A1200 CD rom install issues

[scuzzb494]

I haven't personally installed this as I bought the machine and it already had the OS on it...  I can see a folder that says IDEfix, but no idea if it has been installed or not..  And not sure exactly how to install it..   I figured it was installed but no way to know for sure.. (I kinda figured that if the machine had IDE it had to be installed to work..)  Is that not the case?

Use a text editor and open the user_startup and see if there is an entry for IDEFix. Also check the main startup file. IDEFix has a self installing program that not only installs the software but autodetects the devices that you have. You also I assume have the device drivers and libraries installed. Something like DOpus is very useful for checking libs and such as it will also read the mount list and check what libs are being called up. Also the old two mouse button down on boot will tell you what you have mounted. If they don't appear then sounds like your OS hasn't got the software installed to mount the device.

Dunno which OS you are running but there maybe a CD0 in the DEVS DOSDrivers drawer. Some of the file systems don't use the DOSDrivers from that location. Sorry... would need more information on your system really.

[scuzzb494]

OK, I installed IDEfix and was able to get one of my standard IDE CDROMs to work (But of course the slot load drive specifically purchased for this project will not work) Sigh
Anyway, went on to install the easynet software (which is why I needed a CDROM drive to work)  Got Easynet up and running finally and can ping the machine from my network. Also loaded the PCMCIA transfer software so i can use CF cards to copy files over from my PC until I can get the network software to work...  

Sooo, I copy the Aexplorer files to the PC and shut it down so I can plug the PCMCIA wireless card in, restart the machine.. And now it won't boot..  Flashes like crazy so it is reading from the CF, but after about 30 seconds it simply quits..  NO IDEA why as it was working just fine before, and all I did was copy some files to the desktop.. Didn't even get a chance to run them so why did it die on me now?

The joys of 30 year old hardware..
Anyway, did make some progress and really appreciate the troubleshooting tips..

Yeh.. That's why we do it. Seems you have to have a whole bag of failure to make the joy of it all working pure joy. Just back track what you did. Make a healthy list of notes and then just when you think you have had enough, take a break and just reflect. And always remember its probably not the kit at fault.... seems to be more my errors in the end. The 1200 wasn't really designed with CF at its core so you can't blame the computer.

You'll get there, and when it works you will be over the moon.

Have fun.