Win2K SP3 and TEAC CD-W512EB

[jhg]

I cannot get Retrospect 6 to backup to my TEAC CD-W512EB.

 

 

 

Symptoms:

 

 

 

1) Backup hangs and seems to hang the whole system. Operations like

 

launching a new Explorer window take 10-20 times as long as usual.

 

I can't terminate Retrospect, and the CD drive's "write" light continues

 

to flash.

 

 

 

2) I attempted to run the configure function. I got past the first dialog,

 

and then it asked if I wanted to completely erase the CD-RW. After

 

replying YES, it completely hung the system, with the drive's "write"

 

light flashing continuously.

 

 

 

System is a P4 1.6 GHz with 512MB and about 12GB free disk space.

 

 

 

OS is Windows 2000 Pro with SP3 installed.

 

 

 

The drive firmware was recently upgraded to version 2.0H, downloaded

 

from the TEAC website.

 

 

 

Suggestions?

[AmyJ]

Try *temporarily* uninstalling any other CD-writing utilities, in case extraneous drivers are conflicting with Retrospect. Also uninstall any drivers Windows may have loaded.

 

 

 

Was ASPI installed correctly? Run ASPICHK (in the Retrospect Program Files folder) to make sure ASPI is "green." If not, try a reinstall (ASPIINST.exe). If you still have problems, consult the Retrospect User's Guide or Adaptec's website.

 

 

 

Enable NT SCSI Passthrough to bypass ASPI: From the Retrospect Directory hit Ctrl-Alt-P-P. Under "Execution," check "Enable NT SCSI Passthrough." Click OK. Quit and relaunch.

 

 

 

If you still don't have any luck, I'd recommend the following hardware troubleshooting steps.

 

 

 

Try a different disc in your drive. If you're trying discs of the same brand, try at least one of a different brand.

 

 

 

Try straightening out the internal ribbon cabling.

 

 

 

Try switching master and slave settings.

 

 

 

Try new internal cabling.

 

 

 

Are the drivers for the IDE controller current? Try updating them with an approved update from your PC vendor.

 

 

 

Finally, try bringing this drive to another PC and trying the backup. If it works here, you could be having a problem with either the ATAPI bus on the original machine or with the PC itself.

[jhg]

Switching the drive from slave to master seems to have solved the

 

problem (I can now use it for an archive session) but it's still behaving

 

in a manner that gives concern.

 

 

 

My initial tests resulted in speeds of 20Mb/min, so I decided to try the

 

configuration process. This sped things up to between 40 and 60 Mb/min.

 

However, both during the test and during an archive execution, my system

 

seems to hang for about 60 seconds after each new CD-R is put in the

 

drive. Task Manager does not show high cpu usage, but the system freezes

 

entirely and stops responding to mouse clicks (the mouse cursor still moves).

 

Then it unfreezes and everything goes back to normal until I insert the next

 

CD-R.

 

 

 

Is this normal behavior?

 

 

 

Additional information:

 

 

 

 

CPU P4 1.6GHz 512MB memory

 

IDE Channel 1

 

Master=Seagate ST330630A (30GB)

 

Slave=WD300BB (30GB)

 

IDE Channel 2

 

Master=TEAC CD-W512EB (r/w)

 

Slave=Toshiba XM6502B (r/o)

 

SCSI (AIC7850) - Sony SDT7000 4mm DDS2