Bios Question - Pci Pnp

[CosmicSurfer]

First let me say that I'm the Paranoid type... and screwing around with the BIOS or Registry gives me the "Deep Sweats"

I've posted this question already as part of another Thread, and I realize I'm being redundant and probably anal about it, But I'd just like to clarify and confirm my Supposed knowledge... As a point of self-defense, I'd like to point out that.. NO, I'm not Stupid.. I'm just Ignorant, and Wise enough to to know it's better to clarify and confirm assumed knowledge, BEFORE making potentially dangerous errors.

I'm trying to clear up a Plug & Play and DVD Burning issue on my computer, which may or may not be related.

In my research I've come cross a post that the problem may be associated to a Setting in my BIOS regarding PCI PNP.

My current BIOS setting for this is set to "NO".

THE ASUS Motherboard guide tells me that it is dangerous to set to YES, unless your O/S is a "Plug & Play Operating System"...

and YES... I'm 99.999% Sure that WinXP Pro is 100% Plug & Play compliant... But that missing .001% certainty has aggravated my paranoia. I have enough problems in life to deal with.. I'd like my Computers to be hassle free (Dream World, I know).

So Please weigh in and let me sleep at night...

I want to Change this setting to YES.. maybe it will help with my DVD problem... maybe not...

WHAT SHOULD I DO ??? Change to Yes... Leave it at "NO ???

Thanks,

CS

[Kyosuken]

At Install Windows XP likely detected that you have a Plug and Play motherboard (even if "plug and play os" is not set to "enabled"). To make sure of this check your device manager : right click "My Computer">Manage>Device Manager>Computer at this point if you see ACPI Processor PC or ACPI MultiProcessor PC it means that Windows XP is already working in true "PNP mode", or less you would see Standard PC.

In "both case" Windows Xp will still work as a "Plug and play" operating system (you plug a device it is detected and drivers installation proceeds) But, Standard PC and ACPI Processor PC are two different way of "detecting devices".

So basically if you see ACPI Processor PC don't bother with the bios it won't change anything at all (it simply means that XP was clever enough to detect the right type of motherboard you use and then load the correct way of detecting devices). But if you have Standard PC changing this value in the Bios "May lead" to a BSOD (Blue screen of death) at windows start !

Now for your DvD Burning, what is the problem ? because to me it's two unrelated things totally, i will explain why :

A DvD drive may be hardware, but as long as it "is" detected by Windows, at least on the "logic part" it means your DvD drive is working. If after that you have problems with reading/burning DvDs the causes are mostly "elsewhere".

Possible cause for bad DvD reading/burning are :

- Faulty drive, the laser lens is unfocused or the mechanical parts in the DvD are damaged.

- Low tolerance to some type of DvD brands, like you can read and burn FUJITSU dvd no problem but as soon as you try a TDK it goes wacko.

- Bug in the "firmware" of the drive, some logic is flawed inside, wich lead to errors while reading and burning. The logic is good enough so the drive is correctly detected by windows though

- Lazer Lens is dirty (with dust or whatever)

There may be much more than that but for now this is only what comes to mind, to "fix" the 2nd and 3rd points usually (and if your DvD drive brand allows it) is by "updating/upgrading" the firmware, most of brands got a firmware update on their website though some brand don't give any support at all... To fix 4th part, a cd/dvd cleaner (easily available) will do the trick.

If you could give more information about your dvd burning problem, i "might" be able to find a "link" to your bios, but i am 99% sure it is unrelated

[CosmicSurfer]

If you could give more information about your dvd burning problem, i "might" be able to find a "link" to your bios, but i am 99% sure it is unrelated

Kyosuken.. Thank you.. Your post was very clear and informative.

I feel a lot better about this issue.. but I'm still no closer to fixing my Original and much more serious problem.

All details are posted on this Thread : http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=154258

Just click on link.

The only new thing I've discovered is that My Burner is SATA, and the DVD-Rom is IDE.. But another poster in a separate Thread has assured me that this can't be causing the problem or any other conflict... That would be too easy to fix. So, I'm basically still at square one.

Next is to try and Update ASUS Firmware for the drives, as suggested by Reimar. But first I need to find a step-by-step guide on just HOW to do this.

Any other suggestions or advice you can contribute will be MOST appreciated.

CS

PS... I think I also made a mistake by being too cheap to put in 2x DVD R/W and only installing 1x plus a DVD-Rom.. now my options are limited by not having a second reference drive... Next on the list.. Replace DVD-Rom with second DVD R/W... AFTER this burning problem gets fixed of course.

[Kyosuken]

Ok i checked the message, replied to some of your doubts, and cleared some of them, the problem lies somewhere in your system and why nero "crash"

Edit : I didn't read the reply of others and just gave you my thoughts from your first post

Edited November 20, 2007 by Kyosuken