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Use Your CD-ROM in DOS
This is in response to a question that was asked
in the I Need Help section of the February
02, 2000 issue of PCIN. The question was:
I can't read my CD-ROM drive when I restart in MS-DOS
mode. How do I fix this?
These are the suggest answers sent in by subscribers.
John Hills
This is because when in windows you are using a windows cdrom
driver and when in msdos mode you are needing a DOS cd-rom
driver. If you are using Win98 - copy off the windows
start-up disk the following files into the root directory
(c:\). OAKCDROM.SYS and MSCDEX.EXE
Amend your autoexec.bat and config.sys as follows:
Add this line to your autoexec.bat file
MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD000
Add this line to your config.sys file
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:MSCD000
This should work with most IDE CDROMS but if it does not then
you need to find the correct CDROM driver off the internet.
You would then replace the OAKCDROM.SYS with your new file
which would make the line read as follows:
device=correctdrv.sys /D:MSCD000
When you have finished in DOS, you may wish to REM out these
lines as they are not required in windows.
Will Chatham
When you boot into MS DOS, you don't have access to your CD
ROM because the drivers are not in the configuration file
that loads DOS. In WIN98, you can make a boot disk that
will put you into DOS with the option of loading your CD ROM
drivers. However, I think the drivers loaded may be a minimal,
generic set, not necessarily the ones for your exact CD ROM.
If you have the know-how, you can simply add the drivers for
your CD ROM dive to the bootdisk. As far as WIN 95 goes, you
will probably have to add the drivers into your config.sys
file manually.
Leeor Geva
You need to load the right drivers in autoexec and config.sys.
Unfortunately new drives do not come equiped with those drivers
& configuration, so you will have to ask tech support
on that particular drive.
Rafael Vargas
Your CDROM must have come with a 3.5" installation disk. Use
it to enable access to CD from DOS. If you don't have the
disk, look for your CDROM brand and use some search engine
on the web to look for their site; then scroll that place
for drivers to download, installation instructions or support.
Silvan
Windows automatically recognizes just about every CD-ROM drive
available. Therefore, there hardly ever is a need to install
DOS drivers that support CD-ROM (most people never leave Windows
to go to DOS). If you start MS-DOS Prompt from Windows, the
CD-ROM will function, as Windows is still active. Yet if quit
Windows and go to DOS, or boot your computer and never enter
Windows, there is no way Windows could help you support the
CD-ROM drive. At that time, a DOS driver is necessary. They
are usually supplied with the CD-ROM. However, if you have
a DOS driver active when in Windows, Windows will probably
function worse, as it is not built to use DOS-drivers for
a CD-ROM.
Rich Skelton
I had difficulty with this problem when I initially brought
home my P.C. When the C.D.-ROM driver is recognized and installed
using the Windows program,the computer can only use the driver
files when Windows is active. The CD-ROM drivers will
need to be installed from dos outside of the Windows shell
onto the hard drive, either directly C:\ or a rom driver folder.
My system seems to be partial to C:\Cdromdrv.
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