SH-S203N Power Calibration Error

[grdk]

Hello all,

I've been more of a lurker, but I've come up with a problem that's really boggling my mind.

I just got a new SH-S203N from Newegg since I read good reviews about the Sx-S2xx series on here.

With my first drive, I installed it and replaced my (working Benq DW1655). I tried to read a few discs, and it read just fine (and fast too).

The problems arose however, when I tried to burn some CDs and DVDs. I get "Power Calibration Error" in Nero Ultra 8.3.2.1, and it hangs on "Writing LeadIn" on ImgBurn. I swapped in a Benq DW1640, and both that and the DW1655 burnt discs just fine. FWIW, I also attempted to burn a few images with Nero and ImgBurn.

I thought the drive was broken, so I returned it and Newegg shipped me another one, which I got today. I popped that one in, and the exact same problems happened again.

However I just swapped the SH-S203N into a spare computer with a cheap ECS i848 chipset (Pentium4 + Intel i848, with SATA-1 via ICH-5). And the SH-S203N worked just fine! (It's actually burning my slipstreamed Windows XP SP3 CD right now).

What gives?!

I'm running:

• Windows XP Professional SP3 (though I tested the first drive on SP2)
• ECS GeForce7050M-M (nVidia 630a/GeForce 7050)
• GeForce 6800GS PCIe
• 4GB DDR2 (though I haven't installed WinXP x64 yet so it only sees 3.25GB)

• High quality Foltron Blue 620W PSU

• BIOS is set to "SATA", not RAID or AHCI

I hope someone else has had a similar problem before. I searched around a bit and everyone seemed to have theirs working :\

[pfloyd1]

What mid is the media? And is there a newer firmware for the drive?

[grdk]

Hello, I’m using Taiyo Yuden TYG02 for the DVD’s and some really old 4x Verbatim CD-RWs I still have a few of. I only use expensive/trusted media

At least I didn’t coaster any; it seems that it never even got to the point where it would write files to the disc.

But the thing is it works on the old i848 chipset computer, and not my (relatively) new dual core nVidia rig :\

[mciahel]

Hi and Welcome!

since the drive works in another computer, there is probably some controller or driver compatibility issue.
Try this:
Make sure, the Sata Controller is set to IDE compatible mode (not sure what options exist in your Bios setup).

Uninstall Nvidia’s Sata/IDE drivers using the Nvidia installer you can access in Control Panel --> Add/Remove Software. After a reboot, Windows should install its own drivers.
If Windows default drivers don’t work properly, then get the latest chipset drivers from www.nvidia.com and install them.

Michael

[grdk]

ECS doesn’t have an explicit SATA IDE compatibility mode in their BIOS; just SATA, RAID, and AHCI. SATA is supposed to mean IDE compatibility mode though. I had that mode selected, as nVidia has yet to release a stable public AHCI driver for multiple chipsets in their current portfolio (shame on them). Heck their default IDE and SATA drivers don’t even work either, and their RAID drivers work barely. Even though the nVidia chipset ForceWare driver installation asks if you want to install their IDE/SATA drivers, it never installs it even if you check it – the drivers that end up being used are the default generic Windows ones.

Interestingly, ECS released a 2 BIOS updates since the motherboard was introduced in August '07. But those BIOSes are only on it’s main www.ecs.com.tw site, not it’s www.ecsusa.com site.

I just flashed the motherboard to the lastest January '08 BIOS and … now it’s burning just fine.

ECS never mentions anything about the new BIOS fixing issues with burners either!

Thank for your help attempt and warm welcome though mciahel; I didn’t use the information you gave me, reading your post made me check the ECS Taiwan site to discover the BIOS update. Meh, I had to break out my old floppy disk to flash, but it works now!

[mciahel]

Hi,[quote=grdk;2053290]ECS doesn’t have an explicit SATA IDE compatibility mode in their BIOS; just SATA, RAID, and AHCI. SATA is supposed to mean IDE compatibility mode though. I had that mode selected, as nVidia has yet to release a stable public AHCI driver for multiple chipsets in their current portfolio (shame on them). [/quote]Ok. Apart form that, I don’t see any advantage of AHCI unless you want to use external Sata drives.

Even though the nVidia chipset ForceWare driver installation asks if you want to install their IDE/SATA drivers, it never installs it even if you check it – the drivers that end up being used are the default generic Windows ones.
Which isn’t bad at all. Maybe they just add some vendor ID or similar.

Interestingly, ECS released a 2 BIOS updates since the motherboard was introduced in August ‘07. But those BIOSes are only on it’s main www.ecs.com.tw site, not it’s www.ecsusa.com site.
I prefer the (mostly) Taiwanese HQ websites of mainboard manufacturers for Bios updates since local subsidiaries’ websites are often dated and incomplete.

I just flashed the motherboard to the lastest January '08 BIOS and … now it’s burning just fine.
Nice you got it sorted

ECS never mentions anything about the new BIOS fixing issues with burners either!
Such is normal. Maybe just a side effect of another fix

Michael

[grdk]

AHCI is useful for hotplugging hard drives and external devices. Also, it enables NCQ for hard drives. I was pretty bummed out a few months ago when I got the motherboard when I found out that nVidia made claims it wouldn’t support :\

But yeah, I’m happily burning now. I’m on my 4th disc