BleepingComputer.com: cd drive problems

News flash, Computer found in king tuts tomb!

My wife came home with a computer the other day that a coworker gave to her. Its a IBM Aptiva with windows 98 on it. How old the computer is is anyones guess but it works. It has 2 drives. One for a floppy and one for a cd. neither one is marked as to which is which. I'm not familer with this system. I don't know how to get the cd drive to work, I'd like to try and put windows xp on this computer.

Anyone got any ideas on how and where I start?

Does the CD open when you press on the eject button? Does it show up under My Computer?
If it turns out to be defective, you may be able to find a used cheap replacement. As for putting XP on this computer, does it even meet the minimum hardware requirements for XP?

See this - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sysreqs/pro.mspx
Edit: Spelling

Joshuacat, on Nov 27 2008, 07:00 PM, said:

Thank you for your response! The cd drive (D:\) ? works fine. I used it to put peoplepc on here with no problem. I don't think windows xp will go on this computer so I had my daughter down load a fresh copy of windows 98 second edition onto a cd for me. When I try to put the new copy on here the drive D:\ dosent acknowlage that there is even a cd in the drive. What little I do know about computers was learned on a xp system so windows 98 is like a forean language to me! This computer came with a ton of downloaded junk on it. I have tried to delete the unessary stuff to speed up the computer but now feel I just need to start over with a fresh copy of windows 98. We do not have the origional windows cd. Just the code or prouduct key for it on the side of the computer. How do I wipe the computer clean and put on a fresh copy of windows 98 second edition? Thank you for your help!

Whats the model number of the IBM Aptiva?
Its on a sticker somewhere or sometimes on the front.

Before you go as far as a reformat we need to make sure that you have all the drivers you will need for video, sound, modem, network card etc. You could make it worse if you cant get everything to work again!
Using PeoplePC you are obviously using dialup

Eyesee, on Dec 22 2008, 05:36 PM, said:

Thank you for your response Eyesee, my modle number is on the back of the machine and it is BAA. Thats all it says!

There should be more to it than for the model number Buckshot
I would not go as far as formatting and reloading yet. You could make it much worse!

Checking the IBM website I cannot find any IBM Aptivas listed anymore.

Define more what the problem is.
Maybe it just needs a simple tuneup.

Eyesee, on Dec 24 2008, 08:00 PM, said:

well i wish i had gotten this message before i tried to format it!

I had to buy a whole new computer cuzz of you!

lol, I kid, I kid! I'm just joking with you! lol, All is fine, I've been gone!

I hope your Christmas went well?

Ok, lets see, first off heres what it says on the back on the computer.

machine type-2194
model no.-baa
s/n-fb1717a
mfg date-07b
and one long no. with a bar code-1s2194baafb171ta

Thats it!

One thing the computer does that annoys me is when I leave it ideal for a few minutes (like if I'm reading) I hear a squeaking noise come from the brain box, almost like a chirp and then the mouse turns into an hour glass and flips over and over. I have no control at all over the computer at that point, it will sit there and do that all night, the only thing I can do is hit the turn off button and start over.

Is that wired or what? When I hear that chirp I turn into the cowardly lion on the wizard of oz, I grab my tail, begin crying while I repeat out loud, I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks! lol What can I do?

HI was reading your post and can say without a doubt that you can put xp on your old computer or you can put both 98 and xp on it. i have mutiple machines that have both with the oldest being a ibm pc300 from 96 built for win95! i will check back and help if you decide to pursue using the old aptiva.{a word of advice, i noticed some ibms used bad caps in the mobos so eyeball the mobo and look at the caps{green or black round things standing up with two wires into mobo} the tops should be flat but if you see any domes throw the motherboard away {of course keep the rest of the parts} and by the way you might need a start up floppy disk for win98 or the set of floppies for xp if the computer does not support cd booting

hometech, on Jan 2 2009, 01:41 PM, said:

thanks hometech but for now i'm going to stay with 98 even though i hate it! I have too, I have two xp cd's but both say they are invalid! I guess because I tried to put them on this computer even though they are both registerd to my other computer, which by the way lie's just feet away in a perpetual coma because i tried to put a fresh copy of xp back on it. I wish I could fix it but I'll porobably have to buy anothger xp cd or worst, i'll have to buy vista.

signed: Doomed as Dommed can be! lol

hometech, on Jan 2 2009, 11:41 AM, said:

XP will work but it'll probably lag.
Best to just stay with 98..2000 is stretching it.