I've got a problem to figure out...any suggestions?

[SLPFirehawk]

A guy at work asked me to help him figure out a problem with his computer. The specs of the computer are:
Asus ME-99B mainboard
Intel Celeron 400
192MB RAM
10GB Maxtor HDD
Onboard Sound and Video
Plextor 8x4x32x CDRW

When he attempts to make a cd, it would not burn at 8x. He is now having a problem burning a CD at any speed. What kinds of things should I look for as far as problems? I know many will probably say that the SIS 620 chipset of the ME-99B is the problem. I'm pretty sure he has the newest BIOS for the board too. Would it help to put an old Promise ATA33 card in and hook the CDRW drive to it?

I'm open to suggestions (except for the ones that say to buy a new motherboard)...thanks!
Hawk

 

[SLPFirehawk]

Any suggestions at all?

 

[bacillus]

usual checklist:
1) is DMA enabled for the drive including the hdd?
2)cdrw has the latest firmware?
3)is he trying to burn on the fly & if so can he get x8 writing speed if he images to hdd first?

 

[SLPFirehawk]

Stupid question.....how do I enable DMA for the drives?

I will also try the firmware update.

Thanks!

 

[bacillus]

<< how do I enable DMA for the drives? >>


if he's using a 9x/ME OS then look in device manager under settings for the drive & you'll see the DMA box that should be checked.