Thanx, LA,
I'm gonna get right to it,
TTYL,



Brendan

What can be counted might not count, what counts may not be countable.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Hi LA,
Here's the story.
I carried out the checks as instructed.
The Hard Drive is on a single cable, no jumper, and it goes straight into IDE 1 port.
The Matshita DVD Drive is at the end of the split cable, jumper set to Master;
The Mitsumi is on the bridge of the same cable, jumper set to slave, and the cable goes into IDE 2 port. Everything as it should be.

I then went to Device Manager and removed both the DVD and the CD Drives. I then removed the Hard Drive controllers and rebooted.
Loaded up OK, after it reinstalled the 'new' hard and soft ware.
I then tried to run the IAA program.
I got the same error message as I did on Friday, with one minor difference, what read 0028:C15F25D9 on Friday had changed to 0028:C15F27B9. It said that it might be possible to start by pressing any key, but it didn't start.
I then restarted the computer.
In Device Manager my CDRom drives have now gone missing and the only drives present are my floppy disk drive and a 'Fujitsu MPE3173AE', which is on the 'Primary Channel'as Master, with the Slave 'unpopulated'.
The 'Secondary Channel' reads both Master and Slave as 'unpopulated'.

Device Manager also says that Windows 'stopped responding' when trying to install the Secondary Ultra ATA controller and will never try to install this device again
Should I restore the registry as I did on Friday to get the missing drives etc back?
TTYL,



Brendan

What can be counted might not count, what counts may not be countable.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Hi Brendan
Right one last thing to check look at the Seconary IDE Cable and you will see that it has a RED line running down one side now make sure that it is in the same position as the one connected to Your Primary Port on your motherboard ie: red should be pointing to Pin on if you look on your motherboard there will be a little "1" at one end of the port and that is where you should connect it to. Then look at both your CD-Roms and make sure the RED line on the cable is next to the power socket !

Laffin Assassin

The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Checked out, LA,
Red lines are where they should be.
I still haven't restored the registry to get the drives back.
TTYL,



Brendan

What can be counted might not count, what counts may not be countable.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Hi Brendan
I now suggest you re-install windows over the one you have already got but put the registry back first and if this dose't work the only thing left to do is to do a clean install of Windows ME after you have formated the Hard-drive sorry but that's Life !!!

Laffin Assassin

The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

C'est la vie indeed, LA.
I can live with reinstalling ME if it sorts out the problem.
Is there a straightforward way of reinstalling?
Would you recommend upgrading to Win XP as I've been thinking about this for several months?
TTYL,



Brendan

What can be counted might not count, what counts may not be countable.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Hi Brendan
Well Windows XP is a lot more Stable than any of the previous versions of Windows but the first thing I would personally do would to Format the hard-drive and re-install ME before you even think about upgrading as the Problem may not be Windows but something else I would never do is to install Easy CD Coaster Creator I only use Nero and Clone CD and they will do anything you need to do. But try Formating your Hard-drive and re-installing before upgrading as I say it may be a Hardware Issue and not a Windows Issue that is causing the problems !!!
I hope this Helps !!!

Laffin Assassin

The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Brendan Stop !!!!!!! Wait !!!!!!
I have just noticed you have said in one of your posts that your Hard-drive has no Jumper on it well as you can see by the Diagrams on their Website you should have a Jumper on for it to work as Master so re-check the Hard-drive for a Jumper go to :-
http://hdd.fujitsu.com/global/drive/mpe3xxxae/jumper.html
and this will show you how to set it up as master !!!

Laffin Assassin

The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Well La, I assumed that it had no jumper because I could see three sets of pins, like in your earlier diagram. (I didn't actually take tha HD out of the PC.) But now when I have printed the diagrams from the site you sent me to, I can see that there are actually more than 3 sets of pins in the back of the Hard drive. So the jumper is probably set to Master! I'll strip it down again and double-check anyway.
Where do I get info on how to Format the HD before reinstalling ME?
My ME disk is at my workplace and I won't be in there until Tuesday anyway, so there's no rush!
TTYL,



Brendan

What can be counted might not count, what counts may not be countable.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Hi Brendan
I have just emailed you a windows 98 boot disk just unpack all the files on to a Formatted Floppy Drive and then boot up your Windows 98 boot disk and make sure you Select BOOT WITH CD SUPPORT and let the disk boot you into Dos then at the a: prompt Type "format c: /q"
without the quotes and it will format your Drive in Seconds.
Then When it is done :-
1> Type "md c:\WinME"
2> Put your Windows ME cd into your DVD and type "copy d:\win9x\*.* c:\winme\*.*" Make sure that d: is your dvd if it is not then change the D: to whatever letter your DVD is !!!
3> Then take your Windows ME out of the DVD !
4> Then Type "c:" and press enter !
5> Then Type "cd winme" and press enter !
6> Then just Type "setup" and press enter !
7> Then just sit back and wait and Windows ME will install it's self! By the way when typing in forget all the quotes they are just there for reference !!!

Laffin Assassin

The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Thanx LA,
I'll do all this on Tuesday when I get my ME cd from work.
Just wondering, why am I to use a windows 98 boot disk, when I have an windows ME boot disk?



Brendan

What can be counted might not count, what counts may not be countable.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Hi Brendon
It is a smaller file and it will do the same job so don't worry !!!
I have also E-mailed you a little program called WINRAR and it will unpack the Bootdisk when you have installed it !!!
And before anyone else asks for it no I will not send it just go to the Winrar website and download it !!!

Laffin Assassin

The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Thanx yet again, LA,
Something I thought I should run past you. I re-read the instructions for installing the Mitsumi again and noticed this interesting comment. It has made me wonder whether there would be any merit in setting the Mitsumi as the Master drive and the DVD drive as the Slave? I'll quote what it says exactly.
It says:
"INSTALLING THE DRIVE
MASTER
This is a factory setting (pic 1)and is used if the drive is to be used as a master, i.e. independently connected by a ribbon cable, or in combination with a further CD-ROM-Drive, which is set as SLAVE and is operated from the same 40-pin ribbon cable."

Is this only SUGGESTING that the Mitsumi be set as MASTER or is it implying that this a REQUIREMENT?

The next paragraph says:

"SLAVE
If your drive is operated as a SLAVE, i.e. you connect it in a line to an existing hard disk, you need to plug the bridge. In addition, the jumper setting in a lot of hard disks needs to be changed. These then need to be jumped as "Master, slave present"".
Again, this only refers to the Mitsumi being set as 'slave' on the same cable as a Hard Disk, and not on a two-CD Rom drive cable?

What do you think - am I just clutching at straws in an attempt to avoid reinstalling Windows?

TTYL,



Brendan

What can be counted might not count, what counts may not be countable.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Hi Bredan
You Say "What do you think - am I just clutching at straws in an attempt to avoid reinstalling Windows?"
Yep I am affraid you are it will not make any difference. My opinion is that the reason they tell you to fit the Writer as a Master is so you Usaually have to put it in the Top slot in your Pc owing to the length of normal IDE Cables and which CD-Rom do most people use the most The Top one so with excesive use it will get a little Poorly and what do you have to do when the 12 month warrenty is out Buy a new one. That is one of the main reasons I do not use my Writers to install programs or run games the less use your Writers have the longer they last. Also making the Reader Master enables it to do what is meant to do a little faster and they take all the stress and workload of running programs. This is only my opinion but I have set thousands of computers this way for this reason but I have no doubt that some people will tell you different but there again it is only their opinion but they will never change my mind and in the end it is up to you who you believe !!!
I hope This Helps !!!
( Sorry I pray this helps because my brain and fingers are aching with all the typing I have been doing the past week )

Laffin Assassin

The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Thanx LA,
I was betting on a long shot!
I'll get the ME disk from work on Tuesday and do the reinstall.
I'll let you know how I get on.
Bet you're hoping as much as I am that things will work out!
Thanx again, you've been a lot of help.
TTYL,



Brendan

What can be counted might not count, what counts may not be countable.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)

Hey Brendan
Just one last thing to try before you install Windows just make sure your Computer is turned off then Remove the SCSI Card and see if you still have a problem when you reboot!!!

Laffin Assassin

The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in.

(in reply to Brendan Harron)