bardot861

Hi
Run winME with early P4 - 1.3ghz with 1024mb of rdram. First noticed if any disc in either cdrw or dvd when initial start up - would not complete start up but would keep trying to access the optical drives / show splash screen / and do same again. Solved the non boot by making sure drives contained no disc.
Now experiencing shut down if I try to access either drive. Even just opening dvd or cdrw loading door / then closing door results in monitor going dark and system beginning a re-boot sequence. All else runs fine - but cannot access these drives. Would appreciate suggestions.

Barry

OldGrayGary

Hi Barry


How old is this WinMe installation? Have the drives worked fine previously on this same installation, and have just recently become a problem? Or is this a newly installed WinMe installation?
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If brand-new: visit the Microsoft Knowledge Base article about a WinMe IDE issue that affects optical drives --- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/189526

Also, see if limiting the VCACHE setting in system.ini helps. Windows 95/98/98se/Me can have trouble on some systems when system memory is higher than 512mb --- ( in the [VCACHE] section, edit or add the value MaxFileCache=524288 ).
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If your system has run WinMe fine with 1gb of system memory for a long time without any previous problems:
1) If you can boot the PC into Safe Mode, try using the WinMe version of System Restore to revert your system files to an earlier condition, when the optical drives worked OK.
2) Did you recently make any changes regarding CD/DVD recording software? (such as Roxio, Nero, etc.) If yes, while we don't recommend the casual use of Registry Cleaners, your situation might call for one. CCleaner is the only such tool that I trust - you can try using its "Issues" functions several times, and then perhaps remove your optical drives from Device Manager, and let things re-detect on re-boot. Then test the drives.
3) If need be, you might have to manually remove the UpperFilters value from the Registry for your optical drives to get things going again. Only do this if you have some experience manually editing the Registry. For some systems, it is necessary to remove a LowerFilters value as well. Here is the location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

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Best of luck,
. . . Gary

bardot861

Gary, thank you for your response.
The installation - is about a year old. Had a power supply problem with original HP case and new power supply required a change of case which also resulted in ME being re-installed at that time. Both optical drives have been working good til about 2 weeks ago.

When I upgraded additional to 1024 mb (years ago) - I did make the change in registry - limiting v-cache. Have checked and entry is still in registry.

Will try going back to older restore points. Concerned at some point - will lose ability to go beyond splash screen / and end up alternating with windows splash screen / dark with flashing hash mark in upper left. Do have a start-up floppy which I have used to get started when a system file got currupted. Restored registry to good copy and was able to boot sucessfuly - but it was scary. Will study your reply further - and again my thanks for your help.

As an aside - been considering letting this go - and buying a new system. I don't play games but feel seduced when read about Intel I7 Processor with tri memory system and how great/powerful it is, etc., etc. I use my computer primarily for my Dry Cleaning business (billing, record keepting, etc. with of course some hobby items included for pleasure) and concerned that I could get off on a tangent - IE. buying a Ferrari when situation only needs a commuter car. Course that is an exageration and the choices are not that stark - but it does give one pause. The tech articles are seductive extolling the power and capabilities of I7 even if I wont be fully using some of its features. Given how quickly things change / thought of buying more powerful system now - might result in longer fruitful use down the road. After all - still using (and enjoying) my early P4/with ME. Would even be nicer if I could use my optical drives ....
Thanks again.
Barry

blah789

I'm going to take this from a hardware perspective. I don't know much about Me, so I'd just check the obvious.
I'm presuming this is a desktop computer. First make sure all cables are firmly seated (to rule out loose cables). Try a different ribbon cable (could be a bad cable). Try plugging the drive into a different IDE channel (maybe the IDE channel on the motherboard is bad). If you have spare CD-ROM or DVD drives, try swapping them in and see if it makes a difference (if suddenly everything is fine, then it could have been a faulty drive); or try plugging the drive into another computer (if the other computer suddenly goes beserk, then you've got your culprit).

OldGrayGary

Hi again


I like blah789's ideas for checking the hardware. It could indeed be a hardware problem, especially with older parts. It would be nice if it's just a bad cable - since they are so inexpensive (free, if you've a decent spare - and only a few dollars for brand-new).
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Since you have important business data on the PC, I'll imagine you already have a regular backup plan. If by any chance you don't - now is a good time to copy essentials off onto removable media of some kind.
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Several of my friends & quite a few of my customers run small businesses using just a few PCs from a home-office (for example: one runs a pool-cleaning business, one runs a carpet-cleaning business, one is a semi-retired lawyer...). The good news about business computing is that nearly any recently manufactured computer (whether desktop or laptop) has plenty of power for running a small business. If you are tempted toward a newer machine, you might want to wait for the final release of Windows 7, since the machine would then come all setup and ready to go. I think Windows 7 is a good choice for small businesses, especially those that aren't tied to older software. It makes better use of current hardware, and (so far) has proven both speedy & stable. I've tested it myself for several months now, and haven't had any trouble at all. Another advantage of Windows 7 is that the full system image backup to local hard drive or DVD is available in all versions (though not to a "network share" - for that you need to purchase the Professonal, Enterprise, or Ultimate versions - or a 3rd party backup program).

The other good news is that with a budget as low as $500 to $600 you can either buy or build a very nice business-class system. If you are willing to give open-source programs a go, the office tools in OpenOffice have now improved to the extent that for much small-business activity they're capable enough. OpenOffice can open most MS Office docs & projects.

To get a few more years from the current WinMe box, you could load an easy-to-use Linux (like Ubuntu) operating system. The advantage with Ubuntu would be that visiting the Internet would be much safer than WinMe.
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Best of luck
. . . Gary

Tyree

Did the problem start right after installing the new RAM?

bardot861

Sorry abt not responding earlier. My 1024 MB of Rambus Ram was installed long before this problem cropped up. Are all 40 connector ide ribbon cables same? I tried to switch out stock secondary ide cable connecting to secondary on mother board with the connector furthest away from other two - and then connected two optical drives. Rc'd notice on boot-up that the cdrw drive was not supported by installed software. Also - the drives were not showing up in Control Panel. Attempting to remove ribbon cable resulted in my leaving connectors from that cable (they detached and remained connected to back of cd/dvd rom drive. And ... not realizing that - had trouble re-connecting original ide cable. I'm thinking now that the secondary ide channel may be damaged on mother board. Planning to simply disconnect the dvd-rom drive and re-boot with only the cdrw drive attached at first conector on secondary ide cable. Both drives are jumpered to cable select and HP info on HP Pavillion 7960 does note should be configured that way. Cable select - but does not require a special ribbon cable? Does the mother board do the selecting?
Note: Initial posting gave over all specs my system. Is there such a thing as an ide pci card that will plug in to available pci slot - and create another seperate ide channel to accomodate my two optical drives?
Thanks, for your thoughts, Tyree.
Barry

blah789

The only thing to pay attention to cable-wise is to use 80-wire, rather than 40-wire cables.
You can see the difference here
http://www.mikeshardware.com/pics/ide8040pin.jpg
Nowadays, people use round cables (which are just 80-wire cable, but tidied up for more flexibility and room for air circulation in the case).
http://www.gshop.com.au/images/ide_round_cable.jpg

Just recall the blue end goes on the motherboard. Pin 1 should be aligned with the red side of the cable (tiny red line http://icrontic.com/draco/images/art...40-80wires.jpg ) (though now there tends to be a pin slot covered (pin 19 http://www.mikeshardware.com/pics/ide8019pin2.JPG ), so you don't put the cable upside down). And generally black is master and gray is slave.

Of course none of that will help if you have a bad cable. It's always have to have one or two spare so you can test.

Tyree

40 wire IDE cable require Master/Slave jumper settings on the drives. 80 wire cable can use CS.

OldGrayGary

Good Evening, all --


Barry - I hope the cables work out all right. If the Secondary IDE port ("connector") on the motherboard doesn't seem quite right anymore, among the other ideas offered, also check for bent pins. If you see any, you might be able to straighten them adequately with a pair of needle-nosed pliers (be careful not to scratch the motherboard's surface, and of course ground yourself beforehand to avoid static discharges - and of course always have the power off and the power cord disconnected when working inside a case).

If you find the Secondary IDE port is now unusable, yes, there are add-on PCI cards that can add extra IDE ports. You might ask around to see if your friends or family have a spare card from an older system they've retired or upgraded. The cards cost about $15-$20 new.

Since your system is a P4 with Rambus memory, I imagine that your original cables are the cable-select capable 80-wire 40-pin IDE cables, just as blah789 & Tyree have said. In general, most 40-wire 40-pin IDE cables aren't cable-select capable, but there were some exceptions - especially on older Compaq systems (I believe those cables were nearly proprietary at the time, and not industry-standard). At any rate, if the ports are OK & the original cables turn out to be OK, you might be able to re-attach them and have things work again. Using a good 80-wire 40-pin IDE cable should give you good results with either a good controller on the motherboard, or with a PCI card IDE controller, using cable select.
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Those Intel-P4-Rambus combinations were solid & hardy performers: I'm not surprised that the system has lasted so long. I've yet to see a system with that combination come up for repair with either the cpu or the memory at fault. It's always been the drives or power supplies & such.

Best of luck!
. . . Gary