Via IDE Driver, WinXP SP1, Nero and Sony DRU-500A

[mike_s104]

I have not burnt any DVD±RWs since I installed the Via Bus Mastering PCI IDE Driver version 3.01.14 dated 10/02/2001. the exact file downloaded from Via's site is "IDE_MPD3014.zip". tonight I tried for about 2 hours to figure out what the problem was. here is what my setup was like:


WinXP SP1
Sony DRU-500A firmware 1.0d
Nero 5.5.9.17
Via Bus Mastering PCI IDE Driver version 3.01.14

I tried everything but nothing worked until I uninstalled the Via driver. Nero would eitehr lockup upon selecting DVD (from the drop down box to chose which type of disc you want to burn) or would once I click on the burn button.

just thought I would pass this along sicne I was telling people to install the Via IDE driver last week.

[Ian]

Yep, I never use VIA's IDE driver. I just use the default MS one.

[mike_s104]

this was the first time I tried them and they seemed to work well except for tonight. live and learn.

[dodecahedron]

this link http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=66 is VIA's IDE drivers page.
it contains some explanation about the differences between the Busmastering drivers (the Via Bus Mastering PCI IDE Driver version 3.01.14 from the file IDE_MPD3014.zip) and the IDE Filter drivers, included in the VIA 4-in-1. in the past there was also some discussion about the pluses and minuses of each kind of driver and which is better for different uses. it said that for CDRW drives it is better to use the filter drivers, i.e. the 4-in-1, and NOT the Busmastering drivers.

this discussion is no longer on that page. more info that used to be there was removed. i don't know why.

personally, like Ian, i don't even use VIA's IDE Filter driver in the 4-in-1. actually i've tried them once, didn't see any difference at all as far as performance/stablity.

[dodecahedron]

here's the discussion i mentioned:

The bottom line:

The drivers that you need will depend on what you have in your system and what operating system you use. This information below might help by giving you some examples, so that you can better understand the table above:

Special Rom Drives (re-writers etc):
Probably not recommended that you install the VIA IDE miniport Driver as the default Microsoft driver provides better support for such devices, in general. This is because ATA/ATAPI devices are controlled by complex commands and their drivers are written to comply with the Microsoft default IDE driver. But at the same time, in most instances the VIA IDE Filter driver would be beneficial for ROM drive stability.

SCSI Drives & RAID PCI cards:
Would normally benefit from the Decrease Device mode, special devices and performance enhancement functions of the VIA IDE miniport Driver.

Standard IDE devices:
Most systems with standard IDE devices (HDD, cd-rom, floppy) would benefit in performance from the IDE miniport.

ATA100 Hard drives:
You can see from the table above that for the best performance under Win2K who should install the IDE miniport driver.

IDE Zip Drives
Would normally benefit from the stability provided by the IDE Filter Driver.

note the second paragraph!

like i said, this text is no longer in VIA's IDE driver guide page. i have a copy of the page from about half a year ago.
i don't know why it was removed. it could be obsolete. however i would think that these notes might still be correct/relevant.

[mike_s104]

thanks for the additions info. I use MS drivers for Win98, Win2k and WinXP at work since for the most part the users will never know the difference. but at home I try to make sure everything is up to speed and have the correct drivers for all. I knew in the past Windows support for the Via chipsets was really poor. I guess I was going upon that opinion. I should have known better from running WinXP and having it installing printers and USB devices before I even have the driver CD out of the wrapper that MS support is better now.

I have been corrected and steered in the right direction....