VOGONS


First post, by Nemo1985

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Hello people, I recently bought this scsi cd reader.
Unlucky it the seller didn't care about the package so I received it with several smash on the fron panel (some cracks).
Even the tray has a small crack.
I already sent a message to the seller claiming that I would have tested it.
Now I did.
The slow speed is very low, in a 80 min cd it it begins around 10x and then it decrease to 8x, but it's unable to read at more than 10x.
Also when I put a cd in it makes a weird noise like if it was spinning without cd and then there is an high pitch whistle.

According to the review it was much faster than this: https://www.cdrinfo.com/d7/content/plextor-ul … i-cd-rom?page=1

What could I do about it? I tried to open it and despite some dust everything seemed in order.

Just to be sure: the rest of the config it is beefy enough: Adaptec SCSI Card 29160 in a pentium 4 build with windows xp.

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Reply 1 of 4, by Horun

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What do you have the "sync rate" set at in the Adaptec "SCSIselect" ? For the narrow 50pin UltraPlex it should be 20, for the wide 68pin version should be 40 (for the Plex's scsi ID).

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 4, by Nemo1985

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Horun wrote on 2022-09-10, 16:20:

What do you have the "sync rate" set at in the Adaptec "SCSIselect" ? For the narrow 50pin UltraPlex it should be 20, for the wide 68pin version should be 40 (for the Plex's scsi ID).

Yes I have, it is 20. I also have a Plextor SCSI cd burner (PX-W8220Ti) which sync at 10, but it's still faster in reading than the cd drive.
I fear that it has some sort of mechanical issue or the crack in the cd tray may cause higher vibration during the read, I also noticed that the laser mechanism (which moves on 2 tracks sometimes has issue to move, probably it needs some lithium grease), the third thing I noticed is that the spinning rotor is quite slow, but I do not know how to lubrificate it.

Reply 3 of 4, by Nemo1985

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I bought another PX-40 TSI but also this one reads the disc at 8x maximum speed, for the whole surface.
This is madness...
I switched the scsi card from the AH-29160 to a el cheapo Adaptec ava-2904, restored the options with plex tools and it apparently solved the issue, but if I install back the AH-29160 it slows down again.

Any help?

Solved: I updated the windows xp drivers with the latest version from Adaptec and now it works like as intended, it was a known issue:

Windows XP: […]
Show full quote

Windows XP:

Driver Name: ADPU160M.SYS (Ultra160)

Addressed Issues:

- SCSI Hard Drive LED now stays off during Standby.

- Resolved an issue where the driver only negotiates to
asynchronous/narrow speeds to any non-hard disk device (CD,
tape drives, etc.).

Reply 4 of 4, by Horun

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Nemo1985 wrote on 2022-09-16, 17:58:

I bought another PX-40 TSI but also this one reads the disc at 8x maximum speed, for the whole surface.

Solved: I updated the windows xp drivers with the latest version from Adaptec and now it works like as intended, it was a known issue:

Windows XP: Driver Name: ADPU160M.SYS (Ultra160) Addressed Issues: - SCSI Hard Drive LED now stays off during Standby. - […]
Show full quote

Windows XP:
Driver Name: ADPU160M.SYS (Ultra160)
Addressed Issues:
- SCSI Hard Drive LED now stays off during Standby.
- Resolved an issue where the driver only negotiates to
asynchronous/narrow speeds to any non-hard disk device (CD,
tape drives, etc.).

Glad you figured it out and Good info thanks !

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun