Thanks for your response....here are some answers...I should have included
them in the original request....

> Before doing anything too major, you might want to boot with a Win98 start
> up disk and see if your CD drive is recognized and works under DOS.

I have no bootable Win98 CD, nor do I have a 3.5" drive (I never bothered to
install one when I rebuilt our computers during the last upgrade cycle).
The best I can do is check from command mode.

> Does your CD drive still show up in Windows Explorer?  Does it show up in
> Hardware Devices?  If no to those questions, when you boot the system, can
> you watch the BIOS ennumeration process and see whether it is detecting
> the
> CD ROM when it detects the IDE devices?

The CD is shown as available and working in the hardware configuration.

The CD is properly detected by the BIOS during startup.

In Explorer, it shows available, but with no CD in it.  When I click to
explore the CD, I get a popup asking for me to insert a CD into the drive.

> John Sproule
>

>> I'm having a problem.  My IDE config looks like this:  On IDE-0 I have a
>> master hard drive only; on IDE-1 I have a master hard drive and a slave
>> CD.
>>
>> All of a sudden the other day, my CD began to fail to detect the CD in
>> it's
>> tray.  I tried the obvious first and put in another CD (both game
>> CD's...Civilization & Emperor)...same problem.
>>
>> I tried to get a directory of the CD from command (DOS) mode, I get a
>> drive
>> not ready error (typically a missing disk)...probably not a windows
>> driver
>> (?).
>>
>> Ok, this is beginning to sound like a hardware problem.  I rustle around
>> in
>> the closet and find an old (but not too old...48x) CD and stick it
>> in...exact same symptom.  I decide that because both masters are working,
>> I
>> could check the cable by switching the two IDE cables.  Same problem.

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