DVD-ROM issues

Plastic_Fork · #1 10-19-2006, 10:24 AM

I have a computer I'm repairing for a friend. His Windows boot tables kicked the bucket on his HDD so I took care of everything and I'm almost finished fixing it. The only issue I have at the moment is his DVD-ROM. He had a Sony CD-ROM in it prior and it was a faulty unit so I bought a Dynex DVD-ROM to replace it. Worked great, BIOS sees it, and it works perfect in a DOS environment, otherwise I couldn't have installed Windows XP with it.

My issue seems to be a software issue. It won't read in the Windows environment. He has a Soyo SY-K7ADA v1.0 motherboard and an AMD Athlon XP. It's using an ALi chipset. Apparently, ALi's newest chipset drivers cause an IDE conflict. Luckily, I found a fix with an updated IDE driver (everything else worked fine). The fix was on a site for an Asus board, but it's the same chipset and driverset. Here's the site I found it for more info:
http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~leeey/a7a266/

The DVD-ROM is brand new. It's Dynex model DX-DVDR100. Dynex's website is useless for support and their firmware update is useless to me; there's no instructions on how to use it and I can't grasp how to flash it based off of the integrated DOS instructions. The DVD-ROM shows up as a totally different manufacturer though under the Windows environment and I flashed the firmware based off of that so it has the latest firmware. Still works great under DOS, so I'm going to conclude it's still a software issue within Windows and not a firmware issue.

Under the Windows enviroment, it won't read any disc I put in it. It will attempt to read, the DVD-ROM icon under My Computer will change to a CD-ROM drive icon when it attempts to read, and that's all I get. If I attempt to click on it to open it or right-click, I freeze the system slightly and have to crash Explorer to have use of the OS again. Cable connections are fine, but I'll re-seat them again just to be sure. It's primary master on the second IDE channel and it set as such by the jumper and it is the only drive on the channel, so it's on the end of the IDE cable. BIOS is set to auto-detect and has no issues seeing the drive. Drive is running at ATA66 according to the BIOS. BIOS is the latest from Soyo. I've set the DVD region on the drive to region 1, so that's not it. Windows XP has been updated to SP2 and has the latest updates as of last night. Brand new, clean install of Windows XP so no viruses or spyware. Ran anti-spyware stuff on it anyway just to be sure. Even uninstalled the drive under Windows and had it re-detect and install it. It's using the same optical drive driver that my other PC's are using.

I'm at a loss and am half-temped to put his flunky Sony CD-ROM back in and see what I get. Any help is appreciated. I'm out of ideas on this one.

l_eclipse_l · #2 10-19-2006, 10:41 AM

Well I have no idea what is the deal with Windows and that model DVD-ROM, but I have never heard of Dynex before. Try going with a different brand, one that know will actually work.

xeroinfinity · #3 10-19-2006, 10:45 AM

go to properties remove/delete the drive then reboot.
It should read the new drive and set the DVD drivers.

Just my guess, i really dont know this will work, but it has for me in the past.
I also had a Sony DVDrom that windows wouldnt recognise and listed it as a cd-rom. wouldnt read any disc at all till I removed it .

Hope that helps !

Plastic_Fork · #4 10-19-2006, 01:05 PM

I have another DVD-ROM in my roommate's PC which I'll try just to be sure. Already tried removing the drive and having Windows reinstall the driver but no dice. Still have some other things I'll try first. Thanks for the reply.

xeroinfinity · #5 10-19-2006, 05:01 PM

My Sony DVD ended up broke because I thought it was defecting and tore it apart

That was the end of that brand new drive

Good Luck !

Plastic_Fork · #6 10-19-2006, 08:01 PM

That's the drive I replaced - his PC had a flaky Sony CD-ROM in it. My roommate's PC has a Toshiba DVD-ROM I'll try if it refuses to read a normal audio cd or DVD. It might just be fussy and not read Memorex discs, although it read the Memorex disc I installed Windows from.

Oz · #7 10-19-2006, 08:20 PM

Try putting the defective drive in another XP machine and see how it goes, try a different DVD-ROM in the system you are fixing too. If it's a problem with the DVD-ROM installing under Windows XP, document it and chace a refund.

A second hand optical drive can be had _VERY_ cheaply from eBay or the like, why not just get another one?

Plastic_Fork · #8 10-19-2006, 08:25 PM

For the record, the drive shows up in BIOS and Windows as DVD-ROM BDV316G. Did some research and it looks like it's actually a DVD-ROM made by Taiwan company BTC. It appears that they don't have much on their products either.
BTC's website

Here's their page where I got the updated firmware:
Firmware page

Plastic_Fork · #9 10-19-2006, 08:53 PM

Quick update - it appeared to attempt to read a normal audio cd and it showed up as an audio cd in My Computer, but crashed Windows when I tried to run it in Media Player. This is looking like it might be a soundcard driver conflict. I believe the Windows CD and Photoshop CD I was trying to read both use audio in their autorun menus which would explain this. I've seen this happen before with bad audio drivers. Unfortunately, his audio card is a Soundblaster Live! 5.1, but it's model SB0220 which from research shows it to be an OEM only card and SB doesn't have drivers available for it on their website. Figures. Going to see if any other Live! 5.1 drivers work and maybe this will solve it.

ericn1300 · #10 10-19-2006, 10:11 PM

check your DMA settings, most DVDs require direct memory access.

Plastic_Fork · #11 10-20-2006, 01:49 AM

It was running at UDMA 2. Problem is the drive itself. I switched with a known working CD-ROM and had no issues working. Sucks... that DVD-ROM is brand new.

Oz · #12 10-20-2006, 09:37 PM

Refund.

Plastic_Fork · #13 10-21-2006, 01:35 AM

Too late. I've had it a month already. Downside to being a truck driver is I'm only home once a month. I'll eat the cost. It was only $30. Found a LiteOn DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive at WalMart for $35 which I got. Should be good to go plus he gets a CD writer as well. Not a bad plus - I just wanted to get him a DVD-ROM. LiteOn makes good products as well so I should be in the clear.

ericn1300 · #14 10-21-2006, 04:32 PM

i always get a kick out of the name LiteOn coming from an oriental company. do you think the humor was intentional or did they just spell it phoneticaly.

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