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From: dsmith@inmos.co.uk (David Smith)
Subject: Mitsumi FX001D: Cannot mount CD roms in DOS
Message-ID: <1994Aug2.080112.8111@inmos.co.uk>
Sender: dsmith@garfield (David Smith)
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 08:01:12 GMT
Organization: INMOS Limited, Bristol, UK
Keywords: Mitsumi FX001D
Lines: 32

Is there anybody out there that has had a problem mounting CD-ROMs in DOS using
the Mitsumi FX001D drive?  I got my drive last Friday, and I have been
desperately trying to get it to work properly ever since.  It works flawlessly
with audio CDs, as I can play them with both the CD players that came with my
Soundblaster16 MCD, and also with the cd player that came with the CD-ROM drive. 
The problem I am having is that it is constantly giving me the "Drive not ready"
error, or, in Windows, a popup saying that there is no disk in the drive.  The
audio CD players can correctly identify when there is a disk in the drive, and I
can mount A CD-ROM successfully in Linux (A UNIX clone for PCs), so there is
nothing wrong with the CD-ROM or the drive (I think :).

I have tried using both the Mitsumi interface on the soundblaster card, and the
dedicated Mitsumi interface card that came with the drive, and I got the same
result.  I also tried installing the software using both the Mitsumi and
Soundblaster installation scripts, and got the same result.  AFAIK, there aren't
any DMA/IRQ/Base address conflicts, as I have removed all non-essential cards
from my PC, leaving just the video card (Spea V7 Mirage) and the multi-IO card. 

The second problem I have been having is that the drives play everything in mono.
This seems crazy as there is a stereo audio connection between the soundblaster
card and the cd drive, and also, the mitsumi interface card has a L and R output
channel.  If you have one of these drives, does it play in stereo or mono?

If you can help me with this irritating problem, please email your response to
dsmith@inmos.co.uk, as our news feed is rather dodgy.  I will summarise the
responses if anyone asks me to.

Thanks for your help.

David Smith

dsmith@inmos.co.uk