EasyWrite Reader on W98SE: BSOD (Exception w/ voltrack)

[Traveller]

hi2all!

First off, let me say that I'm very impressed with the quality & quantity of info available in this forum!

However, after searching the forum & reading, oh, about 20 posts & ~120 threads (my eyes look a bit like this ) I've learned a lot, I've been humbled by the appearant average IQ of the members but, alas, I haven't been able to shake my problem!

Problem: Unable to install EasyWrite Reader (latest version) on my W98SE rig without getting a BSOD upon reboot.

As I mentioned above, I've read countless threads (including KCK's excellent post InCD Troubleshooting under Win98X, removed (or renamed) as few unwanted VxD's such as:

afl.vxd (Hotburn - which I never installed...hmm.)
GearCdr (dunno... maybe from Sonic's MYDVD?)
iomega (WMP plugin)
drvwcdb, drvwppqt, drvwq117 (MS Backup - which I uninstalled, but the drivers remained & thus I had to rename them)
pfc (leftover from my [very short] trial of Padus Disc Juggler)

Note: Just to be safe, I renamed the registry entries for the WMP adaptec & roxio plugins (but there were no VxDs to be found).

Even after all that, I still get a BSOD when trying to install EasyWrite Reader. What I did notice is that this new version has actually changed the driver names compared to the several post I scoped out here. This version uses:

InCDPard.vxd (4.0 / Internal name = incdpass.vxd)
InCDrm.vxd (1.0)
InCDudfr.vxd (4.0 / Internal = InCDFs)
The latter two are your standard drivers, but I haven't seen anyone list the InCDPard.vxd one yet.

Other than that...let's see: I have a few non-std drivers that I can't remove:
FASTTX2K, PU66VSD, ULTRA, PTICACHE -> Promise Tech. (for my onboard raid chip)
SPARROW, AIC78XX -> Adaptec (for my SCSI PCI card used for my scanners)
LEXARPD -> Boca Design (for my Lexar USB-enabled Compact Flash medium)
intelvsd, intelata -> Intel (for Intel's App. Accel. Driver)

and of course, we have
APIX -> ver 4.71(002) of Adaptec's ASPI driver
nerocd95 -> ver 4.5.0.14 (but Nero ver = 5.5.10.35)
bsudf, cdrbsvsd -> InCD 3.5.24.0
Note that I didn't install Nero's ASPI driver... ist this recommended over Adaptec's?

And the very last tidbit I can offer is that Nero's InfoTool listed only a few SW apps under Software Installation -
Adaptec ASPI, Nero, InCD and PowerDVD (v 4.00.2417).
I find it odd that it listed PowerDVD when I also have WinDVD, Sonic MYDVD, ArcSoft's Showbiz and WMP9.x - all which might want to access the CD/DVD drives.

Last but certainly not least, many thanks for any feedback & sorry if - by any chance, my question(s) were answered elsewhere - however I did do my best to avoid the newbie syndrom

[Hazey]

Hi Traveller,

I'm no expert but I did have the exact same error as you. What I found to be the problem(atleast for me) was that I had EasyWriteReader and InCD 3.52.4 Installed on my computer at the same time. As soon as I uninstalled EasyWriteReader, which I really didn't need anyway since InCD does the same thing, my BSOD Voltrack errors were history. I don't think the two get along very well. I could be wrong, but that is just my guess. If you have the two installed try removing one and see if that helps.
I'm sure one of the other long time members will be along to offer a more indepth explanation.

Cheers .

[Traveller]

Hi & thx for the reply, Hazey!

As for your stmt,

... As soon as I uninstalled EasyWriteReader, which I really didn't need anyway since InCD does the same thing

I assumed the same and I did have only InCD installed, but with InCD alone, I am unable to read a CD-RW in UDF format on my ASUS E616 DVD-ROM.

After loading a CD-RW in my DVD-ROM drive, Explorer's properties tab reports that a CD is indeed loaded and "sees" that it has 700MB [used] capacity (thinks file sys = "CDFS" ), but when I want to view the contents, all I get is a blank screen.

So I assumed that EasyWrite Reader was none the less required. If what you say is the case, then perhaps InCD & W98SE are not properly communicating for some other reason(s).

That's the case only with my W98SE rig. I'm using InCD 4.0.1.0* on my XP/sp1 rig and didn't bother to install EasyWrite as I read elsewhere in the forum that XP does not need external help to identify UDF-formatted CDs.

*BTW, when I installed InCD 4.0.1.0 on my 98SE rig, everything seemed fine until I noted via MBM5 (Motherboard Monitor) that my CPU was @full load, even though there was absolutely no application or task running!!! AKA, loop-city! Even with Sandra I was however unable to find any non-Windows processes active(!?!)

Ok, I'll keep looking... (sniff!)

thx!

*Addendum*
Ok, ok, it must be the case as InCD loads bsudf.vxd and [the older version of] EasyWrite loads bsudfrdr.vxd, who's "original name" (version properties) is bsudf.vxd! So my problem lays elsewhere... but I still wonder how KCK got away with installing both (as clearly noted in his Troubleshooting guide!)

cya,

[KCK]

Traveller:

I can't say much about InCD 4.0.1.0 and EasyWriteReader 4.0.0.10 under Win98SE, since I've not installed them so far on my 98SE box, where I'm still using InCD 3.52.40 and EasyWriteReader 3.3.2.0. InCD 4.0.1.0 has too many bugs even under XP:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11058

so I'll wait for the next (hopefully better) release.

Now, if I understood correctly, you are still running InCD 3.52.40 on your 98SE box. You are right that EasyWriteReader is required for reading InCD-formatted discs in your DVD-ROM under 98SE. However, for InCD 3.52.40 you need EasyWriteReader 3.3.2.0 (750,220 bytes), instead of EasyWriteReader 4.0.0.10 (663,057 bytes) [note the size differences, which distinguish these versions on Ahead's ftp sites].

After uninstalling EasyWriteReader 4.0.0.10 via Add/Remove Programs, check if its drivers disappeared from the IOSUBSYS directory; if not, rename them. Then install EasyWriteReader 3.3.2.0, still available at

ftp://ftp4.nero.com/EasyWriteReader.exe

ftp://ftp6.nero.com/EasyWriteReader.exe

It should add just Bsudfrdr.vxd and InCDrm.vxd to your IOSUBSYS.

If you still have problems, you may experiment with ASPI layers. I'm not sure if your SCSI card needs ASPI 4.71, and many users report problems with ASPI 4.71 under 98SE. Hence you may use ForceASPI to revert to ASPI 4.60. Download frcASPI17.zip from

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cdr_s ... rcaspi.cfm

unzip it, read Index.htm, and run dumpASPI.bat and instASPI.bat.

Don't worry if Nero InfoTool lists only selected programs; maybe the latest version (v2.0) from www.cdspeed2000.com will report more.

Let us know about your progress.

[Traveller]

First off, thx for all the info, KCK!

However, for InCD 3.52.40 you need EasyWriteReader 3.3.2.0 (750,220 bytes), instead of EasyWriteReader 4.0.0.10 (663,057 bytes) [note the size differences, which distinguish these versions on Ahead's ftp sites].... It should add just Bsudfrdr.vxd and InCDrm.vxd to your IOSUBSYS.

Yes, well I read a post of yours elsewhere that suggested using the older non "4.x" version, so I did Unfortunately, the older version lead to an even quicker BSOD (...sigh.)

If you still have problems, you may experiment with ASPI layers. I'm not sure if your SCSI card needs ASPI 4.71, and many users report problems with ASPI 4.71 under 98SE.

Ok, I'll give that a try - can't hurt too much (can it...? lol)

I'll keep you posted

cya

[KCK]

Yes, with ForceASPI you can switch between ASPI layers easily, and it shouldn't hurt, unless your SCSI PCI card needs ASPI 4.7x.

I noticed another aspect: you are running Intel's Application Accelerator. I don't know if you really need it (most people don't; they just believe in Intel's ads), but you could uninstall it for testing, and possibly reinstall it later.

In a similar vein, if all else fails, you could remove the drivers for your SCSI card and Compact Flash to identify possible conflicts with EasyWriteReader.

Did you check whether EasyWriteReader 4.0.0.10 uninstalled cleanly before installing EasyWriteReader 3.3.2.0?

Does InCD 3.52.40 itself operate correctly when EasyWriteReader is not installed? You should test all typical operations, including reading your InCD-formatted discs on your XP box.

[Traveller]

KCK, thx once more for the informative feedback!

Yes, with ForceASPI you can switch between ASPI layers easily.

Well, out of interest I also installed Ahead's (ancient) proprietary ASPI, and it would make sense to me that Ahead would select it's own ASPI "layer" before relying on the system's(in this case, Adaptec's).
However, there was no visible effect (aka BSOD).

Did you check whether EasyWriteReader 4.0.0.10 uninstalled cleanly before installing EasyWriteReader 3.3.2.0?

I used the supplied uninstal routine, so I would hope that the registry was cleaned (which I didn't check, 'cause I don't know how to check it 100%) as well as the VxDs (which I did check & yeah, they were removed).

Does InCD 3.52.40 itself operate correctly when EasyWriteReader is not installed? You should test all typical operations, including reading your InCD-formatted discs on your XP box.

Yes, the benchmarks from my other post were made on the 98SE+3.5.24.0 rig: InCD works fine - as long as EasyWrite's not installed!

What I don't understand is why Ahead doesn't "package" the functionality of EasyWrite within InCD, at least for OSes that are unable to inherently read UDF/MRW-formatted CD/DVDs EasyWrite should only be for systems without InCD installed (eg. you purchased one copy of InCD & have two W98SE systems...).

cheers

[KCK]

Well, I didn't tell you to try Nero's ASPI. I would still recommend ASPI 4.60, unless you get problems with your SCSI card. So did you try it? And which ASPI are you running now? Does Nero InfoTool say that your system ASPI is OK?

And how about IAA?

As for your question on why EasyWriteReader's drivers were not installed automatically with InCD on your 98SE box, the answer is simple: you would get BSOD's all the time, whereas now at least InCD is working!

[Traveller]

Well, I didn't tell you to try Nero's ASPI. I would still recommend ASPI 4.60, unless you get problems with your SCSI card. So did you try it? And which ASPI are you running now? Does Nero InfoTool say that your system ASPI is OK?

Sigh... yes I did try ASPI 4.6: installation completed, rebooted, and InfoTool detected a "corrupted" ASPI installation (InfoTool was however quite satisfied with the 4.7x ASPIs).

And how about IAA?

I haven't had the time (not to mention the desire*: excuse me, but I think Ahead needs to work with Intel, not the other way around.) What i did do is uninstalled InCD and tried to install only EasyWrite (3.x ver) & I am happy to report that InCD was not the problem & does not conflict with it's sibling (we'd hope that was the case, but you never know... )

But, before you blow me off 'cause I didn't follow your suggestions to the "T", I need to point out that the General Exception (BSOD) is now pointing to a different VxD/Port driver pair:

Exception by scsiport.pdr (MS ver 4.10.2222 / 23.04.1999),
called by scsi1hlp.vxd (MS ver 4.10.1998 / 4.10.1998)

I thought I would point out this new error message & see if it is known before uninstalling every other freakin' VxD/Port/Miniport driver...

(btw, sorry if there's a hint of sarcasm, but the hours I'm logging trying to fix this is starting to get a little long on the tooth....)

FYI: I temporarily reinstalled InCD 4.0.1.0 just to see if my W98SE rig could identify UDF-formatted CDs loaded in std drives, which it did 4.x still however has a thread that is in an infinte loop causing my P4 to crunch 24/7 - certainly defeating the purpose of my new (& kick-ass good) Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu, lol!

*"Intel Application Accelerator enables a performance-enhancing data pre-fetcher for Intel® Pentium® 4 processor-based systems."

P.S. while searching Ahead's site I came across this (not quite related) info:
Changes from [Nero] 4.0.1.1 to 4.0.1.3:
Problem with SCSI1HLP.VXD solved (blue screen with some dvd-rom drives). Who knows, maybe it's my NEC ND1300a - but I would hope not, 'cause Nero & InCD were part of the SW bundle...!

[KCK]

Let me try to clarify the ASPI issue again. Many 98SE users report problems with ASPI 4.7x, whereas ASPI 4.60 usually works fine; see, e.g.,

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10927

Hence I recommended ASPI 4.60, but I told you to check whether it works with your SCSI card (since a new card might require ASPI 4.7x, although this is unlikely). Now, if Nero InfoTool complained about your ASPI 4.60, then something was wrong with your installation, so you should have listed the ASPI details reported by Nero InfoTool, and we might have been able to get your ASPI 4.60 in order. Thus here my recommendation is obvious: use ForceASPI again, and include InfoTool's report.

I mentioned IAA because, although reports about IAA's interference with CD burning are quite infrequent, it might have some influence in your case, and it shouldn't take much time to remove it for testing. In general, IAA's merits and drawbacks are hotly debated on many forums; my own conclusion is that it's not worth the associated headaches. I don't believe that Ahead should worry about IAA, since IAA is not present on typical systems. Anyway, my point here is that if EasyWriteReader started behaving without IAA, then at least you would know the source of conflicts (but of course ASPI should be cleaned up first to avoid a "false" report).

It's not clear what you did in your latest experiments. If InCD is removed and only EasyWriteReader is installed, how can you draw any conclusion about their conflicts? Which ASPI did you use? If you were using ASPI 4.71, the exception error might have been due to ASPI 4.71. If this error came up with ASPI 4.60 installed correctly, I would try renaming scsi1hlp.vxd to scsi1hlp.vx_ because this driver tends to be troublesome and is only needed by old devices (but again, it's impossible to guess whether your SCSI card could need scsi1hlp.vxd).

When you temporarily reinstalled InCD 4.0.1.0, was EasyWriteReader still installed, and if yes, which version?

Your suspicion about NEC ND1300A raises another idea: you could swap both burners, and then DVD-ROM drives between your boxes. Of course, it seems easier to investigate software issues first.

Of course, I can understand your frustration, but the software and hardware configuration on your 98SE box is not the simplest one. Unless you need to hurry, the usual approach is to check items one by one carefully. Otherwise, you could start from a fresh 98SE installation (perhaps on another disc), and then keep adding software and hardware until EasyWriteReader stops working.

[Traveller]

I mentioned IAA because, although reports about IAA's interference with CD burning are quite infrequent, it might have some influence in your case...

Give the man a prize!

"Ahead's EasyWrite Reader (bsudfrdr v3.25 & incdrm v1.0.0.7) has compatibility issues
with Intel's Application Accelerator (2.3.0.2160 lastest) on a W98SE platform."

That's the Executive Summary. Here are the details:

1. Properly installed ASPI 4.6 - no change
2. Removed (renamed) scsi1hlp.vxd - which [obviously] removed the scsi1hlp/scsiport BSOD - but system hung on boot-up.
3. analyzed Bootlog.txt to find that the bootup process was hanging as the system tried to "load" intelata.mpd (twice*).
4. Uninstalled IAA, EasyWrite Reader successfully installed.
5. Re-installed scsi1hlp.vxd as well as the ASPI 4.71(0002) without incident.

*Just to be exact, the bootlog shows that the system attempts to "initiate" intelata.mpd twice: the first time, it returns a "deviceinitsuccess" msg, the second time, it hangs. I checked a prior boot log (IAA installed, EasyWrite not) and this always seems to be the case - intelata.mpd is always initiated 2x.

Life would have been a lot easier had the first BSOD simply had "Intel" in the error message (but then again, that would have been too easy...). I am far from satisfied and I plan to do benchmark comparisions on all my drives (HDD as well as CD/DVD) using Sandra, CS/DVDSpeed just to see for myself what Intel's AA brings in terms of speed.

More interesting would be to see InCD 4.x loose it's infinte looping problem because it works fine with IAA (yes, I tested w & w/o IAA: both scenarios suffer from the looping problem) and removes the need for EasyWrite all together. But I'll persue this in the IncD 4.0 post

A BIG thanks to KCK for sticking it out with me

CU (@the InCD 4.0 post )

[KCK]

Glad to hear about your progress!

It would be good to clarify a couple of details.

You mentioned v3.5.22.0 for EasyWriteReader, whereas on my 98SE box Explorer reports v1.00 and 3.3.2.0 for the internal file version.

I presume you also tested whether EasyWriteReader actually works, also with InCD 3.52.40 installed.

Do you have any special reason for using ASPI 4.71 instead of 4.60? In particular, did Nero InfoTool complain again about the second installation of ASPI 4.60?

As for testing IAA, together with standard benchmarks you should consider your typical tasks. I expect IAA will speed up your HDD operations. Yet I doubt whether you'll get significant improvements for the CD drives; of course, this may depend on your IDE configuration, but I guess your transfer rates for the CD drives are high enough already.

[Traveller]

Glad to hear about your progress!

Yeah, well, the so-called progress was short-lived See my new post....

You mentioned v3.5.22.0 for EasyWriteReader, whereas on my 98SE box Explorer reports v1.00 and 3.3.2.0 for the internal file version.

My bad - total screw-up: the ver# listed is from InCD, not EasyWrite (I corrected the original thread)!

I presume you also tested whether EasyWriteReader actually works, also with InCD 3.52.40 installed.

But of course, mon ami.

Do you have any special reason for using ASPI 4.71 instead of 4.60? In particular, did Nero InfoTool complain again about the second installation of ASPI 4.60?

I have a general rule: install the latest ver of all drivers & app updates, unless there is a known, documented problem (eg. InCD 4.x). Of course, this rule's becoming problematic with SW developers concentrating on XP & barely supporting 98 these days.... A great example is nVidia's unified drivers, which should be renamed to XP-unified drivers

As for your latter Q, yes, the 4.60s were correctly installed this time around (because I manually moved the ASPI files).

I expect IAA will speed up your HDD operations. Yet I doubt whether you'll get significant improvements for the CD drives

Well I have a news flash (for the both of us): testing with Sandra (as well as CDSpeed) revealed 0 difference between the std 98 IDE drivers & IAA!!! I only miss IAA's detailed IDE analysis tool, which clearly indicates not only if DMA is enabled, but at which speed (UDMA-3, 5, etc.).

But of course, I could easily live without this if all my other apps were finally working in harmony. If, however, is the key word here, and fixing one problem has lead to another (waaaaaaah, - see my new post).

Over & outta here!

[KCK]

Thanks for the feedback.

Did you really use ForceASPI to install ASPI 4.60? Why did you need to move ASPI files manually? You keep mentioning ASPI 4.60 installation problems without giving any details, so I wonder what's going on.

Well, my skepticism about IAA was confirmed in your case. Perhaps other system utilities (Sandra Professional?) could give you more DMA info.

[Traveller]

Did you really use ForceASPI to install ASPI 4.60? Why did you need to move ASPI files manually? You keep mentioning ASPI 4.60 installation problems without giving any details, so I wonder what's going on.

Of course, I did! I ran the included Installer & both times, it reported a successful install. Infotool reported that APIX.VXD was 4.6, & the wnaspi32.dll was (still) 4.7. Note that Winaspi.dll & Aspienum.vxd are always 4.6, as 4.7 no longer uses these files.

But hey, now everything's 4.60 & Infotool's happy, so I'm not bitching

[KCK]

Still on ForceASPI: If your "included installer" means instASPI.bat, the relevant two lines of instASPI.bat are:

copy Win9x\wnaspi32.dll %winbootdir%\system > nul

copy Win9x\apix.vxd %winbootdir%\system\iosubsys > nul

Apparently the first copy failed in your case. Maybe wnaspi32.dll was "in-use" when you called instASPI.bat? However, in this case most probably you wouldn't be able to overwrite wnaspi32.dll manually before rebooting.