Hello,

I have a problem with my Sony CRX-300A DVD/CD-RW combo drive...

It takes a lot of time to browse (or even read) the contents
of a CD or to copy it on the hard disk. I thought it might be
caused by OS drivers or its configuration (Windows XP), but
the same problem can be observed when I try to reinstall the
OS (the drive needs so much time to read the CD, that I can't
boot the OS installer from it).

The most strange thing is that when I connect this Sony drive
to *other PC* it works perfect. So the drive alone seems to be
OK.

Even more strange is that when I unplug the Sony, and connect
other CD-RW drive instead, it works perfect (the same PC, the same
IDE cable etc.). So the motherboard / IDE channel alone seems to
be OK.

After doing all of the above tests I thought it might be the BIOS
that causes these problems. So I started downgrading the BIOS.
Tested all BIOS versions available (Asus A7N8X motherboard).
It didn't help.

What can be wrong?

Any suggestions highly appreciated.

Greetings,
Tom.

"tomek" <tomek@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:cmit2j$jc3$1@nemesis.news.tpi.pl...
Is DMA enabled in Device Manager ?

U¿ytkownik "S.Heenan" <sheenan@wahs.ac> napisa³ w wiadomo¶ci
news:e_6jd.134129$%k.29571@pd7tw2no...
Yes, it is (Ultra DMA-2). I am sure it's not the problem on the OS-level
as the drive works very slowly also when I try to boot the system from
a CD (so in fact, at the time of booting, there is no operating system yet).

Greetings,
Tomek.

Uzytkownik "Pandora Xero" <26484imawseht@tsacmoc.ten> napisal w wiadomosci
news:CKadnTPobK351RDcRVn-vQ@comcast.com...
Yes, it is.

I have tried 4 different cables (these cables, when used on my PC *with*
the Sony DVD/R-W, do not work, while when used on other PC - do work).
Also, the same cables when used on my PC with a *different* RW drive,
do work.

For the power supply, it is an old one, but the drive used to work with this
power supply in the past. The problems I described did not appear at the
time I first connected the drive after I had bought it. It was working fine
for a few months, then started to fail. The only thing I can remember
that has changed in the system was the BIOS (I installed the newest one),
and (possibly - not 100% sure here) the IDE cable (I *might* have given
away the one that was bundled with the drive ).

Access mode in BIOS is set to "auto", and the BIOS detects correctly
that it is Ultra DMA -2.

Greetings,
Tomek.

S.Heenan wrote:
Alternately, what kind of cable are you using, and how many watts is
your power supply. using an old 40 conductor cable can cause speed
problems, as can not having a power supply that supplies enough power.
third, whats your DMA setting for the drive in BIOS, that can sometimes
affect speed as well

--Xero

--
if all else fails: go fsck yourself!

the email address is not real (leading numbers are an obvious
indication) to get the real address, take each individual part
and flip it around so eman@elpmaxe.ten would be name@example.net

"tomek" <tomek@nospam.com> wrote in message news:<cmji89$d9i$1@nemesis.news.tpi.pl>...

Hallo aus Bern!

Try adding more memory to your computer. or upgradeing to a faster kind of
memory
"tomek" <tomek@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:cmit2j$jc3$1@nemesis.news.tpi.pl...

K Doty wrote:
Even crap memory shouldn't be causing such a slow access speed.

These symptions all point to the drive using PIO mode instead of DMA...