Lite-On 48246S recognized as SCSI drive

[learnmedia]

I'd like to take advantage of the speed of my new Lite-On 48246S. Unfortunately it (and my Pioneer DVD-ROM drive) is recognized as a SCSI drive, as was the Artec 24X CD-R that it replaced. Therefore, I get no options to make sure that it's operating in DMA as opposed to PIO mode.

I am running a Promise Ultra 133 TX2 IDE controller that I've attached two Maxtor D740 hard drives to. So I've got the Lite-On drive and the DVD drive as masters on the primary and secondary IDE channels, respectively, thinking this would optimize performance of each (correct?). An old internal ZIP drive resides as a slave on the primary IDE.

It's known that the Promise IDE controller cards are recognized as SCSI by WinXP (pro). Why would this affect how devices attached to the on-board IDE controller of my MSI mobo are seen by the system?

I can't find any support resources that address this issue at neither the MSI or Promise websites. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[cfitz]

The easiest way to solve this is to avoid it altogether by attaching your optical drives to the motherboard's integrated IDE controller, and leaving the Promise controller dedicated to the hard drives only. Others have had similar issues, and the consesus seems to be that this is the best way to go.

You might want to read through this:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6993

<edit>on re-reading your post, I am a little less clear on what you are saying. Do you already have the optical drives attached to the motherboard's integrated controller?</edit>

cfitz

[learnmedia]

Sorry for the lack of clarity. Yes, I have, as you suggest, the optical drives attached to the onboard IDE, not the Promise controller card. This is why I'm confounded. Thanks for responding.

[cfitz]

Hmmm, that is more of a conundrum, isn't it? Have you tried removing the motherboard's integrated IDE controller from the device manager, rebooting, and allowing XP to re-install it?

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6645

cfitz

[learnmedia]

A serious conundrum. Removing the IDE controller thru Device Manager just results in optical drives not being present. There's no auto XP reinstall. As a matter of fact nothing happens until you scan for new hardware and then XP installs SCSI host controller instead of IDE controllers. The primary DMA channel then appears under SCSI/RAID devices in Device Manager. Aaargh!

Might a removal and reinstall of the Promise controller card in a different PCI slot be in order? Of course, boot volume is attached to it so maybe not. I dunno. I'm stumped.

[cfitz]

You don't have any IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers entry under device manager at all? (I assume you meant "primary IDE channel" above) Whereever it is that you do see "Primary IDE Channel", what do you see when you right-click it, select properties, then choose the "Advanced Settings" tab on the Primary IDE Channel Properties dialog box?

Have you checked the BIOS settings?

cfitz

[cfitz]

Let me also ask, just to be sure: do you know for a fact that DMA is not enabled? If you haven't already done so, download CD Speed and InfoTool:

http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=download.html

Run InfoTool and check the "Configuration" tab for what it says the DMA setting is. Also, put a CD in each of the optical drives and run the transfer rate test in CD Speed, telling us the maximum transfer rates you see for each.

cfitz

[learnmedia]

I do have IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers in Device manager (Primary DMA Channel, Secondary DMA Channel, and SiS Bus Master IDE controller). I was only giving you an idea of what resulted when I uninstalled them rebooted, and allowed XP to re-install, like you suggested.

However, right clicking Primary DMA channel doesn't reveal an "Advanced Settings" tab in the Properties dialog box, only "General," "Driver," and "Resources."

BIOS settings are in tact. Both primary and secondary integrated IDE controllers are active with Lite-On set to master on primary, ZIP-100 as slave on primary, and DVD-ROM drive as master on secondary. Again all are recognized as SCSI by WinXP.

Running InfoTool doesn't provide any info about DMA settings under the Configuration tab, just a SCSI ID of 0 listed under "Unknown Adapter" along with the SCSI symbol. Both Maxtor drives are also listed under "Unknown Adapter" as is the DVD-ROM drive. It also shows my Adaptec AIC-7850 PCI SCSI Controller with no devices listed below it (I seldom turn my SCSI JAZ drive on anymore). Only other info is the firmware (SS08). Driver Information lists the following:

File: System32\DRIVERS\siside.sys
Description: ATAPI IDE Miniport Driver
Version: 5.1.2600.0 built by WinDDK
Provider: Windows (R) 2000 DDK provider

CD Speed transfer rate test returns the following error: Error - PARAMETER VALUE INVALID (052602) on both optical drives.

Additional note: I downloaded latest SiS IDE drivers and when attempting to uninstall current WinXP IDE driver, I get a message that I first must uninstall SiS SCSI IDE drivers using SCSI driver setup.

[cfitz]

I do have IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers in Device manager (Primary DMA Channel, Secondary DMA Channel, and SiS Bus Master IDE controller).

<snip>

Driver Information lists the following:

File: System32\DRIVERS\siside.sys
Description: ATAPI IDE Miniport Driver
Version: 5.1.2600.0 built by WinDDK
Provider: Windows (R) 2000 DDK provider

<snip>

Additional note: I downloaded latest SiS IDE drivers and when attempting to uninstall current WinXP IDE driver, I get a message that I first must uninstall SiS SCSI IDE drivers using SCSI driver setup.

Oh dread! SiS!
Actually, I'm not starting a flame war. I've never even used an SiS chipset. But others have reported issues:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6621
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7807
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7870

As in the last thread, do you have an additional control panel applet for IAA or SiS?

cfitz

[learnmedia]

Firstly, cfitz, thanks for all of your assistance. Some of the posts on the thread debating SiS' merits helped.

It was the SiS PCI IDE Bus Master driver. Instead of uninstalling the primary and secondary DMA channels, I uninstalled the bus master and WinXP loaded the default SiS PCI IDE controller and, presto, the SCSI issue disappeared. Instead of primary and secondary DMA channels, device manager lists primary and secondary IDE channels, and provides access to the advanced settings tab under the properties dialog box.

So I can now be sure that my Lite-On drive is running in DMA mode.

Of course, not all is right since the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller under device manager now appears as "Unknown" . I guess I can live with that, though I wonder why?

Now, my two cents regarding SiS--my MSI 645 Ultra mobo works fine save for the recent quandary. My understanding is that VIA's IDE implementation is the problematic one. As far as the intel processor = intel chipset pair, fine unless you OC.

Question, though this may be best dealt with thru another thread: Does the Lite-On 48246S have the same ultra speed 24x RW feature as the 52246S? The imprint on the front panel states high speed, not ultra.

Thanks again.

[cfitz]

It was the SiS PCI IDE Bus Master driver.

Glad to hear you resolved it. And thanks for reporting back exactly what you did so that others might benefit in the future.

Of course, not all is right since the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller under device manager now appears as "Unknown" . I guess I can live with that, though I wonder why?

My motto is: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So, unless you run into some problems I would just live with it.

Now, my two cents regarding SiS--my MSI 645 Ultra mobo works fine save for the recent quandary. My understanding is that VIA's IDE implementation is the problematic one. As far as the intel processor = intel chipset pair, fine unless you OC.

As I said, I don't want to start a chipset flame war. The truth is, I've never built my own system (not yet, anyway) and don't personally have any strong feelings one way or the other. And certainly people have run into trouble with VIA chipsets also. I myself have found that Microsoft's "generic" VIA driver works better than VIA's 4-in-1 driver on my system. So, I wasn't criticizing your choice of motherboard.

Question, though this may be best dealt with thru another thread: Does the Lite-On 48246S have the same ultra speed 24x RW feature as the 52246S? The imprint on the front panel states high speed, not ultra.

It is the same feature. In fact, you can flash your 48246S into a 52246S if you want to.

cfitz

[learnmedia]

cfitz wrote:
It is the same feature. In fact, you can flash your 48246S into a 52246S if you want to.


Using the firmware upgrade for the 52246S? I just checked out some threads on CDFreaks. The prevailing opinion is that the hardware's the same. True?

[coolestnitish]

Yes it is exactly the same.

[cfitz]

If you are of a mind to do it, get the official R526S07 firmware from here:

http://www.liteonit.com.tw/english/e-down-f.asp

Unzip it, then read about the FlashFix program here:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8059

And get FlashFix from Dimitri's site at:

http://digitri.tk/

(follow the link "The LiteOn/JLMS DVD's pages" to "The official "How to upgrade firmware" and "NEW: Allow a firmware to flash ANY drive with FLASHFIX" pages)

Read the cautions about flashing a drive in general and using FlashFix in particular, then use FlashFix to convert the executable extracted from R526S07.zip into a version that won't check what it is flashing before it flashes (this is what allows you, in this case, to transition from the 48 to the 52 model). Finally, run the converted executable, make sure to select the right drive, and flash your way to a LTR-52246S!

Personally, I am happy with my Memorex-branded LTR-48246S as is, so I haven't felt the need to flash mine to the 52x model. But Dimitri does good work, so you can trust his instructions.

cfitz

[cfitz]

Flash (no pun intended): LiteOn has just released new firmware according to Ian's news report:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/#1

The new version is R526S0A, available here:

http://www.liteonit.com/webfw/LTR-52246S/R526S0A.zip

You might want to use this one if you do want to upgrade your drive to the 52x version. However, I would probably wait a few days to see if other people have had success with the newest version before using it.

cfitz

[learnmedia]

Well I just said "Damn the torpedoes" and went ahead and used FlashFix to upgrade firmware to 6S0A. Went smoothly. Operating perfectly...and faaast! No regrets thus far. Thanks!

[learnmedia]

Actually I should add that as an intermediate step, I first upgraded firmware to 48SS0A.

Also, the cheapie 48X rated K Hypermedia branded (CMC) CD-R media that I bought from Office Max have worked flawlessly at 52X. Done a bunch of tests. Not a hiccup.

[cfitz]

Operating perfectly...and faaast! No regrets thus far. Thanks!

Great! Glad to hear it. And you are welcome.

cfitz