MS-DOS Compatibility Mode?

hi,
for some reason, both my hard drives are now running in MS-DOS Compatibility Mode. i read through the Help file, but my Config.sys only has HIMEM.sys and EMM386.exe in them. Autoexec.bat is blank. what could be the cause of this? both my hard drives are also no longer listed under Device Manager. any assistance is appreciated.

i have them connected to two separate IDE controllers, with both set as single masters. the IDE controllers do support RAID 0, but i don't think i'm utilizing them. i did recently uninstall this 'Promise IDE controller Win98' entity under Add/Remove Programs. could this be the cause? if i reinstall, my computer locks up, which is why i uninstalled it. here are my system specs if it helps:

Windows 98SE
Asus A7V133
Athlon Thunderbird 1.33 GHz
Sound Blaster Live!
C: Drive - old 13 gig IBM
D: Drive - Western Digital WD1000

only the C and D drives are in MS-DOS Compatibility Mode.

edit: just tried installing a different set of Promise IDE Controller drivers, the ones that came with the MB. still no dice, although my computer doesn't lock-up anymore in Windows. can someone tell me what the latest version of these drivers are? the set that locks up my computer are v160b33.zip, where can i download the latest? and someone suggested in another thread to use Microsoft's own IDE Controller drivers. where can i find those? tried searching microsoft.com with no results.

edit2: nope, locks up even with the drivers from the Asus CD. any idea why? i tried the newer one at promise.com and still locking up. is it because both drives are set as masters?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by knight0 on 03/11/02 04:58 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

Both as master shouldn't be a problem, but I would recommend putting the faster drive on as C: for system speed.

Windows drivers should be on the windows disk. If you can check out your drivers (if any) in your device manager, for both drives and the controllers, that may help.

Check out the Microsoft knowledge database and the Promise website.

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A shot in the dark here. Have you messed with your ACPI / force options in the BIOS. "P n' p aware operating system".

Might be worth a try tinkering here. Write down your previous stuff first.

I've provided a couple of links for you which may help.

<A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q138899" target="_new">Link 1</A>

<A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q130179" target="_new">Link 2</A>

It may be pointing to something a wee bit ominous. One thing that bothers me is the first statement in your first post:

This could easily point to a virus. In fact a boot sector virus may be the problem. Check out the links and see if any of it is akin to your problem.

The command FDISK/MBR is apparently the best way to rid yourself of a boot sector virus, but I'm not sure what it does to drives with data on them. Sorry. I've never (touch wood) needed to use the command.

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