Try booting into safe mode and see if you can view the CD there.

If you have a computer with multiple CD drives then boot a Linux LiveCD and insert one of the phantasmagoria CD's. If it can see it then something in the OS is messing things up.

Last time I had an issue like that was caused by a filter driver on the CDROM caused by copy protection drivers (that was a long time ago tho):
http://djlizard.net/2007/04/30/230/

If you don't have two CDROM drives in one computer you can try to find a distro that loads itself into memory so that you can eject the distro CD and insert another CD.

try this Phantasmagoria DOSBox installer

teamrival wrote:

So I just recently got Phantasmagoria, but I can't even get my disk drive to read the CDs. I've tried on 3 different computers, 2 that had Vista and one that had XP, and I'm getting nothing. I can explore the CDs, but nothing appears, and it always asks me if I want to burn a CD. It's not just the one CD I'm trying, because I've done it with all 7 of them. Am I missing something painfully obvious?

Are they Mac discs?

Well I just booted into Linux using puppylinux livecd that I burned, and I still wasn't able to even mount the CDs. I should at least be able to explore the CDs, but alas I'm not able to.

They are not Mac discs, as this game was not made for Macs i believe.

Heres a pic of the first disc

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/1100/46327617.jpg
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/3008/87121714.jpg

I'm completely baffled as to what the problem could be! I've never run into problems like this, and I've installed both the Ripper and Black Dahlia on my computer.

It was ported to Mac, as well:

http://www.mobygames.com/game/macintosh/rober … -phantasmagoria

Can you see the files with HFV Explorer?

Nope.

Every time I put the CD in the drive, it runs as if it's trying to read it, but eventually it just quits.

Have you even tried HFV Explorer?

Yeah I tried HFVExplorer, and I got nothing.

Do you have 64 bit Windows? I don't believe that cdenable.sys works on 64 bit Windows, so HFV Explorer won't be able to access the CD.

I have 64 bit Vista. Is there anything I can do to roundabout on this?

HFV Explorer was only to see if you had the Mac version, not a way to play it. I'm sure that you have the Mac version. The only way to play it is on an old Mac or with a Mac emulator. I doubt that Basilisk is capable, but I may be wrong. It might be if you can find the right ROM. You are probably best off to find a PC copy. Even modern Mac users probably would have fewer problems playing the DOS version.

That's true, you'll even need a Mac emulator on a modern Mac to play the Mac version of this game.

It's not necessarily a mac version, I've got a 32-bit and a 64-bit Vista machine and they refuse to read my 2.00b copy of King's Quest 7 but if I load it on an XP machine it works fine. Vista and Linux just don't like the filesystem on the disc for some reason.

arablizzard2413 wrote:

It's not necessarily a mac version, I've got a 32-bit and a 64-bit Vista machine and they refuse to read my 2.00b copy of King's Quest 7 but if I load it on an XP machine it works fine. Vista and Linux just don't like the filesystem on the disc for some reason.

Other OSs have trouble reading Mac formatted discs. Your description of your problem sound EXACTLY like what is perfectly explained by trying to read Mac CDs. It is about the only thing that explains it. If you have a friend with a Mac, try the discs on his machine. Sierra often did not label their CDs with what OS the disc was for. I have a Mac version of GK2, which only says Mac on the box, not the jewel case label nor the CDs themselves. The discs cannot be read by any of the PCs that I have and if I stick the disc in my Vista machine it will ask if I want to prepare the disc for burning. Sound familiar?

arablizzard2413 wrote:

It's not necessarily a mac version, I've got a 32-bit and a 64-bit Vista machine and they refuse to read my 2.00b copy of King's Quest 7 but if I load it on an XP machine it works fine. Vista and Linux just don't like the filesystem on the disc for some reason.

Just for clarity, I'm talking about a dual boot XP/Vista laptop, an XP desktop, and a 64-bit Vista desktop.

collector wrote:

Sierra often did not label their CDs with what OS the disc was for.

Says "DOS/Win95" right on my disc label.

There used to be an app called IsoBuster or somesuch that would show you the filesystem types on the disc.

Is the disc dirty or scratched? Can you see any holes in the top layer if you hold it up to a light while looking at the bottom side?

HunterZ wrote:

Is the disc dirty or scratched? Can you see any holes in the top layer if you hold it up to a light while looking at the bottom side?

No, and as I've already said the disc works (all files copy, game can be installed, run, etc.) on XP. Same drive, only difference is the operating system.

Maybe install in Xp then copy game folder to vista?

arablizzard2413 wrote:

It's not necessarily a mac version, I've got a 32-bit and a 64-bit Vista machine and they refuse to read my 2.00b copy of King's Quest 7 but if I load it on an XP machine it works fine. Vista and Linux just don't like the filesystem on the disc for some reason.

But Phantasmagoria is what you can't read on anything, not KQ7

arablizzard2413 wrote:

Says "DOS/Win95" right on my disc label.

The Phantasmagoria CDs did not have the intended OS labeled on them.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/roberta-william … CoverId,149104/

There are CD images from several other versions of the game on Moby Games, including international versions and the Sierra Originals. None of them have DOS/Win95 on them. For the PC version Sierra used ISO 9660 mode1 for the Phantasmagoria CDs, not some odd format.

If it is really a DOS/Win95 version and the CDs are not damaged, then there is something going on with with your hardware or perhaps drivers. Have you recently installed some DRM infested game that might have installed StarForce or SecurROM?