Problem with new DVD drive

[Panzer]

I had decided to reinstall WinXP. When partway through, the installation stopped and I was left with a black screen. I had suspected prior to that that my NEC DVD burner was going out, so I thought that might be the problem and I switched in an old Sony CDU 5211 CD drive from another computer. The installation completed, so I concluded that I had been correct about the DVD burner having a problem. At that point I had no audio, but I was going to replace the DVD burner with another so I didn't try to resolve the audio issue. I then installed a new Lite-On DVD Burner but was still without audio. I thought that perhaps by reinstalling WinXP I would resolve my audio issues, but the installation stopped partway through at about the same point as the first time. So I again swapped in the old Sony drive, which, after many starts and stops, finally completed the Windows installation. So apparently my original NEC drive wasn't the culprit, though I'll probably go ahead and put the new Lite-On burner in anyway. I now have two issues:

1. How do I make the audio work? I don't have a soundcard but use the onboard sound, with which I've been happy enough.

2, What might be the problem with the Windows installation? I had been having a similar problem when trying to install some games that I had uninstalled some time back but wanted to play again, i.e., the installation stalled partway through.

I should add that with my original NEC drive I didn't need the four pin audio cable from the drive to the MB but that on my old computer with the Sony drive I did use one. I tried it both with and without in this computer and neither way works.

Thanks.

Panzer

Abit AV8, NEC DVD burner which I have now replaced with a Sony CDU 5211, and then with Lite-On 22X DVD±R DVD Burner iHAP422-08.

[Clorox]

I had decided to reinstall WinXP. When partway through, the installation stopped and I was left with a black screen. I had suspected prior to that that my NEC DVD burner was going out, so I thought that might be the problem and I switched in an old Sony CDU 5211 CD drive from another computer. The installation completed, so I concluded that I had been correct about the DVD burner having a problem. At that point I had no audio, but I was going to replace the DVD burner with another so I didn't try to resolve the audio issue. I then installed a new Lite-On DVD Burner but was still without audio. I thought that perhaps by reinstalling WinXP I would resolve my audio issues, but the installation stopped partway through at about the same point as the first time. So I again swapped in the old Sony drive, which, after many starts and stops, finally completed the Windows installation. So apparently my original NEC drive wasn't the culprit, though I'll probably go ahead and put the new Lite-On burner in anyway. I now have two issues:

1. How do I make the audio work? I don't have a soundcard but use the onboard sound, with which I've been happy enough.

2, What might be the problem with the Windows installation? I had been having a similar problem when trying to install some games that I had uninstalled some time back but wanted to play again, i.e., the installation stalled partway through.

I should add that with my original NEC drive I didn't need the four pin audio cable from the drive to the MB but that on my old computer with the Sony drive I did use one. I tried it both with and without in this computer and neither way works.

Thanks.

Panzer

Abit AV8, NEC DVD burner which I have now replaced with a Sony CDU 5211, and then with Lite-On 22X DVD±R DVD Burner iHAP422-08.

Check your BIOS, if you can, to ensure your audio is enabled. It sounds too simple a solution, but it's one that is overlooked frequently. Ensure all your drivers are up-to-date for your OB soundcard.

Your HD may be on it's way out. Can you run a scandisk? Also, make sure any and all peripherals are unplugged before trying to install the OS. Another thing to check is your RAM. If you are running two sticks, swap one out at a time and see if it will install then.

[103rapesAday]

I had decided to reinstall WinXP. When partway through, the installation stopped and I was left with a black screen. I had suspected prior to that that my NEC DVD burner was going out, so I thought that might be the problem and I switched in an old Sony CDU 5211 CD drive from another computer. The installation completed, so I concluded that I had been correct about the DVD burner having a problem. At that point I had no audio, but I was going to replace the DVD burner with another so I didn't try to resolve the audio issue. I then installed a new Lite-On DVD Burner but was still without audio. I thought that perhaps by reinstalling WinXP I would resolve my audio issues, but the installation stopped partway through at about the same point as the first time. So I again swapped in the old Sony drive, which, after many starts and stops, finally completed the Windows installation. So apparently my original NEC drive wasn't the culprit, though I'll probably go ahead and put the new Lite-On burner in anyway. I now have two issues:

1. How do I make the audio work? I don't have a soundcard but use the onboard sound, with which I've been happy enough.

2, What might be the problem with the Windows installation? I had been having a similar problem when trying to install some games that I had uninstalled some time back but wanted to play again, i.e., the installation stalled partway through.

I should add that with my original NEC drive I didn't need the four pin audio cable from the drive to the MB but that on my old computer with the Sony drive I did use one. I tried it both with and without in this computer and neither way works.

Thanks.

Panzer

Abit AV8, NEC DVD burner which I have now replaced with a Sony CDU 5211, and then with Lite-On 22X DVD±R DVD Burner iHAP422-08.

What audio device did your computer identify the part as? I know xp has a problem with some via/sis and realtek drivers. If necessary load a live version of linux, do the hardware test (it'll identify the hardware so you'll know what driver to use), and check your drivers.

[Undertow]

I would check your drivers, as mentioned. Also, you could google 'audio codec'. It could be possible that your new burner needs updated codecs. Not sure, but it might be worth checking out. Codecs are usually free.

[Panzer]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I have no idea why but the sound started working. I'm still not happy though because all the problems I had shouldn't have happened. I'll run scandisk as I might very well be developing a problem with my HDD. I didn't have any peripherals plugged in. Something strange happening when I hit delete on startup (POST screen, I think) was that all I got was a message that there weren't enough drives to set up a RAID. When Windows continued its installation after putting in the old drive--and after starting and restarting and generally futzing around with it--I did get a screen that said the Realtek AC'97 VIA software was not compatible (or something to that effect) and that I should stop the installation and contact the hardware manufacturer. Needless to say, I wasn't about to stop it at that point so I continued. I will look into updating the driver, though for some reason I still have a bit of anxiety about installing Linux. As to "audio codec" I'll look into it; that's not a term that I'm familiar with. And again, thanks a lot guys.

Panzer

[White_Is_Right]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I have no idea why but the sound started working. I'm still not happy though because all the problems I had shouldn't have happened. I'll run scandisk as I might very well be developing a problem with my HDD. I didn't have any peripherals plugged in. Something strange happening when I hit delete on startup (POST screen, I think) was that all I got was a message that there weren't enough drives to set up a RAID. When Windows continued its installation after putting in the old drive--and after starting and restarting and generally futzing around with it--I did get a screen that said the Realtek AC'97 VIA software was not compatible (or something to that effect) and that I should stop the installation and contact the hardware manufacturer. Needless to say, I wasn't about to stop it at that point so I continued. I will look into updating the driver, though for some reason I still have a bit of anxiety about installing Linux. As to "audio codec" I'll look into it; that's not a term that I'm familiar with. And again, thanks a lot guys.

Panzer

103's suggestion doesn't require you to install Linux. He's talking about a version where you download the ISO, burn it to a CD or DVD, and boot off of that. It's not unlike the past when people sometimes booted off of a floppy disk with a version of DOS on the floppy.

Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/get.php) is probably the most popular version of a "Live CD" distribution.

[JigSlinger]

Panzer,
What most people don't understand, or even know, is that reinstalling WinXP or any other Windows OS, requires that you remove and then recreate the partition on the C:/ drive, BEFORE reinstalling.
What happens, as in your case, is that during the reinstall, XP finds traces of the OS on the drive, then the reinstallation belllys-up.
Remove the partition, then recreate it, this way, all remnants of the old OS are completely destroyed, then reinstall XP.

As far as installing Linux, I run Linux Ubuntu on several of my laptops/desktops. You can partition a laptop/desktop with Windows on the #1 partition, and install Linux (whatever flavor you like) on partition #2.
You can dual-boot with the GRUB bootloader. Works fine, no problems here.
If you don't like Linux, you can uninstall it, and boot back to Windows using SuperGRUB.

[JigSlinger]

Panzer,
The reason you have no audio, is that when you reinstall the OS (Operating System), immediately after, and before you install ANY drivers, you must reinstall the motherboard chipset drivers, which are usually on the Cd/DVD that came with your pc. This configures all the hardware information so that everything works like it should. You can always insert the Cd/DVD and reinstall the audio drivers later, but I would install ALL chipset drivers immediately after reinstalling the OS.
That's why you thought your DVD drive was buggy. I have built and reinstalled OSs on thousands of PCs. There is an order to do thing. This step is critical if you don't want any crap on the back-end.

[103rapesAday]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I have no idea why but the sound started working. I'm still not happy though because all the problems I had shouldn't have happened. I'll run scandisk as I might very well be developing a problem with my HDD. I didn't have any peripherals plugged in. Something strange happening when I hit delete on startup (POST screen, I think) was that all I got was a message that there weren't enough drives to set up a RAID. When Windows continued its installation after putting in the old drive--and after starting and restarting and generally futzing around with it--I did get a screen that said the Realtek AC'97 VIA software was not compatible (or something to that effect) and that I should stop the installation and contact the hardware manufacturer. Needless to say, I wasn't about to stop it at that point so I continued. I will look into updating the driver, though for some reason I still have a bit of anxiety about installing Linux. As to "audio codec" I'll look into it; that's not a term that I'm familiar with. And again, thanks a lot guys.

Panzer

Seems like you went into the setup bios, be careful with many of the settings in it, the only you want to do is double check to see if your onboard sound was disabled, it appears luckily this isn't the case. We're going to need to identify either your computer brand, motherboard, or at least your sound card so we can suggest the correct driver for it. Do you have the original book or driver's disc for this computer? If not try to download from this thread the PC wizard 2008 (http://www.chimpout.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10095) so it can identify your hardware and post it here.



103's suggestion doesn't require you to install Linux. He's talking about a version where you download the ISO, burn it to a CD or DVD, and boot off of that. It's not unlike the past when people sometimes booted off of a floppy disk with a version of DOS on the floppy.

Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/get.php) is probably the most popular version of a "Live CD" distribution.

I think I better clarify my earlier post and thanks for addressing it better White_Is_Right, Linux comes in many versions, one of the main versions is called UBUNTU (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download) based on a distribution called Debian. UBUNTU's main advantage is mostly it's ease of use and support forum, but another one of it's best features is the ability to run in what they call a "live" mode, this is where when it boots from CD it doesn't install on your hard drive but will create for itself a "virtual hard drive" within your computer's ram (thus it never truly installs permanently, instead it can be used repeatedly as an unsaved per session experience). What's really nice about this is that it allows you to test drive these versions of linux before you have to do a permanent install so this will allow people to try the product before committing to it. A side benefit of this though is that when it boots up it will setup the hardware for use, but from a troubleshooting perspective this is great because now it allows you to see if the items are functional, if they are then it will confirm that it's not a hardware failure but either a software or setup failure (wrong drivers are usually the main culprit, but you may need to wipe your old hard drive clean) on the other operating system.

I highly recommend everyone to have some form of linux that supports a "live" environment so it allows you to get online enough to ask questions for help or to be able to shop for replacements for failed hardware, it's still a great tool for troubleshooting or keeping your browsing experience private from any snoop who uses the computer after you. This could also be the difference of not being able to surf chimpout when the computer is down from a windows security issue, with a "live" version of linux this becomes an unforgivable excuse.

:rofl

[Ibenohambone]

PANZER,

Go with JigSlinger's instructions. I have been messing with this stuff for
30 years and have spent over 50 grand in the process.

Here is your checklist:

1 - Go into bios first and tell bios to boot from your DVD player,
also make SURE your onboard audio is ENABLED and if your MB
has a LAN ( Internet ) device make sure it is also ENABLED
( exit and SAVE changes )

2 - During install you WILL get to a screen where you can delete
your C drive....then CREATE. You will then get a choice to FORMAT
your new C drive. At this point if your HD is damaged it will not format
and it is time to replace the HD which is usually the first to go bad.

3 - After install of OS you MUST use your motherboard cd to install
drivers for IDE devices, sound, Lan and AGP ( AGP driver is installed
AFTER you install your video card driver ) If you don not have this cd
you will need a working computer with internet access and download
the motherboard drivers. ( Look up make and serial number of your MB
by looking at the MB inside your tower ) The drivers are OUT THERE!!

4 - After your headache clears and your system is up and running DO
yourself a big favor and make SURE NO ONE EVER, EVER, logs on to a
PORN site. Ever wonder WHY 9 out of 10 home computers have a virus?

5 - Most important keep NIGGERS away from your machine!!!!

:toe man fuk dat...I cants wate to get my paws on yo machine, craka

[Panzer]

Thanks guys. I've been digesting and implementing your advice and now I understand why reinstalling Windows the way I did gave me such a headache. So I've medicated myself into oblivion, gotten rid of the headache, and after another headache or two of my own making, gotten my chipset and audio drivers installed (by going into safe mode). I haven't yet had time to equip myself with Linuxt, but I most certainly will during this coming week. Anyway, so far so good: the 'puter is working and I have audio. Thanks again for the help. I wasn't ignoring you, I was just wrestling with the issues and the holidays and...well, anyway, thanks a lot.

Panzer