Usb Cd Drive Doesn't Work On Win98 Pc

Hi! I have a Win98 computer at my mother's house, and it has a broken CD-ROM drive. I installed a USB CD-RW drive on it, and, at first, the computer didn't detect it. I got the Add Hardware wizard to detect the drive, but I think I installed the wrong driver, and the drive didn't appear in My Computer. How do I install the drive? If necessary, how do I find and remove the existing driver?

 

Check the manufacture for drivers or try
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-install-usb-mass-storage-device-on-windows-98/

 

This is the driver that I used to use on 98SE and it worked on every USB hw that I installed. It also works on 98FE (First Edition)

http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php

 

Will the general-purpose USB driver work on a CD-ROM drive?

 

On a USB CD-Rom drive. Well I never had the opportunity to test one out as I retired using 98SE before having / using one. But it detected cameras, USB thumb drives and others.....

 

I thank you for your correction.

 

Does anybody know how to hook up a USB CD drive to a Win98 computer?

 

Did you even try the suggested drivers?

 

I tried the USB optical device driver. It still doesn't work.

 

If you put an USB memory stick in. Does it show up and your able to access it? If so, I'm thinking the USB is fine and not part of the problem.

Some versions of Win 98 needed a C/D rom driver. This link might help. It shows to download to a floppy. Then restart with the boot disk in. It will install the C/D rom driver.

-> https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-windows-boot-disk/98-se

 

Forgot to ask. Did the USB CD-RW come with an install disk? Or floppy?

 

Flash drives work. I will DL the program now. And no, the USB CD drive did not come with a driver disk. It came with a CD with special software, though.

 

The CD-ROM drive was made for more modern systems. I will try the floppy the next time I return to my mother's house where the Win98 computer resides.

 

Try this driver..
http://hddguru.com/software/2006.02.09-USBASPI-MS-DOS-Driver/
Supports USB (OHCI/UHCI) and High Speed USB (EHCI) external Mass Storage devices such as hard disk drives, CD/DVD-ROM, flash disks and flash cards attached via card-readers.
Also read this https://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm

 

I am not looking for a DOS driver; I'm looking for a Win98 driver.

 

I had a look in foogoo's suggestion
Also read this https://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm


and came across...
TESTIMONIALS

From jorj:
I unpacked the zipped file usbdrive.zip on my desktop. Then I looked in it and noticed there are [5] usbaspi.sys and 2 usbcd.sys files. Randomly I took usbaspi1.sys and usbcd1.sys and placed them into win98 startup cd, together with the autoexec.bat and config.sys files, which repalced the original bat/sys files on the startup disk. Then I ran the startup disk and watched the screen. It worked right from the start.

It might be relevant, I thought.
Good luck with the task.
s.

 

Right but there is a chance that Windows will see it since it has a DOS driver.. see Stephen gets it. So instead of you looking at the info you just posted this? Look for a spoon fed solution?

 

The file you need in the boot disk is OAKCDROM.SYS . Win 98 SE that includes a RAMdrive. That's the one you'll get in the link.

I believe the oakcdrom.sys includes other things beside the C/D driver written as a dos command so win 98 can see it. Like a file with many dos commands within.

Stephen_c16, foogoo and risk_reversal are spot on. I missed the auto and config Stephen. "With the autoexec.bat and config.sys changes." . If you look at the link below, compare the Win 98 SE files he listed on size. With and without the Ram drive. ->

https://www.allbootdisks.com/disk_contents/98.html

I don't think spoon fed. More of a I don't want to make a mistake. Years ago I struggled with the same thing helping other friends computer probs. Tuff to wrap your head around that dos is a base, Windows 95 and up were made so it could associate with base dos. No base dos command, win 95 on up could not associate.

Harrypotter, You could try downloading the file to a flash drive. In the bios of your mom's computer. Change the boot order to USB 1st. Restart with the flash drive in. Or the original plan with a floppy.

 

Harrypotter, For what it's worth. On my spot on comment, they are trying to help. I'm not the be all answer, just posting what I know. They are light years ahead of me on knowadge. They see 2 issues. My asking, I see one. USB works.

Back round. Time frame. Win 3.1 was out and going to Win95. Three of us were friends learning computers at the time. One chose learning dos, one chose hardware install, and drivers. I chose how to use a program. We used each other to make things work. Who remembers here on a virus we couldn't get rid of. Found the bad file and edit to put rem space in front of the file name to ignore the file and good to go?

If I can remember, years ago with Win 98. I knew how to reload win98 going to the cab files. Without a disk. Command prompt if I remember right. Changing the directory on seperate steps. In dos. C:Windows-> CD-> space every time? /C: enter. At C:-> CD /Windows enter. Get the C:/windows-> then CD /or \ forget. Options then enter than get the C:Windows/Options. Then type CD /cabs. Got the C:Windows/Options/Cab. Then type setup or install, if that didn't work.

You would then get a screen that looked like you put in an original full 95 or 98 disk. Saved everything and reloaded any corrupt drivers or programs.

The cab file was an unaltered full version of windows you initally loaded. When you went to file checker SFC.exe it would replace a corrupt file from the cab file.

 

I downloaded the USBASPI software, but there will be a problem: the CD drive has to compete with flash drives used for work and downloads. Therefore, the CD drive won't always be available. I only have two USB ports, and one is used for a flash drive that acts as a second hard drive. Will it still work, or does the CD drive have to be plugged in on start-up? I have some USB hubs, though, and can use one on the Win98 computer. However, it didn't work with a flash drive. Any insight?

 

Do you have the Windows 98 CD?

 

I don't, but I can get an ISO on-line.

 

I'm guesstimating the Win98 computer is 20 years old. The CD-ROM drive is broken, and it's just a matter of time before the next hardware component retires.
Why don't you run Windows 98 in a virtual machine?

 

You're right, but I have no idea what you mean by "virtual machine." I use the Win98 computer for fun and programming.

 

Oracle's VirtualBox
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/virtualbox.html

VMware Workstation Player
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/vmware_player.html