Windows XP firewire external CD problem

**Cockeyed** · March 31st, 2004, 10:24 PM

Hello--
I've read a few threads here about somewhat similar problems but each of us seem condemned to stew in our own little hell.

After long resistance I finally upgraded from 98SE to XP Home on my Dell Latitude CPxJ. I use an SIIG 1394 CardBus Pro PCMIA card to burn CDs on a older Plextor CD burner, originally an ATAPI device which someone put in an Oxford Technologies case with Firewire connections (I didn't actually know it was anything but a standard model, bought it second hand, tech support at Plextor figured this out.)

Anyway according to SIIG I should be able to use the drivers built into XP and don't need anything special. However when I connect the drive through the PCMIA card, Hardware Wizard gets halfway through its "automatic" process but then gives up, complaining that the software I am trying to install is incompatible with "this platform" (by which I suppose it means XP). The name of one file comes up in the dialogues: sbp2port.sys. My searches on this tell me that it is a file that helps different versions of Windows to network together, which seems oddly beside the point.

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. My worst fears about upgrading have come true...this is mess #10 and I have a couple others still in the works.
--Jim

**Cockeyed** · April 1st, 2004, 01:43 PM

hello again-
Still working on this, alas. I've found a paper in the MS database entitled "Windows Does Not Support 1394 Bridging"
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;319197

Is that what my ATAPI-to-I394 drive is doing, "bridging?"
It used to work thought my SIIG (Texas Instruments) 1394 card in Windows 98SE, though.
--Jim

**NooNoo** · April 1st, 2004, 02:25 PM

Welcome to Windrivers Cockeyed.

I would suggest that XP is having a fit about the cardbus/pcmcia rather than the err "hybrid" you have there. Have you checked with dell for xp upgrade advice and downloads?

**Cockeyed** · April 1st, 2004, 03:56 PM

Thanks for the tip, NooNoo.

I just spent an hour in dell.com support searching for various combinations of pcmcia, xp, 1394, firewire, driver, patch, etc., including the forums. Nothing directly about this problem.

XP doesn't seem to have a problem with the PCMCIA card, sees it find in Device Manager, says it is "working properly."

-Jim

**Cockeyed** · April 1st, 2004, 08:37 PM

Hello again--

I've found a Windows Update Patch for XP on microsoft.com "This update addresses the "Inconsistent Gap Count Can Cause 1394 Devices to Not Enumerate" issue in Windows XP,"

I have no idea what Enumeration is or whether it has anything to do with my problem, but I am getting desperate. Ideas?

Thanks,
--Jim

**NooNoo** · April 2nd, 2004, 07:30 AM

Enumeration is when the hardware is recognised and given the resources it needs

So yes, this patch would be a good thing.

As for dell, I meant using your service tag and checking for xp updates for the laptop, not the card. Dell have been quite good about them.

**Cockeyed** · April 2nd, 2004, 02:24 PM

OK, I installed the patch, but I get the same problem. Hardware Installation Wizard does something with reference to sbp2port.sys, then says "Cannot install this hardware: Oxford Semicondutor Ltd. Oxford IDE Device.

An error occurred in the installation of this device. Driver is not intended for this platform."

I'd love to talk to Dell, but they won't talk to me. I bought this machine second hand. The service tag on the bottom is eroded so it cannot be read, and without that they can't help.

**bookmarkmns** · April 2nd, 2004, 04:24 PM

I hope this isn't unhelpful but have you thought about just settling for a new external drive? I look at it like this, the time you take to try and find a fix is costing you in stress and could be making things worse. If the budget allows and given the lack of Dell support available then you may find this the better option
It does go against the grain with me to do it but the prices on all opticals are now so low that I'd think it could pay off.
Good luck! (and I'll look around for anything and if found post here - DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH.

**NooNoo** · April 2nd, 2004, 04:54 PM

there are bios updates at dell

actually there are loads of XP updates at dell
diagnostics, os updates and bios updates.

**bookmarkmns** · April 2nd, 2004, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by NooNoo

there are bios updates at dell

actually there are loads of XP updates at dell
diagnostics, os updates and bios updates.

It's got to be worth a shot at the Dell site. (They've got the support thing well taped) but a quick trawl suggested sbp2port.sys problems seem intractable but...
I'd consider using the USB option but the satisfaction of cracking the problem...

**Cockeyed** · April 2nd, 2004, 08:17 PM

Hello--

Thanks for the suggestions. It has crossed my mind that I have spent far more of my time on this than the machine is worth, but then I don't know if the drive is the problem--as someone noted before it may be the pcmcia card that XP doesn't like, and I'd like to have firewire capability.

I followed the links to Dell--just last week I'd been there getting what it told me was the lates BIOS release, but now when I check again it seems there have been 8 more versions since that one. But when I try to follow the links to download, the page does not exist. Search seems dead right now on the Dell site as well. I'll have to try again later
Thanks again
--Jim

**timm1973** · June 17th, 2004, 09:08 PM

I had this happen and fixed it, here is how:

Basically windows was trying to install a pre-service pack driver. I had Win XP SP1 and I did a search for sbp2port.sys. Two different sized files came up, 1 in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 and one in c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers

I copied the one from the service pack dir into the driver directory and re-installed the device. Everything worked.

Of course I made backups of the two files first.

Cheers