Plextor PX-708a crashes Win XP on DVD spin-up

rick

There is myself and one other Dell owner who installed the roxio easy cd & dvd creator 6 basic that came with our Plextor 708a dvd burners.

We both had...have problems such as hidden partitions becoming unhidden and discovering new drive letters on our hdds.  Machines not powering off when you shut down for the night. I would strongly recommend NOT installing the Roxio software.   Roxio hasn't acknowledged a problem or offered a fix.  The only true fix so far has been wipe the drive(s) and reinstall everything.

You may not encounter any problems at all but why take the chance.

The free/low cost alternative may be Nero.  I'm not familiar with Nero but may download the free limited version from their site.  Predator is very knowledgeable, and I'm sure has some suggestions.

edit:  did you succeed in installing the roxio software or are you using the version that came with your Dell?

Good Luck

Dale

Dimension 4550
P4 2.53GHz
A08 Bios
512Mb DDR 333MHz Ram
533Mhz fsb
Sapphire Oem Radeon 9800Pro 128Mb w/Catalyst 3.7 drivers
Sound Blaster Live
LITEON DVD LTD163-->Plextor 708A 8x burner
Hitachi/LG-DT-ST CDRW Rom 848-1b
Logitech Optical Mouse MX310
Viewsonic G90fb-2 19"
Windows XP Home Sp1 (all updates)
WD 600BB 60Gb Ultra ATA 100 7200rpm HD
WD 1200JB SE 120Gb ATA 100 7200rpm HD
D-Link 604 Ethernet Broadband Router

Message Edited by Dale Nihiser on 12-30-2003 11:23 PM

Rick,

I have the exact same problem as you. I haven't been able to load any of the software that came with my Plextor because I get the blue screen almost immediately after inserting it.  I did run the diagnostic procedure, however, and I think it's telling me something's wrong with the drive. Have you contacted Plextor's customer service yet? I'm going to call them today.

Ethan Rush

Thanks to all who responded.  In the past, I've worked with several systems using SCSI Plextor drives (duplicators, CD towers) that have been top-notch performers.  I'm disappointed that I'm having so much trouble with this IDE drive.

Dale, I did not succeed in loading the Roxio software.  I get the BSOD when the drive spins up.  Does this with any DVD.

Ethan, I ran the Plextor diagnostic last night and it indicates the drive is good.  (i.e. it ejects the disc when done as per the manual.)  I think I'll contact Plextor as well.

Predator, Awesome site!  I just browsed a little, but will check out the sections you suggested tonight.

The drive letter comment just spurred a thought; I installed the 60GB Maxtor drive before installing the DVD drive.  When I installed the Plextor with the Sony CD-R/RW as slave, the DVD showed up as D:, the Maxtor as E: and the Sony as F:.  Think there is a drive letter issue with the Plextor?

Thanks again.

Rick 

Predator, thanks for the input on the NVIDIA card.  I'll give the driver update a shot. 

I'm assuming that PlexTools is on the software CD that came with the drive.  If so, I can't see how the video card drivers could be a factor if I can't install the software.  To caveat that, I've been known to miss the forest because I keep bumping into trees.

Rick

Rick

After installing a new hard drive and a dvd burner drive, you may experience the need to reassign drive letters because of previously installed software that had a "path" to certain drives whose drive letters may now be changed.  That's normal and shouldn't be a factor with your BSOD problem.

I understand the BSOD happens before you have an opportunity to load the Roxio software.  And Predator is trying to work you through that.

I guess I was putting the cart-in-front-of-the-horse by advising you not to use Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 Basic that came with your Plextor drive once you are able to install the software.    Ez CD & DVD Creator 6 Basic has in itself been a source of problems.

Happy New Year

Dale

Predator, your site really is great.  I spent a long time there last night.

Your information on the monitor software is very interesting, because I did just install it a few weeks ago. I'm going to try to fix that when I get home tonight.

Rick, if the monitor fix doesn't work, I'm going to call Plextor on Friday.  I'm not giving up on the Plextor because I've heard so many good things about it. 

Ethan

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions thus far.  Looks like I'm going to be on a road trip until Sunday.  Won't be able to work on it again until then...Doh!

(Didn't want you guys to think I'm unappreciative by not responding to posts!)

Happy and safe New Year to everyone!

Rick

Rick,

Did you ever get your Plextor 708 to work? I still can't get mind to work properly. Anytime I insert the dvd that came with it (or any other prewritten dvd) I get the bsod.  CAN ANYBODY HELP ME???!!! PLEASE!

Ethan Rush

Rick:

We're having the exact same problem: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_cdrom&message.id=72502

My TDK drive is a re-packaged plextor PX-708a.  I hope we can find a resolution to this problem.

Rick:

My problem was solved by following advice from D2400_Owner, who suggested de-installing Sonic DLA. 

Give that a try, and I hope that solves your problem as well.

I'm back...finally.  Haven't worked on this problem for a while.  (Did myself some shoulder damage...no typing, clicking, etc..)  Anyway, enough whining. 

My PX-708a works!!!  Endorice's suggestion to uninstall Sonic DLA did the trick.  I only uninstalled the DLA portion; I left RecordNow! installed and it worked fine. I can now read and burn DVDs.  I also installed Roxio 6, and it seems to be behaving nicely so far.  Now I just need to get some 8x discs to see if I run into the 8x burn problem.

Thanks to all who offered solutions.  This has been one of the toughest installs I've done (including building several machines from scratch).

Now I'm off to install one of these in my wife's HP...

Rick

I've had the same problem with the PX-708A and a blue screen.  I found that Sonic DLA and the Roxio DVD player that comes

with the Plextor drive cause my computer to lock up.  I downloaded Uleads demo DVD player and it works fine and I can burn

now with good success.