Vista issues with NEC ND-3550A dvd drive... drive or ide controller problem??

raystorm

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
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Yesterday I installed Vista Business (from that power together promo) and had MAJOR issues trying to install it. Basically after the initial "loading windows files" screen it would just hang while my hdd and dvd drive light stays on and the dvd continues to spin. There was nothing I could do about it as the hdd was empty. I thought maybe I got a bad disc.

What I did was I then installed Win XP on a small partition then inserted the vista disc in xp and installed it from there. It started well enough as it did the windows files and expanding files installation procedures. When it did its first reboot it went to the setup screen and once again it did the disc spinning thing (with hdd and drive lights on). The only way I could get it to continue was to eject the disc, then a setup windows appears then pu the disc back in the drive. This happened multiple times and was a total hassle. Eventually Vista was installed and all seemed well.

When I inserted a disc (a driver disc for the MS wireless gaming reciever) the drive didn't read the disc and much like the vista install the hdd and drive light was on while the disc continued to spin. It just won't read any disc! It does that to every disc I put in.

Just in case I rebooted into xp (since its in dual boot format) and the drive works perfectly and reads every disc perfectly. So now I'm wondering if Vista simply doesn't work with my drive. Maybe Vista doesn't like my IDE dvd drive + SATA hdd combo?? Again..it works flawlessly with XP but I intend on putting xp on my laptop and use Vista on my desktop pc.

Here are a few things I did to try to solve the problem:

1) changed IDE cables = same result
2) updated NEC drive firmware = same result
3) installed latest vista whql nForce drivers (with ide/sata drivers) = same result.


<sigh> So I guess I may simply have to buy a new drive?? Anyone here with a NEC ND-3550A drive that had no problems?? Any suggestions?? I have no issues with buying a new optical drive and giving away my current drive since opticals are cheap anyways.


Sorry for the super long post but I wanted to explain everything as clearly as possible. Thanks for any suggestions/comments. I really appreciate it.
 

hardcandy2

Senior member
Feb 13, 2006
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While in Vista, Control Panel>>Device Manager, delete the dvd drive. Then reboot and see if the drive is recognized and installed by Vista.
I have an IDE hard drive, an IDE dvd writer, 2 SATA hard drives, and a SATA dvd writer. Installed Vista without problems, have not had any problems burning or reading with either DVD writer. Vista recognizes them and even names them (Benq and Lite-on) and the burning programs all recognize them.
 

raystorm

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
4,712
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Originally posted by: hardcandy2
While in Vista, Control Panel>>Device Manager, delete the dvd drive. Then reboot and see if the drive is recognized and installed by Vista.
I have an IDE hard drive, an IDE dvd writer, 2 SATA hard drives, and a SATA dvd writer. Installed Vista without problems, have not had any problems burning or reading with either DVD writer. Vista recognizes them and even names them (Benq and Lite-on) and the burning programs all recognize them.


Just tried that out and unfortunately the drive issue remains (though Vista does recognize the drive as a NEC ND-3550A). This is really weird. I'm at a total loss.
 

hardcandy2

Senior member
Feb 13, 2006
333
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0
Three things to try:
Contol Panel>Classic View>.Users>>Turn of UAC, see if you can read the disks, so we will know if it is a security problem

Try installing IMGBurn, it is free and works in Vista. After you install it, see if it can read the disks in the NEC. Perhaps a changed interface will allow you to view the disks.

Reinstalling chipset drivers.


IMGBurn


And some more stuff, kind of related:
Microsoft Support
 

nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,865
105
106
Happy owner of an NEC 3550A, no problems with Vista Business here. I too got a copy from the powertogether promo.

I have a Lian-Li and bought the NEC model with a silver bezel. Looks sweet.

Sorry to see you're having troubles.