OT. Win ME DOS driver for modern DVD drive

[bilsch]

I only want to read files with the drive. This is on a newer Dell
laptop. I am booting up a FAT12 image of a Win ME DOS system. It is
IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM with various DOS commands on it. I have
MSCDEX.EXE from Win ME.

The DVD drive is:
HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GU90N.

I need a driver for use with MSCDEX.EXE. Does any body know what might
work? TIA. Bill S.

[JJ]

For DOS, you'll have to enable legacy drive mode in the system
BIOS/firmware. Then use OAKCDROM.SYS which comes from WinME. The file can be
copied from below path if the FAT12 image doesn't have it yet.

C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EBD

[bilsch]

I don't seem to have such a setting in BIOS.

My files look like this. No CDROM driver works.

Config.sys

DeviceHigh=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
rem device=d011v200.sys /D:mscd001
rem device=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
rem device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001

dos=high,umb
files=10
buffers=10
stacks=9,256
lastdrive=z


autoexec.bat

@ECHO ON
path=a:\
LoadHigh DOSKEY.COM
LoadHigh MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /S /K /L:X /M:12
mouse.com

[Paul]

A modern laptop probably defaults to AHCI
on the SATA ports.

Older OSes need "Compatible IDE" emulation mode,
to fool the OS into thinking the older ports are
present and that the optical drive is a ribbon cable
IDE drive.

How this works, is the registers for the ports, "appear"
in "I/O space", rather than at a PCI bar (base address register).
The Compatible mode uses INT14 and INT15. The older OSes
know exactly where to look for things like that.

It's up to the hardware (Southbridge or PCH) to have
those modes, if there is an intention to run older OSes.

I've done what you're trying to do, but on older equipment.
The ICH5R on my P4C800-E Deluxe had both SATA and IDE cabling,
and it did have the necessary option for Compatible IDE,
where the control and data register were in the I/O space,
and accessible by I/O instructions.

This is an example in a Virtual Machine, showing
the mode an older OS might use.

https://i.postimg.cc/RC1mzYKj/compatible-ide.gif

It's not a trivial matter to get all these details right,
and the more modern the equipment, the harder it is to do.

Paul

[bilsch]

Thanks for the info Paul. I think it probably cant be done. You saved
me from wasting (more) time.

[JJ]

On Mon, 29 Apr 2019 21:22:00 -0700, bilsch wrote:
>>
> I don't seem to have such a setting in BIOS.

I haven't seen any, but there a possibility that the legacy/compatibility
drive mode is not supported by some computers (for the sake of reducing cost
to make them).

What's the model number and/or name of you Dell laptop?

[bilsch]

Dell Inspiron 15 3565

[Paul]

https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General-Read-Only/Dell-Inspiron-15-3565-Wireless-Adaptor-Missing/td-p/5149207

https://vjauj58549.i.lithium.com/community/s/legacyfs/online/en/communityserver.discussions.components.files/3518/4403.1ed9fe27-a5b6-4f99-b842-330416e162ec.jpeg

Press F2 early after startup, as it may allow entry into
the BIOS screen.

The BIOS type is "APTIO" brand.

There is an entry there "SATA Operation" in the picture.
It is shown in the picture as AHCI. Check there to see
what other options are available.

RAID (not likely, module code removed)
AHCI
Compatible IDE ?

My experience with DVD drives, is that older OSes (and their
drivers) may not know what a DVD drive is. And this can account
for booting problems, or problems accessing the device.

To get Linux on my 440BX chipset machine, I had to load it
on a hard drive first, then connect the hard drive to the
computer. Using this method, I was able to bypass the
inability to read/boot from DVD drive. A CD drive works fine,
but not a lot of medias now come on CD sized discs.

Make note of what you change in the BIOS, because you're
going to need to fix that, before booting your
other OSes.

Based on that picture, your BIOS appears to be "full featured",
as the BIOS screen has a total of five tabs.

Paul

[bilsch]

My BIOS has category 'SATA Operation'.
In that category there is only one choice - AHCI. That's what is.
Nothing else. So I can try it on a different computer and see what is
there. Thanks. Bill S.