Dear Listers,

I wonder if any of you can offer suggestions on how I might solve the
following problem.

I've got a Micron P100 running Windows 95 4.00.950a, with 32 MB RAM and
Creative Sound 32 v 2.03. My original 4x Sanyo CDROM died mid-January & I
replaced it with a Toshiba 6102B 24x.  All was well for 6 weeks. About 2
weeks after adding PowerToys with FlexiCD, my Cd-Rom stopped functioning,
for either audio or data CDs. Device Mgr said it was okay. Both Sound
Blaster and Windows CD Player would start when clicked, but both would show
that no disc was present, even when one was. I deleted FLexiCD. Changed
file association to point first to SoundBlaster, then to CD Player. Deleted
the CDROM from Device Mgr and let Windows redetect. Tried adding new
hardware, but the Wizard was looking for a *.inf file and there was none on
the Toshiba disk. Tried reloading Windows from the cab files but the
installation (whether custom or standard) would stop, looking for the CDROM
(I realise now I should have changed the registry pointer from D: to the
cab files path). Expanded the cdplayer from the cab files; tried
downloading cdplayer from MS site (done both in normal and safe modes); all
to no avail. Finally, the supplier offered to swap the cdrom for a Matshita
CR-585. I installed it and the driver QCD (Creative QuickCD 1.44) and the
CDROM finally functioned with both audio and data. At least it does in
Windows: at the C prompt (not within windows) it gives me invalid drive
specification. Device Mgr says it is functioning fine, and if I open a DOS
window, I can switch to the CDROM. *However* the CDROM does *not* show up
in My Computer, in Explorer, nor can I browse to it from the Run line (I
can however type the Drive letter in and it will run that way). On the
other hand, Dr Solomon sees it fine when I go to scan my drive. Have
checked and all the connections are firm.

Am quite at my wits end; any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

Safi Newman
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