I don not know if this is the right place but I gotta start somewhere

I find the full story is the best approach
OK. This is the story: I will tell it as I did it (as best as I can remember as it is a couple of days already)and you pick out where I went wrong.
I got a "Compaq" PC which I am working with right now 320Mhz PENTIUM 2 Windows XP with working "Compaq?" CDROM player. This machine is not in the equation and still functions on the net so I can communicate this story.

I picked up from a friend - an "Azura" PC Data Server 1.2Ghz Pentium 2 Windows XP with a working "Creative" CDROM player and it all worked.

I also picked up from my brother - a "Dell" PC 550Mhz Pentium 3 Windows 98se with a working Benq CD burner/player and everything worked.

It was suggested:
that I swap out the "Benq" with the "Creative" then I would have a burner on a faster computer.

Sounded simple enough.
I unscrewed and did the physical part of it, carefully pulling the ribbon out of the CDROM and the other cables and reconnecting the other CDROM in the same way.

That is as far as I took it. I then powered on the "Azura pc" and surfed the net - not testing the CDROM out. "I will when I need it now and worry about it later"(I thought).
I found the pc acting a little slower while surfing(but did not attribute it to the CDROM) I just thought that maybe I got some spyware . >> I run antivirus 24/7 so I knew it was not a virus<<.
So, I downloaded SuperAntiSpyware, installed it and let it run. It found nothing except 3 tracking cookies from sites I trusted so I left them alone. Speed did not improve. I am thinking maybe the "pc brains" are scrambled with the CD swap and needs a reset. So I "switched off or powered down" the PC for a couple of hours completely.
When I powered up later, I get the first DOS screen(when it starts up, and it stays there). Will not go farther.
>>>> Be aware that while I am doing the physical swap, I pull the power out of the wall. I do not know how long CMOS batteries last but these PC's are years old (so the batteries may be dead). <<<<
Sidenote >>>I know I had a 486 with a dead Cmos battery and ran the computer(powering it on and off each night for years (with Win98 staying intact) after the battery died with no problems)<<< but I never swapped out hardware either.

Printed on the "Azura" DOS screen:-
==============================================================================
Main Processor : AMD Athlon Processor Base Memory Size : 640KB
_______________________________________ ______________________________________
Math Processor : built-In Ext. Memory Size : 511MB
Floppy Drive A : 1.44MB 3 1/2" Serial Port(s) : 3F8,2F8
Floppy Drive B : None PARALLEL Port(s) : 378
Display type : VGA/EGA Processor Clock : 1050MHz
AMIBIOS Date : 04/29/2002 Power Management : Enabled
External Cache : 384KB,Enabled SDR at DIMM(s) : 0 1
DDR at DIMM(s) :
_______________________________________ _______________________________________ __
Hard Disk(s) Cyl Head Sector Size LBA 32Bit Block P10 ATA
Mode Mode Mode Mode Mode
Primary Master : 39838 16 63 20560MB LBA On 16Sec 4 100
Secondary Master: CDROM 4 N/A
================================================================================
PCI Devices:
Onboard Multimedia Device, IRQ11 Onboard IDE, IRQ14, 15
Onboard USB Controller, IRQ12 Onboard USB Controller, IRQ11
Onboard Ethernet, IRQ11 Slot 3 USB Controller, IRQ11
Slot 3 USB Controller, IRQ11 AGP VGA, IRQ5
================================================================================
Searching for BOOT Record from IDE-0..OK

And the cursor is flashing fairly quick on the bottom waiting.

Hmmm. Okay. So I, first pulled the power plug out of the wall l then took out the BENQ burner and PUT back the CREATIVE CDROM as it was before hoping that things will right themselves when I turned on the power again. Was careful about unplugging and plugging it in carefully and the STATIC thing.

No change. The cd light goes on but does not spin the disk.

that is where I am. What do I do next and how do I do it?
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What I have at my disposal is a win98se legitamite CD, a WinXp cd, a Nero cd(which is for the Benq CDROM) and a 3 1/2" systems disk for Win98

Also a pc on the net with a 3 1/2" floppy and CD reader.
None of the computers are connected together and they all have flash drives(I don't know if they work at this moment - as the computers may be blind to them too)
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I realize I am going to lose stuff...but I have most of it backed up on a removeable Flash drive so if we got to start again, I can do that.

Just how to do it.Double post - please continue here..