/dev/hdb

yea... that is what it said

bash-2.05b# mount /dev/hdb /mnt/dvd
mount: special device /dev/hdb does not exist

run dmesg | grep hd and post the output.

here yah go

bash-2.05b# dmesg | grep hd
hda: WDC WD800JB-00CRA1, ATA DISK drive
hdc: LTN301, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
hda: max request size: 128KiB
hda: 156301488 sectors (80026 MB) w/8192KiB Cache, CHS=65535/16/63
hda: cache flushes not supported
hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 hda6 >
hdc: ATAPI 32X CD-ROM drive, 120kB Cache
Adding 1048312k swap on /dev/hda5. Priority:-1 extents:1
EXT3 FS on hda6, internal journal

Alright, it looks like only hdc is being reported. Are you sure your drives are correctly installed?

the work fine on windows... I don't know about linux? they are installed correctly and they are operational? the drives open and the cd's spin up...

The device names are assigned based on how the drives are cabled inside your computer:

/dev/hda is the master disk drive on your primary IDE bus (this is usually your main hard disk)
/dev/hdb is the slave disk drive on your primary IDE bus (anything slaved to your main hd)
/dev/hdc is the master disk drive on your secondary IDE bus (usually cdrom/dvd drive)
/dev/hdd is the slave disk drive on your secondary IDE bus (usually a second cdrom/dvd drive)
and so on.

If everything is cabled correctly inside your computer, you may want to check the jumper settings on your cdrom and dvd drives. (Especially since, according to dmesg, it looks like /dev/hdc is first being assigned to your DVD drive, and then reassigned to your cdrom drive)

the only thing that I can think of is that the two missing drives are an a seperate raid controller that is set (in Windows) to act as a seperate IDE chain, and the appropriate raid drivers aren't compiled in the kernel.

Of course, I could be completely off. dmesg speaks the truth though.

well I have the hdd on one ide spot, then the cd rom on one ide spot and then the dvd and burner on the same cable on another ide spot. I have one empty ide spot left
so then this might turn into a kernal compiling question? how do I do that I have 2.6.9

how do you have 2.6.9 and not know how to compile a kernel?

It would be rather helpful if you could list (in order) what is physically attached to:

1: Master - IDE Cable 1
2: Slave - IDE Cable 1
3: Master - IDE Cable 2
4: Slave - IDE Cable 2

So I'm guessing your comp. has four IDE buses. In that case, my best guess would be:
your main hd: /dev/hda
your first cdrom: /dev/hdc
dvd and cdrw: /dev/hde, /dev/hdf

I'm willing to bet you don't have to recompile your kernel to be able to use all your drives.

Perhaps try unplugging your first cdrom drive COMPLETELY (power cable, etc) and then moving the IDE cable which is connected to your dvd and cdrw drives from where it is currently on your motherboard to where your first cdrom drive's cable USED to be.

on the kernal thing I just copied some stuff and just used default stuff... I guess I am really lucky?

Master 1: Western Digital HDD
Slave 1: Nothing
Master 2: CD-ROM Drive
Slave 2: Nothing
Master 3: CD Burner
Slave 3: DVD Drive

as for the power thing I will have to try that in the morning... it is to late tonight to unplug everything and drag it out from underneath the desk... stupid college not making enough deskspace....

Erm... by the way - I just replaced my stock 2.4.26 kernel with 2.6.7 yesterday and, since I also have a dvd drive, I figured I'd check just in case...

and I just realized that MY dvd-rw drive no longer works. So, I guess the kernel does need rebuilding. I'll try some things and, if I get it to work, the steps will be posted.

cool... let me know when you get it posted...

I was wondering though if I need to put something in fstab?

fstab? Nah. /etc/fstab isn't necessary to mount or recognize your cdrom or dvd drives, it just makes life easier... so you can type "mount /mnt/cdrom" instead of "mount /dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom".

As for the kernel, I think I solved the problem. I don't know why it solved it, but it seems to.

Kernel 2.4.26 (the one that comes with slack) uses devfs for the devices (/dev). Kernel 2.6 uses udev for the same thing. Supposedly, udev obsoletes devfs... but it seems to work differently. Anyway, I recompiled the kernel with devfs support and now the dvd drive is seen.

If you wish to do the same, here's the instructions:

First off, YOU MUST HAVE THE KERNEL SOURCE INSTALLED! If you don't, it's available off of the second slackware cd.

Now you have to enable /dev filesystem support under File Systems --> Pseudo filesystems with make menuconfig. If you don't know how to do that, steps 1-7 describe the process:

1) In a terminal, cd to /usr/src/linux.
2) Then run "make menuconfig".
3) Once the menu appears, use the arrow keys to navigate down to "File Systems" and press enter.
4) Once you're in the file systems menu, keep going down until you reach the item titled "Pseudo filesystems", press enter.
5) Once there, go down to "/dev filesystem support". It'll say "(OBSOLETE)" next to it. Press space to enable it.
6) Once that's done, a new option will appear which reads "Automatically mount at boot". Select that option, too, by going down to it and pressing space.
--- NOTE: Both options should now have asterisks next to them (on the left side) ---
7) Push the right arrow key to select the "exit" button on the bottom of the menu and then press enter. Keep doing this until you've exited from all menus. When you reach the original menu and exit from it, a dialog box will appear which reads "Do you wish to save your kernel configuration?". Ensure that "yes" is highlighted and press return.

The rest of the instructions here detail how to build and install the kernel.

You now have the kernel configured with devfs support, but you still have to build it. To do this, run "make" from the terminal and wait....

A line will be printed out when the kernel build finishes that contains a path like this: "arch/i386/boot/bzImage". If the directory between arch and boot is not i386 remember it and replace i386 later with that name.

--- NOTE: From here on you must be root ---

Once that's done, you need to run "make modules_install" to install any kernel modules.

I'm assuming you're using lilo to load linux (since you're using slackware). From here on, the instructions apply to lilo ONLY. If you're not using lilo.... you're on your own from here. =P

8) From /usr/src/linux, copy System.map to a file in /boot
("cp System.map /boot/System.map.new")
9) From /usr/src/linux, copy .config to a file in /boot
("cp .config /boot/config.new")
10) From /usr/src/linux, copy arch/i386/boot/bzImage to a file in /boot
("cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz.new")

Now that the necessary files are in /boot, you need to change the symbolic links to point to your new files. This is pretty easy.

11) cd to /boot ("cd /boot")
12a) Remove the old System.map link ("rm System.map")
12b) Create a new link to your new System.map file ("ln -s System.map.new System.map")
13a) Remove the old config link ("rm config")
13b) Create a new link to your new config file ("ln -s config.new config")
14a) Remove the old vmlinuz link ("rm vmlinuz")
14b) Create a new link to your fresh kernel ("ln -s vmlinuz.new vmlinuz")
15) This step may not apply to you!!! IF AND ONLY IF your root linux partition is reiserfs (like mine) or ext3 and you had to run mkinitrd before your 2.6 kernel would work, you must run the same command again. If you never had to do that before, you don't have to now - ignore this step.

*** MOST IMPORTANT STEP OF ALL ***
16) Run "lilo" to re-install the boot loader with your latest kernel build and configuration. If you don't do this, you'll get a kernel panic and your computer won't boot... which is bad.

Now, theoretically, everything will work... so reboot your machine and hope for the best. If you do happen to get a kernel panic (which isn't too unlikely) don't despair, just post the error message as it appears.