Problems with AMD64 and RAID drives with Plextor ???

[DarkMagic]

gduns, I appreciate your message, and I second bryant's comments as well. Before you install Nero for testing purposes, read below...

OK then, I've done some poking around:

In MSconfig, I began by turning off only those Startup items and Services that had anything to do with CD/DVD, including the one Nero Startup item "NeroCheck". No change in error.

Then I simply turned all the Startup items off and all Non-Microsoft Services off and rebooted. Still no change in error.

Checked the Startup Folder in the Start menu, nothing there of any relevance.

Opened up Regedit and searched for "Startup" key items. Nothing suspicious that I can see (perhaps I should say, nothing that looks obvious to me ).

Finally, searched for Nero items in registry and found nothing unusual, but I could be missing something that I do not comprehend yet.

So the sum total so far is the following:

1) I've confirmed that the Adaptec ASPI drivers for XP are installed properly.

2) There does not appear to be any startup items that might "lock up" access to the drives that I can tell.

3) One side of my head is a little bloody from smacking it too agressively into the keyboard .

And that's what I can report at this time. If anyone has any other suggestions to try, I'm all ears.

Thanks for the help.

Regards,
Gene

[MTUSUPPORT]

Gene,
What kind of Motherboard do you have exactly, and I will then go and try to find if I see any newer drivers that might be needed to make it work.

[DarkMagic]

Thanks much Bryan!!

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium.

Just FYI, I did go to ASUS and update the chipset drivers a second time on another post's recommendation, specifically the SATA and PATA drivers. I did not re-update the network drivers.

I just thought of something... perhaps since this is a newer MB, I need to flash the Plextor BIOS? Is that recommended?

Regards,
Gene

[MTUSUPPORT]

Here is where the drivers are they would make a difference: http://support.asus.com/download/dow...-SLI%20Premium

Version V6.65 2005/11/14update



OS Win2K / WinXP / Win2003 / WinXP 64bit / Win2003 64bit



Description NVIDIA chipset drivers disk for Windows 2000, Windows XP/2003 32bit and Windows XP/2003 64bit.



File Size 5.41 (MBytes)



Download from GlobalUSAEuropeChina

[DarkMagic]

Bryan thanks for the link.

I downloaded the files, made the floppies, but there's a problem.

When I compare the installed vs. downloaded driver creation dates, the downloaded files are version 534 created on May 2005. I actually have newer drivers already installed, version 552, created August 2005.

Did you intend for me to overwrite my newer files with older drivers? If so, then just let me know, but I hesitated for obvious reasons.

Attached is couple GIFS to show you what I saw.

Also, these are strictly RAID drivers, not simple SATA and PATA drivers, which are under a different tab in Device Manager (and which are also versions 552). Did you intend for me to update my RAID drivers only?

Thanks for the help. Looking forward to your analysis.

Regards,
Gene

[MTUSUPPORT]

I don't know. I was just getting what I saw as the latest from ASUS's website. You might try it.

Part of the problem may also be that you have a Raid System, this could cause an issue, not sure and have not tested any of these in a long long time. I don't know what this would or could do.

GDUNS, do you have a Raid on your system that you said was similar to this one?

[DarkMagic]

For what it's worth, I also had a RAID array on the previous Intel board that ran Microstudio just fine... (doesn't mean there isn't some strange interaction between RAID, this Motherboard, and your software).

You know, if you think about it, there's a good reason to solve this problem eventually. After trying dual core CPU's, a lot of people are going to be moving to this platform, (in particular using AMD CPU's) because compared to my Intel Extreme cpu, AMD eats Intel for lunch. It's amazing performance, and it's very cost effective. In addition, Intel's big push this year is going to be it's own new dual core CPU and all new chipset, so the handwriting is on the wall.

It's not really a matter of "custom this" and "custom that". This is the future my friends, and we don't want MTU to be left in the dust.

[MTUSUPPORT]

This problem should have nothing to do with the Processor. If it is dual or single core, this has no affect on our software.

The raid, I think might be giving you the problems. Do you have the CDR drive plugged into one of the raid controlled IDE ports or one of the Standard IDE ports?

This is the ASPI driver that is causing the problem on your system, it just doesn't like something in your configuration.

[DarkMagic]

Gotcha on the dual cpu.. I was actually thinking more about the impact of the supporting chipsets... but it doesn't matter, I understand your point.

About RAID on the IDE ports, that's a good question. I know my ASUS board supports PATA IDE RAID, and the IDE connector is the same whether RAID is invoked or not (the primary 01, primary 02, slave 01 and slave 02 are reconfigured for RAID use in the BIOS).

I will check that later today when I get some time... great idea thanks!

Regards,
Gene

[gduns - with the Lord]

Gene,

Usually when you have raid on a motherboard, you will have 4 ide connectors.

Each connector will support 2 drives hence a total of 8 drives may be hooked up.

I think what Brian was saying, was make sure the Plextor drives are on the main ide controllers and not the raid controllers. Usually the raid controllers on the motherboard are red, and the main ide connectors are blue.

also are you running ide or sata?

[DarkMagic]

Thank you Bryan and gduns. Here's the results of my tests based on your suggestions:

First off gduns:

My ASUS A8N-SLI Premium has 8 SATA connectors, 4 using NVRAID, and 4 using Silicon Image chip. Currently only the NVRAID is active in the BIOS. I'm running 2 WD 400 giggers in RAID 0 on the NVRAID ports because it tests out faster than the Silicon Image RAID.

This board has only 2 IDE ports, one Primary (blue), one Secondary (black). With "Master/Slave" cables, you could theoretically connect (or RAID) up to 4 IDE hard drives with this BIOS. The Plextor's are connected "Master/Slave" on a single cable to the Primary port. I just tried switching to the Secondary "just in case" and nothing changes.

Bryan:

I went into the BIOS and made sure that the IDE RAID option was turned off for both Primary and Secondary IDE ports (it was). Only the NVRAID SATA is turned on. The Silicon Image RAID is also turned off (as I said above).

So the BIOS is setup only for NVRAID SATA, and for regular IDE ports without RAID.

Now, if you look at the attached GIF, you'll see my Device Manager with all relevant sections highlighted in nice bright yellow .

You can see the Plextor's are recognized (and working, except for MicStu).

The IDE PATA and SATA controllers are installed correctly.

Finally, there are two RAID driver sets installed. The first appears to be the "Master NVRAID" driver and the second appears to be the "SATA" extension.

You can see that I've deactivated the NERO IMAGEDRIVE, but that had no effect.

Does anyone happen to know if I'll ***** up my booting process if I deactivate the "Master" RAID controller and just leave the SATA RAID on?

You would think that no drivers would be installed if the BIOS has IDE RAID turned off.

Thanks again guys... this is a hum tickler

Regards,
Gene

[MTUSUPPORT]

Try unhooking the Plextor 740, so that all you have connected is the 716, and see what happens. This is just a hunch, but its worth trying.

Let me know what happens, it may still not work though.

[DarkMagic]

Hey Bryan,

Tried your suggestion. Attached is Device Manager GIF showing just the 716 loaded. I also attached a GIF showing the drivers associated with the 716.

I'm getting the same error. What's weird is that, as I originally described, I'd get 2 pairs of errors, a "(5) error" and a "(35) error" being one pair, then they would repeat. I assumed that was because I had two Plextor's installed.

But now, even though I clearly have only one Plextor attached, I still get 2 "pairs" of errors, as if I still had two drives installed... dunno if that's a clue or not, but there it is.

The only other thing I have attached in "twos" is the two WD drives in RAID 0.

Well, it was worth trying... maybe this gives us another clue.

I'm going to try to see if there are any BIOS updates for the Plextors and try flashing them... just in case.

Regards,
Gene

[horseshoe]

I even went as far as removing the 716 from by backup computer, and installing it in my gig computer to see if the existing drive had gone bad. I still got the 5 and 35 error.

I suspect mine is a bios problem with my AMD 64 board. I downloaded and installed the updated driver again, (about 10 times it seems) This time the errors went away and it recognizes my non-karaoke DVD drive, but not the Plextor. It has me washing my bald head. I was pulling my hair out, but it's all gone now.

[DarkMagic]

hey horseshoe, much thanks for the info...

when you say you downloaded the updated drivers... which do you mean exactly... there are several packages of drivers available, including ones that are one version previous to the most current...

also, if you possibly can, could you please open your Device Manager and tell me what version of drivers (and the date) for the drivers that you installed?

apologies if this is too time consuming, but before I start rolling back my drivers, it would be nice to know what versions actually started to work with your AMD board and Plextor.

this is soooo weird... still have to try flashing the Plextor's BIOS's.

regards,
Gene

[MTUSUPPORT]

Here is the Link to the latest firmware for the Plextor 716 models: http://www.plextor.com/english/suppo...s/firm_716.htm


Can you give me exactly what the error is stating. Please type it in exactly as it appears.

[horseshoe]

Now it really gets weird. Microstudio would find my DVD drive that wasn't karaoke compatible, but not the Plextor 716A that I have been using for quite a while. So I decided to download the Hoster demo to see what happened.

Well, Microstudio will no longer find either drive, after installing the Hoster demo. All it gives me is the same errors it always had before.


(5) Error reading Inquiry Data for devices, Error = 1
(35) Error reading Inquiry Data for devices, Error = 1

These errors occur twice, once for each drive.

The strange part is that Hoster finds the drive and extracts and plays the tracks off it, just fine. This now pretty much confirms my thinking. It isn't my computer at all, and all the driver and firmware updates I have been doing have done nothing good at all. The problem is that Microstudio is not compatible with my system, or something to that effect.

This really sucks, because I love the program and devocalize many songs to put on discs to play around with. Now, I have no way of writing them to CDs and my fellings are hurt, and my drinking has really started in earnest.

This is the AMD 64 3500+ with a Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 Motherboard that I have been posting about.

[DarkMagic]

Boy, I'm glad I'm not the only one that's having this weird problem.

My error message is EXACTLY the same as Horseshoe. It has been this way since way back when I first posted the problem. It has never changed.

I flashed the Firmware on both drives:

740a from 1.01 to 1.02
716a from 1.08 to 1.09

... restarted to desktop both times.

No change in errors.

Where's my scotch

[MTUSUPPORT]

Try unplugging both of the drives and then try to Open Microstudio and see if it will then work without the errors.

This will not have any drives, but it will allow the program to open.

If you still get an error, then the Motherboard drivers are definately the problem.

Also, try using only the 716 model drive, without the 740 plugged in.

[admin]

Originally Posted by horseshoe

The strange part is that Hoster finds the drive and extracts and plays the tracks off it, just fine. This now pretty much confirms my thinking. It isn't my computer at all, and all the driver and firmware updates I have been doing have done nothing good at all. The problem is that Microstudio is not compatible with my system, or something to that effect.

This really sucks, because I love the program and devocalize many songs to put on discs to play around with. Now, I have no way of writing them to CDs and my fellings are hurt, and my drinking has really started in earnest.

This is the AMD 64 3500+ with a Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 Motherboard that I have been posting about.

Well, I'm stumped also. It is beyond our reasoning as to how the Hoster Demo changed the Microstudio install to no longer run. I assume you are running Microstudio 2.612?

So far, we don't understand why you three gentlemens' systems exhibit this, and no one else. We will keep trying to diagnose what might be causing this.