have Windows
95 installed initially? I'm not the expert but I'm
concerned whether I have the correct drivers and where
to place them in order to be recognized, especially when
the system is telling me "No valid CD-ROM device drivers
selected" as the last error before the C: prompt.
Scandisk won't run. Reformatted hard drive. Shouldn't
have scandisk after reformatting, right? The Windows 98 CD I'm trying to run from the CD-ROM is a Windows 98 installation CD from Dell, which came with my old computer. This shouldn't matter, right? Also, I read something about being able to take files from a CD-ROM, such as the one I just mentioned. Are there files I could take from that CD-ROM that would help. I'm posting from a much newer computer at this moment.

jeff

I'll see if I can help you along while Ray is away---
check this cdrom in another computer (view the contents) and see if it has a folder win98 or something to that effect if it does then yes you should be able to use it assumeing you have the cd key..
the errors you are gettin suggest maybe you haven't infact yet formated this drive or the errors are from the bootdisk unless you have copyed some files to the harddrive....shouldn't be anything on there to create these errors so must assume you have copyed files to it or it is in fact errors on the bootdisk
the computer you are now on (newer computer ) is it win98 ? if so make a bootdisk from it and try
also your bios if it only list boot order as A / C / scsi you may have a scsi cddrive and if so this will need an older (lots older bootdisk :>) if the 98 bootdisk wont load it then you may want to try going back to bootdisk.com and look around for an older version should say something like for scsi cddrive (i'll take a look and see if they list one )

James

Ray you laughed to fast it seems :>)

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this one is for scsi cddrive
http://www.bootdisk.com/readme.htm#bios

" The Windows 98 CD I'm trying to run from the CD-ROM is a Windows 98 installation CD from Dell, which came with my old computer. This shouldn't matter, right? "

Umhh yeah it could matter, is it a full windows disk? or just a restore disk?

If you formatted the HD then you shouldn't have anything on it yet, right?? so make sure you have a Win98 bootdisk in the drive and boot it up, select "with CD-Rom support" and you should see it load the drivers if your drive is supported.

ASKER

I checked the Windows 98 reinstallation CD-ROM in my newer computer's CD-ROM drive, and there is a Win98 folder. This newer system has Windows XP as an OS. On the outside of the CD-ROM it states that it's for reinstalling Windows 98, but won't load programs or drivers. It's legit, key and all. It came with my Dimension 4100. I now have an 8200.

The hard drive was formatted and I ran scandisk from the boot disk I downloaded and executed from bootdisk.com. My bios does read A, C, SCSI. OH, the reason for the errors is because I did load some files to the hard drive some time after reformatting, because I was trying to load what I believed to be drivers for the CD-ROM drive to locate. Taking those files off or reformatting again is easy enough.

Thank you for the help with the SCSI boot disk site. I'll go there shortly. I've booted up numerous times with boot discs and never seen the option of "with CD-ROM support", or any other option. When does this happen? Two more questions please: I know loading a boot disk and restarting the computer gives me the A: drive, I type "sys c:" switching my startup from the hard drive to the floppy, but how exactly does this affect my CD-ROM? Also, the computer keeps spitting out the message that no device drivers are installed. If this is important, how do I know which drivers to get and where on the system to load them?

jeff

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Two more questions please: I know loading a boot disk and restarting the computer gives me the A: drive, I type "sys c:" switching my startup from the hard drive to the floppy, but how exactly does this affect my CD-ROM?......it doesn't typeing sys C: command simply makes the harddrive bootable after formating
this being a demension 4100 it should have an ide cdrom drive so the 98 bootdisk should work and it as you say keeps spitting out errors about no device driver installed suggest eather bootdisk being used is trying to load the wrong drivers (wrong bootdisk) or there may be a problem with the cddrive
think I would try another bootdisk preferable one made from another computer (win98) anyway reformat the drive ( format C:/s ) you dont need to copy any files to the harddrive then try again

ASKER

I apologize, James, for the confusion. The computer I'm

looking for all this assistance with isn't a Dimension 4100.

It's a "mutt" put together from scratch by a small

computer company. I'll reformat the hard drive, try the

boot disk I have, which is a Windows 9x boot disk from

bootdisk.com, and, if this doesn't work, make and try

different disks from the site you sent me. I'll write

back this afternoon with the results. Meanwhile, two

question: How/from where exactly does the CD-ROM drive read

drivers, considering the hard drive is reformatted? BIOS refers to
my CD-ROM as SCSI. How is this different than IDE?

jeff

if you look inside the case an older scsi hooks to a sound card normanaly and just may say scsi on it somewhere and the ide type (most 96 and above puters use this type ) hooks to the mother board or to a second connection on the harddrive ribbon cable and most will say ide on it somewhere a 98 boot disk will boot/load an ide type but it wont an older scsi type (those are sometimes tricky )

oh yes the other question .. the cddrive reads/gets its driver from the bootdisk on both types unless windows is installed

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Are you sure you have a SCSI CD-Rom? Just because it was listed as an option to boot to in the BIOS does not mean you have one. Pull the side of the case off and look to see where it is connected, if it connects to the MB then it is an IDE drive, if it connects to a card in one of the slots then it is probably a SCSI (possible it is IDE if it is connected to sound card)

ASKER

New info:
Switched bios startup back to A, C, SCSI

In the process of switching, I noticed the actual term "CD-ROM" as a choice in startup

I read the site you sent, but havn't implemented some of ideas. However, I checked both
the config.sys and mscdex.exe files for the lines required, and they are there.

Booted up with floppy boot in drive, and before I try anything else I wanted you to see
exactly what's on this screen. I reformatted the C: drive before this. Here's what there:

CD-ROM Device Driver for IDE (Four Channels Supported)
(C)Copyright Oak Technology Inc. 1993-1996
Driver Version: V340
Device Name: BANANA
No drives found, aborting installation

Device driver not found: 'BANANA'
No valid CDROM device drivers selected
A:\>

That's what's there. I'm disabled, so removing the case would involve my fiancee. Because of some previous dealings with computers, she'd probably remove the side of my head the second I asked. So I'll try other things first. I know the driver specific to this CD-ROM is listed as cd1.sys in config.sys of the boot disk I downloaded from bootdisk.com. From the information I gave above, would you suggest I look for a version 340 driver from oak technologies and, assuming I find it, replace it with the cd1.sys driver written in config.sys?

jeff

The drive the bootdisk was loading was the V340, but it didn't find a drive that would work with that driver.
At this point I would say we are at a standoff until you open the case and see what the CD-Rom drive is.
Or try opening the drawer for the CD-Rom and look on the bottom side of it for a model number, we need to know what drive this is before we go much futher.

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In the process of switching, I noticed the actual term "CD-ROM" as a choice in startup............just out of courisity try setting the cdrom to boot first in bios and place that dell restore cd into the drive and bootup lets just see what happens most restore cd's just dont work in other machines but I have seen a few dells work worth a try :>)

ASKER

Tried... Failed, but still looking

thanks, jeff

Explain "failed?? maybe you just need to get a different Win98 disk, it is possible the one from Dell is not bootable. Can you possibly borrow a regular disk from a friend as a test method.

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when you tried it did it say press any key to boot from cdrom ? any indication at all it wanted or tried to boot just trying to come up with alternate solution by the way does the newer machine have a cd writer ?

ASKER

By failed, I mean the machine booted up to the C:
prompt, as if nothing were changed. No messages about
choosing any option whatsoever. The new machine does
have a burner. I keep thinking back to what's in
config.sys. That's where the driver specific to the
CD-ROM is supposed to be listed, and I don't think the
cd1.sys driver actually listed there is working for my
CD-ROM. In that site you left for me, it mentions that,
if after everything to a certain point in the site
instructions fail and you're at the end of your rope, then
download a certain file to your hard drive, extract, and
load to your boot disk. I'm going to download it tonight
and see what's inside. It's odd, and it's late and I'm
tired, but I recall the name of the file in my original
config.sys, which should have been the driver specific to
my CD-ROM. It was ASPICD.SYS. I found a driver of
the same name online but couldn't get it to work. Maybe
there are different versions of the same driver?

Anyway, thank you for hanging with me.

Jeff

ASKER

Not sure I answered your question. I haven't tried other CDs in the drive, other than the Dell Windows 98. But shouldn't I have received something signifying the drive was operational, even if to abort, retry, fail? I'm getting absolutely no options.

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" But shouldn't I have received something signifying the drive was operational, even if to abort, retry, fail? I'm getting absolutely no options."

If the CD in the drive is not bootable then you would get no options at all, only if it is bootable would you get that option "hit any key to boot to CD-Rom"

Can you try that CD in another system that has the CD-Rom listed as first boot device and see if it works? At this point there is just too many unknowns to be able to help you much.

as I recall you said the new machine has xp right ? how about makeing the 6 rescue/boot disk for xp and try them in this older machine thinking they will load the cdrom drivers (ofcourse just abort installion at the end of the 6th disk but you will still have cdrom support )
I guess you understand as far as checking out the cdrom boot capibilities we are simply weighing the options mainly trying to see if it in fact works :>) so any bootable cd you may have you need to try even your new machine restore disk

also lets try makeing a bootdisk go to the new machine and under your A drive listing right click and select format then create a dos startup disk now place in notepad this line device=aspicd.sys /d:cdrom then save this file as config.sys and put it on the new disk
now open notepad and place this line mscdex /d:cdrom then saveas autoexec.bat place this on the new disk ok you said you found this aspicd.sys file on the net get it and place it on the disk and then look on one of the bootdisk you already have and copy the mscdex file to this new disk now try it

ASKER

I switched setup on my windows xp system so the
CD-ROM booted first, made sure the Dell windows 98 CD
was in the drive, and restarted the computer. It booted
up to the windows 98 disk. Not sure what that means,
considering it was booted from my new system, but I
know you can boot to a CD-ROM. Created a new boot
disk with windows xp, created the proper lines in the
config.sys and autoexec.exe files I created in notespad,
and added both mscdex.exe and aspicd.sys, which I again
found on the Internet. This boot disk wouldn't even boot
to the A: drive. It booted to the C: drive. Some insight
please on how to create the six disk rescue system you
mentioned. I looked in help within windows xp but found
nothing.

Still here, Jeff

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Here is a link to download them from Microsoft. You will need 6 floppies for this....
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=33291

If you want to only use one disk, it looks like someone has made a basic xp bootdisc. Here is the link. It is listed as "Windows XP System Setup Disk"
http://www.drd.dyndns.org/index2.html

also check out the other bootdisk on that url and the possiablitys of makeing a bootable cd with your 98 files

one other thing just in case do you have a laplink cable if you dont know what this is i'll assume the answer is no :>)

I'm still thinking you need to pull the cover off and ID the CD-Rom to see if it is IDE or SCSI.

Did you look under the CD-Rom drawer and see if there was model number listed there?

ASKER

I agree. I'm hoping to get someone to take the cover off today, probably later, and find out once end for all what we're dealing with. If you don't hear from me today, after this post, it's simply because I'm working on getting those numbers from the drive itself. In other words, "I shall return" :-)

jeff

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No problem

ASKER

Opened up the case and here was what's on the CD-ROM:

ser#: pb0009024
drw1657
class 1 laser product
pioneer dr-ua124x
fcc id: ajdto43

I believe the driver for the DR-UA124X is the ATAPI_CD.SYS.
Found this driver, adjusted config.sys, so the driver would be
recognized from the boot disk. Computer acted differently.
Took a while to boot up. Ended up with a message about the
command interpreter, and gave an example of
c:\Windows\command.com. Command.com was on the boot disk
and it did boot to an a> prompt (not a:\>, just a>). We tried executing the
command.com file, if executing is the proper word, and at one
point received an error which stated something about this
command.com being the wrong version (it came with the windows boot
disk I got
from bootdisk.com). Then I started wondering why I was attempting
to boot with a Windows boot disk. I'm back to DOS only, after
the reformat of the hard drive, correct? So should I be
running a DOS or Windows boot disk? And in a readme file that
came with the ATAPI_CD driver, I read where the lines in
config.sys and autoexec.bat files only needed to point to the
drivers themselves, without parameters designating the device
name or drive letter. Make sense to you? Anyway, it seems
closer but definitely not there. The CD-ROM was never
recognized.

jeff

Sounds like you have hardware problem. Either the CD-Rom has failed, or possibly the IDE cable or maybe even the IDE controller on the MB.
I would start with a cable swap, if that doesn't help then either try your CD-Rom in a different system or try a different CD-Rom in this system.

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ASKER

Before i look hardware, Ray, am I even booting with the proper disk? I've been booting with a Windows 95 disk from bootdisk.com because Windows 95 was what was on the system. I've reformatted the hard drive. I'm working in DOS and looking to load Windows 98. What version of boot disk should I be trying? Windows? DOS? Does it matter?

Thanks, Jeff

Win98 would be best, it doesn't matter if the system has (or had) Win95. The Win95 bootdisk will also work as long as the drivers are added for the CD-Rom.
Try downloading a regular Win98 bootdisk and see if it allows access to the CD-Rom.

ASKER

will try

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