K7T Pro2A Stability Problem FIXED

[jjlawren]

I've got a new system running that seems completely stable, except when accessing my optical drives. For example, installing programs off of my DVD drive causes the screen to go blank in the middle of the installation and halt the system. I am overclocking (Duron 700 @ 950), but this problem existed before I bumped up the speed. Also, some games which require a CD to play crash upon starting (when the CD check is done). If error codes are needed, I'll try and recreate the problem. There's plenty of cooling, so heat isn't a problem. Here's the rest of the setup if it might help:

MSI K7T Pro2A
Duron 700@950
128MB PC100
GeForce 256 DDR
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1
Cinemaster C DVD Decoder
3Com Etherfast Card

Any suggestions?

 

[Mage]

What operating system? All cables attached firmly?

 

[jjlawren]

Running on Millennium right now. Primary channel has DVD-ROM (Toshiba SD-M1202) and CD-R (Mitsumi 4801TE), and secondary has two hard drives (Maxtor 46.1GB ATA/100 & WD 8GB ATA/66). DMA is enabled everywhere.

Just a thought... Has anyone had any problems installing the bundled games from a Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 (Unreal Tournament & Thief 2 specifically)? I remember noticing a problem with these games on my setup before this (just built this system last night). If anything else is needed, just post it here. Thanks.

 

[Mage]

Hmm, maybe this wont' change anything, but why not run the hardrives on the primary channels and the cdrom/dvdrom on the secondary channel?

Hmm, hope this doesn't happen to me, I plan on getting an K7T Pro2a board soon, once I get my duron...

 

[jjlawren]

I had a problem with this. I had the hard drives on the primary, but I was getting random lockups when I transferred files between them when DMA was enabled. When I switched the channels, my problems transferring files vanished. I'm fairly certain that the optical drive issues aren't IDE related.

 

[Mage]

Perhaps the problems are related. Your hardrives on the primary channel wouldn't function properly, and your optical drives on the primary channel don't seem to be functioning properly either.

 

[Poof]

jjlawren - there was a notice issued about the probs with UT bundled with the SB Live! 5.1, eg., problems with it not finding a file on the CD and/or not reading it correctly during the install. Check over on on PlanetUnreal.com for more info and a fix.

 

[BeeVo]

Hmm thats kind of funny. On my P3 800 and Cuv4x I get the same problem and I think it is attributed to my SB Live Value. Also whenever I try to rum Windows Media Player the system resets itself automatically and I can't use winamp. I am using current drivers and I don't have a clue what is going on.

 

[jjlawren]

Seemed to have fixed the problem. I killed DMA on the optical drives (funny because I remember being able to run DMA on these drives on another system) and everything works perfectly now. A simpler solution than I expected. Thanks for everyone's help.