Windows 98 and external CD-RW

[spnet2005]

I am really hoping someone can help with the following as I've tried for many many hours to solve this with no luck.

I have a G5 Metal Gear Box USB 2.0 external casing (5.25"). In it I have installed a Liteon 52X32X52X internal CDRW.

I am trying to get the external unit to work under Windows 98 (First Edition) via a USB 1.1 port on my PC.

The PC already has an internal Asus CD-ROM drive.

I have verified the unit works as when I use it under Windows XP, I connect the unit via USB cable and XP detects it automatically and I can play CDs and burn CD-RW / CD-R with no problems whatsoever using Nero. Therefore, both the items work, the cables are ok, the USB connection is ok etc etc. All fully functional.

I am guessing it is some driver or configuration issue under Windows 98 which is causing the problem but I can't figure it out. Here is what I have done.

1. Turn on the PC and let Win98 fully start up.

2. Connect the USB cable from the unit to the PC and turn on the unit.

3. Win98 detects a "USB to IDE" device and prompts for device driver installation for "USB Mass Storage Device".

4. .I insert the CD supplied with the Metal Gear Box and navigate to the "BOX_WIN98_DRIVER_A" directory which appears to have the required driver.

5. Win98 detects the Liteon CD-RW and detects a "1394/USB CD-ROM device" and then prompts for a missing "ntcap.cat" file. I navigate to the "WIN_BOX_DRIVER_B" directory this time which has the required file.

Note: I don't know the difference between the _A directory and the _B directory above. I thought it meant drivers for Win98 FE (_A) and Win98 SE (_B), but this may not be the case.

I have also tried specifying the _B directory the first time around in step 4 above. The result is the same.

6. In the Win98 dialog box for Device Managers, under the USB section, there is a listing for USB Mass Storage Device. It states that the device is enabled and working properly.

7. In the Win98 dialog box for Device Managers, under the CD-ROM section, there is a listing for Liteon CD-RW (SOHR-5239S). It states that the device is working properly.

8. I have compared the Liteon CD-RW properties with the internal Asus CD-ROM and the only difference is that Liteon has a Target Id of 0 and Asus has a Target Id of 1. I do not know what that means.

Asus is drive I: and Liteon is drive J: Asus has "Start Drive Letter" and "End Drive Letter" both set to I:. These are blank for Liteon. I have set them to J: but it made no difference.

9. In My_Computer, the external unit appears as drive J: with a CD-ROM icon. However, when I open the "My_Computer" folder, the mouse pointer starts to continuously alternate between an arrow and hour-glass. This seems to indicate that Win98 is trying to detect the Liteon but is failing to do so. This behaviour will stop if I remove the Liteon and USB Mass Storage Device entries from the Device Manager.

Note: During the device installation process above, I am not prompted to insert the Nero CD to install drivers for the Liteon CD-RW.

There is a folder in the Nero CD called "USB driver for Windows 98" but I am not sure if or when or how to use it during the installation. The readme.txt file in that directory has a heading of "PL-2507 & PL-3507 Win98 USB Mass Storage Driver". I am guessing that these are drivers for total Liteon external storage units from the company itself, not necessarily drivers for a built-up external unit like what I have now.

When inserting a CD into the Liteon, the light on it will blinck for a few seconds and then go off and I can hear the CD spinning up. But then nothing happens. If I doubleclick on the Liteon icon in My_Computer, I get the error message: "J:\ is not accessible. The device is not ready". Retrying many times makes no difference.

I have tried to "Refresh" the driver in the Device Manager. Also to "update" the driver in the Device Manager, pointing to the Nero Cd "USB driver for Windows 98" folder. There is a setup.exe program in the folder which I have run, but it made no difference.

I have tried the installation process several times and each time doing things a little different, but with no luck. At one stage, I managed to rightclick on the Liteon drive icon in My_Computer and select the "Eject" option and the drive responded. But it still didn't recognise any CD I placed in it.

I have tried finding info about this problem on the Net but with no luck. I do not know what else to try. Please suggest what else I may try or do to get this unit working properly under Win98.

All suggestions and help are most welcome.

Thank you.

[glc]

1. You may have to upgrade to 98SE. 98FE's USB support is quite incomplete in comparison. Read the fine print in the housing's documentation - I'm betting that it says somewhere that 98SE is required.

2. With USB 1.1, you are going to be limited to 24x read and 4x burn speeds, you need a USB 2.0 card.

[spnet2005]

Originally Posted by glc 1. You may have to upgrade to 98SE. 98FE's USB support is quite incomplete in comparison. Read the fine print in the housing's documentation - I'm betting that it says somewhere that 98SE is required.

So it is more of the external casing unit compatibility rather than the CD-RW unit compatibility?

Does the support for USB on Win98 depend on the specific peripheral device? For example, I use a USB scanner and USB printer with no problems. But that doesn't mean that I won't have problems with other USB devices?

Thank you for your help.

[glc]

Correct. It's the USB to IDE adapter in the housing that requires a compatible driver, not the drive unit - that's standard ATAPI supported by anything.

[spnet2005]

I've been told that my setup needs Win98 SE to work, not Win98 FE.

I don't have SE to try and confirm this now, but will do so if I get a chance to use a SE PC.

So, please do not spend any more time on this problem.

Thank you to glc for the help.

[spnet2005]

Just to follow up...

I tried it with Win 98 SE, but had the same problem.

I tried it with Win ME, and it worked like it did in Win XP. That is, the devices were automatically detected when connected with no need to insert any driver CD or configure anything or change any settings etc.

So, it must be some device driver incompatibility with Win 98 / 98 SE.

Hope this helps someone having a similar problem in the future.