QPS/Teac 40X CDRW won't be recognized

[Idontknow]

Here is the problem.

I am trying to install a new QPS 40X12X48 CDRW drive in my in-laws computer with a Celeron 333 CPU with a PCChips M726 Motherboard with Windows 98SE.
Once open the retail box, the drive is actually a Teac CD-W540E (didn't even change the label). Computer meets requirement.
Install the drive as slave, computer won't recognize any CDROM. IDE controller is now not functioning. Swap master and slave, same problem. Install CDRW only as master, same problem. Install as slave to HDD to test, no CDROM. Swap HDD cable, same problem. Install drive in another computer with an old Pentium 233 and drive is recognized and working fine although didn't try burning anything.

This makes me believe that the QPS/Teac drive might not be compatible with the Mobo. Maybe the mobo required a BIOS update?

I am tempted to upgrade the system to Windows ME to see if that will provide a new IDE controller driver. Trying to get new BIOS update from PCchips is almost impossible.

Does anybody has any suggestions. I am all ears. Thanks!

[NooNoo]

I have that board and cpu - you shouldn't have a problem.

Put the cdrw in as a secondary master, make sure its jumpered correctly - in the bios set the secondary master to autodetect.

Does the bios see and detect the cdrom correctly?

If it does, its a straight windows problem, not a problem with the board.

Let me know the results - if the bios does see it, we have a little judicious registry hacking to do...

[Idontknow]

I tried that too. Setup CDRW as master on second IDE channel both by itself and with a CDROM as slave. The auto detect feature in the BIOS did detect the presence of the CDRW drive. The BIOS was flashed once before and has a BIOS date of 4/12/1999.

Everytime the CDRW is intalled, windows will detect an error with the second IDE channel controller.

You might be right that this might be a Windows problem. Is there a fix?

Thanks for your help!

[NooNoo]

Yes - requires some registry hacking

first of all start, run, regedit, file, export

Export the entire registry to c:\myreg.reg

That way if there is a disaster, you can import the registry again.

Now boot to safe mode.

Start, run, regedit
H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ENUM\PCI

you should have a bunch of keys starting VEN - click on the + next to the first VEN and you should get a key starting BUS

click on each VEN key until you find the BUS for the PCI IDE controller - this key will be slightly different because under the BUS key should be child0000 and child0001

Delete the entire VEN key for the ide controller and reboot - your windows disk may be wanted in the cdrom drive so have it ready, or copy the cab files to the hard drive.

If all goes well then windows should replace these keys properly and your cdrw will show up and the problem on the secondary ide controller will vanish.

If you don't feel up to that, then I suggest you reinstall windows over the top - start the setup as normal and when it asks where to put windows make sure it goes in c:\windows - not c:\windows.000 as it will want to do.

Good Luck!

[Idontknow]

Hi NooNoo,

I tried your suggestion last night. It didn't work. Windows still reports an error for the IDE controller even though BIOS correctly dectected the drive.

I also tried updating to Windows ME instead of reloading Wondows 98SE hoping it will correct the problem. The same IDE controller error appeared.

I am running out of options other than reformat the hard drive and reload Windows from scratch.

If you have anything else I can try, please let me know. I am all ears.

Thanks for your help!

[NooNoo]

In device manager properties for the secondary ide controller, what is the exact error message on the general tab?

[Idontknow]

Hi NooNoo,

Here is the exact error message for the second IDE controller (dual fifo):

"This device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed (Code 10).

Try updating the device driver for this device."

The BIOS detected the model correctly and also detected the firmware version as 1.0C.

Teac has a firmware update to version 1.0F. I am curious if updating the firmware will work. I have never tried to update firmware before.

What do you think?

Thanks!

[NooNoo]

Either the controller is flakey or you have run out of resouces and its unable to use the irq it's supposed to...

Do you have pnp os set to yes in bios?

Just for laughs, try putting the cdrw on the primary ide as master and the hdd on the secondary ide as master.

Updating the firmware should only be done as a last resort,.. too easy to toast the burner. Check the update histories find out what the firmware updates fix and decide whether they apply to you.

[Idontknow]

HI NooNoo,

BIOS is set for PNP OS - Yes.

I am not too crazy about firmware update anyway. The history showed updates related to spped issue and some issue with Mitsubishi dyes in CDRs.

I will try your suggestion for the drive configure. Just for laughs.

Will let you know.

[Idontknow]

HI NooNoo,

Well, did the swap as you suggested. Guess what? No Primary IDE Controller error. No IDE error at all. The only thing is.....The CDRW drive does not show up at all where set as master or slave. Its like the drive is not there.

Any thoughts?

I am probably going to get another drive or upgrade Mobo. I am running out of options.

Thanks for your help!

[NooNoo]

So lets get this straight...

You put the cdrw as primary master and the hdd as secondary master.

The machine booted to windows ok, but the cdrw did not show up in device mangler.

But did the cdrw get detected by bios when it booted with the cdrw as primary master? Was the bios setup for the primary master set to Auto?

[Idontknow]

Hi NooNoo,

Yep, the BIOS detected the CDRW with no problem on the primary channel. Setting as follows:

CDRW as Primary master
CRROM as Primary slave
HDD as secondary master

BIOS set to auto on primary. BIOS detected all the drives correctly. Both CDRW and CDROM were identified in the BIOS. Computer booted up into Windows OK. Ni controller error. CDRW does not show up in Windows.

Tired CDRW as master alone in primary. No error, no CDRW either.

This is very strange. What do you think?

[NooNoo]

I am at the quit thinking stage

I would arrange the drives prim master - hdd
prim slave, whatever
sec master cdrw
sec slave whatever

then boot from the cdrw and reinstall windows over the top - if it installs windows ok... then it should set it up ok...

You havent got the dos drivers loading in autoexec or config.sys have you?

[Idontknow]

Hi NooNoo,

I rearrange the drives back as original with HDD as master on primary already.

I don't have the DOS driver loaded anywhere. The drive didn't come with a DOS driver. Can I use a start-up floppy and reload Windows using the CDROM or CDRW. Since the BIOS detected the CDRW, the MSCDEX.exe in the start-up disk should pick it up, correct?

Thanks!

[NooNoo]

Correct - BUT I would prefer you loaded windows from the cdrw since that is what is giving you grief... if it loads windows and then still doesn't recognise it there is something very silly going on.