How to Upgrade Your ASPI Driver

[admin]

For application programs like CD Creator, Microstudio, CDRWIN, etc. to control an IDE or SCSI CD-Recorder on a Windows PC computer, you MUST HAVE an ASPI driver. This is a software interface that lies between the hardware (CDR in this case) and all application programs like Microstudio that want to use that hardware.

Since Microsoft's WNASPI32.DLL ASPI drivers that come with Windows9x CD-ROMs appear to have the same file date (they all show version 1.00), it is risky to use this to distinguish the version.

To check the ASPI drivers on your computer, run Adaptec’s ASPICHK software: ftp://ftp.adaptec.com/software_pc/aspi/aspichk.exe This usually suggests you update your SCSI drivers with their latest version from: ftp://ftp.adaptec.com/software_pc/aspi/aspi32.exe DO NOT RUN THIS YET! Keep reading!

When you run the ASPI32.EXE above, it will attempt to replace all Adaptec ASPI drivers on your computer. If you have a SCSI host adapter card from some other company than Adaptec, or you have no SCSI card at all, the program will not update your WNASPI32.DLL driver. Take heart, there is a solution...

IMPORTANT - The ASPI32.EXE only checks the presence of the SCSI drivers for Adaptec hardware. Therefore, if you install the drivers for an Adaptec host adapter card, their software WILL - I REPEAT WILL perform the upgrade.

IMPORTANT - You can do this under Windows 95/98 whether or not you have the target hardware on your computer. To install the drivers before installing the Adaptec upgrade, follow these steps:
[ol][li] Click the Start button, then Control Panel, then Add New Hardware
[li] When the Add New Hardware Wizard displays a device list for installation and asks for a selection, click No, the device isn't in the list and click the Next button
[li] When the Wizard asks Do you want Windows to search for your new hardware? click No, I want to select the hardware from a list and click the Next button
[li] In the Hardware Types: list, scroll down and select SCSI Controller and click the Next button
[li] In the next dialog that appears, for Manufacturer: select Adaptec and for Model: select AHA-1510 SCSI Host Adapter and click the Next button (do not click the [Have Disk...] button)

NOTE: After you have done through step 7 below, if the ASPI32.EXE program complains that an Adaptec SCSI Host is not found, do this again and select a different Model than AHA-1510. A Plug-and-play adapter has worked for some.

[li] Proceed with the Next and Finish buttons to end the Wizard. This procedure copies a low-level Adaptec SCSI driver from the Win9x setup source.
[li] Next, download the ASPI32.EXE from ftp://ftp.adaptec.com/software_pc/aspi/aspi32.exe. This should now install the necessary ASPI drivers on your computer
[li] Restart your computer to activate the new ASPI driver
[/ol]

[GordonF]

Looks like Adaptec's installer doesn't actually check to see if the hardware was FUNCTIONING before proceeding with the install.

I wonder if that works with NT...

Here's something else I discovered, and you can thank Intervideo for doing this in the demo version of WinDVD:

Download the installer for WinDVD 2000 demo, but DON'T install it, then open the self-installer with WinZIP or WinRAR to find ASPIINST.EXE and extract it. The WinDVD installer runs this as part of the installation, but nothing says you can't run it yourself. This should install v4.60 of ASPI on Win9x and NT/Win2K.

It seems WinDVD needs ASPI to talk to ATAPI and SCSI DVD drives, and that installer doesn't look for Adaptec hardware either. In a worst case you can install WinDVD and uninstall it to install ASPI.