PCTech Forums

I purchased a CDRW Lite-On 52x32x52x and installed on my computer as the master on the IDE 2 and my Lite-On DVD as slave running 98SE. The Device Manager says its working properly but when I put a cd in, it acts like its reading it coz the light flickers but never starts the cd. I also tried opening in My Computer and I get error its not accessible the device is not ready. I installed the software that came with it, which was Nero Express and InCD. After installing the software my computer stopped responding. I rebooted in safe mode and unistalled all the software and shut it down. I then changed the CDRW to the slave and the DVD to the master. Same thing. My H.D.D. is master of course on IDE 1 and the slave postion is open do you think I should install on that contoller instead of the IDE2? Anyone gots any suggestions for the disappointed Geek?

I would try to run the CDRW as master on IDE2 without the dvd rom and see what happens.If it works fine on the channel alone you might be able to slave the dvd off of the hdd.You should also check for BIOS updates for your board and firmware updates for the drive(s).

I dont think that there are any updates for my bios. (AMI GA-7ZX Series VIA KT 133 Chipset.) I set as master on IDE2 with nothing as slave and actually got 2 error beeps at boot. It did boot but still cant use.

2 beeps on AMI means memory error however i dont think thats your prob.Have you tried a different IDE cable?

looking for bios update...so far no luck

ok I took it out and installed in my other machine.

ECS K7S5A
Sis 735 chipset
AMD 1.2
512 DDR SDRAM
3D Phantom XP-3800 Pro 64MB AGP Video Card
Windows XP Home

It works. But its not the machine I wish to use it in

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Sup ... +KT133.htm

Do you know the revision of the gigabyte board?

it should be printed on the board and also on the manual somewhere but there are bios updates avaliable that may help you.

REV: 1.01
In my mobo manual its saying it has a Bios Live Update Utility. Im gonna check it out.

THX

I went ahead and updated the bios and the cdrw still dont work. I noticed some things in the bios that didnt seem right.

chipset top performance was disabled
dram frequency was 100mhz i changed to 133 (will change back will only run at 100)
bios flash protection was disabled
irq 3,4,7,14 all set to monitor
irq5,9,10,11,13,15 all set to ignore
pnp os was selected as no

i changed them, and first boot didnt load anything except my background so i rebooted and everything loaded ok but is very unstable
seems to be a bit faster at loading too

guess i got my work cut out for me

Hi Geekgirl...I had the same Prob when I installed my new writer[Lite-On]
I would pull the DVD rom and Install it in the other PC first.To eliminate it as the cause.
It turned out to be the DVD rom in my case so I replaced it and it was fixed.
Just something to check before you tackle a bigger task!

Nero keeps crashing my sysytem

When you install Nero...choose the NERO software only.
Don't install the INCD!!

Before f-disking & re-formatting try this:

Remove DVD ROM
Remove CDRW Rom

Re-Boot
Un-install NERO

Re-boot
Search for INCD files,if you find any,delete them.
Re-boot
Shut down the PC and install the CDRW as Master on IDE2
Do not install Nero,let Win98SE find the Writer.
Make sure it is working properly.(you don't need to install the software right now)

If it works,shut down the PC and install the DVD rom as Slave on IDE2
Again let Win98SE detect it.
Check to see if its in the Device Manager and everything is OK.

If when you first install the Writer and it isn't working,pull it out and install the DVD Rom as Master on IDE2,no writer ,re-boot.
Post what happens.

Cactus

try installing the latest version of the via 4in1 chipset drivers

Cactus,

I followed your instructions, the CDRW still would not work. Device Manager says its working properly. I've removed all traces of INCD and Nero from the registry. I removed CDRW and installed DVD Rom as master, its working fine.

Yesterday I installed the CDRW in the XP Machine as master no slave, works great. I added a Rom as slave and the CDRW would not work. This apparently needs to be installed alone on the IDE2. Why it wont work with my 98SE is beyond me at this point.

I am recieving errors after the splash screen at boot. They flash by so fast I cant read them all. One does say Corrupted or missing Config Sys file on line 1 error. Others were about a Hi-Speed Drive installation. DOH
It may have something to do with those DOS drivers I installed from the CDRW software dics. ..or not

lol... I couldnt use my scanner yesterday and my usb ports are not working luckily I have an usb adapter also that I could use. My sound drivers which are onboard got lost somewhere (hehe) had to re-install those. So some of my mobo drivers must be missing or corrupted.
This is looking more and more like a fdisk and reformat.

Other than the mentioned tasks above I've updated the bios and updated the Via 4in1 chipset drivers.

Hey, if anything, Im learning something

Sounds like the 98 machine needs an overhaul to XP