A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. [ Edited ]

[lmann]

Hi Mark,

Yeah, I don't want to get stuck in that endless loop thing either.  I may have some different options from you because I've only had the machine about 10 days or so but the point is I rly want this system to work.  So so sweet before this problem started manifested.  So fast, just click and bam it was there.  This system is perfect for my hobby - editing my high-def videos.  I need the oomph - and not the bells and whistles.

Anyways, I can't figure it out.  I compared our two systems hardware and there is NOTHING in common but the 750GB harddive.  And flaboy ruled that problem out by replacing his with a retail Seagate.  I have decided that it is a power supply/sata controller problem.  And I don't even know what a sata controller is.  Is it a hardware or is it something the BIOS determines how the SATA ports act.  All I know is that the harddrive is being corrupted and it slows the system way down.  And the harddrive is continually seeking?/blinking - like once every second.  But I found that if I disconnect the dvd drive from the sata port then that blinking stops!  and system performance is marginally better.  I thought, aha! must be a bad dvd drive so I replaced it with another hp dvd drive I have (from another hp I have (a1767c-2 yrs old) but it is the same difference.  Same blinking - that goes away when I disconnect the dvd drive from the sata port.  I also thought maybe I have a bad sata wire - so I have swapped out the wires from both the harddrive and dvd player in multiple combinations and sata ports and still the same thing. 

So, yesterday I wiped the harddrive and restored to factory specs.  It went very smoothly.  I haven't added anything else yet and I've turned the machine on and off several times.  I've given vista plentry of time to do it's thing.  I've disabled all those pesky hp and java things via msconfig.  And the harddrive blinking thing is still there and it goes away when I disconnect the sata dvd drive.

Here's our two machine's specs compared.  [see next post; there is a 20,000 character limit on this forum]

If u see anyhting you think I'm missing, plz let me know. 

Message Edited by lmann on 01-02-2009 11:57 AM

[lmann]

I cannot get this spreadsheet to copy/paste right!  Anyways, we have different motherboards, base processor, chip controllers, vid cards, amt of memory, and power supply.  (Yours isn't listed on the product spec page, but I guess it is 460w; mine is 350w.)

I guess the only things we have the same is the hardrive, type of memory, the network and wireless cards, and the dvd drive.

[MKueffner]

Imann,

I am heading out right now to return the computer to HP. They are going to put a fresh OS install on. I told them that would not help. However, he told me they must follow that procedure. So, I will have to wait until the computer comes back before I can go any further on this. I will let you know when I get it back.

FYI, some others believe it may be a motherboard issue. That would help explain the sata controller issue, which is part of the motherboard. I think some customers are going in that direction as they have tried the other obvious solutions: HDD, PSU, memory, video card.

I will let you know what I find out when I get the computer back. Also, I will check your next post when I get a minute.

Thanks,

Mark

[lmann]

Thanks for keeping me in the loop, Mark.  Sry to be so pesky with the questions, but I noticed that there is a BIOS update available for our YOUR machine that is listed on the hp site and is dated December'08.  Did you apply that update to ur machine?

Message Edited by lmann on 01-02-2009 08:29 AM

[MKueffner]

No problem Imman. I am happy to respond. Yes, I have done every possible update I can get my hands on from HP and Microsoft.

[ross613]

I've been having a problem very similar to that described here.  Only instead of the model number indicated in the original message, I'm using an HP Pavilion a6318f which features a TSSTCorp H653N CD/DVD-ROM.  Vista x86 setup works fine - apparently locates 32-bit drivers for the CD/DVD-ROM somewhere, but not so much with the x64 edition.

I took the time to download the nVidia Serial ATA driver cited as the solution in this thread, but it doesn't solve the problem with the TSST H653N when using the Pavilian a6318f for some reason.  Has anyone got a set of drivers?  At this point, I could even use *.inf and *.sys files from a successful x64 Vista install on the HP Pavilion a6318f!  (I have been hunting for these drivers for over a week to no avail.  And, sorry HP, but your e-mail support people have been absolutely no help, save for one guy who managed to direct me to 3rd party drivers that supported another issue I was having with the motherboard.)

I encountered this problem trying to build a dedicated setup partition on my hard driver for Vista x64 - which I've since determined isn't related to the driver problem I'm having.  Nonetheless, if someone out there is interestied in helping and wants additional background on this issue, I invite you to look at my original post on Microsoft's TechNet forums: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistasetup/thread/edff2815-173d-4bbc-b0ec-c4ac....

[kww]

FYI. After initiating this string, I have now finally gone back and done a system restore after myriads of slowdowns and issues with Ultimate. I took my time, Installed everything slowly and patiently. Rebooting after every install of software. I have to say it is now working better than ever. Faster, more stable, responsive etc. It all derives from the initial installs with the HP drivers which are matched to the hardware. HP also has an update feature which appears to have brought it all up to date correctly instead of trying to install all the software drivers individually that I down loaded from the HP site. The original restore seems to work best and the HP update found all the drivers and updates needed. Wndows update has worked fine too and not overwritten the hp drivers. Somehow if you install the generic MS drivers first it doesnt seem to perform correctly.  Anyway, not that I wanted to go back to Home Premium, but really it has been tested so much before going out the door, so it was somewhat of a breeze to set up and get going again. Not happy that it reformatted my drive into one huge 750 gb drive again instead of leaving my partitions alone, but maybe that was part of the problem. It added the stupid backup D drive as well. I simply need to go get another drive to have for caching and my other imortant files I dont want on my Windows drive. I also simply deleted the HP software that I didnt want after it installed and disabled all the startup items that were unecessary for my usage. Not what I wanted, but the performance and stability is far more important to me.  ;0  Cheers.

[ross613]

While it's great to hear that you got back your desired performance, kvw, there's still the matter that HP is selling 64-bit systems which apparently won't take a 64-bit install of Windows Vista.  At least not without the one missing set of drivers for the TSST Corp TS-H653N drivers.  And, respectfully, the performance you'd be seeing running 32-bit Windows Vista on a 64-bit machine couldn't possibly be at par with what you'd see running a successfully-installed 64-bit Windows Vista edition.

Also, by way of an update to my earlier post, there were no new drivers for the CD/DVD-ROM included with the April 30th release of Vista SP2.  So I'm still stuck - and would very much like to see 64-bit drivers.  It can't be that hard to get a set compiled with a modest effort - that's what the Drivers Kit Microsoft offers is for, after all.  (Although a programmer, I lack the necessary expertise myself.  Plus you probably need hardware specs I don't have access to...)

Alternatively, if anyone else has come across drivers that were tucked away somewhere, please share them!  I'm not the only guy with this issue...

Gratefully,

RH

[kww]

FYI, windows Home premium is 64 bit. I never tried to install anything 32 bit. In all, my solution was to 'downgrade' back to Home premium instead of Ultimate. Since there is little difference besides some networking tools and my desire to start with a machine that is as clean as possible. So I installed using thier stuff and then deleted out what I didnt want, instead of trying to build it up from 'scratch'. I originally solved the install issue by putting the driver for the DVD on a jump drive and pointing to it when prompted. I had to extract it out of the exe it comes packed in first though. I think it is sp37486.exe, the NVidia SATAraid drivers. nvrd64.sys and nvstor64.sys. I can send those to you if you want. This time I simply let it do its thing and then eliminated what I didnt want of HP's which in fact was less than I thought it would be. As much as I like to do it myself, I wouldnt buy a name brand again and try and alter it. I would piece it together and build a machine of you want, as my friends have done. That way you know what drivers are for what since they are sent with the components you buy. Is it cheaper? Maybe not for everything you want, but then there wont be any need for HP driver this or Dell driver that.  Cheers.

[ross613]

kww, I appreciate the offer.  However, during the course of the last week I already had the opportunity to try those drivers and they didn't work.  As a matter of fact, I'm not of the view the missing drivers are nVidia SATA drivers - rather that there must be a set of other drivers required to get this CD/DVD-ROM drive to work.

However, since you did manage to get an x64 Vista install with this drive running successfully, it might help to have a collection of *.inf, *.sys and *.dll pertinent to the CD/DVD-ROM drive from your system.  This package would include both the files you cited, as well as the cdrom.sys, cdrom.inf and any other pertinent files.  I'm just guessing at what the full inventory would be - you might well know better than I.

Again, appreciate your help!

RH