Please help - I brought a system which had no operating system on it.. I want to install Windows but need to get the computer to recognise my CDRW drive first so i can install the CD.. I have loaded DOS on the computer but i cant seem to get the system to boot and recognise the CDRom Drive. I have a USB Iomega CD-RW DVD Rom Drive
I have searched for drivers but am not having any luck - I wonder if there is a generic driver i can use for anything else i m missing to get this to work.. i have MSCDEX.exe loaded - Am i missing something else ?

Please someone help - this is my last hope...

Thanks ...

Mscdex is only required for old operating systems like Windows 95a.

What is the operating system?

Unfortunately I only have DOS installed at the moment. I am trying to install windows but first i need it to recognise the USB CD-RW Drive that i have. That is my problem at the moment as I cant get the system to recognise that the drive exist.

I suspect the problem is because it is a USB drive.. any suggestions ?

Thanks... tearing my hair out !!!!

joegett

What Windows are you trying to install? Is it XP or 98 etc?

I'm no expert on this, but I think your Bios/motherboard must support booting from an external USB device.

Thanks for pointing that out... i am going to check if this is the case...

fingers crossed...

/joe

Yes, the bios is set to allow booting from USB Cd rom but when i try to do that it fails and says it cant find the device driver. I am assuming that this is because the Iomega USB CDRW DRive driver is not found ? Is this right ? The exact message is

Device Driver not found : 'OEMCD001'. No valid CDROM device drivers selected.

Please help .,...

It sounds like it needs the driver.

Go to Iomega's site and see if they have a driver for your model and operating system, and/or any manuals or info.

I've heard of a few people having the same problem and each time I find myself thinking, "for the sake of a few bucks, why can't a cheap CDROM be thrown in?"

Anyways, just as a matter of interest, have you tried the drive in different USB ports?

Ive always been quite dubious about USB CDROM booting, as your trying to use the drive before any USB driver software has been installed.

If the BIOS states you can boot from USB CD, then I'd contact the motherboard manufacurer (or tell me).

Q

This is normal - DOS does not have USB drivers installed so it doesnt know what you have connected.

You will need the DOS drivers for the drive to be seen - try this site:

http://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm

If that fails run a google on USB DOS drivers - I am sure I spotted IOMEGA DOS Drivers.

Good Luck.

bit hard to install windows with no cd rom why not borrow one ?