Plextor 12/10/32A Win2k Problems....

[Weyoun]

Ok, lately i've been having problems w/my burner, Nero seems to be chewing an AWFUL lot of CPU time when it's burning, so much that when burning i quite literally dont get video refreshes for up to and including 10 seconds at a time. During this obscene usage the read buffer for Nero seems to be constantly at ~0-8% and the on-unit buffer always fluctuating. If it wasnt for BURN-Proof, (which added 2:30 to my burn time from the constant stopping, i figure better than a coaster) i would have coastered within the first 5 seconds.

Now, i've burnt quite a few cds with this burner, 46 to be exact, and only with the last 1 or 2 cds have i had this problem. I installed win2k only about a week ago and am very convinced on not going back to the seed of Lilith (win9x). I'm positive this isnt a win2k issue, and i must be doing something wrong. Any suggestions?

My system:
c466
128MB
win2k
15.4GB WD hdd 7200RPM (recently defragged, master)
3GB seagate (recently defragged, slave)
plextor 12/10/32A (master) 1.07 firmware
pioneer 36x drawless(slave)
Nero 5.0.1.6

Blessed be

 

[Bryan]

Enable DMA for the IDE channel that the drive is on.

EDIT - Go under Device Manager / IDE/ATAPI Controllers, then choose the channel (Pri or Sec). Click "Advanced Settings", then choose "DMA if Available"

 

[Weyoun]

OK, thanks for that Bryan, I'll restart next time I want to burn and let you all know Your help is very much appreciated

Any other ideas people?

 

[UN1Xnut]

You must have the latest firmware for the Plextor for DMA support to work correctly in win2k.

On my AOpen MK33 the bios would see the Plextor in PIO mode, but DMA was working in win2k. Got to love only 4% cpu usage for an IDE burner.

-nut

 

[Tranceformers]

I too was having problems with Win2k with the same burner.

I wouldn't be able to multi-task like how I was able to do so in Win98SE.

I tried enabling DMA and what not, but still no luck. I sold the burner. Hope you figure out what is wrong.

 

[extro]

You sold a perfectly working Plextor because of a Win2K registry problem???

For those of you who still have a Plex, see this thread.

 

[Tranceformers]

No, I never sold the burner because of that. I was in some financial problems at the time. Thats why I had to sell the burner.

 

[Sugadaddy]

You have to put the jumper that comes with the plextor over the 2 pins that are on the back of the drive, on the left of the audio connectors. You won't find this in the manual or on Plextor's site, but trust me, it works.(I had the same problem) It was posted a few times, but I'm too lazy to search.

Also, make sure DMA is enabled for the IDE controller in win2k.

 

[UN1Xnut]

The jumper trick mentioned above is not needed with the latest (1.07) firmware. In fact, the registry fix is not needed if you have Win2k SP1 installed.

-nut

 

[Sugadaddy]

I didn't know that, must of flashed to 1.07 after I did the trick...

 

[Weyoun]

Thanks for all the replies guys! It;s really nice being able to ask an educated crowd instead of poking around in the dark I give you all 10's

 

[Weyoun]

That's if any of you had User Rating on....

Well im burning a CD right now and it's damn SWEET to see CPU usage back down to 10% again Thanks for this guys, i really do owe you all one

BTW, I'm running an ASUS P3V4X w/4.25a 4in1s, SP1 isnt installed, all i did was enable DMA, restart and it works!

 

[extro]

I needed the registry hack with 1.07 and Win2K SP1.