Problems with blank CD/DVD & slow boot up

Have got a couple of problems that may or may not be connected.
Have got Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 mobo, Maxtor 6Y160M0 SATA HD, Philips PCRW1208
& LG GSA 4081B DVD writer.
Previously all was well running Windows XP pro with SP2 on a 40gb Samsung
HD. Since upgrading to the SATA drive have had various problems. This was a
clean install with a slipstreamed SP2 CD. First of all the DVD drive would
not read any disc at all. The LED would come on when a disc inserted & spin
up but Windows Explorer would not show contents. The drive appears OK in
device manager. Shortly afterwards the CD did the same thing. After many
uninstalls of hardware, changing drivers, cables & BIOS settings the drives
recognise most discs. The ones it has difficulty with are some CD's that I
previously created. Either get the message "disc not present" or "incorrect
parameter (87)"

The other problem is with boot-up time: it takes 5-6 minutes! The machine
fires up, goes through POST OK, displays the Windows XP screen, modem lights
come on for a while then go out. Then it sits there, seemingly doing nothing.
Then one modem light comes on followed by a bit of disc activity, a further
pause then it boots correctly. I have run the Microsoft BootVis utility & it
appears to stick when loading USB drivers. If I disable all USB devices it
boots in 36 seconds.

There are several posts relating to the DVD/CD reading issue but no
definitive answer.

If I plug the old Samsung drive back in & reset BIOS to defaults still have
CD/DVD problems but boot up time is slightly better. I have also installed
basic Windows XP installation with no service packs to a spare HD. The only
thing added was GFX card drivers & still have problems with CD/DVD. I can
copy files to CD via Nero 6 which reports was done succesfully but unable to
read disc from Windows.

It is like something has physically "damaged" both Cd & DVD drives. Is that
possible just from installing new HD?

I am unsure as to wether fault lies with Motherboard, BIOS, drives, or
software. I think my next options will be either upgrade BIOS or firmware to
Cd & DVD.

Anybody have any thoughts/ideas to assist in this? Sorry if it is a bit long
& rambling!

cheers

Others will almost certainly come in with bettr thoughts, but in the first
instance I wonder about your problem with the USB drivers. To me (and I may
well be very wrong) this sounds like a problem with the device drivers. How
were they installed, you said that you made a slipstreamed SP2 install, (I
did this on an a couple of upgrades and it went well, but I made sure that I
had updated drivers before the upgrade). Are you using only the correct
latest drivers for all devices on the system. Did you make sure that you
installed any motherboard drivers before installing the USB devices. Did
you make sure that all of the drivers that you used were fresh from the
maker's web site and not the old ones on the original install disk and
certainly not just the default ones that were on the XP install disk? Did
you do the first restarts with only the minimum of extra hardware and
install the essential drivers for that hardware before adding the rest? I
have to assume that the installaation of XP used either the CD or the DVD
drive and at that point there was no problem reading the drive, this
suggests that the optical drive in question was not (originally) affected by
the change that you made. I say originally since you "might" have
introduced some later issues.

Are there any FAQ on the gigabyte site? Could you be using a IDE channel
for the CD/DVD that some how conflicts with the SATA? Could you have set
some of the BIOS settings to values that are not correct for the
installation.

As there are a number of issues I feel that you need to find a way to deal
with them one at a time and then you will be able to progress the matter, I
guess that there is no issue with the need for SATA drivers and that was
what you intended when you said you used a slipstreamed install CD?

You do not menation the admin logs, but have you checked them for
indications of errors? I had one case of slow booting with one machine. It
was due to it looking for a range of network information, e.g. IP address,
etc. for a device that was not a "real" network connection, it showed up as
a DHCP failure among other issues in the logs!

Sorry some thoughts and rambles that may or may not assist but if they
trigger off something in your mind maybe that can generate progress for you.

Richard

"kinega" wrote in message
...
Have got a couple of problems that may or may not be connected.
Have got Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 mobo, Maxtor 6Y160M0 SATA HD, Philips
PCRW1208
& LG GSA 4081B DVD writer.
Previously all was well running Windows XP pro with SP2 on a 40gb Samsung
HD. Since upgrading to the SATA drive have had various problems. This was
a
clean install with a slipstreamed SP2 CD. First of all the DVD drive would
not read any disc at all. The LED would come on when a disc inserted &
spin
up but Windows Explorer would not show contents. The drive appears OK in
device manager. Shortly afterwards the CD did the same thing. After many
uninstalls of hardware, changing drivers, cables & BIOS settings the
drives
recognise most discs. The ones it has difficulty with are some CD's that I
previously created. Either get the message "disc not present" or
"incorrect
parameter (87)"

The other problem is with boot-up time: it takes 5-6 minutes! The machine
fires up, goes through POST OK, displays the Windows XP screen, modem
lights
come on for a while then go out. Then it sits there, seemingly doing
nothing.
Then one modem light comes on followed by a bit of disc activity, a
further
pause then it boots correctly. I have run the Microsoft BootVis utility &
it
appears to stick when loading USB drivers. If I disable all USB devices it
boots in 36 seconds.

There are several posts relating to the DVD/CD reading issue but no
definitive answer.

If I plug the old Samsung drive back in & reset BIOS to defaults still
have
CD/DVD problems but boot up time is slightly better. I have also installed
basic Windows XP installation with no service packs to a spare HD. The
only
thing added was GFX card drivers & still have problems with CD/DVD. I can
copy files to CD via Nero 6 which reports was done succesfully but unable
to
read disc from Windows.

It is like something has physically "damaged" both Cd & DVD drives. Is
that
possible just from installing new HD?

I am unsure as to wether fault lies with Motherboard, BIOS, drives, or
software. I think my next options will be either upgrade BIOS or firmware
to
Cd & DVD.

Anybody have any thoughts/ideas to assist in this? Sorry if it is a bit
long
& rambling!

cheers

Thanks for reply Richard. Not sure if I will have time to experiment tonight,
but certainly got me thinking of a few things. Will report later.

"Richard" wrote:

Others will almost certainly come in with bettr thoughts, but in the first
instance I wonder about your problem with the USB drivers. To me (and I may
well be very wrong) this sounds like a problem with the device drivers. How
were they installed, you said that you made a slipstreamed SP2 install, (I
did this on an a couple of upgrades and it went well, but I made sure that I
had updated drivers before the upgrade). Are you using only the correct
latest drivers for all devices on the system. Did you make sure that you
installed any motherboard drivers before installing the USB devices. Did
you make sure that all of the drivers that you used were fresh from the
maker's web site and not the old ones on the original install disk and
certainly not just the default ones that were on the XP install disk? Did
you do the first restarts with only the minimum of extra hardware and
install the essential drivers for that hardware before adding the rest? I
have to assume that the installaation of XP used either the CD or the DVD
drive and at that point there was no problem reading the drive, this
suggests that the optical drive in question was not (originally) affected by
the change that you made. I say originally since you "might" have
introduced some later issues.

Are there any FAQ on the gigabyte site? Could you be using a IDE channel
for the CD/DVD that some how conflicts with the SATA? Could you have set
some of the BIOS settings to values that are not correct for the
installation.

As there are a number of issues I feel that you need to find a way to deal
with them one at a time and then you will be able to progress the matter, I
guess that there is no issue with the need for SATA drivers and that was
what you intended when you said you used a slipstreamed install CD?

You do not menation the admin logs, but have you checked them for
indications of errors? I had one case of slow booting with one machine. It
was due to it looking for a range of network information, e.g. IP address,
etc. for a device that was not a "real" network connection, it showed up as
a DHCP failure among other issues in the logs!

Sorry some thoughts and rambles that may or may not assist but if they
trigger off something in your mind maybe that can generate progress for you.

Richard

"kinega" wrote in message
...
Have got a couple of problems that may or may not be connected.
Have got Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 mobo, Maxtor 6Y160M0 SATA HD, Philips
PCRW1208
& LG GSA 4081B DVD writer.
Previously all was well running Windows XP pro with SP2 on a 40gb Samsung
HD. Since upgrading to the SATA drive have had various problems. This was
a
clean install with a slipstreamed SP2 CD. First of all the DVD drive would
not read any disc at all. The LED would come on when a disc inserted &
spin
up but Windows Explorer would not show contents. The drive appears OK in
device manager. Shortly afterwards the CD did the same thing. After many
uninstalls of hardware, changing drivers, cables & BIOS settings the
drives
recognise most discs. The ones it has difficulty with are some CD's that I
previously created. Either get the message "disc not present" or
"incorrect
parameter (87)"

The other problem is with boot-up time: it takes 5-6 minutes! The machine
fires up, goes through POST OK, displays the Windows XP screen, modem
lights
come on for a while then go out. Then it sits there, seemingly doing
nothing.
Then one modem light comes on followed by a bit of disc activity, a
further
pause then it boots correctly. I have run the Microsoft BootVis utility &
it
appears to stick when loading USB drivers. If I disable all USB devices it
boots in 36 seconds.

There are several posts relating to the DVD/CD reading issue but no
definitive answer.

If I plug the old Samsung drive back in & reset BIOS to defaults still
have
CD/DVD problems but boot up time is slightly better. I have also installed
basic Windows XP installation with no service packs to a spare HD. The
only
thing added was GFX card drivers & still have problems with CD/DVD. I can
copy files to CD via Nero 6 which reports was done succesfully but unable
to
read disc from Windows.

It is like something has physically "damaged" both Cd & DVD drives. Is
that
possible just from installing new HD?

I am unsure as to wether fault lies with Motherboard, BIOS, drives, or
software. I think my next options will be either upgrade BIOS or firmware
to
Cd & DVD.

Anybody have any thoughts/ideas to assist in this? Sorry if it is a bit
long
& rambling!

cheers