I had similar problem before my win95 crashed (Just without the CD-ROM access problem). It sounds like win95 system problem to me (not everbody else fault but bill gates') The best way to solve it is format C drive and do everything again. (If you can make a cd-rom boot disk and get all s/w installation cd/disks and have data backup) If i can think anything else, I'll tell you. Good luck casey marion wrote: > Hi all, I was recently called to a friend's house to help them with a > problem they were having. Their computer, P-100 on a VX AOpen board, > kept getting "Illegal Operation" codes followed by a really buggy > system. Explorer.exe would not work, IE3 would not work, and the CD-ROM > would not access. > I opened the case and checked all the cables. CD-ROM on Sec., IDE, so I > slaved it to the Prim., IDE on the HDD.CD worked! But, then the A-drive > quit working?? > Nothing I've tried would get the a-drive to work. I tried three > different cable, and another "working" a-drive. Rebooted, and the CD > isn't recognized by WIN95 (b) anymore! > Checked system device mgr., and the secondary IDE shows a conflict. > Removed and re-installed IDE HDD controllers. > And, still, no luck. CD not recognized on sec., IDE/ A: will not read, > locks if try to access/ machine won't boot if CD slaved to Primary IDE > on HDD cable. > Afraid to reformat because I have no floppy access andno CD-ROM access. > Thoughts? it's a fairly new mobo [1 yr., old] and shouldn't be going > bad, but my next move might be a new mobo for them . . . > This problem originally started out as software related