Optiarc AD-7200A problems IDE conection

Hi Guy's.
Is there any known problems with this drive ? I have an IBM Think center desktop [8172 small desktop 3gh 1 gb ram] & have had two of these drives & both seem to cause freezing problems on my PC . Both have firmware 1.09 First one froze every time I used it [bran new ] now the replacement drive also freezing @ times . Is there later firmware ?
Could the Verbatim 16x Media be a problem ?

Thanks Ozi

 

How have you determined that the drives are causing the system to freeze?

". . .every time I used it . . . "

Used it to do what? Read, write, detect disc?

Have you had task manager open while using the drive to see if there is an increas in a task that could be using CPU cycles?

Have you switched the drive to an alternate IDE controller?

Have you tried pressed CDs or DVDs as well as Writables?

Maybe you've done your homework but it appears that you have made a huge assumption with very little troubleshooting data to back it up.

It is possible that the drive is bad. I have no experience with this specific drive and there is no data that I can find that says that it any higher a failure rate than other drives.

Verbatim makes one of the highest quality media around. It's unlikely that that is your problem.

 

Thanks Dalian.
How have you determined that the drives are causing the system to freeze?
When old cd/rw put back in no problems

Used it to do what? Read, write, detect disc?
.Freeze randomly when burning & unable to eject disc.

Have you had task manager open while using the drive to see if there is an increase in a task that could be using CPU cycles?
Task mgr shows no problems , even reducing to zero as Task Mgr settles .

Have you switched the drive to an alternate IDE controller? Put old drive back in .

Have you tried pressed CDs or DVDs as well as Writables?
Tried Sony Re writables & Verbs & most problems with the Sony + R/W's
.

It is possible that the drive is bad. I have no experience with this specific drive and there is no data that I can find that says that it any higher a failure rate than other drives.
I could find nothing bad on the Web & checking if you guys had problems with these drives .

Verbatim makes one of the highest quality media around. It's unlikely that that is your problem.
On the Optiarc site they have a list of recommended media & Verbs not listed .

Many thanks OZi

 

Thank you. That is useful information that helps the troubleshooting process.

You have done everything that is reasonable. Two defective drives is strange, but I've seen stranger (everytime I look in the mirror <G>)

Either that or that drive is EXTREMELY picky about media.

I would be interested to see how it does with pressed discs (i.e. manufactured DVDs). If it has no problems with that, it may just be a picky drive.

I had a Sony Optiarc that burned about 750 discs flawlessly and then gave up the ghost.

Freezing the PC is common if the drive is struggling to read/detect the disc.

I am not a firmware expert on that drive so I don't know if it's the latest.

If you have return/exchange privilege on that drive I would use it.

 

When you say pressed disc's do you mean my normal Verb 16x DVD- blank discs or say a DVD movie ? Anyhow problem is minor & burning is not a big thing & PC works fine & reads fine which is the main thing . I might try a SATA drive in it one day as it seems to be able to fit one . Firmware is the latest one & will try some of the recommended media later & let you know how it goes .
Thanks again dailun .
Ozi

 

Pressed disc = store bought DVD movie.

Pressed as in manufactured, not burnt.

Good luck.

 

let me chime in
i have this drive as well as the AD7200S and AD7220S. i also have the 1.09bt FW for it. i ahve not had this problem with either of my drives. but i had a liteon 18A1P that would not burn 8x+r TY's i actualy sent it back 3 times to get one that worked. so it could very well be you have gotten a bad couple drives. let me ask this do you have the drive set to run in dma mode? it could have set back and be out of dma mode? looke in device manager click on the drives properties and see what mode it is in dma or pio??? you want it in dma/ultra dma.

 

Rob and dailun hit on the stuff I would look at first then I'd go to the f/w. I'm not sure about the luck you've had with the 109 f/w but I've had great luck with 1.06bt from L&D. Bit setting f/w and also makes the drive region free I think. A quick "search" on the net for Liggy & Dee's homepage should help you out. If not then I'll give ya a link.

 

I'll chime also. I have the Optiarc 7200S version and burned a lot of verb X16 +Rs with nary a problem with the 1.06bt fw. I took the drive out -it still works- and replaced it with a 7240S which also burns the verb X16 +Rs. The both work fine with Ritek 05s and F16-001 +Rs and ricohjpn X16 03 +Rs. Not to mention SonyX8 (TYs)+R T02s

They also have no trouble writing verb DL X2.4 +Rs.

 

Thanks guy's & my drive is a 7200A ,which is an IDE [PATA] connection .
Thanks again Ozi

 

yeah I understood that. I would assume though, it's pretty much the same writer (though not sure-howbout that greeny) just different interface.

 

you are correct moony. same writer inside just a different interface on the back side. both of mine(7200A & 7200S) are 99.99% identical now in its burns

 

Would they not have different firmware ?
Anyhow the bad news for me is Pc is the problem & it seems to be over heating & rebooting it self . Out comes the spare Pc till I sort the old IBM out .[ Dam I like the IBM ]

Cheers Ozi