Severe problems with Plextor Premium on Promise TX2 Ultra133 Controller

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers Plextor Writer
#1

Hello :slight_smile: I just found the URL to this forum and hope you guys can help me out on this one.

I have a brand new Plextor Premium drive. When I try to record a disc in Nero 5.5 (latest version) the drive needs 3 to 4 minutes (!) to write the Lead In info. During this the LED is continuously blinking in amber.
When it finally starts recording, I have a fair chance of wasting the media (> 50%). I simply get “write error” at some point and the CD-R is toast, without any presigns or buffer underrun.

So I tried recording CDs with PlexTools (2.06, latest version). However, the CD-Rom maker tells me “CD is not empty” and refuses to start recording. When I insert an empty CD-RW the program asks me to erase the media, since it were full…

I downloaded the CDInfo tool from the Plextor website, which at first didn’t recognize ANY media. After disabling the 2 virtual CD-Roms of GameJack3 the CDInfo tool finally recognized the discs I inserted. Unfortunately, all the other problems remain :frowning:
I then uninstalled GameJack und CloneCD and deleted all drivers and registry entry they had without any effect.

Next, I installed the drive in my 2nd PC were it works FINE, so I am sure it is either a software problem or related to my Promise TX2 Ultra133 IDE Controller (PCI card), where all my drives are connected to. I need this controller, because my mainboard doesn’t work with hard-drives above 137gig capacity and I have a 200gig HD.

Plextor support wasn’t able to give me any information on compatibility to this controller (which runs the latest firmware and drivers). Before I spend another hacking my system configuration or installing Windows anew I’d like to know if any of yours have experienced similar problems or know about issues connected to this or similar IDE controllers.

#2

The problem is most likely your Promise TX2 controller. Most PCI controllers have some sort of problems with ATAPI drives like cd-roms, cd-burnerd and dvd-burners.

Your best bet is to put the drive on the motherboard controller where it works.

Another possibility is changing your PCI IDE controller, but this is a gamble as I cannot guarantee that another controller will work with your Premium either.

However, if you are going to try this, a good bet would be a Silicon Image CMD-680 chip based controller. Many have reported good results with Silicon Image based controllers.

I’m getting such a controller myself and will try Plextor Premium on that controller. It’ll be a while though as my retailer told it might take at least two weeks for me to get that PCI IDE controller.

best regards,
Halcyon

#3

Aight. I will connect the Premium directly to the mainboard and give it a try. I hope I can use the board IDE controller and the TX2 simultanuously, otherwise I can’t boot…

#4

I use my normal onboard controller with 3 CD/DVD drives, another onboard controller with 2 DVD-ROMs, and an extra FastTrak 100 TX2 for the hard discs.
No problems with booting.

#5

Connecting the drive to the onboard controller solved the issue :slight_smile: However, one thing still bugs me: Even when I disable PowerRec via PlexTools (latest version) the “feature” is still active under Nero (latest version) :frowning: Is that normal?

#6

Yes, this is “normal”, because Plextools Pro is buggy in many places :slight_smile:

You can disable PoweRec from Nero directly and then it works: Recorder -> Choose Recorder -> Plextor Premium -> Options -> PoweRec unselect

regards,
Halcyon

#7

Originally posted by Halcyon

The problem is most likely your Promise TX2 controller. Most PCI controllers have some sort of problems with ATAPI drives like cd-roms, cd-burnerd and dvd-burners.

I’ve not experienced any kinds of probs w my CDRWs sitting on the Promise TX2 controller.

#8

BoSkin,

that’s really interesting! Many people have a lot of problems and some don’t, so there must be more to this. If it’s not too much of trouble, could you tell me the following:

  • Promise PCI IDE controller driver version (and manufacturer of driver)
  • what chipset are you using on your motherboard
  • what is your CPU utilisation when you burn on the CDRW connected to Promise TX2?
  • what is the maximum speed you can burn at with your cdrw connected to Promise TX2?
  • Can you use KProbe with the cdrw on your Promise TX2 controller (if it’s a LiteOn)?
  • Can you flash the firmware of the drive on the Promise TX controller?

I’d really like to understand why some people have problems and others don’t.

Thanks for any help you can give me on this issue.

cheers,
Halcyon

PS The same seems to apply to Silicon Image controllers: some can flash, some can’t. Some can use Kprobe, some can’t, etc. All this using the same chipset based PCI IDE controller. Weird.

#9

Originally posted by Halcyon

BoSkin,

that’s really interesting! Many people have a lot of problems and some don’t, so there must be more to this. If it’s not too much of trouble, could you tell me the following:

  • Promise PCI IDE controller driver version (and manufacturer of driver)
  • what chipset are you using on your motherboard
  • what is your CPU utilisation when you burn on the CDRW connected to Promise TX2?
  • what is the maximum speed you can burn at with your cdrw connected to Promise TX2?
  • Can you use KProbe with the cdrw on your Promise TX2 controller (if it’s a LiteOn)?
  • Can you flash the firmware of the drive on the Promise TX controller?

Is it a matter of trust or what ? :bigsmile:

  • TX2 BIOS v.2.20.0.15

  • VIA KT133

  • ???

  • 44x

  • My LTR52 is SM ( i.e. not on the Promise )

  • fresh update ( just for your sake !!! :wink: ) - works like a charm :cool:

#10

Thanks a lot BoSkin! It’s definitely not a matter of trust, I trust you already as it is :slight_smile:

I have various acquintances who also have Promise TX2 and they can’t get their burners to burn on it, it hogs the cpu, limits to 16x or Kprobe/flashing can’t be used.

However, the same drive on motherboard controller works.

So, that’s why I asked, because I want to understand why it works on some people and on some others it doesn’t work.

Your information has given me useful points of comparisons, thank you!

cheers,
Halcyon

PS You can monitor the CPU utilisation using Task Monitor (ctrl+alt+del) or a program like TaskInfo 2000.

#11

Originally posted by Halcyon

PS You can monitor the CPU utilisation using Task Monitor (ctrl+alt+del)
Yes, I did know that and when I decided to test it, the value showed to be very higher -
between 80 and 100 %. And that’s too much.
There just was not enough of my spare time to post about it here.

Regards :smiley:

#12

Originally posted by BoSkin
[B]Yes, I did know that and when I decided to test it, the value showed to be very higher -
between 80 and 100 %. And that’s too much.
There just was not enough of my spare time to post about it here.

Regards :smiley: [/B]

I ran into the same problem with a Promise U100 on a P4PE: 100% CPU load with writing a CD at about 16x form the U100.

Promise has sold 10.000’s of these boards and they don’t work with atapi devices !?!?!?. Incredible!!! Has any solution come up by users in the mean time? Or is the best thing to throw away???

How has any additional experience or advise?

Frans
Ntherlands

#13

Originally posted by FransSnoep

How has any additional experience or advise?

Having had enough trouble w my Yamaha sitting on the Promise
( btw, the PC crashed every time I would open Nero InfoTool, of which I informed the author ),
I simple decided to set it on IDE putting another HDD on the Promise instead.
That’s been a useful experience anyway.

Yes, I fully agree w your opinion regarding Promise doing nothing to fix it. That’s a pretty much known bug.

#14

Originally posted by FransSnoep
[B]Promise has sold 10.000’s of these boards and they don’t work with atapi devices !?!?!?. Incredible!!! Has any solution come up by users in the mean time? Or is the best thing to throw away???

How has any additional experience or advise? [/B]

I also had problems trying to connect burners to my Promise Ultra133TX2. They would burn, but they couldn’t burn at high speeds, and the CPU utilization was up at 100%. I replaced the card with a Silicon Image Sil0680-based card, and there are no problems any more. I now use the Ultra133TX2 for my hard drive in another PC where the burners are connected to the onboard IDE controller, and that works fine, too.