CD DVD Zip Drive Letters incorrect - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Sika2 · 11-17-2004, 12:40 AM

I wonder if anyone can provide me with some advise on my problem.

I am running Win 98 on a Dell XPS 350. It has a DVD drive that used to be H:, A CD writer drive that used to be I:, a Zip Drive that used to be G: and a camera download cord that used to be J:

I am not sure what triggered the problem but when I view the drives in Win Explorer I now have the G:, I: and J: all showing as CD Roms while the H: is shown as a removable disk. I have tried removing them through the control panel and rebooting but they remain incorrect.

Until I get this sorted I am sitting on a camera full of pictures that I cant download.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thanx

dogzilla · 11-17-2004, 04:19 AM

If you click the 'system' icon in control panel, that gets you access to a panel listing all your hardware in groups like hard drive, cdrom, video, etc. If you expand the group entries you should find the individual entries for your devices. Double click the appropriate entry and then the properties tab in the popup. You should see a field that lets you pick the drive letter. You can set that to whatever you like. Once you click OK, you probably get a warning that you need to reboot. You can defer that until you have changed all the drives, then reboot once, or you can reboot after changing each one.

Once changed and you reboot, they should remain changed.

guthmund · 11-17-2004, 09:41 PM

That should work, but just in case it doesn't here are two other ways to do it.

I'm not sure about tweakui. I know you can void certain letters and keep the OS from using them, but not sure if it will change them, but a guy mentioned it in a thread I was reading so I thought I'd provide a link to the Microsoft site to help.

Another site mentioned this. It's freeware, but they say it gets the job done.

Sika2 · 11-17-2004, 10:30 PM

Thanx to you both for your suggestions. I have tried them and am no further ahead. It would appear that it is the type of drive assigned to the Letter that is the problem. eg If I view my drives in Win Explorer I have three CD drives when in fact I only have two???? I was hoping to include a screen shot that would clarify the problem but dont seem to be able to paste to this thread.

dogzilla · 11-18-2004, 03:07 AM

Can you go to the same hardware panel and delete all of the CD, DVD and ZIP drives then reboot? Once you reboot, Windows should detect 'new' hardware and reinstall the drivers. My experience is that once a device has been installed and the driver loaded by Windows 98, Windows remembers where it stored the driver and automatically reloads it. You might need the CDROM that has the drivers if windows doesn't have the old copy. Then try changing drive letters and reboot again.

If a device does not automatically reinstall, then click the add new hardware icon in control panel and go thru the wizard to add the missing device.

If you have other software that remembers drive letters, then it *might* get confused by changing letters.

I don't understand why the camera cable has to be a certain drive letter. Is there maybe an option in whatever download software you are using to change it? Is uninstalling and reinstalling the download software an option or do you lose some database of picture info by doing that?

Sika2 · 11-20-2004, 01:24 AM

Thanks Dogzilla. I tried as suggested but when the computer restarts it doesn't seem to detect new hardware. From what you have said I can only assume that something is interfering with the complete deletion of the devices. Anyway thanks again.

11-17-2004, 12:40 AM	#1 (permalink)
Sika2 Upright	CD DVD Zip Drive Letters incorrect I wonder if anyone can provide me with some advise on my problem. I am running Win 98 on a Dell XPS 350. It has a DVD drive that used to be H:, A CD writer drive that used to be I:, a Zip Drive that used to be G: and a camera download cord that used to be J: I am not sure what triggered the problem but when I view the drives in Win Explorer I now have the G:, I: and J: all showing as CD Roms while the H: is shown as a removable disk. I have tried removing them through the control panel and rebooting but they remain incorrect. Until I get this sorted I am sitting on a camera full of pictures that I cant download. Any advise would be much appreciated. Thanx

11-17-2004, 09:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
guthmund big damn hero	That should work, but just in case it doesn't here are two other ways to do it. I'm not sure about tweakui. I know you can void certain letters and keep the OS from using them, but not sure if it will change them, but a guy mentioned it in a thread I was reading so I thought I'd provide a link to the Microsoft site to help. Another site mentioned this. It's freeware, but they say it gets the job done. __________________ No signature. None. Seriously.

11-17-2004, 10:30 PM	#4 (permalink)
Sika2 Upright	Thanx Thanx to you both for your suggestions. I have tried them and am no further ahead. It would appear that it is the type of drive assigned to the Letter that is the problem. eg If I view my drives in Win Explorer I have three CD drives when in fact I only have two???? I was hoping to include a screen shot that would clarify the problem but dont seem to be able to paste to this thread.

11-20-2004, 01:24 AM	#6 (permalink)
Sika2 Upright	No Luck Thanks Dogzilla. I tried as suggested but when the computer restarts it doesn't seem to detect new hardware. From what you have said I can only assume that something is interfering with the complete deletion of the devices. Anyway thanks again.

11-17-2004, 04:19 AM	#2 (permalink)
dogzilla Junkie Location: New York	If you click the 'system' icon in control panel, that gets you access to a panel listing all your hardware in groups like hard drive, cdrom, video, etc. If you expand the group entries you should find the individual entries for your devices. Double click the appropriate entry and then the properties tab in the popup. You should see a field that lets you pick the drive letter. You can set that to whatever you like. Once you click OK, you probably get a warning that you need to reboot. You can defer that until you have changed all the drives, then reboot once, or you can reboot after changing each one. Once changed and you reboot, they should remain changed.

11-18-2004, 03:07 AM	#5 (permalink)
dogzilla Junkie Location: New York	Can you go to the same hardware panel and delete all of the CD, DVD and ZIP drives then reboot? Once you reboot, Windows should detect 'new' hardware and reinstall the drivers. My experience is that once a device has been installed and the driver loaded by Windows 98, Windows remembers where it stored the driver and automatically reloads it. You might need the CDROM that has the drivers if windows doesn't have the old copy. Then try changing drive letters and reboot again. If a device does not automatically reinstall, then click the add new hardware icon in control panel and go thru the wizard to add the missing device. If you have other software that remembers drive letters, then it might get confused by changing letters. I don't understand why the camera cable has to be a certain drive letter. Is there maybe an option in whatever download software you are using to change it? Is uninstalling and reinstalling the download software an option or do you lose some database of picture info by doing that?