SATA DVD Drive Issues?

pt121984 · 03-20-2007, 10:15 PM

Need a little info if you all don't mind.

I have an Asus P5GDC Deluxe Mainboard with a P4 3.4 CPU running Win XP Home. I have two Seagate SATA HArd Drives which work fine, but the SATA Plextor (PX-716SA) DVD Burner has some issues. About 75% of the time when I turn the system on, everything is fine. However, the other 25%, is when I'm seeing an issue. When it boots I'll see the HDD IDE LED on the system stays on Solid and I'll check and the DVD drive is not showing up in the system at all. Not in the device Manager, nor in MY Computer. It will open and I can hear it seek a disk when I have something in it, but since the system is not seeing it, nothing happens.

Also, it will do it when is it seen too a lot of times. It will happen if the Drive has a problem reading a disk and errors out, but most recently, it seems to happen when the Screen saver has been active for about 15 -30 minutes. It doesn't happen right away, but you can tell when it does. You'll see the HDD LED on solid and when you look the DVD drive is gone. I have set the Bios to SATA only and SATA + PATA and still get the same issue. It is driving me crazy.

Has anyone else run into this issue or heard of anything like it? I'm beginning to think I should have stayed with a regular IDE DVD Burner instead. Its funny that I have this problem, but when I first put the system together, the WinXP CD saw the SATA DVD drive just fine and installed XP without an issue.....I've heard of other having a problem getting XP to install with an SATA Optical drive. Also, the DVD burner has the latest firmware installed as well as the mainboard.

Thanks
Patrick

dai · 03-21-2007, 01:52 AM

check the cable is secure try another cable,they are only just becoming available here so have not seen one yet

**8210GUY** · 03-21-2007, 07:23 AM

I have that same drive but I don't have that issue, BUT, I did have a similar issue with a further Sata drive that was for storage, and the solution for that was to disable the raid settings you aren't using in the bios, so if you have your raid set up on the primary raid, then disable any secondary raids etc, see if that clears it up, obviously if you reboot and suddenly it doesn't see your system it means you disabled a raid it needs, so go back and re-enable that until you get it right, hopefully it will help.

pt121984 · 03-21-2007, 07:46 AM

In the Bios, it is set up as basic IDE Mode rather then AHCI/Raid. Other then this there are no other settings. I don't Run a Raid system, so no need to have it enabled to begin with.

dai · 03-21-2007, 10:24 AM

not knowing anything about the sat dvd drives makes it difficult
there is this notation on the plextor site in regards to your m/b
OS error may occur when PlexTools Professional is started from standby/suspension state.
plus this along side the raid listing
CD-boot failure even connected with ODD only

**8210GUY** · 03-21-2007, 10:32 AM

Well if your not using raid then I have to wonder if your Sata drives are enable in the bios, because although your not using raid, you still need Sata enabled, I'll see if I can find your bios settings and see what it offers, but in the mean time can you check in the device manager that there are no conflicts and that your Sata drivers are installed OK ?

dai · 03-21-2007, 10:45 AM

if the slots are raid capable you need the ite driver loaded and has you have already done set to run as ide in the bios on my
p5gdc v deluxe board,i would think the deluxe would be the same

**8210GUY** · 03-21-2007, 11:35 AM

OK I got a manual for that board, I just hope it's new enough, but under ide configuration try setting it to Enhanced, this allows it to run both ide and Sata at the same time and I'm hoping will sort your problem out, apart from that I didn't notice much more in there that might help.

pt121984 · 03-21-2007, 01:36 PM

It is set to enhanced. And under enhanced mode support it is set to SATA + PATA. THe reason its not just to SATA mode is because the system won't even boot with more then two devices connected to the SATA ports. Right now the Boot drive is on SATA 1 and the data disk is on SATA 3 and the DVD drive is on SATA 2. In regular SATA mode when another drive is connected in a slave setup....in other words SATA 1 and SATA 3 or SATA 2 and SATA 4, the two drives that are connected together ( SATA 1 and SATA 3 ) those two drives take a major performance hit. I'm talking going from 50mb transfer rate to about 5mb transfer rate. If one of the hard drives is connected to say......SATA 2 and the DVD drive is connected to SATA 4, that hard drive is drawn down to a craw and the DVD drive will not burn because of the slow transfer rate. So when set to SATA + PATA they seem to work great together. Now that being said, before I put the second hard disk back in, it was just set to SATA mode alone because the Boot drive was on SATA 1 and the DVD drive was on SATA 2 and their were no performance issues, but the drive disappearing every once in a while would still happen.

Patrick

dai · 03-21-2007, 02:41 PM

what are your voltage readings like

pt121984 · 03-21-2007, 08:49 PM

12.143
5.145
3.248
1.336 vcore

Voltages appear to be fine. I did find about 50 errors relating to the DVD drive in the event viewer. They all say The driver detected a controller error on \Device\CDrom. This all corresponds to when I was trying to copy a very large file off a DVD disk.

Thanks
Patrick

dai · 03-22-2007, 09:19 AM

uninstall the drive from the device manager and right click and scan for h/w changes
the same with the controllers listing

alabamaman79 · 03-22-2007, 01:46 PM

It sounds like you have all SATA drives. Do you not have any IDE drives installed in your system? Just curious, that's all. Anyway, when you first installed Windows XP and were installing all of your drivers and whatnot, did you happen to install any chipset drivers for your motherboard? And if so, did you install any drivers that said IDE anything at all in them? If you did, uninstall those now and see if that corrects your problem. If you're not sure, open up your Add/Remove Programs and look for anything related to IDE and remove it. If you don't see anything, look for your chipset drivers you installed (hopefully), e.g., nForce4 is a motherboard chipset, and click Remove and it should give you an option to remove some or all of the chipset drivers you installed. Look for IDE anything and click it's checkbox and click Remove or Uninstall.

I had a problem very similar to this when I first installed my Plextor SATA DVD burner. It wouldn't burn CD's or DVD's 95% of the time. I originally suspected the firmware but updating that didn't help. I then suspected my drive was faulty, but the Plextor drives have self-diagnostics tests that require you to disconnect the SATA cable from the drive and insert a blank recordable disc (did you try this test? check your drive's manual) and it passed the test 6 out of 6 times. So I scowered the net looking for clues and found that other people were having the exact same problem, and they simply removed their chipset's IDE drivers and their problems disappeared... as did mine.

Give it a try.

03-20-2007, 10:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
pt121984 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 163 OS: Win XP My System	SATA DVD Drive Issues? Need a little info if you all don't mind. I have an Asus P5GDC Deluxe Mainboard with a P4 3.4 CPU running Win XP Home. I have two Seagate SATA HArd Drives which work fine, but the SATA Plextor (PX-716SA) DVD Burner has some issues. About 75% of the time when I turn the system on, everything is fine. However, the other 25%, is when I'm seeing an issue. When it boots I'll see the HDD IDE LED on the system stays on Solid and I'll check and the DVD drive is not showing up in the system at all. Not in the device Manager, nor in MY Computer. It will open and I can hear it seek a disk when I have something in it, but since the system is not seeing it, nothing happens. Also, it will do it when is it seen too a lot of times. It will happen if the Drive has a problem reading a disk and errors out, but most recently, it seems to happen when the Screen saver has been active for about 15 -30 minutes. It doesn't happen right away, but you can tell when it does. You'll see the HDD LED on solid and when you look the DVD drive is gone. I have set the Bios to SATA only and SATA + PATA and still get the same issue. It is driving me crazy. Has anyone else run into this issue or heard of anything like it? I'm beginning to think I should have stayed with a regular IDE DVD Burner instead. Its funny that I have this problem, but when I first put the system together, the WinXP CD saw the SATA DVD drive just fine and installed XP without an issue.....I've heard of other having a problem getting XP to install with an SATA Optical drive. Also, the DVD burner has the latest firmware installed as well as the mainboard. Thanks Patrick

03-21-2007, 01:52 AM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,546 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? check the cable is secure try another cable,they are only just becoming available here so have not seen one yet __________________

03-21-2007, 07:23 AM	#3 (permalink)
8210GUY TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,558 OS: xp Pro	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? I have that same drive but I don't have that issue, BUT, I did have a similar issue with a further Sata drive that was for storage, and the solution for that was to disable the raid settings you aren't using in the bios, so if you have your raid set up on the primary raid, then disable any secondary raids etc, see if that clears it up, obviously if you reboot and suddenly it doesn't see your system it means you disabled a raid it needs, so go back and re-enable that until you get it right, hopefully it will help.

03-21-2007, 07:46 AM	#4 (permalink)
pt121984 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 163 OS: Win XP My System	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? In the Bios, it is set up as basic IDE Mode rather then AHCI/Raid. Other then this there are no other settings. I don't Run a Raid system, so no need to have it enabled to begin with.

03-21-2007, 10:24 AM	#5 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,546 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? not knowing anything about the sat dvd drives makes it difficult there is this notation on the plextor site in regards to your m/b OS error may occur when PlexTools Professional is started from standby/suspension state. plus this along side the raid listing CD-boot failure even connected with ODD only __________________

03-21-2007, 10:32 AM	#6 (permalink)
8210GUY TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,558 OS: xp Pro	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? Well if your not using raid then I have to wonder if your Sata drives are enable in the bios, because although your not using raid, you still need Sata enabled, I'll see if I can find your bios settings and see what it offers, but in the mean time can you check in the device manager that there are no conflicts and that your Sata drivers are installed OK ?

03-21-2007, 10:45 AM	#7 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,546 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? if the slots are raid capable you need the ite driver loaded and has you have already done set to run as ide in the bios on my p5gdc v deluxe board,i would think the deluxe would be the same __________________

03-21-2007, 11:35 AM	#8 (permalink)
8210GUY TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,558 OS: xp Pro	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? OK I got a manual for that board, I just hope it's new enough, but under ide configuration try setting it to Enhanced, this allows it to run both ide and Sata at the same time and I'm hoping will sort your problem out, apart from that I didn't notice much more in there that might help.

03-21-2007, 01:36 PM	#9 (permalink)
pt121984 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 163 OS: Win XP My System	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? It is set to enhanced. And under enhanced mode support it is set to SATA + PATA. THe reason its not just to SATA mode is because the system won't even boot with more then two devices connected to the SATA ports. Right now the Boot drive is on SATA 1 and the data disk is on SATA 3 and the DVD drive is on SATA 2. In regular SATA mode when another drive is connected in a slave setup....in other words SATA 1 and SATA 3 or SATA 2 and SATA 4, the two drives that are connected together ( SATA 1 and SATA 3 ) those two drives take a major performance hit. I'm talking going from 50mb transfer rate to about 5mb transfer rate. If one of the hard drives is connected to say......SATA 2 and the DVD drive is connected to SATA 4, that hard drive is drawn down to a craw and the DVD drive will not burn because of the slow transfer rate. So when set to SATA + PATA they seem to work great together. Now that being said, before I put the second hard disk back in, it was just set to SATA mode alone because the Boot drive was on SATA 1 and the DVD drive was on SATA 2 and their were no performance issues, but the drive disappearing every once in a while would still happen. Patrick

03-21-2007, 02:41 PM	#10 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,546 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? what are your voltage readings like __________________

03-21-2007, 08:49 PM	#11 (permalink)
pt121984 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 163 OS: Win XP My System	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? 12.143 5.145 3.248 1.336 vcore Voltages appear to be fine. I did find about 50 errors relating to the DVD drive in the event viewer. They all say The driver detected a controller error on \Device\CDrom. This all corresponds to when I was trying to copy a very large file off a DVD disk. Thanks Patrick

03-22-2007, 09:19 AM	#12 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,546 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? uninstall the drive from the device manager and right click and scan for h/w changes the same with the controllers listing __________________

03-22-2007, 01:46 PM	#13 (permalink)
alabamaman79 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 169 OS: WinXP My System	Re: SATA DVD Drive Issues? It sounds like you have all SATA drives. Do you not have any IDE drives installed in your system? Just curious, that's all. Anyway, when you first installed Windows XP and were installing all of your drivers and whatnot, did you happen to install any chipset drivers for your motherboard? And if so, did you install any drivers that said IDE anything at all in them? If you did, uninstall those now and see if that corrects your problem. If you're not sure, open up your Add/Remove Programs and look for anything related to IDE and remove it. If you don't see anything, look for your chipset drivers you installed (hopefully), e.g., nForce4 is a motherboard chipset, and click Remove and it should give you an option to remove some or all of the chipset drivers you installed. Look for IDE anything and click it's checkbox and click Remove or Uninstall. I had a problem very similar to this when I first installed my Plextor SATA DVD burner. It wouldn't burn CD's or DVD's 95% of the time. I originally suspected the firmware but updating that didn't help. I then suspected my drive was faulty, but the Plextor drives have self-diagnostics tests that require you to disconnect the SATA cable from the drive and insert a blank recordable disc (did you try this test? check your drive's manual) and it passed the test 6 out of 6 times. So I scowered the net looking for clues and found that other people were having the exact same problem, and they simply removed their chipset's IDE drivers and their problems disappeared... as did mine. Give it a try.