can't get cd drive to be recognized

[floridal]

Have older Pentium 3 machine. as I was having an impossible time getting it to boot up-I was able to reinstall MS DOS and now it boots up fine.
I can't get the CD Drive to be recognized so that I can reinstall Windows XP.
Any ideas?

[Geek-9pm]

So you said any ideas, right? I first idea was to ask you if you'd like to have another Pentium III and I will donate it to you.
But that may be not what to want to hear. You want to install an operating system without any way to boot from the BIOS. Yes, there is a way to do that. It is buried in the Microsoft knowledge base somewhere in the stuff about installing Windows in the when you don't have a way to install from the CD drive. I have used it just one time to install windows XP, or Dell machine that would barely meets requirements. I got it to work, it is not something I would ever want to do again.
Also, I don't think I would want to tell you how to do it. Not unless you insult me real bad and I come to hate  you real bad and then I'll show you how to do it.Because this is the sort of thing you would want to inflict only upon your enemies, and not upon your friends.

The problem is that MS-DOS does not have a built-in memory management unless you look at boot time. Something like the HIMEM.SYS something like that. Otherwise, it takes ages to install windows XP street from MS-DOS.

[Allan]

Have older Pentium 3 machine. as I was having an impossible time getting it to boot up-I was able to reinstall MS DOS and now it boots up fine.
I can't get the CD Drive to be recognized so that I can reinstall Windows XP.
Any ideas?

When you say you can't get it to be recognized do you mean you can't boot from it or do you mean something else? Please be specific.

[floridal]

While the drive will light up=if I type in D: it says drive not recognized. From my gleanings of other threads it seems that changes may be needed to the autoexec.bat and config.sys files but I don;t know how to execute that .

[Allan]

You want to install XP, is that correct? Do you have an original retail XP CD?

[floridal]

yes i do and the original xp upgrade that they sent me. (lucky I have a laptop to access other info).
thanks for your interest in my problem

[Allan]

I'm not sure what an XP upgrade disk is. What does the disk say on the label?

[floridal]

the disc says microsoft windows xp Home Edition   Upgrade. it was sent to me not long after I originally bought this emachine 4130. I think that XP had many bugs in the original distribution.
 On the envelope-I have the original XP product code-so I have great hope to make this work -if I can get the cd drive to work again (as it did before the latest set of problems).
I also have the factory  Emachine Restore discs-but they are also cds.

[Allan]

Okay, here's where I think we are. First the good news - that disk should be bootable. Which means if you go into the bios and make sure the cd drive is the first device in the boot order, then insert the cd and reboot, you should be able to boot directly to the XP disk (go ahead and try if you like - that will clear your mind about the cd not being recognized).

Now the bad news. The XP update disk will do a clean install, but only if you can prove that you have a previous version of Windows. At some point during the installation process it will ask you to insert the CD for an earlier version of Windows before it can proceed. If they sent you the upgrade disk, does that mean you have another XP Disk?

[floridal]

I don't seem to be able to change the Primary Master from the hard drive.
Secondary IDE Master is :
Device ATAPI CD ROM
Samsung CD ROM SC-14
LBA Mode Supported
PIO Mode 4
Multiword DMA-2\UltraDMA-2

Type Auto
LBA Large Mode Auto
PIO Mode Auto
DMA Mode Auto
32 bit Transfer Enabled

If I can get the thing installed-I could probably download Windows Service Pack 3-instead of the Upgrade Disc-but both my XP discs were from Microsoft.

[Allan]

Now I'm confused. You have DOS installed. Do you also have a previous version of XP installed?
And who said anything about primary master anything? You need to go into bios and change the boot order, that's all.

Please - start at the top and tell us EVERYTHING that is going on. At this point I'm not sure what is installed on your computer, what disk you have, or what you are doing. Thank you.

[Salmon Trout]

If they sent you the upgrade disk, does that mean you have another XP Disk?

The t4130 originally came with Windows Millenium Edition. For an XP upgrade install the following operating system CDs will suffice as “Qualifying Media” for a clean install: Windows NT Workstation, Versions 3.51 & 4.0, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 95, Windows 98 (Original & Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition. By design, Windows 95 was not supposed to qualify, but due to a bug in the XP install routine, you can do a clean install (not an upgrade install) using, as proof of qualifying product, a Win95 OS disk.

[floridal]

The dos install formatted the hard drive-so the only thing in the directory is the ms-dos and associated items.
I do not understand how to get the Bios to change the boot order. When I enter the Bios and go to the device I do not get a way (that I understand) to change the boot order-or any way to get the CD (D drive) toi be recognized.
If I get the unit to see the D: drive-I think it would solve the problem.
Must go out for an appointment-will review the suggestions upon return. Thanks again.

[Allan]

Are you saying that the cd drive is not listed in the boot order? And do you have the original install disk from the previously installed version of Windows?

[Computer_Commando]

Make Changes to the Boot Order