8RDA+ IDE problem

[.asd.]

I've got strange problem with my new 8RDA+. It all started when I tried to install WinXP from scratch. Connected my HDD as a primary master, and cd as a secondary master. The installation process would start normally but when the copying of files from CD to HDD begun the system started to lock up randomly (the CD drive keep spinning, no data transfer). After switching CD to primary slave the problem disappeared and the system installed without mentioned issues. After the installation of WinXP I've applied nforce 1.15 drivers (from epox's cd) to get ethernet card working, upgraded to WinXP SP1 (internet upgrade) and than applied nforce 2.03 drivers. Strangely drives got detected as SCSI ones (I believe I've installed SW driver), but everything seemed to be working fine. I've decided to switch CD back to secondary master (it's recommended to have hdd and cd drives on separate channels). The problems returned - CD drive would copy some amount of data to HDD and than it would give me hard lockup. After hitting reset I've noticed that the bios doesn't detect my CD. Only after complete power down it detects it again normally. Today I've reinstalled system from scratch again (this time leaving HDD and CD on primary (IDE0)) and I haven't installed SW driver. However it still bothers me - what did I do wrong and what can be the solution? (somehow I'm not eager to try and switch CD back to sec master without any consultations). Btw - I've already tried changing the cables. Tnx for hints and tips.

my setup:
Epox 8RDA+ rev.1.1
Athlon XP 1800+
512 DDR333 V-DATA Ram
GeForce 4 Ti4200
80GB 7200rpm Seagate HDD
32x TDK Cyclone CDRW

[golfer49]

Is your hard drive jumpered as master, single drive, and on the end of an 80 pin cable, when running it alone? Seems like it might be jumpered master with slave?

[New-b]

O.K. have you tried CD&HDD on seperate channels without SW drivers?
I had same problem when I had SW's installed. Went back to MCP2 drivers and then my HDD was in UDMA5 mode, but that was fixed by reinstalling the Primary channels' driver again.

[.asd.]

HDD is 100% set to master and is on the end of the cable that's been originally supplied with the board. I'll try switching CDRW to secondary master without installing SW driver and report back. The UDMA5 will be all right I guess (it's an ATA100 hdd).

[.asd.]

well - switched CD to secondary master, copied some files, burned 2 cds to check. So far everything seems to be working fine. Still wonder why the problems occured during fresh XP install (during copying files needed for installation), and why the CD drive's been keep disappearing from the BIOS. Seems somehow that it may not be only driver related. Tnx for tips guys.

[Fr0sT]

It's not driver related. The problem is with the mobo (EPoX) and/or the chipset (nForce 2) but nobody knows how to fix it. It mostly appears with CD-R/W drives hooked on the secondary IDE channel not reading CDs and it appears on both mobos 8RDA and 8RDA+ (not sure for the 8RGA+ and 8RDA3+) but not on every board It maybe fixed with BIOS update but if the problem isn't form EPoX ... Don't know