OK Now i have a new toy - can you help me with a few things?

[Paddy]

I have touched on this in an other thread, but I wanted to reach a wider audience

I am running Win2K SP1 on the following:

• T'bird 1GHz on an Asus A7V
• 224 Mb PC100 RAM (128Mb Double bank, 64Mb single bank, 32Mb double bank)
• IBM DJNA-372200 21Gb UDMA 66 Drive
• IBM DNES-309170W SCSI Disk Drive
• Matshita DVD-ROM SR-8584A
• Plextor PX-W1210S SCSI CD-RW
• Intel Pro/100+ Management Ethernet Adaptor
• Iwill 2936 Ultra Wide SCSI controller (reported as an Advansys 3550)
• SB Live! 5.1
• USB IntelliMouse Explorer Optical
• UM9800 V.90 USB Modem
• Tornado 1000 case (with six 80mm fans!)

I am happy with the build of my machine but I have three problems that I hope you can help me with!

• [1] What temperature range should my CPU be running at?

With all the fans off (except the one on the heat sink and PSU) it runs about 55'C. If I turn on just the 80mm fan above the CPU it runs at 47'C. If I turn them all on it stays at 40'C. All measurements are with the case closed and after running Quake 3 for a while!
The air flow is quite loud so I only want to have on as much as I can get away with - with out risking damage to the rig!

• [2] I can't enable DMA on my DVD ROM!

A stupid question I know! I found out that the option has moved from the properties of the drive to the controller in Win2K, however the drive still uses PIO mode. I have changed it in the past, but on my new motherboard there is an option to set the DMA and PIO levels per device - I cant get one to work without getting a failure during the POST...

• [3] My SCSI writer doesn't work!

If I insert a CD and view any file it reads the properties correctly, however and executables or ZIPs report CRC errors. If the file is small <300K they usually work. My Plexwriter uses the wide interface (50 pins) compared to my Disk (which uses the UW 62 pins). If the numbers of pins are wrong I'm sorry! My Disk appears fine. Any ideas?

If you are reading this bit then thanks for your time!

Any help will be gratefully appreciated!

Paddy

[Jorden]

Pat, about the last question. When you insert a CD to be read, do you insert it in your DVD-ROM? For as far as I see (having downloaded the latest Hardware Compatibility List from MS), your DVD-ROM is either not recognized (yet), or has the wrong drivers.

Check on your DVD's mfr site for possible Win2k drivers and/or if they say it's Win2k compatible.

Ofcourse, if you don't read your CD's from your DVD, then I said not a thing

Jord.

[Paddy]

Doh! question 3 concerns my CD-RW! And it was working before i got my new mobo.

Perhaps there could be a problem with the SCSI controller and the via chipset? But that wouldn't explain why my SCSI disk works...

[Gurm]

DVD:

Most Panasonic firmwares are NOT Ultra-DMA. Many won't do DMA at all. Go to the firmware page, and get the latest one in Ultra-DMA flavor. My brother has a Panasonic and I had a bitch of a time making it run properly.

SCSI:

Plextor burners are REALLY REALLY touchy about termination. You shouldn't be mixing wide and narrow devices on the same chain anyway - are you using an adapter for it? It should be on its own chain, as the only device, and terminated via jumper on the back of the device.

Also if you have external devices at all, their proper termination is VITAL to the Plextor working correcly.

You're lucky - when I had bad termination my Plextor wouldn't even post.

- Gurm

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

[Paddy]

DVD: DMA was working fine before i threw the drive in my new mobo. I will check for a new firmware update. btw - i can set pio/dma in the bios - could this be causing a problem?

SCSI: I have one adaptor (IWill 2936 UW) and two devices:

small cable IBM Disk
large cable CDRW

The adaptor has auto termination enabled (and the disk works) - perhaps a jumper has fallen out the back of the CDRW?

[Paddy]

My CDRW has termination enabled.

Should the SCSI disk also be terminated as it uses a different cable? If so, should i turn off termination on the card?

Sorry - new to SCSI!

[SteveC]

Oi Patrick! You're a poor student!! What are you doing getting a new PC like that?!!?

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Guru]

Gurm while we are on the subject! Do you know of any other firmware page then www.firmware.com.bi ?


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Join the MURC SETI team! | SETI @ MURC

Don't get even — get odd!

[Paddy]

Gurm:

Good thinking Batman! - I manually disabled termination on the adaptor (rather than automatic). It seems fine!

Steve:

My PSU killed my mobo so i claimed for a new one on the insurrance!

[Gurm]

http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware/

Is the page I normally use for firmware. That's where I checked your drive (like a dozen different firmwares for your drive!). They're pretty good.

As for termination... think of SCSI as a chain. Both ends need to be terminated. Not the middle.

Adaptec cards are really good about termination. Yours could need a BIOS update (yes, there are BIOSes on SCSI cards as well, heh), or it just might not be very good at auto-terminating when you have all the chains in use.

In fact, cards with three plugs can't have all three used without enabling multiple LUNs, it screws up the termination (no three-ended chains allowed).

- Gurm

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

[ayoub_ibrahim]

interesting, both those web addresses point to the same firmware site!

[Paddy]

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!


I downloaded the service pack for ie 5.5 and when it rebooted i got a lovely BSOD.

Booting into safemode brings about the same. Boot logging appears normal. It occurs just before it changes resoulution to give the login prompt.

The recovery/command prompt looks ok.
Repair does not work.

Bugger.

And i had just converted all my drives to NTFS as well.

I have put win98 se on my SCSI disk (only had games on before) so i can talk to you...

To be honest i am pretty fed up with Win2K, is ME any good?

[Paddy]

Right,

I have d/l NTFS for win98 so hopefully i can salvage some of my data.

Having used 2K for so long, i dont want to go back to 98, that why i thought of ME...

I'd miss the security, but i suppose the overall gaming performance would be better.

I could do with some help guys.

btw, i have d/l some firmware for my drive (z15c) it supports UDMA and region free - however, win98 reports the drive as using DMA before flashing. Any ideas?

[Paddy]

ACPI was fine

[Gurm]

Wow. The only thing I can really say is don't install IE5.5 next time.

Man: Doctor, it hurts when I do this!

Doctor: Don't do that.

- Gurm

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