need help on unpredictable cdrw

[JesTa784]

I just recently installed a new hp 9100 burner to my computer. I had a acer 40x cdrom and a phillips cdrw, so i swapped both of them for this new one.

Now the problem is that windows detects it very unpredictably. Sometimes it detects it, sometimes it doesn't... what could be wrong? I double checked everything. Power, ide cable, jumpers, etc. When it doesn't work, i open up my case and fiddle around and make sure everything is plugged in, then i close the case back up and boom, it works. then maybe on the next reboot, the cdrw disappears again.

running WinME final, Asus k7m-rm (no troubles before with ide), only one other hd, CDRW is on IDE2 set on master. bios detects it fine... so whats wrong??? winme???

oh yeah, when winme can't detect it, ican't open the tray by pushing the button.. if that helps at all.

thanks guys.. it's buggin the hell outta me.. :-p

[JesTa784]

u speak in words that riddle my puny brain... but i will be sure to try both when i get home from work.. in... 3 hours.. .=)

i'm sure i checked the DMA however, maybe that is the reason...

as far as the aspi goes, i have no clue...

[Wombat]

It's possible that that drive takes a long time to power up. See if there's a setting in your BIOS for power-up time before boot, and add a few more seconds.

[Helevitia]

JesTa784,

I have this same drive and have no probs with it at all. I am also using Win98. That being said, I noticed something that you said that caught my attention:

Quote:
"oh yeah, when winme can't detect it, ican't open the tray by pushing the button.. if that helps at all. "

Yes, that helps a lot!(I hope) There is a program that HP runs in the background(i can't remember the name) that also puts a CD icon in the system tray. Is that there when you have this problem? Do you kill theat process or something? Does something else hose it up? I've seen where the program locks the drive and then I've killed the process and the drive remains locked until I run the program again. It's actually a nice safety feature if you are burning a CD. I don't know if that is your prob but check it out. Also, if that is not it, then maybe yoiur PS is too weak or you are running too many devices in your system. Check what else is running in the background, could be that something is conflicting with the CD software.

Dave

[JesTa784]

hmm...actually i didn't install any software for this cdrw... I usually use nero to burn and i haven't gotten a chance to install direct cd. The hanging occurs when winme logo comes on, then kicks back to the POST screen to do some loading. if the drive is detected, it'll just go on booting up in about 30-40 seconds... if it doesn't work, it sits there for like 2 minutes...

On this particular boot, my the drive is working fine. I just turned off DMA and going to reboot, see if this helps.

the only other thing i changed is the case... i wonder if the case has to do something with it??? unlikely? haha

[JesTa784]

nope... its not DMA that's causing it... i just rebooted, it was fine, then i shutdown, and powered back on, no response from drive... i mean i can't even get the tray to come out by pressing the eject button. it's weird. like if there was no power to the thing. perhaps it is the case? i'm willing to try it... any suggestions? maybe look for drivers?

[The PIT]

Presuming it's a via chipset doesn't there website still say they have problems with CD Burners. It did early this year but then peraps they haven't updated it.
I've also disappearing reappearing CDroms at work with recent Via chipsets.

[JesTa784]

yes i think that's it. I just forgot that i manually detected harddrives in bios so it's always skiping detection of drives. Once i put it to autodetect for all IDE, i saw that sometimes the CD drive didn't get detected by bios. So it's not Windows fault.. *gasp*!

anyway, i hope they fix this problem soon, i talked to someone on #athlon on efnet and he says he has the same problem with a A7V board. So i have no clue if bios can fix this... i guess i can cope.. =P

[The PIT]

It would be interesting to see what happens if you put the cd-r on another controller like a promise. I can't see you being able to borrow one though. What happens if you use the standard microsoft drivers I think this is one of Via suggestions.

[JesTa784]

To my knowledge this drive worked on another system in our house, it was an older socket 7 board so i'm not sure about chipset.

And i am using the microsoft driver, if u mean IDE bus drivers... have yet to try the via driver

[Helevitia]

If it helps any, I have my CD-RW hooked up to my ata/66 controller on my Asus A7V motherboard and I don't have any probs. I'm pretty sure I have manual detect as opposed to auto detect.

Dave

[The PIT]

Well that stuffs my theory about the via bus master drivers.

This what the via says about tape drives and CD-R. I know under windoze 98 that my tape drive wasn't reconized properly with via drivers but thats going back a bit. I had to use microsofts drivers. Zip drives used to change from a zip to a floppy on alternate boots as well.

Q: Why am I unable to use my CD Writer or Tape Drive when I install the VIA busmaster driver?
A: VIA is presently working very closely with manufacturers of CD Writers and Tape Drives to add support into our upcoming drivers. VIA suggests uninstalling the VIA IDE busmaster driver and using the Windows standard default driver. An upgrade to Win95 OSR2 or Win98 is advised to take advantage of IDE and UDMA transfers.

I like the bit about CD-R and tape drives are recent inventions. Perhaps they ought to say recently available to the mass public due to the reduction of cost.

Since the computers at work use 4.23 Via drivers and the CDrom still disapppears at radomn this sort suggests changing drivers maynot work.

[Gurm]

No, it's a BIOS issue. When you get a newer one, you will get the CDRW back.

In the meantime, you can get a Highpoint U66 card for like $25 or $30... not that the HPT is a good chipset, but it at least has reasonable drivers.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[EchoWars]

I thought most add-on controllers don't like ATAPI devices on 'em...at least that is what the documentation for my Promise says...

[Gurm]

I've always seen that on the documentation, but never actually had a problem with it. Of course, I never tried to use a crappy generic drive either. It was always a reasonable drive. I can imagine that a Lite-On or other Joe-Generic CD drive would have issues on the controllers.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.