ASUS 5224A Won't Read?

[RCG]

I recently installed a Verbatim (actually an ASUS 5224A) CDRW and it has difficulty reading files. I can get a directory listing of the files on a CD, but when trying to read or copy them a blue screen error comes up saying the operation has timed out and the disk may be dirty. Of course, putting the disk in any other drive works fine.

I've tried flashing the firmware with 1.1, 1.2, and 1.35 and they all act the same.

I'm running: PII 450, 196 MB Ram, Win98se.

Any ideas on diagnostics I can perform or things to check?

[CDRecorder]

Welcome to CDRLabs, RCG!

Does this occur with many discs, or just one? What type of disc(s) cause the problem? Knowing the answer to this will be able to help me understand the problem a bit better. Thanks!

[fringles]

I just bought this drive today as well. I have it installed and did a search and realized it was the asus drive. So I went ahead and tried to install the firmware update 1.35 that is on ASUS website (filename CRW5224A_135.exe). Everytime I double click the update it says it can't find the drive. Even the 1.20 update on verbatims website says the same thing. My drive is listed as CRW-5224A in device manager. Does anyone know why it can't find the drive and update my firmware? Thanks.

BTW, to the starter of this thread I haven't experienced this problem, it could be a problem your cds or maybe you have a defective drive. Try taking it back and exchanging it for another.

[RCG]

Welcome to CDRLabs, RCG!

Thanks! Glad to find a place where I can discuss this with others.

Re: many disks, what type?
Yes. This occurs with every disk I've tried-- which includes CD's burned from my Iomega Zip CD USB, Original Audio CD's, Manufacturer supplied CD's.

It's almost like there's a conflict in traffic between the HD and the CDRW. During access I see the both HD and CDRW disk lights are on.

[RCG]

Does anyone know why it can't find the drive and update my firmware?

I got my vers. 1.1, 1.2, and 1.35 firmware from the ASUS site and was able to download the sw to my drive with them.

Does the drive work otherwise? Does it show up on the IDE list of devices during boot-up?

[MediumRare]

It's almost like there's a conflict in traffic between the HD and the CDRW. During access I see the both HD and CDRW disk lights are on.

Do you have them jumpered correctly? If they're on the same IDE channel, one has to be jumpered as master and the other as slave. Of course it's better to put the CDRW on the secondary channel (if it isn't there already).

G

[RCG]

Do you have them jumpered correctly?

Good thought-- but I do have them jumpered correctly. The current config is:

IDE Primary Master: HD
IDE Primary Slave: None
IDE Secondary Master: ASUS CD5224A
IDE Secondary Slave: CDRom

I've tried isolating the 5224A so it was the only drive on the Secondary and still had the problem.

[fringles]

Does anyone know why it can't find the drive and update my firmware?

I got my vers. 1.1, 1.2, and 1.35 firmware from the ASUS site and was able to download the sw to my drive with them.

Does the drive work otherwise? Does it show up on the IDE list of devices during boot-up?

Yeah it shows up everwhere, and I have burned 4 or 5 cds with it already. It shows up as CRW-5224A, is that what yours shows up as?

[RCG]

Yeah it shows up everwhere, and I have burned 4 or 5 cds with it already. It shows up as CRW-5224A, is that what yours shows up as?

Yes, mine comes up as CRW-5224A. Is yours set as Master? maybe it needs to be Master to flash it (?guessing here?).

At least you're burning CD's... I'd gladly trade places.

[CDRecorder]

RCG: It is normal to see your HDD light come on when the CD-RW is reading or writing. The "HDD" light lights up whenever anything on the IDE bus transfers data.

fringles: Is your drive identified as "Verbatim" or "ASUS" in Device Manager?

[m-21]

I bought my CD-R ASUS 5224A a couple of months ago. When I bought it, a message appeared whenever I started my PC

"Primary IDE Channel has no 80 conductor cable installed" or something like that.

But, it worked when we tested it, so I put it out of my mind.

My brother used it many times to burn Cds and he had no problems with it.

then it started.

first, whenever I stared up my PC with a Cd inside the cd-r drive, it took longer than usual for windows XP to start up.

then, it started freezing during burn sessions.

then, it had trouble reading Cd-rs it had burned previously.

now, it wont recognize Cd-r blanks anymore and when it does, i cant burn cd's.

please help

[CDRecorder]

Welcome to CDRLabs, m-21!

Do you have 80-conductor cables on your primary IDE connection?

What channel (primary or secondary) is your CD-RW drive on?

Is the CD-RW set to "Master" or "Slave"?

Did you do anything to the computer (update drivers or firmware, add hardware, begin using a different brand of discs, etc) close to the time when the problem began happening?

[m-21]

About the 80 conductor cable thing - i really dont know. is there some special ide cable with that kind of conductor?

WHat does it do?

I dint change anything in my PC. My brother consistently uses imation CD's. while i know that its not in the recommended list, it always worked fine until now.

ive tried using sony cd-rs with no effect. it still hangs righrt after the start of the burning session (at about 6%).

im still using the same software - nero, the one that came with the drive.

and my drive is set as master on a separate ide cable from my hardrive

[CDRecorder]

You need an 80-conductor cable to transfer data at a rate better than ATA33. You can see the difference between 80-conductor cables and 40-conductor cables because the 80-conductor cables have finer wires in the ribbon cable, and they normally have 1 blue, 1 gray, and 1 black connector.

You mentioned that your discs work fine on another drive. Is that drive in the same computer?

[m-21]

yup i have a cd-r drive - the asus and a cdrom drive - lg. the cdrom drive reads discs jsut fine.

i noticed something else. the burning stops exactly when the "used read buffer" reaches a 100%. does that have anything to do with it?

im using the ide cable that came with the cd-r drive. do you mean that my cd-r drive wont work without the 80 conductor cable? or it just wont reach that high a burning speed? because im perfectly content with 32-40x buring speed. i just want it to work

the worst thing is i need to backup my files which i cant do now...

thanks for replying promptly

[CDRecorder]

The CD burner doesn't need an 80-conductor cable; only your hard drive needs one. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

It sounds to me like the CD-RW drive is broken and needs to be exchanged for a new one. If it's under warranty, I'd recommend that you try to get a new one.

[m-21]

thanks. but i was just wondering, is the crw-5442a really this prone to errors? i mean, its been barely 3 months and its already broken? any suggestions for a better alternative yet priced similarlyt?

[CDRecorder]

I certainly haven't heard of this drive being unreliable before. My guess is that your drive was just defective from the beginning, and something finally broke.

Actually, I just thought of one other thing you could try, although it's probably not the problem. Make sure that the IDE cables are firmly plugged in to the drives and the motherboard.

[m-21]

yup, that was the first thing i tried. thought i almost fried my harddrive and videocard ( fear of static electricity) thanks for your help. im gonna get this drive replaced. thanks again

[CDRecorder]

I hope the new drive works better than your old one!

[RCG]

Here's an update on the original topic...

I removed the drive out and took it back to Best Buy... they offered to exchange it, but when I came back saying there weren't any left on the shelf the lady told me about their 30 day return policy and since it had been 52 days since I purchased it she could no longer help me and politely ask me to seek assistance through the manufacturer's warranty.

great.

I have a feeling this is going to end up being much more than $20 worth of frustration.

[CDRecorder]

Maybe you could go back to Best Buy, and call first to make sure they have some replacements. Then, try to exchange it. I don't know if it will work, but it's worth a try!

[UALOneKPlus]

Maybe you could go back to Best Buy, and call first to make sure they have some replacements. Then, try to exchange it. I don't know if it will work, but it's worth a try!

That's a good idea.

I'm glad I didn't buy any ASUS CD-RW's, based on quite a few threads recently about issues with them.

Isn't ASUS a reliable brand?

[CDRecorder]

I used to think ASUS was reliable...

[CBRKid]

I had some problems with the ASUS CRW-5224A CD-R/RW drive as well. Mine would read fine, as well as burn seeminly perfect discs as well. I've had the drive for about 6 months, and haven't had any complaints until now. Lately, it's been burning discs that are full of errors, and almost impossible to read. I've tried differntly discs, and different speeds, and the same thing happens. I then noticed that the firmware was version 1.20 so I figured I'd update the firmware. None of the firmware would take, all saying that "No Device Present." After calling Verbatim, Asus, and Asus again (4 days total) ASUS finally told me they would just get me an RMA to replace the drive. The guy I talked to said it sounded like the chipset on the drive had gone bad. So basically they're going to swap out the drive. I send it to them on Monday, hopefully all this will be behind me.