DVD-RW

[plainwalt]

External DVD-RW drive will not work on WIN98SE.

 

[SkipCox]

I can believe that...what is your machine? Did you install the drivers for the external drive?

Skip

http://skipcox.net

 

[plainwalt]

Installed drivers shipped with drive. IO Magic tech suggested I download drivesr from their web. They were older; re-installed orig. drivers. Updated my BIOS to A08 (Dell. Installed a USB 2.0 PCI card to support this device.
EVERYTHING in Hardware panel shows "Device working Properly"
IO MAgic tech siteof little help.
Running WIN98SE on a Dell Dimension XPS B933.

 

[cdogg]

plainwalt,
What have you tried doing? If it shows up in Device Manager saying "Device working properly", then it should be OK.

We need to know what burning software you've tried, the make and version. We also need to know all the details regarding any error message you're seeing. It doesn't sound like a driver issue at this point.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[plainwalt]

Let me clarify. Any attempt to use the DVD-RW drive causes the system to hang, even pressing the tray open button. When I right click the drive on the "My Computer" panel the system hangs up. I have tried power up with the DVD drive powered off. The same problems occur after powering up the DVD drive after successful boot up.
The existing CD drive works fine.

 

[cdogg]

It's hanging then for one of several reasons:

- Your PC is too slow to keep up with the requested transfer rate, which is much higher than a CD burner. You can test this by trying to burn a CD instead.

- The driver installed is not 100% compatible with this version of Windows

- There is a problem within the configuration of the burning software (which you have yet to name)

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[SkipCox]

It's a PIII933 machine? How much memory? Burning software? IO Magic model of burner?

Skip

http://skipcox.net

 

[plainwalt]

The problem is not with the software. I simply can not get the drive to work. As I stated before just pressing the tray open button causes the system to hang. Also, right clicking the drive in "My Computer" panel will cause the system to hang. If the drive ever gets to work I will install my NERO software. I am leaning to a problem with drive letter assignments within the WIN98SE OS. I plan to remove the current CD drive and do a re-install.
Thanks to all for the concern.

 

[cdogg]

plainwalt,
That's true that from what you've stated so far (now that I've reread everything) it does appear that your problem is hardware-related. Because you provided so very little information in the beginning, it was easy to miss one of your replies. In the future, be sure to describe your issues with as much detail as you can in the first post.

In this case, you need to make sure it's not a bad drive. Find the time to install it in another PC (use a friend's or family member's). If it has the same issues there, then of course it's probably bad. That could save you a lot of wasted time.

However, some other common things you should double-check:

- You have the right jumper set (master/slave) and don't use cable-select
- You have the right position on the cable (master should be on the end, slave should be in the middle)
- Try the burner on its own IDE cable by itself set as master and attached to the end of the cable
- Change the IDE cable

Good luck!


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[Glenn9999]

Since I see that it's an external drive, the suggestion of trying it on another computer should be quite easy. Of course, I have to ask a couple more questions.

I'm assuming it's a USB connector, am I right?

Anyway, with your PIII 933, I have to ask if it's a USB 1.1 or 2.0 port you're plugging it into. A USB 1.1 port won't work very well - you're going to get a very slow drive (1.5 Mbps I believe).

Then with 98SE, have you installed drivers for the USB ports properly? The card you mention should have drivers for it as well.

 

[cdogg]

Since I see that it's an external drive...

Ahh! That's why I didn't suggest all the typical hardware checks in my earlier posts! This is an "external" drive. Now I remember!!

Good point Glenn. Plainwalt should definitely try it on another PC as the ultimate test here. If it works, then we can troubleshoot this further as a Windows or USB port issue.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[CobolKid]

cdogg

fyi; ata ide cable master/slave connector position can be the opposite, e.g.; master in middle and slave at end, rather than master at end and slave in middle as you've described above. As there are a variety of ide cable configurations possible, it depends on how the manufacturer constructed the particular cable.

Best to go by connector color; blue == mainboard, black == master, and grey == slave. If all are same color, then "trial by error" is usually the best approach; if the classic master at end & slave in middle doesn't work, then swap the connectors & try again.


Steve

 

[cdogg]

ata ide cable master/slave connector position can be the opposite, e.g.; master in middle and slave at end...

Thanks Steve, yes I understand that is true. The standard back when a 40-conductor IDE cable was the only type required master in the middle, slave on the end. When 80-conductor cables came into play, that standard changed to being the other way around (master on the end, slave in the middle). You can find documentation of this on the net (I believe pcguide.com mentions it).

Keep in mind though that this is just a "standard" recommendation. Many IDE controllers and devices are tolerant enough to make the opposite position work, but even so, there are some that just won't. The biggest factor is the controller on the mobo and not so much the cable. I have personally come across a dozen or so situations where reversing their position was the only solution that worked.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[cdogg]

I want to take a step back and just say that the cable does matter quite a bit. My memory didn't serve me right!

I found this article on:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf_Cable80.htm

Connector Assignments and Color Coding: For the first time, the 80-conductor cable defines specific roles for each of the connectors on the cable; the older cable did not. Color coding of the connectors is used to make it easier to determine which connector goes with each device:

Blue: The blue connector attaches to the host (motherboard or controller).
Gray: The gray connector is in the middle of the cable, and goes to any slave (device 1) drive if present on the channel.
Black: The black connector is at the opposite end from the host connector and goes to the master drive (device 0), or a single drive if only one is used.

So when they're color-coded, definitely follow those guidelines. When they're not, then the standard configuration on an 80-conductor is like I stated above (master on the end, slave in the middle). It's vice-versa on "some" 40-conductor cables.

I didn't notice it enough in the past to form a pattern, but I'm willing to bet that all the situations where I had to reverse the devices had everything to do with the cable. Thanks for the correction Steve!


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884