Dell Latitude Can't Load Windows - Need CDROM Driver

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

If the disk you created is a generic Win98 boot disk, it should give you the
option to start with cd rom support when you boot from the floppy. If it
successfully finds your drive, changing to the E: prompt should give you
access to the CDRom. If it does not recognize your CD drive, the CD drive
may be faulty. Only very old CD drives are not recognized by the included
drivers (Oak).
Download a generic Win98 boot disk or create it with another computer
running Win98.
Terry

"Janie" <Puffdream+ASD@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:220820041501001877%Puffdream+ASD@spamcop.net...
> In preparation for selling my used Latitude CPIr series Dell laptop, I
> ran Killdisk (killdisk.com), to wipe out all personal, financial, etc.
> data. The boot diskette I had made from the Dell website, however,
> doesn't have the driver needed (or it is corrupted?) to recognize the
> CD Rom drive, so I cannot reload Windows 98 from the CD.
>
> Present on the D: drive (a RAMDrive which the boot diskette creates as
> a temp drive for troubleshooting) are the following files:
> ATTRIB.EXE
> CHKDSK.EXE
> COMMAND.COM
> DEBUG.EXE
> EDIT.COM
> EXT.EXE
> EXTRACT.EXE
> FORMAT.COM
> HELP.BAT
> MSCDEX.EXE
> README.TXT
> RESTART.COM
> SCANDISK.EXE
> SCANDISK.INI
> SYS.COM
>
> The help file on the RAMDrive says that my "windows 98 startup disk
> includes generic ATAPI IDE & SCSI CD-ROM drivers that allow your CD-ROM
> to function at MS-DOS when the windows 98 GUI is not available."
> ("If your CD-ROM drive does not function with these drivers, you must
> use the drivers that came with your CD-ROM drive." I don't have (or
> have lost) any such drivers that came with this refurbished laptop.)
>
> I have already run:
> A:\ SCANDISK C: (no problems)
> A:\ SYS C:
> C:\ FDISK
> C:\ FORMAT C: /S
>
> Somewhere in my messing around, I got an error message saying that
> MSCDEX.EXE wasn't there?
>
> Can someone please tell me where I can download the needed driver? I
> have searched the Dell and MS sites for more than 15 hours combined,
> and can only find driver-related files that require Windows to execute
> (unzip) them.
>
> Thanks!
> Janie
>
> --
> The reason why rivers and seas receive the homage of a hundred mountain
> streams
> is that they keep below them. -- Lao Tse
>