I have installed a new Plextor 48/24/48A CD-RW
drive and updated the firmware as recommended
by downloading from the Plextor site. The drive will autoload and read most CDs. It autoloads but
fails to install applications from certain other CDs, however, and the system locks up, requiring
a cold boot. These CDs install fine on other PCs.
I am running Windows 98SE on an Anthlon 1600XP,
with 512 MB DDR memory. Device Manager indicates
that the CD-RW is working properly. Using standard
40 wire ribbon cable with CD-RW set as a master
and an HP Colorado 14 GB tape drive on the same
cable set as a slave. Both devices are ATAPI,
fed from the secondary IDE controller on an Asus
A7V266-E motherboard. The ribbon cable is 24 inches long, due to the case configuration. This
same cable was used with an HP CD-Writer Plus
8200 for more than two years with no problems.
The new Plextor does not indicate any problems
(blinking green or amber faceplate led) while
running. This one has me stumped. Just to add to
the mystery, the Windows dial up networking connect panel keeps popping up at random times
for no apparent reason! This may be unrelated to
the CD-RW problem or it could be a clue. Any help would be much appreciated.
RoVoCo