Def

Both drives must be set (jumpered on the back of each drive) for cable select or cs.  The drive on the end connector of your ide ribbon is the primary drive while the drive on the middle ide connector is the secondary.  Double check and make sure all connections are correct and snug.  Adding the plextor, there are no drivers you need to load.  This device is easily recognized by XP and installed.

If you disconnect the plextor from the system, do the error messages stop?

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 12-20-2003 09:27 PM

Dale, thanks for the info.   Unfortunately, I've tried all of those options.   I've tried multiple configurations with the drive as possible.  Master/Slave, Cable Select.  All of them.  I get the error no matter the configuration.

I finally gave in and took it to Best Buy.  I know that probably wasn't the greatest choice, but I figure there has got to be someone that knows a bit more than I do.   So far, they are stumped as well.  They seem to think the controller on the motherboard is shot, as they tried installing another drive and it did the same thing.  From what I understood when I called, they've had 3 different techs working on it with no luck.

I've emailed Plextor and Dell about this problem as well.    Plextor has given me somewhat of a run around, only telling me that I need to upgrade Nero. 

Dell has given me an more in depth option, that includes reinstalling some things using the WinXp installation disc.  I will try that later today if BB has not or can not figure out the problem.

Message Edited by Deftones17 on 12-21-2003 05:56 PM

A quick update. 

Best Buy was totally worthless.  After working non-stop on the machine for about a day, they gave up.  The tech thought it was a controller problem.  He was sure that it was because he couldn't get my HDs to be recognized by the machine. 

About 5 minutes of redoing the cables and the jumpers got it working again.  Now, I tried Dell's Tech Support solution.  Use the WinXP install disc and do a repair.  About 45 minutes later it was up and running again.  The DVD drive is working fine, but I've yet to burn a disc yet.  Hopefully this was a permanent solution.  Dell was very quick in their response to my problem, and it appears to have been fixed.  A huge thumbs up to Dell.  This is my first Dell machine, but it most certainly won't be my last with the quality of tech support and service they provided me. 

Def - have similar problem with my two month old 4600 and a Plextor 708A I purchased from Dell last week.

I have a two month old 4600 and I have tried everything with my new Plextor 708A - and I always get the blue screen. I have a Samsung CD-RW that is recognized fine. I have tried both with cable select settings and the master - slave. Even tried the Plextor by itself in the same setup that works for the Samsung -- blue screen again.

Wondering if the Windows XP repair install solved your problem with the Plextor.  I have the Plextor 708a with a new Dell XPS system and the computer crashes when I put in a DVD.  It's reads and burns CD's fine, but the Blue Screen of Death whenever I insert a DVD

Any help???

I'm having the same problem with my 4600 (Didn't see your post; started a new thread: "Plextor PX-708a crashes Win XP on DVD spin-up.")

Predator has some fixes I'm going to try. 

Rick

Deftones 17,

So, all I need to do is run a "repair" from the XP install CD?

Rick