A7N8X-DX -- My DVD burner no longer shows up after update

[dgk]

My A7N8X has a Plextor DVD burner as master on IDE2. There is a hard
drive as master on IDE1 but I boot and run off SATA RAID-0 (two 120
drives). Every other day or so it reboots and comes back up with the
"serious error" messagebox. It finally bothered me enough to try to
update the IDE drivers, which I think might be the problem. It doesn't
seem to reboot anywhere near as often if I don't burn any CD/DVDs.

So I installed the latest nForce drivers off the nVidia site. Now the
DVD doesn't show up. It shows in the BIOS though. So I remove those
drivers and install the latest (2003!) ASUS drivers. Nope, still no
DVD. It's showing up in Device Manager with an ! and claims that it
can't install the device driver.

I remove the IDE drivers plus the Plextor CD/DVD entry in Device
Manager and install the trusty Windows default driver. Still no DVD
after rebooting. Very weird. I unplug the drive and reboot, then
reboot after plugging it back in. Still shows up as !.

I can't figure it out. Why doesn't the nForce drivers work, and why
can nothing now make that Plextor return?

 

[dgk]

Well, System Restore fixed it, but that is not very good. Not being
able to update drivers without losing IDE devices sucks.

 

[Natéag]

Whenever I had that problem with my previous board (A7N8X-E)
i would uninstall the IDE drivers, reboot.
It would then detect all IDE hardware.

Also open «My Computer's» properties, Manage
see if your DVD burner is listed with same letter as
another drive. If so change de drive letter.

 

[dgk]

Whenever I had that problem with my previous board (A7N8X-E)
i would uninstall the IDE drivers, reboot.
It would then detect all IDE hardware.

Also open «My Computer's» properties, Manage
see if your DVD burner is listed with same letter as
another drive. If so change de drive letter.

Thanks, I did go into Computer Management and check the drive letters.
I also unloaded the drivers a million times. Actual count. And
rebooted after each one. This is the first time that I ever had this
much trouble. I was really getting ready to punt it through the
window. I kept trying the Microsoft drivers, the ASUS drivers, and the
nVidia drivers. Even plugged in a spare Lite-On CD burner as slave.
That wouldn't work either.

There was something in the event viewer about being unable to load
three device drivers amd by their names they were clearly related to
the problem. Then I got the idea to actually try System Restore and it
worked. So I'm back to the original situation. Although it hasn't
rebooted lately.

Here's something funny though. As I went to unplug the DVD, I noticed
that the top of the case was REALLY hot. So was the power supply. And
it is a fancy sucker of a power supply, one of the Fortrons or
something like that, with a knob to adjust fan speed and a pretty blue
light. Anyway, the fan was stopped. Just wouldn't turn. I tried it
several times and just killed the power each time when it just sat
there. I had a spare generic 450 PSU and swapped it, and all was well.
At least with the PSU. I wonder if the heat was causing other
problems? Could be I guess.

 

[Natéag]

It could also be that your power supply did not provide
enough current for an additional device.

Check the voltages.

 

[dgk]

It could also be that your power supply did not provide
enough current for an additional device.

Check the voltages.

I suppose. But it was one of those that the folks over on
overclockers.com said was a good one. Well, it rebooted yesterday with
the generic PSU so the main problem still exists. I'll see if there is
a good sale on PSUs somewhere and perhaps replace it.

I don't think it had anything to do with the IDE problem. There's
something flaky about this machine and for all I know it's some weird
hardware thing that I'll never find. I REALLY don't want to reformat
this one. I use it as my web server and BitTorrent client. Maybe when
I have a spare week.

 

[milleron]

I suppose.

If there were something wrong with the PSU, I don't see how in the
world a System Restore would solve the problem of the unrecognized
optical drive.

But it was one of those that the folks over on
overclockers.com said was a good one. Well, it rebooted yesterday with
the generic PSU so the main problem still exists. I'll see if there is
a good sale on PSUs somewhere and perhaps replace it.

I don't think it had anything to do with the IDE problem. There's
something flaky about this machine and for all I know it's some weird
hardware thing that I'll never find. I REALLY don't want to reformat
this one. I use it as my web server and BitTorrent client. Maybe when
I have a spare week.

Ron

 

[dgk]

If there were something wrong with the PSU, I don't see how in the
world a System Restore would solve the problem of the unrecognized
optical drive.

Oh, I think that was a separate problem. The main problem was that I
dared to try to install nVidia drivers on an nVidia board. That was
solved by System Restore.