SCSI Compag Prosignia 500,cdrom driver problems

[angelface5]

Hi
I am new here so don't really know if this is the right place to put this post.

I have this old computer, about a 96 model. It is a Small Computer System Interface, where all device ,such as hard drive, cdrom,etc. are hooked up to one long flat cable. It is a little different from a typical pc. It has a 150 mhtz Pent. processor, two 2gig hard drives,No OS yet. Did have 95 on it. Been formatted, fdisked, and now i can't get it to recognize the cd-rom driver from the start up disk. Says "no device driver selected" when booted from a 98 or 95 boot disk.

If anyone knows anything about SCSI systems and how to get this cd-rom to work I would be so greatful.If you need more info just say so.:cheesy: :-S

[Alfons]

Although the device drivers are all on the W98 Startup disk (not sure about the W95), they aren't installed for the SCSI CD-ROM.

I'll need to have access to my computer with a SCSI CD-ROM to be able to check out the correct modifications for the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on the startup disk, so I won't be able to post a complete answer until this evening (it's now 1:20pm here).

If you view this before I can get back, it would be nice to know if the CD-ROM does work and what make it is.

You're going to have problems finding drivers to run on this machine. It's a Compaq Proprietary design and a Server besides so the chances of finding drivers that will work on Windows 9X are going to be slim. The Compaq support site doesn't show any support for 9X, but if you want to run NT then you'll find it all there.

What OS were you planning on installing and what were you planning to use it for?

How many hard disks are on this machine and what's there size?

[angelface5]

Thanks anyway, but I decided that it wasn't worth all the trouble. I have been trying to find the driver for a month now and can't find it anywhere.
I really am thankful for the effort anyway. i checked out the compaq sites too and it said this perticular pc was retired anyway so it would be hard to do anything with. It was just a learning project anyway so no lose.:-S Thanks again
Angelface

[Alfons]

If you want the learning experience, you should go back to the Compaq Support page and get the Compaq System Configuration Utility. The download makes 4 disks (at least it did for the old servers I've worked on) and the first disk is a boot disk. Run this utility and rebuild the configuration files that were probably trashed when the disk was cleaned. This should give you all the basic "Real Mode" drivers that you want.

The W98 Startup disk doesn't have the drivers to access the built-in SCSI Host Adapter and it appears that the SCSI Drivers that it does try aren't recognized by the Compaq device - I'd forgotten about this & tried the Adaptec drivers as well as the SCSI CD driver on an even older Compaq Motherboard, and you're right the Startup Disk doesn't start the CD-ROM.

Don't throw out the SCSI parts, they're useable with any SCSI II Host adapter. The low end Adaptec ISA or PCI cards are very cheap and you normally won't need to look for drivers for them since most of the Windows Installation & Startup disks already have them.

[Alfons]

On the Download page (Compaq Support) if you select MS-DOS as the operating system, you can get a download of DOS SCSI Utilities which appear to have the full set of the needed drivers that you're looking for.

The System Configuration Utility is there too.

[angelface5]

Thank you for your response, but I already did that. Nothing I tryed worked.I been through it all in the past month. Believe me it was a good learning experience. I sold the computer today to a guy that said he would, just use it for parts or put win 3.1 on it. I have part of win 3.1 disk 1-5, but I don't have the rest.I believe there are 7 disks to it. Anyway he can use and I figure I learned enough and I couldn't get it to work the cdrom anyway.:rolleyes:
So, thanks a whole bunch anyway.:-S :) :D :cool:

[Alfons]

I have part of win 3.1 disk 1-5, but I don't have the rest.I believe there are 7 disks to it.

Windows 3.1 has 6 Disks - 5 disks for W3.1 and 1 for the printer drivers. Note: W3.1 has no Networking Capability, that comes with Windows For Workgroups (W3.11).

W3.11 has 9 disks which include the printer driver.

W3.11 Upgrade has 8 disks - no printer driver, it uses what you installed in 3.1

The First 5 disks will give this person W3.1 but first he will have to get DOS running on that computer with those drivers that are on that disk. If you know him, tell him that he first must run the Configuration Utilities which might help in figuring out which SCSI drivers are needed. They all need to be there because that package is provided to get the system running in DOS before installing an Operating System such as NetWare.