Secondary IDE problem

[arisaa]

Hello,

This thread is about a Toshiba laptop.
I was facing a serious virus problem so I formatted the HDD and installed windows (98 SE) from the beggining using the recovery disks provided by Toshiba. Everything seemed normal until after the installation I discovered that I had no CD-ROM. I checked the device manager and I saw that the secondary IDE did not work properly for some reason. i tried to update the driver and windows installed a driver from their cab files. When I restarted the system the problem was still there. I removed the secondary ide so that windows could install it again on startup but same problem. I installed windows again but this did not solve the problem either.
The cd-rom works under dos and windows make use of it for their installation so i guess it is not a hardware failure. It is only after installation that the problem comes up.

Model:
Satellite 2140 CDS / 4.3 system unit
Model no. : PS214E-98080
Serial no. : 20046576J

Any help would be more than appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.

[Swordfish]

try installin the chipset drivers like for example if you have a intel system then get the Intel chipset installation utility.

Try at Toshiba's support center they may have updated inf files for the notebook.

[BipolarBill]

Most laptops don't even have a secondary IDE port. The CD is run as a slave to the HDD.

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_modItemList.jsp?ProductMenu_0=Portables&ProductMenu_1=Satellite&ProductMenu_2=1073769676&BV_SessionID=@@@@0062279089.1059494049@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchadcimgjmgdhcgfkceghdgngdgli.0&moid=1073769676&smoid=true&ct=DL&ListType=Model&x=6&y=7

There are you drivers. Update your BIOS. Get the chipset drivers too.

[arisaa]

Thanks for your replies.

But then BipolarBill, what could be the reason windows do not see the CD-ROM drive after installation ?

[BipolarBill]

The CD drive may have failed, but please do the things that we have suggested.

Tell me something. Look in Device Mananger > System Devices. Do you see a brand name in there like Intel, VIA, SiS or ALi?

[arisaa]

No, there's no brand name.
The CPU is an AMD-K6.

[BipolarBill]

Well, it's not Intel! It's either VIA or SiS, most likely. What does Adia32 say about the chipset? Get Aida32:

http://www.aida32.hu/download/aida32pe_361.exe

Download that and install it. It will tell you everything about your hardware and link you to the place to get your BIOS.

[arisaa]

Thanks.
I'll be back.

[arisaa]

Well,

AIDA32 reports the motherboard as "Toshiba" and the chipset as "unknown".

The updated INF files did not help either. The problem with the secondary IDE remains. :confused:

The CD-ROM works perfectly if you boot from a starter disk and it boots itself and it works fine during windows installation (and so does the secondary ide I suppose). It is only after the completion of the installation that the problem comes up.

I have not updated the BIOS yet. I will do it tonight.
What could I do apart from that ?

[BipolarBill]

How about e-mailing Toshiba? No one ever seems to consider that.

[Swordfish]

since the cdrom was workin properly before you did the reinstall, I am guessin it must be some driver (for Windows) that it needs.

If the bios update doesn't fix it then you should really try emailin them. We must be missin somethin here maybe it needs a different driver. Your best bet could be toshiba.

[arisaa]

You're right.

I'll contact the local branch.



Many thanks again for helping.

:t

[ukulele]

When you set up an older laptop it is best to use a win95 startup disk to boot the computer. First download the correct cdrom drivers from the laptop manufacturers website. Copy mscdex.exe and the correct driver for the cdrom into the root directory of C: drive. Next modify the config.sys file with a line that says DEVICEHIGH= (driver name). Next create an autoexec.bat file that includes the line MSCDEX.EXE /D:(driver name) /M:(buffers). That information should be in a read.me file that is bundled with the drivers. When windows runs setup.exe it will use that driver instead of a generic driver. A win98 startup disk will also use a generic driver which may not be the correct one for that drive and cause problems with windows when it is installed.

[arisaa]

The problem was solved unexpectedly. Being desperate I tried some seemingly improper driver for the secondary ide that windows did not recommend and -miracle- it worked.
Maybe recovery cd's are not that reliable after all, what can I say ?

I thank you all for your help.

:t :t :t

[ukulele]

Any crash you can walk away from was a good landing. :D