I have an older external cd-rom <circa 1992> that requires a 
parallel-to-scsi adaptor cable to opperate it......

I have managed to install the software for the cable itself, but it 
refuses to recognize the drive as being connected <even though power
from the drive is all that's allowing the computer to recognize
the existence of the cable>


what now??????

<I  REALLY  need a CD-ROM cause I can't find auto cad 14 anywhere on disk
......and I"m already spending $350 on the program...cheap is the key>

26 responses total.

Well, you could have a friend move all the install files onto a spare hard
disk, or a Zip disk, or just loan you a compatible CD-ROM long enough to copy
the files.  Then run the install off the hard drive!

Is the termination on the CD ROM drive correct?  Do you have the drivers for
the CD ROM drive loaded?

I"m not sure what you mean by termination...but the drivers won't load
unless the adaptor cable says something is on the other end of the cable

A terminator is a dohicky that plugs into the second port on the
drive that provides the proper impedance match for the cable. Many
drives are self-terminating, but old ones might not be. 

ahhhh...so it might look like a little plastic box thing, that someone
who didn't know bwtter might assume is just there to keep a poert from being 
err   getting dirty?   in that case, I"ve got the one that came with the
drive........

I checked the connectionds on the cable last night, and they "look" ok,
how might I tell if the drive is bad?

Yeah, your description of a terminator sounds about right.

hint:  little plug cover things don't have metal contacts, while terminators
do.

Is the drive ID set to that of the computer's HD (0) or the CPU (7)? I guess
you can't set 7...but what is it set to?

I"ll take a wild guess and say that tyou mean:

"What number is the little white arrow thing in the little black box 
labeled SCSI-ID pointing at"


and say: 

"0"

What should it be?

This is an external paralel port SCSI controller, with no other SCSI devices
on it, right?  In that case, anything except 7 will work, so 0 should be fine.
If you have multiple SCSI devices, make sure the SCSI IDs are unique.

My internal HD is 0 (but I'm on a Mac with a scsi port, which recognizes
the internal drive). Set that ID to "1" anyway, and give it a try. Also,
do you power up the drive *before* the computer? At least with am external
HDs on which the system resides you may have to start the HD first, so it
becomes readable in time for the bootup sequence to find it. I don't know
if this matters as much for an external CD-ROM, but it must certainly be
on before booting the computer.

cool...that'll give me something to try

There's a difference between an internal controller with an external port
(which is what Rane is talking about), and an external controller.  SCSI
devices only have to be unique on a given controller, so if toking has only
one device on his external SCSI controller (not an internal port on an
internal controller), than what Rane is saying doesn't apply to this
situation.

grrr.....tried changing the number thing...still doesn't recognize the
existence of the drive...

any other suggestions?

How about yor parallel port?  Is it set up correctly (address and IRQ
settings.) and working?  You may want to try a different parallel card too.

and now for a completely unrelated question


on my mother board:

there are slots that look like this:    [    ][  ]

and I've seen slots that look like this: [    ]

but, also on my mother board are slots that look like this:
                     [    ][  ]{  }{ }

what are thos ones for?

Vesa bus?  Could you describe them a bit better?

That would be my guess.  An attempt at a faster bus.  It was much
faster, but fairly difficult to get all the compatibility issues worked
out.  Just about the time they did along came PCI, a much faster and
self configuring bus standard.

Well, there was EISA in between VESA and PCI, but I feel dirty just thinking
about how *that* standard was used...

well....ok....the [  ]  and [    ][  ] are the slot I could plug like a modem 
or SCSI card or something into. They have the black plastic casings
surrounding all of the contacts

on the [    ][  ]{  }{ } I could probably plug the other things in,
but I have a {  } and a { } left over, these have a grey casing and the
contacts seem to be placed much closer together...I was just curious 
what sort of things ran out of them

Those are VESA Local Bus slots. The little grey (or brown) slots should be
close, or even right next to your CPU. I have one of those IDE/multi I/O cards
that plugs into a VLB slot. I like the thing. It might not be as fast as a
PCI card, but it has all the jumper settings printed on the back of the card,
so it's easy to configure. I've also seen video cards that used VLB. The
Elpina mainboard in my other PC has 1 ISA/VLB slot, 3 ISA slots, and 3 PCI
slots. The FIC Apollo board in the PC I'm currently using doesn't have a VLB
slot. At least you don't have a Micro-Channel board. (eeps!)

ok...now you've peaked my curiousity...whats a micro-channel board?

You mean "piqued" your curiosity??  ;)

Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) is what IBM came out with for the newer
beyond-AT line of PCs back in the 80's.  Since the original IBM PC bus
architecture was created from largely existing designs to save time, everybody
could create cards for it, stealing profits from IBM.  Also, there was a
16-bit limitation.  So, the 32-bit proprietary MCA architecture.  Not bad
engineering, but IBM was foolish to try to reestablish a proprietary system
when everybody else loved the fact that the old (ISA) archictecture *wasn't*
proprietary.

If you do get a PC with MCA, the best approach these days is to open the case,
disconnect the motherboard, and then jam the sharpest corner into your
abdomen.   ;)

O.K.  so I kan't speel, wats it mater?

how would one go about recognizing MCA? 

<my mother has bought a LOT of old computersto fix up and sell real
cheap, problem is she keeps calling me to help her and I'd like to be
able to tell her what is utter junk, and what is just kinda junk>

If it doesn't look anything like a PC (even the slots in the back for
connectors are different) then it may be MCA, or perhaps something completely
different.

It could at least be a doorstop. :)

<rotflmmfao>

thats what most of em are :)

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