DVD Drive problems.

[dbdg]

Hi

I have tried seraching the forum but it keeps chucking me out so here we go.

I have just upgraded to Win 2K and I am wondering if there is a known problem with DVD drives. I have an Aopen 1040 drive and every time a DVD goes in it just clicks for ages and locks my system up (nearly).

I am very new to win 2k so sorry if this there is a simple fix known to thousands sorry.

It can read normal cd's no problem and win2k sees it as a DVD so I can't work out what the problem is.

I haven't got the service pack yet and I am using the 4.26 via drivers as thses are the only ones that worked ok on Win98.

[Gurm]

Sounds like Win2k is auto-launching your DVD software, and that the DVD software is stuffed. Try getting a newer version, or reinstalling if you're sure the version that you have is win2k-certified.

Or... turn off Autoplay, at least.

- Gurm

[dbdg]

I haven't installed any DVD software just what comes with Win2K as standard. I will try the autoplay suggestion.

Cheers

It didn't make a difference, it still just seems to stick. Also this is with data dvd's not movies.

Anyone any ideas?

[ayoub_ibrahim]

I am using the 4.26 via drivers as thses are the only ones that worked ok on Win98

the 4.32 drivers appear to work well with win2k so suggest you update from www.viahardware.com

[dbdg]

Cheers.

I will give that a go tomorrow.

[Wombat]

Do you have any other OS's hanging around?

I suspect that it's a hardware problem, and that your DVD drive is just failing.

My Pioneer drive is starting to fail, and it will make the same noises with some CDs and DVDs, especially ones that aren't perfectly balanced.

The locking up is just what happens when the OS has to wait on your drive.

[dbdg]

The drive is definately not knackered as I only upgraded to win2k last night and it was reading dvd's fine before hand.
It doesn't have any problems at all reading DVD's.

I failed to mention that I also have a cd/r/w in the system. Is this likely to cause a problem?

[The PIT]

For a start dump the crappy via drivers you don't need them in win2k. The next problem is your Abit kt7a. I presume it's not the raid version. I had loads of problems getting my DVD drive to work under win2k. The only fix I found to get my working was to go into the Bios and under the first screen where all the ide devices are detected set the auto detection to none for your dvd drive and hopefully the freezing will be gone. The drive also liked being master only if I set at slave I got stuttering as well.
Also if you haven't already upgrade your bios to a later version ZT or later.
The final solution is to dump the onboard hard drive controllers and use a promise card instead avoid the high point controllers as they are crappy and unreliable as well.
It's worth getting sp2 installed as this will help in making your system more stable.

[dbdg]

Hi Pit

Well that little lot will give me something to do over the weekend, cheers.

My DVD drive is master at the moment anyway so that little problem is sorted but I willget on with the rest of your suggestions. You are right about not having the raid board, I was a bit strapped for cash and have regretted not getting it ever since.

I am going to download SP2 this weekend, I will need a whole one as well. I can't believe it is 100mb, my poor modem.

[smanzo]

Check your Event Viewer (it's under Administrative Tools in the Control Panel). Specifically, look for ATAPI errors. Usually, if your drive is exhibiting that kind of behavior, you'll see lots of red Xs and ATAPI errors, with the description stating that there is a bad block on IDE1/CDROM (or something similar).

It may be that the drive is more sensitive under 2000 than under 9x (this happened to me with a cheapie Epoc DVD).

Remember, Event Viewer is your friend.

[dbdg]

All but insdtalling sp2 I have now doen. I will install sp2 tonight when I get back.

I do have an error and warning in the event viewer.

Error : The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort1, did not respond within the timeout period.
Warning : An error was detected on device \Device\CdRom0 during a paging operation.

Do you think the above just means I need a newer DVD? Shame as I haven't had the one I have got long.

[smanzo]

At this point, It's still not quite clear whether it's the drive, the disc, or the cable. Have you checked the discs on another systm/another DVD drive? You'll need to isolate which it is. In my case, as mentioned, it was the drive (figured out by trying to run the same DVD on a Toshiba set top player)

[The PIT]

Yup I've seen that message before. You'll also find it on the microsoft technet site. I bet when you get that you a freeze as well. Did you try the Bios change I suggested? Also definatley turn off the auto start feature of your DVD as that will make matters worse.
The bad news is I couldn't solve that with the onboard via controller and I bought a promise ultra100tx2 instead. Nice card and has got support for 64bit pci as well. I still got the error but it didn't cause the machine to hang. I eventually changed over to scsi since I had multiple redundancy in the system and couldn't see the point of a scsi cdrw drive, cd drive and ide dvd.
Interestingly on my other BX based machine I get the error rarely and it doesn't freeze the machine so it seems a problem with the Via chipset. Pissing around in the bios you may find a fix but keep a record of your settings.

[dbdg]

It is definately the drive as 1 hour it was working on 98 and the next hour after upgrading to win2k everything was knackered. Also I have tried 20 discs, and new cables just in case. I haven't tried the drive in another machine as it does wiork in this on just not with win2k.

I have so far tried all the suggestion here and still nothing seems to make any difference.

You are right about the freezing but once I eject the disc everything returns to normal.

I am thinking of upgrading away from via soon so I think I will stick with it till then or buy a promise card or something.

Cheers for your suggestions though dudes. If I do manage to fix it I will let you know what it was.