CD Rom Problems

The first thing to do, is enter the BIOS settings at startup.
Make sure that all IDE channels are enabled, and set to auto-detect.
If there is no auto-detect option, see if you can set the channel that the CD-ROM is connected to to CD-ROM.

If the MB does not support detecting CD-ROM drives, you may need to install the DOS mode driver for the CD-ROM.

If you keep the CD as the secondary device on the channel with the hard drive, make sure that the hd is jumpered properly as master.
Many HD have different jumper settings for single drive and master.

Next, you may need to install the IDE buss master driver for the motherboard/ chipset.
You can obtain this from either the MB mfg, or the chipset mfg.
If you do not know who made theMB, copy down the string of numbers and letters that is displayed at the bottom of the screen during the memory test.
Go to either www.wimsbios.com
or www.motherboards.org
Either has a page to identify the MB mfg from the bios string.
You can then go to the mfg web site, and identify the exact MB so that you can download the correct driver.

More info on the Os would be needed to provide more help
So let's guess that the system needs to have the DMA bus master installed on the computer and you will need the operating system disk to add the controller
Boot the computer and Press the key to open the CMOS panel,check that the dual fifo controller is enabled
Now check the configuration to see if the cd-rom is in list as the third boot device,save and exit
Boot computer and then use the Add New Hardware wizard to install the cd-rom,you will need the operating system disk and also the cd-rom software disk
Check the cable connections to make sure that you have the drive on secondary IDE controller

In your 2nd scenario, you need to set the CD to slave if you're going to put it on the cable as your HD. Going this way it probobly your best bet.

In your first case, you'll want to be looking at a couple of things

1. Make sure you have the red line on the IDE cable on the same side where pin 1 is located on the CD. This could be on the left or the right depending on the CD.

2. Make sure the secondary IDe controller is enabled in the bios.

3. Change to IDE cable.

Mark