Just bought myself an early Windows 98 equiped Compaq 1635 laptop for mapping and data logging.

It's in as new condition and all works fine except.. It has a floppy drive and a CD drive but when I go into 'my computer' it only shows the A drive (floppy) and C drive but not the CD drive, I have tried inserting a CD and the light on the drive illuminates and the cd whizzes round but nothing comes up on the screen.... Any ideas??

 

Sounds like the cd drive is knackered

 

If that was the case I would have thought it would still display the 'D' drive icon in 'my computer' section and simply not work when clicked?

 

sounds like the driver to the cd has disapeared.
Have u tried going on compac homepage and downloading a new driver?
Also THURALY check it for viruses before you go on

 

Depends if it can see the drive or not.

 

can it be seen in device manager?

 

Where do I find that?

 

control panel > system > hardware > cd/dvd drives

 

It's not listed in the Device Manager..

 

Can you remove it from laptop and re-insert it and see if it picks it up? should be a release catch on the side / bottom

 

you have probably found the reason why it was sold by the previous owner lol

 

I think it's secured internally..



Here's the device manager screen... Whats the two yellow exclamation marks for??

 

It's not a problem, I bought it barmy cheap to replace exactly the same type with a faulty floppy and riffy casing. I can make one out of the two if needed.

 

i'm no expert at all, just messed around a bit at home, but this is what i'd do:

if it's not in device manager then it needs to be. as said, try reconnecting it, although it sounds as if it is connected otherwise it wouldn't spin up etc.

if that doesn't find it, right click in device manager and scan for hardware changes to see if it picks it up. if it finds it, it will either automatically install the driver if present (unlikely, or it probably would have done it by now) or you will have to install it.

if it doesn't find it, you may be add it manually by going to 'add hardware' in the control panel.

also, on boot up it should be found in the BIOS before windows loads. you should get a prompt like 'F11' or something when you first fire it up that takes you into the BIOS. go in there and see if it can be found

EDIT - the yellow exclamation marks are because those bits of hardware are not working properly. maybe just need drivers re-installing or maybe a hardware fault

 

laptops are inherantly difficult to fix most people seem to have accidently dropped them and claim on their house insurance

 

Its windows 98 so there is your main problem. there is a option in the control panel to scan for new hardware as 98 will sometimes, not auto detect.

 

ps I would download the drivers from the Manufactures web site.

That seems to be the problem

 

I reckon you need to sort out those exclamation marks first on those hardware devices. They are the controllers for the hard disk & CDROM drives. Fix them & you'll probably find the CD drive will then show up & work.

Download the motherboard drivers from the Compaq website - what model is it?

 

Spot on that man It's now sorted, it turns out that when I originally booted it up the battery was flat and it died almost straight away so I plugged it into the mains and tried again but for some reason it didn't boot up properly.. One re start later and it's sorted.

Pectel datalogger loaded and working



Thanks for all the help guys

 

if you ever get the yellow exclaimation marks in device manager .. they have to be sorted first really as it effects the day to day running of the machine and causes faults with other parts.

most of the bits i get are from www.pcrus.co.uk incase