Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Hello mere mortals,

I have a Plextor 708 DVDoodaDey fitted as a single drive on IDE 2. On IDE 1
I have a couple of Hitachi DeathStars, (both have been excellent for over a
year). I have nothing connected to either SATA connector, having discarded
the Serrilel2s as an unproductive kludge that slowed down my boot up and
diminished my hard drive performance. In general I am satisfied with the
IC7-G despite a slight anxiety about a CPU temp of 50c rising to 70c.
However, recently my DVDR drive has begun to vanish from Windows XP. I can
restore it simply by logging off and logging back on again. In all other
respects the DVDR and the rest of my system is stable.

I'm rather stumped but I think this began when I updated my BIOS to version
2.2. I've flashed to 2.3 but the problem persists intermittently. I'd
welcome advice and comments.

I offer a reward of a North Ronaldsay sheep, certified by AMA and the Chief
Rabbi to be "virga intacta", to the sender of the most helpful suggestion.

Thank you for your attention.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

can you go into Device Manager and select the computer icon at the top of
the tree, then right click and select Scan For Hardware Changes and get the
drive back as opposed to logging off?

I hate to say it but if you can get it back with a hardware scan or with a
logoff/on then it sounds like an OS level issue as opposed to something at
the mobo level.

any chance that there is a slightly widened female pin on the power
connector that might be causing the drive power to fluctuate?

--

Thomas Geery
Network+ certified

ftp://geerynet.d2g.com
ftp://68.98.180.8 Abit Mirror <----- Cable modem IP
This IP is dynamic so it *could* change!...
over 130,000 FTP users served!
^^^^^^^




"h2so4" <elly.fant@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:a9bnc.16367$4m5.952@front-1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Hello mere mortals,
>
> I have a Plextor 708 DVDoodaDey fitted as a single drive on IDE 2. On IDE
1
> I have a couple of Hitachi DeathStars, (both have been excellent for over
a
> year). I have nothing connected to either SATA connector, having discarded
> the Serrilel2s as an unproductive kludge that slowed down my boot up and
> diminished my hard drive performance. In general I am satisfied with the
> IC7-G despite a slight anxiety about a CPU temp of 50c rising to 70c.
> However, recently my DVDR drive has begun to vanish from Windows XP. I can
> restore it simply by logging off and logging back on again. In all other
> respects the DVDR and the rest of my system is stable.
>
> I'm rather stumped but I think this began when I updated my BIOS to
version
> 2.2. I've flashed to 2.3 but the problem persists intermittently. I'd
> welcome advice and comments.
>
> I offer a reward of a North Ronaldsay sheep, certified by AMA and the
Chief
> Rabbi to be "virga intacta", to the sender of the most helpful suggestion.
>
> Thank you for your attention.
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

The Plextor 708 has already gone through several flashROM
updates. Go to the Plextor website, select the "Technical
Services" and then the "Downloads" hotlink.

Download the latest self-extracting-archive flashROM-update
utility for the PX-708A (Version 1.06 as of the date of this post.)

Plextor Europe Website: http://www.plextor.be/


Once you have obtained and saved the download, close all
open programs and remove any disks from your CD/DVD
drives.

Run the update utility. It should find your Plextor 708 and show
you the existing ROM version currently resident in the drive. A
dialog-box will be presented asking if you wish to update. Click
the dialog and the update will be performed.

Once the update is complete, I recommend a complete power-off
shutdown and restart (not just a warm-boot) with a wait of at least
5-15 seconds between final-powerdown-of-the-machine and the
subsequent restart.


Normally, the above is all that is required. However, you should
also check to ensure that DMA busmastering is properly enabled
for the IDE channel used by the DVD drive.

To do this, open Control-Panel/System/Hardware/Device-Manager
and click on the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" icon. Under
"Advanced Settings" for *both* the Primary and Secondary
channels, confirm that the "Transfer Mode" option is set to
"DMA if available". Change to the "DMA if available" option
if this setting shows "PIO only". OK your way back to the desktop.

Reboot, following the same procedure as detailed above for the
DVD firmware update. Re-open Device Manager and confirm
the options on the devices connected to both the Primary and
Secondary IDE channels are set to DMA busmaster mode.

Note: The actual *operating* mode for the device will vary according
to the device itself. Normally, the Plextor 708A will run as an
Ultra DMA 33 device. Other devices also connected to these
IDE channels will vary with the connected device's capabilities.



Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill


h2so4 wrote:
> Hello mere mortals,
>
> I have a Plextor 708 DVDoodaDey fitted as a single drive on IDE 2. On
> IDE 1 I have a couple of Hitachi DeathStars, (both have been
> excellent for over a year). I have nothing connected to either SATA
> connector, having discarded the Serrilel2s as an unproductive kludge
> that slowed down my boot up and diminished my hard drive performance.
> In general I am satisfied with the IC7-G despite a slight anxiety
> about a CPU temp of 50c rising to 70c. However, recently my DVDR
> drive has begun to vanish from Windows XP. I can restore it simply by
> logging off and logging back on again. In all other respects the DVDR
> and the rest of my system is stable.
>
> I'm rather stumped but I think this began when I updated my BIOS to
> version
> 2.2. I've flashed to 2.3 but the problem persists intermittently. I'd
> welcome advice and comments.
>
> I offer a reward of a North Ronaldsay sheep, certified by AMA and the
> Chief Rabbi to be "virga intacta", to the sender of the most helpful
> suggestion.
>
> Thank you for your attention.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Thank you for a detailed reply. I've flashed to V.1.6 of the firmware. As I
recall I did this some weeks ago. This and the mainboard BIOS are the only
significant changes I've made to my system recently. I'll follow the rest of
your steps and see.

Thanks again.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

> any chance that there is a slightly widened female pin on the power
> connector that might be causing the drive power to fluctuate?
>
> --
>
> Thomas Geery
> Network+ certified
>

Thanks for the response Tom. I think you're right re. the OS rather than a
hardware issue. As for the widened pin suggestion. I'm not sure whether your
taking the piss. You may recall four or five months ago, my most recent
period of disenchantment with my IC&-G where I went so far as to buy an
Intel board to replace it. At that time I discovered that my problems then
were by a widened female 12v line connector and reported my discovery here.
If you do recall this, you are most definatily taking the pee and should
consider yourself disqualified from winning the sheep. I sold the Intel
board at a loss sufficient to learn the lesson.;-)

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

ah! I recall the widened pin, now. but didn't without the reminder... you
obviously learned that lesson well...

--

Thomas Geery
Network+ certified

ftp://geerynet.d2g.com
ftp://68.98.180.8 Abit Mirror <----- Cable modem IP
This IP is dynamic so it *could* change!...
over 130,000 FTP users served!
^^^^^^^




"h2so4" <elly.fant@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1Henc.16455$4m5.10112@front-1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>
>
> > any chance that there is a slightly widened female pin on the power
> > connector that might be causing the drive power to fluctuate?
> >
> > --
> >
> > Thomas Geery
> > Network+ certified
> >
>
> Thanks for the response Tom. I think you're right re. the OS rather than a
> hardware issue. As for the widened pin suggestion. I'm not sure whether
your
> taking the piss. You may recall four or five months ago, my most recent
> period of disenchantment with my IC&-G where I went so far as to buy an
> Intel board to replace it. At that time I discovered that my problems then
> were by a widened female 12v line connector and reported my discovery
here.
> If you do recall this, you are most definatily taking the pee and should
> consider yourself disqualified from winning the sheep. I sold the Intel
> board at a loss sufficient to learn the lesson.;-)
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

You've probably already checked, but is is possible that you've got the Plextor
jumpered as a slave or cable select from the last system it was in?

Concerning the cpu temp, 50-70 is quite comfy for the cpu because this is the
cpu die temperature being reported, not the HSF reading that other boards
report.

~snoozy~

h2so4 wrote:

> Hello mere mortals,
>
> I have a Plextor 708 DVDoodaDey fitted as a single drive on IDE 2. On IDE 1
> I have a couple of Hitachi DeathStars, (both have been excellent for over a
> year). I have nothing connected to either SATA connector, having discarded
> the Serrilel2s as an unproductive kludge that slowed down my boot up and
> diminished my hard drive performance. In general I am satisfied with the
> IC7-G despite a slight anxiety about a CPU temp of 50c rising to 70c.
> However, recently my DVDR drive has begun to vanish from Windows XP. I can
> restore it simply by logging off and logging back on again. In all other
> respects the DVDR and the rest of my system is stable.
>
> I'm rather stumped but I think this began when I updated my BIOS to version
> 2.2. I've flashed to 2.3 but the problem persists intermittently. I'd
> welcome advice and comments.
>
> I offer a reward of a North Ronaldsay sheep, certified by AMA and the Chief
> Rabbi to be "virga intacta", to the sender of the most helpful suggestion.
>
> Thank you for your attention.