Problems with NEC 3500A

[holabr]

I recently installed a NEC 3500A in my system. Since I was having some other problems with my ATI AIW 8500DV TV function and had a problem with CDRW drive that the NEC is replacing, I did a fresh install of Windows 2000 with SP4 before installing the new drive. The system uses a Epox 8k5a3+ MB with an Athlon 2000+ XP processor and 512MB of memory. The drive reads all media fine and works OK with CDR media. However, when I try to write to a DVR-R, the write software (I've tried Nero 6, MovieFactory 3.5 that came with the drive and DVD Decrypter) hangs. The prograss bar will immediately move to some percentage then stay there. The hard drive light will flash intermittently like there is somestaging activity going on. Then the light on the 3500A will come on for about 10 seconds and go out. At this point the only thing I can do to totally clear it is to use TaskManager and then reboot. The reboot take an extremely long time which tells me something is still hung up in the system. The other strange problem is that Nero DC-DVD Speed fails with a "Parameter value invalid (052602)" message.

The drive came with Rev 2.16 of firmware. I tried to update the firmware with the 2.18 that I downloaded from NEC but when I click on Flash in their Flash Utility, the progress bar move 2 notches and the status window says "Flash Error"

Any ideas?

 

[laurenlex]

No idea. But I own one and when I have a problem I want an answer. So here's a bump.

 

[Oyeve]

I almost bought that drive recently but noticed so many posts simular to yours that have appeared like wildfire on the forum! I am shying away from NEC and sticking with my Sony! I have an external Lite-on burner that burns everything but Memorex, weird.

 

[JonathanYoung]

I had the same problem. Uninstalling my VIA IDE drivers solved the problem, and I was able to burn and upgrade firmware afterwards. I'm not sure what chipset your board uses, but if you have any 3rd-party IDE drivers (non-Microsoft), try uninstalling them and see what happens. Good luck.

 

[holabr]

How did you uninstall the Via IDE drivers? If I look at Device Manager, I have "VIA Bus Master Ultra ATA Controller" listed under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers". Is this what you are referring to? Do I just delete the Bus Master and reboot or do I have to do something to install the Microsoft drivers?

 

[holabr]

I tried every IDE driver that Windows shows available both Microsoft and VIA, no difference. My mobo uses the VT8235 chipset. Any other ideas on what to try to resolve this problem? Is there any diagnostic or test programs that might help home in on the problem?

 

[JonathanYoung]

holabr,

You can't just delete "VIA Bus Master Ultra ATA Controller" from device manager and reboot because on reboot Windows will look for the newest drivers, and since VIA's are newer than Microsoft's default drivers, they'll just load up again. Instead, go into Add/Remove Programs, and look for "VIA IDE Driver" or "IDE Miniport driver" or something to that effect. Uninstall and then reboot, and see if it works.

Does your start menu have an entry for "VIA IDETool"? If you can run that program, that means you're still using the VIA drivers. Another way to check if you're using Microsoft's drivers is when you view the properties for the Primary/Secondary IDE Channel, and there's an "Advanced Settings" tab that lets you choose DMA or PIO. If you don't have that, that means you're still using VIA's drivers.

 

[sammyunltd]

Is this drive better than a Pioneer DVR-108?

 

[holabr]

Jonathan,

That did it. I just successfully burned my first DVD at 8x. I can't believe that NEC tech support knew nothing about the VIA drivers causing problems. I am forever in your debt.
Thanks for the help.

 

[JonathanYoung]

Glad to be of help!