Pioneer A07 and my HD freeze problem

[Blackout]

hi all, hoping someone can help me.

I have the Pioneer A07 with Firmware 15 on an Asus A7V266-E, which runs the AMD 2400XP. When im burning a dvd with Nero, DVD Decryptor, DVD Workshop 2, anything really, i works perfectly until some other program accesses any hard drive during the process, eg a Outlook email refresh or a brower refresh, or i just "browse" in Windows Explorer to drive d, for instance. Then the DVD burn drops to 0X speed and all my drives "freeze". I basically have to reboot and the burn is screwed. If i dont touch ANYTHING, i generally get thru a burn ok. Its pretty frustrating and bites me on the ass quite often.

Its like my IDE ports simply "crash" if any program tries to access them when a burn is in operation. I thought it might be a firmware issue but ive upgraded the A07 several times and its made no difference. Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Blackout

[stackner]

my big question is how much RAM/MEMORY do you have on your pc? this is the first thing i ask everyone as i myself had bad performace from low ram so have friends but once you have atleast 512mb its normally fine with a good system. i accasionaly have bufferunderuns and slow burning if i do TOO much while burning at the same time but never a total freeze.

[Blackout]

Thanks for responding stackner, ive got 1 GIG of memory! its 2x512Meg DDR sticks...as i do video stuff on this PC i wanted to make sure i had loads to work with...when im burning a DVD, my PC is very responsive still, its not a memory issue. Actually other than this problem, my PC is ultra stable.

I dont actually get a sudden total freeze, just a "crashing" of any access to my hard drives from that point on. Eventually tho, my PC grinds to a halt when it tries to access something on the IDE like a new program to load up, or a windows file and then ill get progressive crashing of programs until i sink and die.

Any other ideas? is it possible its still a Pioneer firmware problem theyre yet to address ?

With thanks
Blackout

[MikeV]

This sounds like a problem with the IDE setup or software. Please give us more information about your system. What OS, what drives are on what IDE controller, are you using NTFS? It could be as simple as DMA not on.
Bottom line, We need more information to try to help with your problem.

[Blackout]

Thanks Mike V, i really appreciate your help so heres as much info as i can think of that might be of use.

Asus A7V266-E MB
AMD 2400+XP
Windows XP (SP1)
1 Gig Ram
2xHDs on IDE1, both IBM drives, (80Gig Drive C, 180 Gig)
Both Drives NTFS.
2xOptical on IDE2, Pioneer A07 DVDR and Sony CDR Burner.

I just opened up the PC and unplugged the IDE from the sony CDR burner. Upon Reboot theres still 2 optical drives in the explorer list, one that sounds dodgy..."Generic DVD-Rom SCSI CDrom Device"...if i remove it, the driver comes back on reboot. Hmm...i wander if this is the problem...

[MikeV]

Your set-up looks good. Did you load the ASUS motherboard drivers? Especially the ones for the IDE controller. Try defraging your hard drives and check to make sure both IDE channels are running DMA. To check right click My Computer, Properties, Hardware,Device Manager,IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, do both Primary and Secondary channels,advanced settings. Here you can check for DMA/PIO modes, make sure you can use DMA.

[Blackout]

Hi mikeV, looks like the "mysterious" drive was courtesy of Daemon Tools...when i uninstalled it, things settled down with the burner drivers.

MikeV, both Primary and Secondary have both Drive 1 and 2 as DMA....

The IDE drivers are courtesy of the Via 4in1 package by the looks of it.

looks like i spoke too soon tho, the problem still exists. any other suggestions are appreciated.

With thanks,
Blackout

[Blackout]

For anyone whos wandering, this problem was soved by replacing my motherboard. I had an asus motherboard with the VIA CHIPSET....basically a piece of crap. It just choked on the attempted throughput. Changed to the Asus A7N8X-E which only cost me $100...the best hundred bucks i ever spent, has the NVidia chipset instead of VIA and i can burn away at any speed ..my PC is doing somersaults now. AVOID VIA motherboards.!

Blackout.

[Fnomna]

I think I am having the same problem.
I have a DVR-108 (1.18 fw) and a VIA motherboard (KT133A Epox KTA3).
320Mb RAM
IDE channel: 2xHD
IDE channel: 1xDVD-RW, 1xDVD-ROM

Most times I can burn at 12x on 8x media with no problem, but 4 times now it has just dropped down to 0x write transfer rate, green light goes off burner and can't quit the process or access the drive. Can't restart windows - needs a hard reset.
It has happened at these stages: 0%, 10%, 46%, 82%

Anyone know a solution besides replacing the motherboard?
(DMA enabled on both channels)
The Lite-On DVD-ROM uses DMA Mode 2 whereas the DVR-108 uses Mode 4- would this have any effect?

It has also happened burning at 8x on 8x media. Have tried 3 different brands - MCC, TTG, CMC.
And it's not just nero - also happens when burning in dvddecrypter ISO mode.

[Fnomna]

Updated VIA 4-in-1 drivers
and increased BIOS setting of PCI Latency from 32 to 48.

Have had 6 perfect burns now.

[Jeo]

Same problem here, Via chipset too.
What drivers version did you update to?
4.55 or 4.43?

The latest ones are 4.55 but at via's web it's recommended to use 4.43 version with KT1** chipsets.

I just increased BIOS value for PCI Latency Timer from 32 to 48 too. I`ll do some test.

[Fnomna]

Good to know it's not just me!

http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=2
-> WindowsXP
-> Chipset or Platform driver
-> 4-in-1 version 4.43 (for KT1##)

When I installed, I just used all the default selections.

(I also upgraded to the latest Nero. But this shouldn't have been the problem because I had the problem when using dvddecrypter too)

I have always also used PowerStrip to set my video card's PCI latency to 80 (from 256 or whatever it normally likes to hog!). PowerStrip shows all the other devices now use the bios default of 48.

[Jeo]

Good to know it's not just me!

LOL, I thought the same when I saw your post.

I just wrote a really long post but my PC f***** up so I'm not in the mood of writting it all again.

Briefing, that's the driver I tried to install 2 days ago but I couldn't, the installshield wizard stopped at 99% and wouldn't go on.

I also installed PowerStrip and reduced my videocard PCI Latency to 120. The rest of devices are at the bios default of 48.

I won't install the via drivers yet, as I want to know if the problem can be solved by just adjusting the PCI latency. If I get another failed burn, I'll post to let you all know and will try again to install the drivers.

Greets.

[Fnomna]

Briefing, that's the driver I tried to install 2 days ago but I couldn't, the installshield wizard stopped at 99% and wouldn't go on.

Maybe try disabling anti-virus software or anything else that's running. Failing that, try installing in safe mode.

[Jeo]

Thanks for the info.

I've got a new job now, don't have much time for burning, as soon as I have some spare time I'll continue with the tests.

Greets

[Jeo]

Just adjusting PCI Latency didn't work, I got another failed burn.

I managed to install Via drivers, let's see if that mends the problem.

Greets.