Buffer underrun only after CPU/motherboard upgrade

Software & Apps
#1

Hi all, I don’t use my Sony CRX100EB very much. I think my troubles started after I upgraded my computer. I upgraded the motherboard to a GigaByte GA60-X, the CPU to a PIII 866, and the harddrive to an IBM ATA100 46GB. I also reinstalled Windows 2000 and installed the UltraATA IDE drivers. I never had trouble with the old system, and now I get buffer underruns all the time. Sometimes the testing phase works okay and the error occurs during writing, other times it bombs out during testing. So, it appears that the problem is intermittent but typically always occurs at least once during a disc burn (I once got about 75% of a disc burnt). I’ve also tried doing the burn under Win98 SE on the same machine, but get the same problems. I’ve tried Easy CD Creator 4.02 and 5.0, and I think the last time I used Nero it also failed but I don’t remember if it was the same error.

I do understand what underrun’s are. I’ve done the typical things like shutdown all background apps and scheduled tasks, and unplugged the network cable.

I wonder if it’s a DMA or ATA related problem. I don’t know much about this stuff. Is there anything inparticular that I should check? Under device manager (on both 98 and 2000?) there is an UltraATA driver, and two ATA channel drivers (I think that’s what they’re called). I’m assuming there is one channel driver per IDE channel. I think my setup is:

 IDE0:
      IBM ATA100 HDD
      ATA33(66?) HDD
 IDE1:
      Sony CRX-100EB CD/RW
      LS-120 SuperDisk FDD

I wonder if it could also be that the drive has got dust in it? Does anyone know of such dust-related problems? And if so, what should I do to clean it?

I’d really appreciate any help.

Regards,

Steven

#2

Hey, if both your source and destination CD drives are connected to the same IDE cable, that might cause the problem. Connect them to separate cables. If that’s not it, then right-click My Computer, click properties, Device Manager, go into the properties of your CD writer, and enable/disable DMA support for it. I had same prob, enabled DMA for CD-Writer, and now its just like the old times, burning in peace! :wink:

#3

I’ve only got the one CD drive, so I’m copying via the ATA100 HDD. Thanks for the DMA hint though. I’ll try it tonight.

#4

does your mb has separate ATA100 ide channels?
I would’t put my ata66 hd on ata100 controller or ata100 becomes ata66…

#5

I read something (I think it was on Intel’s site) that said that with ATA100 and ATA66 on the same channel that each drive will stain attain it’s maximum performance.

That’s the least of my worries now though… I uninstalled the Intel Ultra ATA driver this morning, and now W2K is giving me INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE blue screens. I’ve tried to fix the registry (from another machine) but haven’t managed to repair it. I think a reinstall will be in order.

The reason for the uninstall was that I noticed that there was a resource conflict between some IDE driver and the Ultra ATA.

I now think that that had nothing to do with my troubles. I’ve booted up Win 98 SE on the same machine, and am burning quite happily at 2x. I had only been trying 4x the last few days, which was always failing. I figure my machine should be easily capable of 4x but something’s obviously wrong. I wonder if the 1MB buffer of the Sony is too small, even for such a fast system.

#6

Originally posted by smr
[B]

That’s the least of my worries now though… I uninstalled the Intel Ultra ATA driver this morning, and now W2K is giving me INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE blue screens. I’ve tried to fix the registry (from another machine) but haven’t managed to repair it. I think a reinstall will be in order.
[/B]

I just ran into this problem with a Win2k install on a High Point Ultra ATA controller.

Go to microsoft’s web site and search for the Hardware Compatibility List. Find your controller in the list(it should be under Storage/Controllers). Download the Microsoft driver offered there for your controller and expand the file onto a floppy.

Doing this solved my problem.

HTH

'Voodoo

#7

Hey SMR,

[list=a]
[li]Check system properties for IRQ and DMA conflicts
[/li][li]Upgrade to the latest BIOS version
[/li][li]You might want to de-install the 3 rd party IDE chipset divers (and use the Microsoft divers: Viatec has a nice way of screwing things up)
[/li][li]Check what chipset you use. You might want to upgrade to the latest chipset drivers (or maybe not)
[/li][li]Nero fuçks up all the other CDR burning prog’s drivers. DE-install Nero and all other CDR progs (check registry for remaining stuff) and re-install CDR burning progs (but not Nero) or Nero alone
[/li][/list=a]

#8

Thanks for the help. I should have replied. I have dumped my Sony and got a Plextor 16x IDE writer. The problems have gone. I had done a fair bit of fiddling with the system, so I don’t know if it was just the drive or a combination of things. At least it’s working now.