Why does only a certain model CD-RW drive fail?

[larry moe 'n curly]

Why would a certain model CD writer work with all mobos, from 486 to
64-bit Sempron, except one certain mobo, and why would that certain
mobo work with all other CD and DVD drives?

I have a pair of Acer/BenQ 1208A CD-RW drives, BIOS ver. 9.CC, that
aren't reliable at all with a Socket 7 FIC PA-2007 mobo I used for
checking hardware. Apparently a few weeks ago, the 1208A installed in
the system occasionally acted up by blinking its light randomly and
turning its spindle motor on and off every few seconds.

I tried different configurations, including master/slave, connecting it
to the same cable as the HD (CD-RW had been on separate cable), and new
cables. The only thing that made the drive stop acting up was leaving
its data cable unplugged, and it played music normally through the
headphone jack.

Voltages at the CD and motherboard connectors are, with two different
PSUs: 5.08-5.12V, 12.08-12.28V, 3.34V (generated by mobo when AT PSU
used), 3.38V (ATX PSU), and 2.3V CPU core (specified at 2.2V, 2.7V
maximum allowed).

I've even tried an ISA graphics card and running without an HD.

 

[Alexander Grigoriev]

Why not junk the drive? Does it cost more than $30.

Check "Cable select" jumper, but I'm not sure if there is any issue with it.

 

[Rod Speed]

Why would a certain model CD writer work with all mobos, from
486 to 64-bit Sempron, except one certain mobo, and why would
that certain mobo work with all other CD and DVD drives?

Could be some quirk of how you have the IDE configured with
that motherboard and its only the Acer drives that care about that.

I have a pair of Acer/BenQ 1208A CD-RW drives, BIOS ver. 9.CC,
that aren't reliable at all with a Socket 7 FIC PA-2007 mobo I used
for checking hardware. Apparently a few weeks ago, the 1208A
installed in the system occasionally acted up by blinking its light
randomly and turning its spindle motor on and off every few seconds.

I tried different configurations, including master/slave, connecting
it to the same cable as the HD (CD-RW had been on separate cable),
and new cables. The only thing that made the drive stop acting up
was leaving its data cable unplugged, and it played music normally
through the headphone jack.

Voltages at the CD and motherboard connectors are, with two
different PSUs: 5.08-5.12V, 12.08-12.28V, 3.34V (generated
by mobo when AT PSU used), 3.38V (ATX PSU), and 2.3V
CPU core (specified at 2.2V, 2.7V maximum allowed).

Unlikely to be that stuff.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

Why not junk the drive? Does it cost more than $30.

I have spares, but I'm looking for an explanation of what's going on

Check "Cable select" jumper, but I'm not sure if there is any issue with it.

Why, when the drive is on its own cable, the cable is the 40-wire type
(no cable select), and I've already tried different device selection
jumper settings?

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

Could be some quirk of how you have the IDE configured with
that motherboard and its only the Acer drives that care about that.

I tried configuring the BIOS to limit PIO and DMA speeds and even
turned off DMA, but that didn't help. I think FIC was simply sloppy
with its BIOSes because this mobo will lock on boot if any IDE drives
supports ATA/66 or faster, and certain IBM clicky AT and PS/2 keyboards
aren't recognized (FIC blamed IBM for making nonstandard keyboards). I
had no such problems with a Soyo 5EMH mobo based on the same VIA VP2
mobo.

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed wrote

I tried configuring the BIOS to limit PIO and DMA
speeds and even turned off DMA, but that didn't
help. I think FIC was simply sloppy with its BIOSes

Quite possible. You have ensured you have the latest ?

because this mobo will lock on boot if any
IDE drives supports ATA/66 or faster,

Pretty obscene.

and certain IBM clicky AT and PS/2 keyboards aren't recognized
(FIC blamed IBM for making nonstandard keyboards). I had no such
problems with a Soyo 5EMH mobo based on the same VIA VP2 mobo.

Yeah, pretty convincing that the bios is a steaming turd.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

Quite possible. You have ensured you have the latest ?

Yes. It's only 6-7 years old.

Yeah, pretty convincing that the bios is a steaming turd.

Some other BIOSes for this mobo had problems with power management or
IRQs for network cards.