Missing CD ROM Drive

I would first check for viruses and spyware first. Next, check if it shows up in the BIOS. If it doesn't, check the cables inside the box. If this does not help, then the drive is probably bad. If it does show up in the BIOS, boot to the 98 CD and do an over the top reload of 98. This should replace any corrupt or missing files that might be needed to load the CDROM in Windows.

This can sometimes happen after installing CD/DVD Writing software like Nero or Winincd, particularly if you use the winoncd or incd appllets. Uninstall this software and try again.

Hi

You do not need to reinstall Win98 again to remove corrupt files. Click Start>Run and type

sfc

in the Run dialog box. This will run the System File Checker which will make sure you are using the latest .dll's on your machine (sometimes older files will overwrite newer versions), and it will also notify you if there are any corrupt system files. Play with the settings and run it.

Good luck

There's always the possibility someone/thing might have changed it so they don't show in windows. You can use TWeakUI2000 to show and hide drives. I believe policy editor can also do the same. Like the others said, check the BIOS, cables, files, and the such and see if that fixes it. Show All Files wouldn't effect this particular problem cuz it's for files, not drives!!!

Have Fun!!!

if it appears in bios, try device manager, and see if it is present, then try add new hardware wizard.

I've experienced similar issues, particularly under w2k, but found that doing a scan for new hardware within device manager always resurrected the missing drives.

A lot of cdroms in windows were initialized in the autoexec.bat and config.sys files.

Windows 98 was bad about rem out the lines and then just forgetting about it or calling the cdrom a generic floppy in the device manager.

Check the autoexec.bat and config.sys files. If this is the case remove the rem at the begining of the lines save and reboot.

Lee

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