I did a little more than that.
I was going to change out the optical drive (after pulling the plug out of the wall - I unscrewed it and pulled the IDE ribbon out(carefully) and the 4 wire power cord.) The physical work.
I was planning to swap it with a optical reader(different make) from a different computer - so I did the same job there.
So, I switched them over as the Windows 98 computer had a slow motherboard speed(that is why I was doing the switch - to a faster machine).
I connected the CD reader to Win98 machine: the 40 pin IDE ribbon and power cord(the IDE can only go in 1 way so that is not backwards).

[ I fired the computer up but could not get past the password protection. This has nothing to do with the optical driver swap, except that when I could not get pass the password page, I heard that removal of the Cmos battery would wipe the password.
I removed the battery after first unplugging it from the wall so there was no juice. But it was late so I went to bed and did not put the battery in till the next day and plugged in the wall power.]

The other computer was having problems with the burner(but that is a seperate issue)

On the Windows98se machine, it could not see the CDROM. I know it was good as I just took it out of the other machine and walked 20 paces.

So, OK, fine. I exchanged them "back" again so everything should be normal. It was not. Windows 98se still can't see the CDRom. I used the same cables, I did not touch the jumpers. Nothing.
The only thing different was pulling the battery on the Cmos.
After pulling out half my hair, I decided to format C. hoping that would make drive D show up.
Formatted it thru the DOS programming.
Of course drive D does not show up.
I have power in the CD rom (the light) but the CD does not rotate.
I have been reading in your other letters about CD not being seen and about swapping out the IDE ribbon. I did. 3 ribbons. No difference. There was also a suggestion about switching the connectors on the motherboard. I did that and can hear the disk rotate(which it wasn't doing in its regular slot) but the pc complains about no hard drive being detected.
I am stuck here.

Second question. After formatting do I have to Fdisk drive C? or something?
It does not matter if I lose the info on drive(I already did by formatting it)

I do have a legit copy of Win98seO.S CD and a systems disk I believe.
I have a 3 1/2" floppy.
I have working computer(this one) on the net with a floppy drive(but it is XPpro)

I want the Win98 computer to go so I can load it with XP later on.(just because it is easier to use)
So, how do I make Win98se go in a formatted machine.

I may sound like I know something(but Einstien's parrot sounded smart too)

Welcome to D-A-L.

There was also a suggestion about switching the connectors on the motherboard. I did that and can hear the disk rotate(which it wasn't doing in its regular slot) but the pc complains about no hard drive being detected.

If you know the cables and drives are good, and all drive jumpers are set correctly, the fact that you hear the CD spin on the primary controller, but you "loose" the hard disk on the secondary controller, I'd say the secondary controller on the motherboard is bad.

There's a similar thread here regarding this issue: http://www.d-a-l.com/help/windows-98...tml#post178258

Also, for more information on drive jumper settings: Setup Single, Master and Slave Drives in Bios and hard drive Jumper setting

Post back with your results and any further questions.

I too faced a similar kind of problem as few week back. I was helpless as i do not have much technical know-how but it was resolved by an iYogi Technician who was referred to me by my friend.

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