MSCDEX.EXE failure

[groovy]

I hope someone can help me retain my sanity.

After formatting & rebooting from a boot disk in an attempt to clean reinstall windoze 98SE, I am getting the following message:
"A:\>
A:\>MSCDEX.EXE /d :OEMCD001 /L :Z
Not enough drive letters available
Invalid drive specification
Invalid directory
Bad command or file name

I have set the HD to a single partition FAT 32

This thing has been driving me nuts since yesterday afternoon, but since the problem began in 1999, I know it's not Y2K related.

Any help or insight will be greatly appreciated.

[richamies]

Its because you are trying to set the cdrom up as drive Z, either change the last switch to real /L:E or similar, or use the option LASTDRIVE=Z in your config.sys file.

Hope this helps...

[groovy]

I've changed my config.sys file to read as follows:
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
BUFFERS=20
FILES=60
DOS=high,umb
LASTDRIVE=D

REM [CD-ROM Drive]

device=oakcdrom.sys /D:OEMCD001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:OEMCD001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:OEMCD001

Do I need to reformat with this newly repaired file?
By the way, thanks for the immediate reply.

Jim (groovy)

[richamies]

Nope a reformat shouldnt be needed, go ahead and try installing Windows see if it works.

Just around at the right time to give you a reply http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[groovy]

richamies,
I still get a failure to boot from the CD Rom but the windoze startup screen flashed on for a millisecond before the failure announcement.
Another tweak necessary? I thinl\k I'm alot closer than I was.
Thanks again

[richamies]

Whoops didnt notice that - you need to have the line on mscdex.exe set up to read /L: D (without the space - in this thing if you dont have a space you get a smile http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif- in order for it to correctly identify the cdrom as a drive letter.

Try it again give us a shout if you get stuck again http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[This message has been edited by richamies (edited 01-01-2000).]

[This message has been edited by richamies (edited 01-01-2000).]

[groovy]

Not sure what you mean?

[BBA]

Ummm...


The device lines need to be much less complicated.

Try these:

Config.sys:

DEVICE=C:\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:OEMCD001
DOS=HIGH,UMB

and this for Autoexec.bat:

@echo off
PATH=C:\Windows\Command;C:\COMMAND.com
C:\Windows\MSCDEX.EXE /D:OEMCD001/M:10


This loads the cd device drivers into uppermemory. The LASTDRIVE=Z line is not needed at all. Plus, with this setup, if you have more than one IDE CD drive, they all get assigned sequential drive letters following any hard drives letters.

Why do you have all those device drivers loading? Do you have a SCSI card with SCSI CD-ROM and SCSI drives? THat should be the only reason you would ever need ASPIxxx.SYS drivers. I have no idea what the btdosm.sys or flashpt.sys are for either...are you sure you need them?

If you list all the deveices in your complete system and the OS's you use, I can probably give you the best config's you can get.

Oh, you do not need to reinstall anything because of changing dos bootup files...Win9X does not even use the files, and will actually rem them out for you so as to not be running in 16 bit compatibility mode.

[This message has been edited by BBA (edited 01-01-2000).]

[richamies]

The line in Autoexec.bat should read
MSCDEX.EXE /D:OEMCD001 /L: D

but without a space between the colon : and the D

Also make sure you dont have a space between the colon and OEMCD001.

-BBA-
It looks like a standard W98 bootup floppy, with all the different types of cdrom drivers on it

[This message has been edited by richamies (edited 01-01-2000).]

[groovy]

Yep - System has a SCSI card left over from when my son used system w/scanner & Zip drive Also has memorex 40x CD & memorex burner (both IDE).

[richamies]

Any luck since editing the MSCDEX line?

[groovy]

Still working on it - Is there a faster way to load system files onto C drive other than format & copy system files?
As you can probably tell, I'm a neophyte on DOS

[richamies]

You can run a sys C: command on it, but you need the sys.com command on your bot floppy.
You'd then have to install your cdrom drivers on the hard drive also....

[groovy]

While this thing is formatting & loading system files, I'd like to take the time to thank both of you for your help. I feel confident that I (we) will get it working. I'll go back and edit the file once I get it running on the system.
Maybe I'll eliminate the SCSI card and driver because I probably won't be using them.
Thanks again,
Jim

[groovy]

Still have failure.
Below are both file (Cut & pasted)
autoexec.bat -
REM [CD-ROM Drive]

MSCDEX.EXE /D:OEMCD001 /L http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif
@echo off

z:
cd \win98
setup

Config.sys -
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
BUFFERS=20
FILES=60
DOS=high,umb
LASTDRIVE= D

REM [CD-ROM Drive]

device=oakcdrom.sys /D:OEMCD001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:OEMCD001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:OEMCD001

[richamies]

Boot the system up, and type the following:
D:
cd win98
setup

and let us know what it says.....

[groovy]

Maybe that smile's doing it.
Where did that come from?
Must have been when I pasted the fix - I'll take another look.

[groovy]

It won't let me get a D prompt

Says"Invalid drive specification

[This message has been edited by groovy (edited 01-01-2000).]

[richamies]

Try the following.....
C:
dir

just to make sure your hard drivehas a partition on it. If not then the cdrom will be set up as C:

[groovy]

Says:
Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial # xxxxxx
Directory of C:
command com 93,880 05-06-98
1 files 93,880 bytes
0 dirs 8, 039.97 MB free

[richamies]

Are you using a normal IDE type cdrom or is it a scsi based unit?

I'm running out of ideas here but we need to get the cdrom unit picked up by the correct drivers, and in turn, mscdex in order to get you access to it.

Did you get a specific driver disk with your cdrom when you first bought it?

[groovy]

IDE unit
Probably had drivers but that was 2 years ago
and son no longer has them.
Tried the memorex site but couldn't get in

Does that smile have anything to do with it? I never heard of that.

[richamies]

The smile is nothing to worry about!! on this board when you do a colon followed by a d you get a nice big cheezy grin, it wont affect your problems at all.
I'm really running out of ideas here, i had a generic cdrom driver that worked on pretty much every machine i ever used but I lost it when a floppy drive died on me. If I had it I would send you a copy and see if that helps.

You are trying to boot up off the floppy aren't you, and not the hard disk? if you were booting from the hard disk, the windows screen would flash for a second, and then give you a prompt looking like this
C:\>

[groovy]

REM [CD-ROM Drive]

MSCDEX.EXE /D:OEMCD001 /L http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif
@echo off

z: <<<<Should this z be D?
cd \win98
setup

[groovy]

that's what it's doing
I;m trying to boot from CD - Is that what's wrong?

How do I boot from floppy and run CD to load Windoze?

[richamies]

You need to have a bootable floppy with your cdrom drivers on it, and the relevevant config.sys and autoexec.bat.

If you are using a fairly modern machine you can go into the bios and set the bootup sequence to read CDROM,C and you should be able to boot from the cdrom and do your install of Windows....

If not then we'll go through making you a bootable floppy disk.

[groovy]

I thought my floppy was bootable but perhaps not.

Is there a dos command to enter at the a prompt or c prompt to get this thing to boot from CD?
I have bios set to boot fron CD but it won't

[richamies]

If you do a format A: /s command it will format a floppy disk and make it bootable. then you need to copy over the autoexec.bat and the config.sys files to it, along with the relevant cdrom drivers and mscdex.exe program.
I'm in the UK and its just goen 1am, so forgive me if i seem a little away from this topic, im really knackered and off to bed in a while.

[groovy]

It is late to be up. I appreciate all the help you've given. My floppy has those files on it already. I'll keep working on it and let you know how it works out.
Again, THANKS

[richamies]

When you boot up off the floppy, does it take you to the A:\> prompt? if not then you need to set the bootup sequence in the bios to A: then C: in order to bbot successfully from the floppy drive.

[groovy]

it goes to A prompt
Set up for: A then C

[richamies]

It's starting to look very much like a cdrom driver issue, and im ready to sleep.....ZZZzzzz.....
I'm affrain I dont think there is anything else here I can do. The pc you are using to connect to the internet, try going into control panel, then add/remove programs, then startup disk(found at the top). Make a Windows startup disk and see if that will let you get access to the cdrom.

I'm presuming you are using Windows 95/98, I'm not sure if the option is there in Windows NT.

[groovy]

My wife is hollering at me to use the computer.
I have to go now but I'll work on it later. Thanks for the help .
I'll let you know how it works out
Good Night,

Jim

[richamies]

No problems, best of luck to you. I'll check on it in the morning.

And tell the wife to get her priorities right! She should be cooking dinner and doing the ironing, not wanting to use the computer!

*expects nasty words from a certain moderator about that*

[DHatAVI]

Try going to www.bootdisk.com/ (http://www.bootdisk.com/) to create a start up disk with cd-rom support.

If you have more than 2 IDE drives, then you will need a lastdrive letter of something like E or F. But if you use a floppy start up disk, that should solve your problem.

David

[groovy]

I got it Working!!
As it turned out, I had a problem both with the startup floppy disk AND a dead CDRom drive.
After following your directions, it still didn't want to load from the CD. I swapped CD drives with another system I have and with the repaired floppy disk, all went well.
Again, thanks to alot of help from richamies and BBA, I am now back to using my "Box from Hell"
Jim "Groovy"

[richamies]

Glad to hear you got it working groovy, bummer about the dead cdrom. LOL It would have to happen to me wouldnt it hehehe I'm stuck on the other side of the world and your bloody CDROM is dead LMAO serves me right for being so nice. Anyway glad you got it running again, was a good excuse for a nice new fast cdrom anyway hehehe