Podge

Well, I can not tell from your post why you were successful previously--but there are some issues I see in what you have posted:

Quote:

You have the *device* command for gcdrom.sys, but your list of files only lists the *oakcdrom.sys* and the *gcdrom.sys* is not listed!  Can't run a program if it's not there!

Also, that command line does not specify a controller channel number--by default the *gcdrom.sys* will only check channel *zero*--the first channel if a channel is not specified.  If your SATA optical drive is on channel 1, it will not be found using the command you have used!  You need a separate *device=* line for each possible channel.  During the POST, your optical drive channel may be listed for you to see--but, it only shows for a moment as the system boots.

If you have extra *device=* lines for channels that do not have a SATA optical drive--it will just error out saying a drive was not found--no foul/no harm.

Here's an example:

[config.sys]

device=himem.sys
dos=high
lastdrive=z
device=usbaspi.sys /e /v
device=di1000dd.sys /dU
device=oakcdrom.sys /d:nightowl
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM000 /C0
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM001 /C1
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM002 /C2
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM003 /C3
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM004 /C4

[autoexec.bat]

path=a:\;x:\;x:\ghost;x:\pqmagic
mouse.com
mscdex.exe /d:nightowl /D:CDROM000 /D:CDROM001 /D:CDROM002 /D:CDROM003 /D:CDROM004 /L:x /m:16 /v

List of files:

AUTOEXEC.BAT
COMMAND.COM
EDIT.COM
mouse.com
MSCDEX.EXE      (Assigns DOS drive letter to mounted PATA and SATA optical drives)
CONFIG.SYS
DI1000DD.SYS   (Assigns DOS drive letters to mounted external USB HDDs)
gcdrom.sys        (Mounts SATA optical drives)
HIMEM.SYS
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
OAKCDROM.SYS   (Mounts PATA optical drives)
Usbaspi.sys          (Mounts USB external HDDs)


GCDROM for DOS command line syntax


Notice, you have to have a separate optical device name (/D:12345678 ) (max of eight characters) for each line that is mounting the optical device, and that name has to occur in the *mscdex.exe* line in the autoexec.bat file as well.

The above DOS boot files should find, mount, and assign DOS drive letters to both PATA and SATA optical drives that may be present--but maximum of three, i.e. X, Y, and Z because the */L:x* in the *mscdex.exe* line forces DOS to begin optical drive letter assignment at X.  You can change that if you wanted to.

All the lines can be edited, included, or excluded depending on your needs--hope this helps.