I'm an absolute beginner at Linux, so please bear with me:

The DVD-RW works correctly under 2.4.27, but sound does not, so I downloaded the debian kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp and my DVD-RW is no longer recognized, under "Devices" in Konquerer:

Floppy
Hard Disc (dev)[/.dev]
Hard Disc (dev)[/media/cdrom0]
... etc ...

With a DVD in the tray (or CD), when I open (hda)[/media/cdrom0] I get the message:

"mount: special device /dev/hda does not exist
Please check that the disk is entered correctly."
followed by
"mount: special device /dev/hda does not exist
Please check that the disk is entered correctly."

My system specs are here: http://global.shuttle.com/Product/ba...ew.asp?B_id=28

I've had both Fedora Core 3 and Mandrake 10.1 successfully installed on this same system.

I've been googling and reading these forums for a couple of hours and am at wit's end, any ideas?

I assume that you use IDE drives.

if you check /proc/ide you will see what drives are seen by your kernel.

in my case it looks like this:

dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:30 .
dr-xr-xr-x 127 root root 0 2005-01-23 20:58 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:32 drivers
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 2005-01-23 23:32 hda -> ide0/hda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 2005-01-23 23:32 hdb -> ide0/hdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 2005-01-23 23:32 hdf -> ide2/hdf
dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:31 ide0
dr-xr-xr-x 3 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:32 ide2
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:32 pdc202xx
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:32 via
linuxbox:/proc/ide #


if I check what's in the ide folders I get:

dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:31 .
dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:30 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:33 channel
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:33 config
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:33 hda
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:32 hdb
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:33 mate
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:33 model
linuxbox:/proc/ide/ide0 #


if I check say the hdb folder I get:

dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:32 .
dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:31 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:34 capacity
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:34 driver
-r-------- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:34 identify
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:34 media
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:34 model
-rw------- 1 root root 0 2005-01-23 23:34 settings
linuxbox:/proc/ide/ide0/hdb #


and the ' media ' file shows:

linuxbox:/proc/ide/ide0/hdb # more media
cdrom
linuxbox:/proc/ide/ide0/hdb #


that way YOU can find out what device is linked to your cdrom drive.

and then for data cds: mount -t iso9660 -o,ro /dev/<cdrom-device> /destination

I recommend to set a link named ' cdrom ' to that device in the /dev folder:

cd /dev
ln -s /dev/<cdrom-device> cdrom