Path: cdrom.com!barrnet.net!biosci!agate!ucbvax!dog.ee.lbl.gov!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!news.acns.nwu.edu!aragorn22.acns.nwu.edu!user From: dmeglan@merle.acns.nwu.edu (dwight meglan) Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom,alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway Subject: Nasty CDROM Problem - Any takers ? Message-ID: Date: 11 Apr 94 20:15:12 GMT Followup-To: alt.cd-rom Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA Lines: 51 NNTP-Posting-Host: aragorn22.acns.nwu.edu Here in follows the saga of one man's frustration... The problem: Three weeks ago my CDROM (Sony CDU-33A) decided to begin misbehaving. It had been working fine for the three weeks that I had it before that time. The scene of the problem: I have a gateway 2000 486 (1 year old) and bought the gateway multimedia kit upgrade (includes a Sound Blaster clone board plus the Sony CDROM) so that I could use Visual C++ to do consulting. Details: The CDROM would begin to be accessed, either from DOS or Windows, but after a bit I would get a read error saying that the drive was not ready. Under DOS I could get a short directory listing and type out short files, but anything large would cause an error. The drive would just keeping accessing the disk for quite a while (30 seconds or more) and finally die. The drive could not be used to do work in this condition. This is a MAJOR problem for me since I make my living programming :-( I called gateway support and went all type of jumpers and software settings with no change. They sent another Sony CDROM with the same results. After another call (now a week and half past the time that the drive stopped being useful) and two more hours of fooling around with no change they then sent another sound/interface card. Same results. A third phone call today (three weeks after the time of infamy) and another hour of playing around and they are sending me updated drivers. I logged onto the Sony bulletin board and pulled down drivers newer than the ones they are sending me (1.73 vs. 1.71) and tried them with no change. The drive (actually either drive or card since I have two cards and two boards at the moment) does exactly the same thing. This behavior occurs on stripped config.sys and autoexec.bat files as well as with my normal files. Three weeks ago, I had the drive working under os/2 also, but not now. The only remaining confounding factor is that I use Stacker for DOS and OS/2. I can't remove that very easily. In desparation tonight I tried a stripped system on a floppy disk (DOS 6.2) with only the SLCD.SYS and MSCDEX.EXE files added and... Low and behold I got a big directory lisiting !!! So I guess I have some type of nasty software conflict going on. Suggestions on where hunt the thing down would be appreciated. In the meantime, I guess I will begin the neuron (de)enhanced binary search method (that can't be the problem so I won't try that combination... oops) Thanks for pointers, dwight P.S. I already looked at the FAQ's and I know that the Sony has a reputation for being unreliable.