Win 98 & CD-ROM dificulties \ VOGONS

Win 98 & CD-ROM dificulties

Topic actions

Post a reply

First post, by CU-133A+

Posted on 2016-04-09, 22:56

CU-133A+ Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: 2016-04-06, 23:03

I am restoring/rebuilding a P3 based system and I need your expertise. My optical drive is temperamental during Win 98 install.

Win 98 boot floppy reads CD-ROM fine and I install Win 98. Get through to the initial live OS boot where hardware is installed and it can't read the Win 98 CD. Clicked cancel on all prompts just to get to desktop, shutdown and reseated all cable connections, checked BIOS etc.

Decide to reinstall from scratch. Win 98 boot floppy again and I get a read error! Odd. Can't read CDs at all. I have tried a different boot floppy in case there were issues with the CD-ROM driver on that particular disk, no change.

There is nothing physically wrong with the CD-ROM, IDE cables or power supply. I have been running the same hardware, but different HDD, with Lubuntu and the drive is fully functional; no errors, reads/writes every time, same CD used to install Linux.

Swapping HDDs from Lubunt to MS and back, Win 98 started reading CDs again. Had about a day's woth of playing C&C:Tib Sun then stopped reading. Again, back in Lubuntu works fine.

Any ideas? I am out. 😕

OS: Win 98 OEM
CD-Rom: LG CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo (GCC-4120B)

Reply 1 of 9, by brostenen

Posted on 2016-04-09, 23:05

brostenen Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 6654
Joined: 2014-05-07, 21:13
Location: Northern Jutland, Denmark.

Perhaps the DVD-Drive needs some cleaning. It can be that the lens is dirty, as well as the lens is not focusing.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

001100 010010 011110 100001 101101 110011

Reply 2 of 9, by CU-133A+

Posted on 2016-04-09, 23:19

CU-133A+ Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: 2016-04-06, 23:03

Possibly, but the drive works find in a Linux environment.

Edit: I will give it a clean tomorrow though just in case.

Reply 3 of 9, by notsofossil

Posted on 2016-04-09, 23:21

notsofossil Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 191
Joined: 2016-04-07, 08:05

Does the CD-ROM drive appear in Device Manager? If not or it's not working properly, then perhaps the motherboard chipset drivers need to be installed. I realize you're using a Pentium III computer, but there is always a chance Windows 98SE doesn't support your motherboard.

Thinkpad T42 Win9x Drivers | Latitude D600 Win9x Drivers
Next: Dell Inspiron 8000

Reply 4 of 9, by PhilsComputerLab

Posted on 2016-04-09, 23:25

PhilsComputerLab Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 6174
Joined: 2014-09-28, 03:33
Location: Western Australia

Just install windows from the HDD.

Boot from the CD, partition and format your drive. Then copy the disc content into a subfolder on the HDD. I use W98. Once copied, run SETUP from the HDD 😀

This has another benefit of not having to find the disc when you install a joystick or other plug and play device.

YouTube, Facebook, Website

Reply 5 of 9, by JiaoTongNan

Posted on 2016-04-09, 23:30

JiaoTongNan Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 100
Joined: 2016-04-03, 21:06

notsofossil wrote:
Does the CD-ROM drive appear in Device Manager? If not or it's not working properly, then perhaps the motherboard chipset drivers need to be installed. I realize you're using a Pentium III computer, but there is always a chance Windows 98SE doesn't support your motherboard.

There are two solutions if there's a driver issue if the motherboard doesn't support Windows 98, I think
-Install DOS 7.10 fully then install Windows 98 over it (Make sure Windows 98 doesn't get rid of the old DOS drivers)
-Are there any resource conflicts in the device manager for hard drive? You may need to reassign resources and allow both of (forgetting the name of allowing a single, other, or both part in the properties)

Personal Blog

Reply 6 of 9, by CU-133A+

Posted on 2016-04-10, 01:00

CU-133A+ Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: 2016-04-06, 23:03

notsofossil - Yes, CD-ROM is in device manager.

Phil - That would work to get Win98 on the HDD, but if I still can't get to my CD not much use. Might be worth a try though.

Jiao - No conflicts in device manager. DOS then Win 98 may also be worth a try.

Reply 7 of 9, by Caluser2000

Posted on 2016-04-10, 03:28

Caluser2000 Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 3672
Joined: 2014-10-21, 05:34
Location: NOO ZEELUND

I dought loading dos 7.1 then win98 will make any difference. You may need to load dos real mode cdrom drivers until you find out what the win 98 cdrom issue is. What version of Win98 are we talking about here, the first rendition or SE? If the first version give SE a crack. If you insist on the first version of win98 adding the unofficial Service Packs might help out.

The fact linux picks it up is a good indication there is no hardware issue.

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 8 of 9, by CU-133A+

Posted on 2016-04-17, 12:55

CU-133A+ Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: 2016-04-06, 23:03

So, being short of time, I put another optical drive in it's place to see the outcome. That is working perfectly. Therefore the issue is between the specific, orginal CD-ROM drive and Win 98 (and not CD-ROMS & Win 98 in general). For now I will continue with the compatable device, but I don't like being defeated so will continue to investigate next weekend.

Caluser2000, we are talking Win 98 first edition. I don't have a copy of SE around, but I will be trying this in the future.

Thanks, one and all, for the suggestions.

Reply 9 of 9, by mrau

Posted on 2016-04-17, 14:50

mrau Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1145
Joined: 2015-11-28, 12:43

provide specific dma-modes in use and what the drive's docs say about that, please?

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to General Old Hardware

Main menu

Common searches