IDE Controller and CD-ROM problem

[Belwarrior]

I am losing my hair over this (sorry if it is draggy).
The motherboard in question : MSI K7T266 Pro (not the A version) latest bios
The problem : Win98 refuses to recognize the cdrom on its own. If i force it using dos drivers the cdrom works in win98 however it goes into ms-dos compatibility mode and i cant install software that uses long filenames..(the biggest problem) and games eg, diablo II refuses to recognize the cd.

I narrowed the problem to (Under device manager) Primary and Secondary IDE controllers having the !. Windows reported that there is either a hardware problem or incomplete driver installation (code 10). The funny thing is that the Parent Device "VIA Bus Master IDE Controller" has no problems, I believe the hardware is okay as I can detect the cdrom in bios and can boot up the system with it and even copied files in DOS.

I tried updating the drivers (via 4in1s) but to no avail. I even did a clean install (re-Fdisked and formated). Has any of you guys encountered this before?

[The PIT]

Dreaded via chipsets. Do you install the via ide drivers striaght away? Have you checked to see whether everything is okay before you install the via drivers? Have you tried disconnecting the cd rom drive to see if the exclemation marks disappear?

[Yanee]

Hi!

If I were u I would try 580_3011.zip or 3012 from via's site.
I prefer this driver because the driver from 4in1 4.34 doesnt install properly on my system.
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2

[Greebe]

http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/4in1/4in1437v(a).zip

[DentyCracker]

What model CDROM? Is it ATAPI compliant? Try moving it around (PS, SM, SS). IDE devices can be very temperamental, esp. older ones.

[cjolley]

You might also try looking in your registry for a string value called "NOIDE".
If this is set to true then Windows will exibit this behavior.
If you find it, then just delete it.
Chuck

[The PIT]

You can also look under safemode to see if theres any dupclicate entries for the hard disk controller as this can stuff it up.
Another to do is install the via drivers manaully as sometime windoze doesn't pick these up even though the files are installed.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

Originally posted by cjolley
You might also try looking in your registry for a string value called "NOIDE".
If this is set to true then Windows will exibit this behavior.
If you find it, then just delete it.
Chuck

I agree with Chuck. look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\VxD\IOS
if you see a value named "NoIDE". Delete it, close regedit and reboot!

[Belwarrior]

Thank you guys,
I'll try what Ayoub and chuck's suggestions first thing once i reach my workplace..

Denty, it is an Aopen 50x cdrom and it is working perfectly in a another system of similar config. I havent moved it around though as i had left it at PS.. will try that as well.

Bel.

[The Rock]

I had the same type of thing happen to me recently, and I think I twisted my IDE cable one too many times the wrong way and killed it. You might consider that too; good thing their relatively cheap.

Bart