Asus CUSL2-C and HP CDRW

[Zot]

Hi,

Just installed an Asus CUSL2-C (BIOS 10/4/00). I have an HP 7200i CDRW as the slave device on the secondary IDE controller (I've tried both standard and ata/66 cables).

I did a fresh install of Win98SE and I installed the latest Intel 815 drivers. Upon reboot, the system hung during Windows initialization. It gets as far as displaying the desktop and then freezes. The drive access light on the CDRW keeps flashing. I have tried removing the HP, letting it finish the boot and the reconnecting it. Same results. I can boot to safe mode OK.

I found something on Intel's web site about DMA problems with older devices. Unfortunately, the 815 driver installation removes the DMA checkbox from the HP device, so I can't see if it was checked or not. The BIOS is set to DMA disabled for this device, but I suspect my problem lies somewhere along here. I can install a Toshiba DVD drive with no problem and I have a generic CD ROM that works OK too. It's just the HP that's hanging (I know it still works because I installed it on my son's Abit BH6 system and it works fine there).

Any ideas? Is there a setting I can tweak? Do I need a new CDRW?

Z

 

[Ornery]

How about setting the BIOS to none for the secondary slave?

 

[AndyHui]

Make sure that your CDRW drive is empty when you boot up. Sometimes some people tend to get strange results, especially if there is a blank CD sitting in the drive.

It's not the i815E drivers that have removed the DMA checkbox, it's the Intel ATA drivers. These are two separate things, and it is recommended that you do not install Intel's ATA drivers if you have an IDE CDRW as they tend to cause problems.

Since you appear to already have installed the ATA drivers, you should go into the Storage Companion Utility, and limit the Maximum Transfer rate for your CDRW to PIO mode 4. This setting automatically disables DMA and it works.