Jump to content

Can't read dvd drive in DOS mode


Fredledingue

Recommended Posts


AFAICR, it's irrelevant whether CD or DVD as the internal "pointers" are what truly matters. Test it out with a Boot Floppy (ie EBD) and if it works with that (pop a DVD in), just modify accordingly. Bear in mind that if you have multiple CD/DVD drives, you'll have to have multiple lines in the BAT/SYS...

:blushing: I stand corrected (jaclaz below, and yes the utility shown works...)

Edited by submix8c
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey peeps are you joking or WAHT? :w00t:

The good MS guys must have had a really GOOD crystal ball to make MSCDEX.EXE compatible with something that WAS NOT EVEN INVENTED at the time. :whistle:

SHSUCDX might be more appropriate ;):

http://johnson.tmfc.net/dos/shsucdx.html

Homesite at the moment down:

http://adoxa.110mb.com/

Original site gone for good:

http://www.geocities.com/jadoxa/shsucdx/

Still available ;):

http://www.reocities.com/jadoxa/shsucdx/

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SHSUCDX is the best idea. But it's just the installable CDFS driver. So you'll also need to previously load a driver for the hardware itself, and it depends on whether you have an IDE (=PATA), SATA, USB or FireWire connected drive. You'll find most of them collected here and here. That's all you need for CDFS-formatted optical media. Now, if the DVD is formatted as UDF, I'm not sure you can read it from DOS. I think SHSUCDX does not implement UDF, but I may be wrong here. Check its readme.text and version history for it. Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dir g:

invalid drive specification

You didn't load the drivers for MS-DOS to access the drive.

So you'll also need to previously load a driver for the hardware itself, and it depends on whether you have an IDE (=PATA), SATA, USB or FireWire connected drive.

Correct. I think that it's also important to add that OAKCDROM (And similar IDE CD-ROM drivers) only works for IDE optical drives. They won't recognize or detect optical drives installed on other buses (e.g USB, IEEE1394, SATA). You need to install and load the appropriate drivers for your bus (And optical drive) if OAKCDROM does not work for your system.

The good MS guys must have had a really GOOD crystal ball to make MSCDEX.EXE compatible with something that WAS NOT EVEN INVENTED at the time.

OAKCDROM and MSCDEX work with DVD-ROM drives (In fact, all drives I've seen so far).

DVD-drives are actually similar to CD-ROM drives, work similarly, and share the same ISO9660 filesystem. However, the media, laser and some parts of the DVD-drive are different to support the new DVD medium (CD-ROMS have a lower density).

If DVD-drives were really so different, then you can't boot from a DVD drive from the BIOS of a old PC, as some old BIOSes were made in the era of CD-ROM dominance (Pre-2000, but you CAN boot from DVD drives installed on such machines.). They actually can't tell the difference between a DVD-ROM and CD-ROM device, but only identify them as a "ATAPI CD-ROM device" (Depending on your BIOS).

I even managed to get MSCDEX to work with my external USB DVD-RW DL writer.

I had to use USBASPI.sys, usbcd.sys and load MSCDEX.exe to access it though.

Now, if the DVD is formatted as UDF, I'm not sure you can read it from DOS.

You can't view UDF-formatted discs from MS-DOS and old versions of Windows (Pre-Windows 98 I believe) without 3rd-party software installed.

You may not even be able to view Joliet filesystems. I think that MS-DOS only supported ISO9660 out-of-the-box with MSCDEX loaded and resident.

You'll need some other software to read UDF and Joliet filesystems from MS-DOS.

Edited by sp193
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may not even be able to view Joliet filesystems. I think that MS-DOS only supported ISO9660 out-of-the-box with MSCDEX loaded and resident.

You'll need some other software to read UDF and Joliet filesystems from MS-DOS.

Yep, that's what I meant. :blushing:

MSCDEX was released long before the ISO9660-1999 extensions were out, and a large number of DVD, even if not using UDF, use the isolevel only present in the extensions.

http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/udf.htm

http://old.nabble.com/FreeDOS-reads-DVD-di...td14611122.html

I don't think there is anything capable of UDF on CD/DVD for "pure" DOS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format

Maybe sometimes the good FreeDOS guys will make one. :)

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to instruction I have to create a file "dosstart.bat" with the line:

MSCDEX /D:mscd001

("mscd001" is the cd-r drive name mentioned in config.sys)

When I restart in MS-DOS, it fails and says:

Device Driver not foud: "mscd001"

No valid CDROM drive driver selected

What should I do?

Edited by Fredledingue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried SHSUCDX and it doesn't work neither:

Cannot find "mscd001" driver. SHSUCDX33 cannot load.

It's like DOS ignores config.sys...

Are you sure the path to whatever driver you're invoking in the config.sys is set right ?

Can you get the config.sys ran line by line at boot to see if there is any error reported and that the line is not ignored (you don't have a multiboot setting)? I can't remember what you need to do that, man I feel old now. I think you had to hold Shift for safe mode then choose one of the options.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may not even be able to view Joliet filesystems. I think that MS-DOS only supported ISO9660 out-of-the-box with MSCDEX loaded and resident.

You'll need some other software to read UDF and Joliet filesystems from MS-DOS.

Yep, that's what I meant. :blushing:

You all ought to heed jaclaz, he sure knows what he's talking about.

SHSUCDX does understand Joliet and accepts non-standard things like lowercase letters in CDFS.

I've switched to SHSUCDX a long time ago (from v. 1.4b, of 2000, by John H. McCoy... by now, I use v. 3.03E, of 2009, by Jack R. Ellis), and never since did use MSCDEX anymore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ponch,

I can access the dvd drives (there are 2) in windows and even in a dos prompt under windows. It means I can access these drives in DOS when windows is running. I just can't when restarting in DOS mode. So I assume the config.sys settings are correct.

They might have to be different in DOS mode perhaps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I assume the config.sys settings are correct.

Let's for the moment assume they are not. (under the logic that IF they were, you would have it working) ;)

http://www.computerhope.com/cdromd.htm

Either use the above or post BOTH your Autoexec.bat AND config.sys.

Also, pay particular attention to the part:

REM

Occasionally, Windows or other software programs may place REM in front of the CD-ROM lines within either the autoexec.bat or the config.sys. This tells the computer to skip this line as the computer is booting. Ensure that this is not in front of your CD-ROM lines.

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...