CD-ROM file system not 32 bit. i'm desperate...please help

[greendey]

Ok, this doesn't really have anything to do with vb, but I don't know where else to turn. Here's my problem. I got an ACER CD-RW and after installing it and the adaptec software that came with it, my computer began to freeze up all the time and the drives weren't working. I uninstalled the adaptec software and now my computer only freezes up for a couple min when i start it up and whenever i try to access a cd, which i can't do. After 3 or 4 min of being frozen, it always says that it is empty. Anyway, i called my a couple tech support numbers and i discovered that in My Computer, it said(under file system in the performance tab) that some drives were using ms-dos capabilities. Down at the bottom, it said drive E and drive F(my cd drives) were using the ms-dos capabilities. The tech support people said that i needed to format and reinstall windows and the problem should be fixed because i can't reset the file system for a drive. Is that the only way to fix my problem? does anyone even know what im talking about? I have no idea how it got set so low, but i was thinking that if it was set low while running windows, they should be able to be set back up to 32 bit. if you can help me before i loose all my stuff, i would absolutely love you(figuratively).

PLEASE HELP!!!
Thanks
Jake

[jcouture100]

Hi Jake,

You might want to check out a software package called Partition Magic (or Partition Manager?). Its been a LONG time since I've used it, but it was able to repartition the hard-drive and change the file system type (FAT16, FAT32, NTFS). The best thing was, it did this while preserving the info on your computer. Before you do any thing like that, I would HIGHLY recommend looking for driver and sofware updates for your ACER CD-RW and Adaptec Software. They are notorious for shipping out old software. Check for updates on their web sites.

Good luck.

[Buzby]

The error you describe means Windows is using an old 16-bit driver to control the CD-ROM drive. The best thing you could do is go to the Acer website and download a new Windows '95/'98 Driver (if you can't find their website go to http://www.WinFiles.com, and look in their drivers section.

[X-Quest]

I've had good luck at www.driverguide.com It's best to know the serial # of the device then search on that.