MSDOS is all thats left please help

[R.I.P.]

The hard drive has it's own ribbon.

Now if you use the ribbon cable you have for the 2 cdrom type drives it has a double plugin for 2 drives.

Have you tried the hard drive and 1 of the cdroms only hooked to the motherboard IDE outlet where the hard drive is now working
off and tried it like that?

i think i found the config.sys on the ME boot disk:

rem DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off
FILES=30
BUFFERS=20

DEVICE=cd1.SYS /D:tomato

rem DEVICE=cd1.SYS /D:tomato /P:1f0,14
rem DEVICE=cd1.SYS /D:tomato /P:170,15
rem DEVICE=cd1.SYS /D:tomato /P:170,10
rem DEVICE=cd1.SYS /D:tomato /P:1e8,12
rem DEVICE=cd1.SYS /D:tomato /P:1e8,11
rem DEVICE=cd1.SYS /D:tomato /P:168,10
rem DEVICE=cd1.SYS /D:tomato /P:168,9

LASTDRIVE=Z

The hard drive has it's own ribbon.

Now if you use the ribbon cable you have for the 2 cdrom type drives it has a double plugin for 2 drives.

Have you tried the hard drive and 1 of the cdroms only hooked to the motherboard IDE outlet where the hard drive is now working
off and tried it like that?

no, im a little confused by this as the cdrom is at the top, and the hard drive is not within reach of the plug to connect them together. but i will try this i have nothing to loose. thanks

The hard drive has it's own ribbon.

Now if you use the ribbon cable you have for the 2 cdrom type drives it has a double plugin for 2 drives.

Have you tried the hard drive and 1 of the cdroms only hooked to the motherboard IDE outlet where the hard drive is now working
off and tried it like that?

THIS WORKED!!!! i couldnt plug the hard drive and cdrom together but i did unplug the bottom adapti drive and booted up with the cdrom showing as R:..... i am so happy thank you dusty, and willy and everyone who helped... you are gonna be mad at me, but now i cant find my install cd  

Well done Geogia - success at last.

We don't get mad we just get even.  Very good to hear of a satisfactory outcome.

Good luck

  i am so happy... unfortunately the ME operating system i had is an upgrade, so therefore i cannot upgrade without putting 98 in first... so i dont at this point have an operating system to install.. (it was in the old cdrom i had to take apart to get it out     ....anyway, all that came with the computor originally is the factory restore disk which doesnt work... so i still dont have an operating system, but at least i know now i can load one in... you are so great... thank you thank you thank you.  

do you know where i can download and burn one? if i am the orginal owner is there somewhere where i would have access to this

again many thanks and good wishes to everyone who helped.. especially willy thanks for the patience

[Moderator]

You cannot legally download a Microsoft operating system. If all you have is a ME upgrade, you will need an older qualifying product. You don't have to install the older one first, just have the CD available when installing.

So you are back where you started from. You need to install Windows.

Im way ahead of where i started from, now i have a cdrom drive which i didnt before this all started.. i made the mistake of uninstalling the operating system with a disabled cdrom. i assumed the new one would work... it seems the adapti burner or second cd is bad, which i can live without so its all good.

dont want to do anything illegal, wasnt looking to, i just wondered if i could get it somewhere using my serial numbers and product key or something. the computor did not come with operating system cd's just a recovery cd which i have but it doesnt work.  a friend let me borrow a geniune windows ME cd, but it appears to be an upgrade which needs 98 installed first.... or a valid product key for 98 im not sure how that works..

in any event i feel im way ahead of where i was. i was ready to throw the tower in the trash.

 so i still dont have an operating system, but at least i know now i can load one in...

Now the question is:  Where are some places to get a good deal on a legitimate Windows install disk.  

We're talking about versions prior to WindowsXP.
The first thing that pops to mind is eBay.  
But that takes some patience, and willingness to measure and accept risk.   That's up to you.

If you feel you need some advice on places to look,  you might want to start another thread as that is quite a bit different topic and will get the proper attention that way.
You might want to ask what to expect to pay too.