copy / copy/v86

Windows 9x CD-ROM device support fails with disks >= 256 MB

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bug
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

While trying to build a new Win95 image for v86 I noticed that the ATAPI CD-ROM support doesn't work.

As soon as the CD-ROM device is accessed I get blue-screens (recoverable) under Windows 95 like these:

Windows 95 example blue-screen screebshots

Image


Image

Windows 98 fails silently without blue-screens, but in both cases the D: folder is completely empty.

I tried using:

* the NEC CD-ROM driver from the Windows 95 boot floppy
* the OAK CD-ROM driver from the Windows 98 boot floppy
* the built-in CD-ROM driver of Windows 95 (which works under qemu, never tried it under v86)

Nothing helped, so I ran some more tests:

* happens both at the v86 main site and with a local build of current v86 HEAD
* happens both under SeaBIOS and Boch's BIOS
* happens both in v86 debug- and release-mode
* happens both using the Win95 and the Win98 image at the v86 main site (Win2K works)
* happens using my own Win95 image with OAK CD-ROM driver, from [here](https://github.com/copy/v86/pull/1325#issuecomment-2906349028) where I posted about having it working

I tried to fall back to the v86 repository state #1345 right when ATAPI CD-ROM support should be working:

```
git checkout d9088888e477663f0bf627a3e262d00af2849109
```

The problem was STILL there, that makes me doubt whether the released Win9x ATAPI support ever worked (what puzzles me is that I know that I had it working when I posted about it but now I can't reproduce it).

I can't remember if or when I last tested this after I had posted about it. Does it work for anybody else? Did it ever?

To summarize, CD-ROM support for Windows 9x appears currently broken, and it looks to me like it never worked.

**EDIT:** What does work is to boot from any boot floppy (Windows 95, Windows 98 or patcher9x) with a mounted CD-ROM image, I can access the CD just fine and run software from it.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Reproduce the failure with the Win95 and Win98 images, an ATAPI CD-ROM image, and the NEC or OAK driver; compare it with the working boot-floppy case and Win2K. Start at the ATAPI CD-ROM support and trace access from Windows 9x, using the reported SeaBIOS/Bochs and debug/release comparisons as checks. Done means Windows 9x can access the mounted CD-ROM and populate the D: drive without a blue-screen or silent failure.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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