kahuna wrote on 2024-01-28, 07:50:

First of all if I open the tray and insert another cd, it goes back to full speed. Not a big issue as I can run cd be quiet again and problem solved.

If you have such a drive, after first ensuring everything works out with CDBQ, then the ATAPI CD-ROM driver in CONFIG.SYS can then be patched to reset the speed whenever the disc is changed and then never think about it again (outside Win9x at least). There won't be any error reporting or troubleshooting, so you need to make sure you're satisfied with CDBQ first.

Get XCDROM 2.2 source code from https://ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedo … om/xcdrom22.zip
And you need NASM (and possibly CWSDPMI if running on DOS); I used 2.16.03

Add these three lines marked with + in this location of the MultiS function as per the following diff:

1--- XCDROM.A00	2006-02-07 21:02:00.000000000 -0500
2+++ XCDROM.ASM	2025-05-17 21:59:00.000000000 -0400
3@@ -704,6 +704,9 @@
4 MultiS	mov	di,[bx+AudAP-@]		;Point to drive variables.
5 	cmp	byte [di+11],0FFh	;Is last-session LBA valid?
6 	jne	MultiS1			;Yes, proceed with request.
7+	mov	dword [bx+Packet-@],880500bbh	; 8x
8+	call	DoIOCmd			;Do "Set CD Speed" command.
9+	call	ZPacket			;Clean up.
10 	mov	byte [bx+Packet-@],043h	;Set "Read TOC" command.
11 	inc	byte [bx+PktLBA-@]	;Set "format 1" request.
12 	call	DoTOCIO			;Read first & last session.

Run xcdrom.bat to reassemble.
The magic number in this case is the speed in "x" times 177 (per the Linux kernel), byteswapped, shifted left by 16 bits, and then ORed with 0bbh.

Works with my Memorex MRX-530L drive, currently using -s900. I'll have to do some more testing to see what speeds actually work with this drive. It does reset the read speed when you open and close the drive tray, but that's fine.

Revolter wrote on 2023-02-14, 18:52:

P.S. Did you guys know slim/laptop CD drives can also properly output analogue CD audio (using the cable) with these adapters? %)

Yeah, I resorted to doing this when I couldn't find a decent working CD drive once. NOS slim ATAPI CD drives are plentiful here and cost next-to-nothing, and you can by a cheap mounting bracket for a 5.25" bay.

CDBQ worked fine with this slim CD drive: TEAC CD-224E

One possible disadvantage of slim drives, however, is that they may be noisier when seeking, which CDBQ won't help with. But they're a good option if you can't find a working drive otherwise.