Problem w/ Dynex CD burner, Win98se, Nero

[tholmes11]

I just got an external, Dynex CD burner to use with my Dell Optiplex, small form factor PC (Pentium III) that uses Windows 98se. It connect via a USB port and I did get a 2.0 USB card to use with this. I installed the driver that Dynex supplied for Win98se, then installed the Nero 6burning software that came with the burner.

In Device Manager, the unit appears under the Hard Drive Controller as a USB Mass Storage Device and it has the yellow "!" on it and a message saying the driver wasn't loading correctly. When I open Nero, and do a system check, it does not show the external burner at all, just my internal CD-ROM. There is one tab in the system check window in which I noticed it said something like "ASPI allocations are corrupted." This may or may not be relevant because I think ASPI relates to a SCSI system, but I am really out of my league in talking about that.

I have downloaded and installed the Nero updates. No updates are available from Dynex. Dynex support stymied as well.

Any ideas or experiences to help?

Thanks!

[Ferrit]

You might try a program called forceaspi.
It has several aspi related programs in it inc
Testing ,removing and replacing
Forceaspi (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cdr_software/cdr_tools/frcaspi.cfm)

[tholmes11]

Thanks! I'll take a look!

[tholmes11]

That cleared the ASPI problem, but I still no detection of the CD burner as a CD burner. I still have the yellow "!" and the message saying something like NTKERN.VXD could not properly load the device.

Any other ideas out there? I've heard that the Dynex-supplied driver is probably inadequate, but Windows ME or higher would, or I should just return the burner.

[NooNoo]

Whats the error code tholmes11?

You should update the chipset drivers - if you have the service tag for that optiplex, it is easy to look up the specs at dell support (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs)

You may have to do some judicious mangling of the registry to clear this problem.

[tholmes11]

Thanks for the tips! What has happened since my last post is I went to Microsoft's site and installed every update that looked remotely related.
I no longer have the yellow "!" by my device. It shows up in Device Manager as a Mass Storage Device under they USB Controllers. It says it is working and that no driver updates are needed. However, it still does not have a drive letter and Nero won't recognize it.

I did install the chipset update as you suggested. I have not tinkered with the registry. Not sure where to begin. In the meantime, I have bought an inexpensive Iomgega burner that's much slower, but should do me until I upgrade from 98se to Windows ME. I saw a flash BIOS update at the Dell update site, I'm not sure if this is relevant.

Thanks again!

[NooNoo]

Bios flash updates often do sort oddball usb problems, so I would recommend you update... follow the instructions very carefully, interrupting the flash for any reason will kill your bios and render the motherboard inoperable.

As for getting a drive letter, I think after you have flashed the bios you should check again whether its got one or not, if not, uninstall all the software mentioned in add/remove programs for this drive, then remove the usb controllers and hubs in device manager.

Shut down and reboot without the dynex or any other usb device connected. When the usb has reinstalled and 98se has got fully to desktop (no egg timer), reboot once more.

When it has got fully to desktop again, install the 98se drivers for the dynex. Do not connect the dynex until after the drivers have been installed and the system has rebooted once more - unless the software specifically asks you to plug in the dynex, in which case follow the instructions given on the installation wizard.

[tholmes11]

Thanks for the info! I looked and I had the latest BIOS update I needed. I experimented with Mandrakelinux and it recognized the burner. I went ahead and just upgraded to Windows ME and everything seems to be working now.
Thanks again.