When System Restore Fails and All Drives are Inaccessible
I have 98SE on the system; it was running fine NP. Then I got verizon DSL and tried to hook up their Ethernet-to-USB adapter and the system freaked out. As I tried to install the drivers for the plug-n-play adapter, Windows kept asking for both 98 and 98SE original disks. I obliged, having both CD and DVD/CD optical drives available, but inserting both these disks as requested did not satisfy Windows.
Then both optical drives disappeared from view and access. I couldn't get them back. Microsoft support online doesn't address this problem, but the documentation there does suggest that 98SE does have problems USB conflicts. (Great, I wish I would have seen that earlier....)
So I tried cleaning out the USB conflicts by going in in Safe Mode to Device Manager and systematically, according to proceedure outlined by Microsoft, eliminating _all_ USB drivers and devices, as well as duplicate entries and leftovers from the past nolonger in use; _everything_ related to USB, and resetting the USB stacks.
I really thought that would correct the problem; it didn't! The optical drives appear in Safe Mode--they appear in the Device Manager in Safe Mode but the Device Manager doesn't list them at all in Normal Mode-- but each time I boot up in Normal Mode, it is as though they don't exist and I can not access them.
Ok, so then I tried going in through DOS and doing a system restore in the registry; nope, that didn't work either. System restore operation failed!!!
Also, I found that not only are the optical drives disappeared and inaccessable, but my floppy drive is _also_ inaccessible. While the floppy drive shows up as being there, when I try to put a disk in it, a message comes on the screen saying there is no disk in the drive, so it isn't reading.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get my drives back??? I could delete them from the system in Safe Mode where they at least appear, and then see what happens...
Then both optical drives disappeared from view and access. I couldn't get them back. Microsoft support online doesn't address this problem, but the documentation there does suggest that 98SE does have problems USB conflicts. (Great, I wish I would have seen that earlier....)
So I tried cleaning out the USB conflicts by going in in Safe Mode to Device Manager and systematically, according to proceedure outlined by Microsoft, eliminating _all_ USB drivers and devices, as well as duplicate entries and leftovers from the past nolonger in use; _everything_ related to USB, and resetting the USB stacks.
I really thought that would correct the problem; it didn't! The optical drives appear in Safe Mode--they appear in the Device Manager in Safe Mode but the Device Manager doesn't list them at all in Normal Mode-- but each time I boot up in Normal Mode, it is as though they don't exist and I can not access them.
Ok, so then I tried going in through DOS and doing a system restore in the registry; nope, that didn't work either. System restore operation failed!!!
Also, I found that not only are the optical drives disappeared and inaccessable, but my floppy drive is _also_ inaccessible. While the floppy drive shows up as being there, when I try to put a disk in it, a message comes on the screen saying there is no disk in the drive, so it isn't reading.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get my drives back??? I could delete them from the system in Safe Mode where they at least appear, and then see what happens...
Comment