DVD+/-RW drive behaving strangely on 9PNA+ Ultra board

Guys,

Sorry for the length on this inquiry. I hope the detail helps someone steer
in a direction that pins down the problem I'm having. Just recently my
LiteOn DVD+/-RW drive (SHW-160P6S, latest firmware) has been tripping out.
For whatever reason it suddenly would cause my system to go to a black
screen and reboot whenever I would insert a rewriteable DVD. The only thing
that I can recall changing on my system was a Java update.

System configuration: EPoX 9NPA+Ultra board (nForce4 Ultra chipset),
Athlon64 4000+ S939, 2GB PC3200 (4x512MB), Leadtek PCIex nVidia 6600GT 128MB
video, Samsung 160GB SATA 7200RPM (partitioned C & D), BenQ 16x DVD-ROM,
LiteOn DVD+/-RW (BenQ on primary master, LiteOn on secondary master),
Windows XP Pro SP2 (fully updated/patched), Nero Express 6.6.1.4, InCD
4.3.23.2.

Long story short, I did a lot of troubleshooting: swapped out two different
drives, different cables, tried both optical drives as master/slave on
primary and secondary channels, tried opticals on Promise IDE controller,
all to no avail. I restored my system from a month old Acronis TrueImage
backup, and issue went away.

In anticipation of troubleshooting this issue, I also purchased a new
Seagate 250GB SATA drive when I bought the Promise card. I did an Acronis
recovery to this drive, and due to my error, ended up with a 160GB drive out
of it. So, I've done a lot of "jumping through hoops" to get this system
back up and running, and trying to get rid of the DVD+/-RW drive issue.

I finally threw in the towel and did a clean Windows XP install, on the
Seagate HD. Guess what, the DVD+/-RW drive issue is still with me. I can put
in a blank DVD+ or - R disc, and all is well. It will burn w/o issue, and
read. It will read other burned DVD's. But, just like before, almost
immediately upon accessing a rewriteable DVD the system goes to black screen
and reboots.

So, I'm down to three possible solutions. One is to attempt to find another
nForce4 Ultra board and swap it in. This is not impossible, but getting
"trickier" by the day, as supplies of these S939 boards dry up. Second
solution is to get a SATA DVD+/-RW drive. Third solution is to get a new
mobo/processer/memory. I'm not too hot on the third solution. Right now the
solution I see as the next best step is a SATA DVD+/-RW drive.

Any thoughts on why I'm experiencing this? Any suggestions re
troubleshooting that I've missed? I'm wide open to any ideas or suggestions
at this point.

TIA,

Jeff

P.S. Another thought - all my rewriteable DVD's are Fuji DVD+RW, some 2x,
newer ones 4x. Is there any chance that these are the culprit? Prior to this
issue arising they hadn't been problematic. I know, getting another brand of
DVD+/-RW is simple enough. I'll do that as a next step.

P.P.S. I did the DVD-RW thing, and same result. I also picked up another
80 pin IDE cable, no dice. Right now I'm looking at getting an Asus A8N-E
board, as I can't find a 9PNA+ Ultra board anywhere.

Jeff Heyen you scribbled in [alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox]
on Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:02:00 -0500
<pPydnScvF8hYZbnanZ2dnUVZ_vqpnZ2d.TakeThisOut@comcast.com>
*
> Guys,
>
> Sorry for the length on this inquiry. I hope the detail helps someone steer
> in a direction that pins down the problem I'm having. Just recently my
> LiteOn DVD+/-RW drive (SHW-160P6S, latest firmware) has been tripping out.
> For whatever reason it suddenly would cause my system to go to a black
> screen and reboot whenever I would insert a rewriteable DVD. The only thing
> that I can recall changing on my system was a Java update.
>
> System configuration: EPoX 9NPA+Ultra board (nForce4 Ultra chipset),
> Athlon64 4000+ S939, 2GB PC3200 (4x512MB), Leadtek PCIex nVidia 6600GT 128MB
> video, Samsung 160GB SATA 7200RPM (partitioned C & D), BenQ 16x DVD-ROM,
> LiteOn DVD+/-RW (BenQ on primary master, LiteOn on secondary master),
> Windows XP Pro SP2 (fully updated/patched), Nero Express 6.6.1.4, InCD
> 4.3.23.2.
>
> Long story short, I did a lot of troubleshooting: swapped out two different
> drives, different cables, tried both optical drives as master/slave on
> primary and secondary channels, tried opticals on Promise IDE controller,
> all to no avail. I restored my system from a month old Acronis TrueImage
> backup, and issue went away.
>
> In anticipation of troubleshooting this issue, I also purchased a new
> Seagate 250GB SATA drive when I bought the Promise card. I did an Acronis
> recovery to this drive, and due to my error, ended up with a 160GB drive out
> of it. So, I've done a lot of "jumping through hoops" to get this system
> back up and running, and trying to get rid of the DVD+/-RW drive issue.
>
> I finally threw in the towel and did a clean Windows XP install, on the
> Seagate HD. Guess what, the DVD+/-RW drive issue is still with me. I can put
> in a blank DVD+ or - R disc, and all is well. It will burn w/o issue, and
> read. It will read other burned DVD's. But, just like before, almost
> immediately upon accessing a rewriteable DVD the system goes to black screen
> and reboots.
>
> So, I'm down to three possible solutions. One is to attempt to find another
> nForce4 Ultra board and swap it in. This is not impossible, but getting
> "trickier" by the day, as supplies of these S939 boards dry up. Second
> solution is to get a SATA DVD+/-RW drive. Third solution is to get a new
> mobo/processer/memory. I'm not too hot on the third solution. Right now the
> solution I see as the next best step is a SATA DVD+/-RW drive.
>
> Any thoughts on why I'm experiencing this? Any suggestions re
> troubleshooting that I've missed? I'm wide open to any ideas or suggestions
> at this point.
>
> TIA,
>
> Jeff
>
> P.S. Another thought - all my rewriteable DVD's are Fuji DVD+RW, some 2x,
> newer ones 4x. Is there any chance that these are the culprit? Prior to this
> issue arising they hadn't been problematic. I know, getting another brand of
> DVD+/-RW is simple enough. I'll do that as a next step.
>
> P.P.S. I did the DVD-RW thing, and same result. I also picked up another
> 80 pin IDE cable, no dice. Right now I'm looking at getting an Asus A8N-E
> board, as I can't find a 9PNA+ Ultra board anywhere.
>
>
>
You can get a Tyan or a Gigabyte board and your problems should go away.
I got a Lanparty and have been very happy with it, it's hard to find a
Lanparty 939 now but if you look for a Gigabyte that is along the lines
you want to search. Here is a couple of links:

http://www.ewiz.com/query.php?dp=1&categry=127&brand=&pa0=Socket%20939
&pa1=&pa2=&pa3=&pa4=&pa5=&pa6=&pa7=&pa8=&pa9=&searchStr=Search%20from%
20current%20results&myanchor=#displaytop&dt=&ob=a&nl=10
&anchor=displaytop

Oh your in luck, I found a Lanparty at Newegg.com:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022+
1070907495&name=939