[aahhaaa]

I built a machine just for video editing some time ago. Not realizing all the problems it could cause, I installed all the various burning software that came with the camcorder (Pixella), the Light-On drive (Nero), an old ATI TV card, older Sonic, AVID FREEDV, etc.

Well, its an AMD 2500 on a KT4V mobo with a gig of ram, and 3 HDs: a WD 250, a Seagate 100, & a WD 80. The 250 is on a Promise Ultra TX2 card - I had a lot of trouble getting that to work. The burner is a 8X Lite-On 401s.

Here's where it gets kinda goofy- I added an HP CD burner, partially because it came with a newer OEM version of Nero. Suddenly the Lite-On DVD burner thought it was a CD burner, and the CD burner thought it was a CD-ROM. No program will make the machine see a DVD in the Lite-On, even just the players. In My Computer, they are identified correctly as CD-RW & DVD-RW drives, and Device Manager says everything is fine.

Here's whats on the machine:
Avid Free DV
PowerDVD XP 4.0 (2003-4)
Sony Pixella (2001)
Sonic MyDVD 4.5.2 (Showbiz) (2004-5)
ArcSoft Showbiz DLA asking to be installed
Cyberlink PowerDVD XP 4.0 (2003)
Nero 6 OEM from HP
Windows Moviemaker 1

Here's where it gets really goofy- any attempt to uninstall this old stuff loses the Promise adapter and the 250 HD- it clunks & clatters like the tin woodman, and XP stalls a long time before finishing startup. Even using Restore points lets it clatter thru the startup until XP is finished loading, then it quiets and is recognized.

I'm way outta my depth here.

I just got a new Mad Dog 16X burner, in case its just a fault with the drive. It came with ROXIO 8.2 and LightScribe.

I want to uninstall the old burning software, and then just use the Roxio and AVID. Even using Clean tools and Safe Mode, I have the HD loss problem, which I just don't understand. Need a fresh perspective...

Is it Registry, codecs, drivers, or what?

The KT4V came with an info tool that reads out just about everything, I can post whatever section might help... but I dunno what that might be!

This post has been edited by aahhaaa: 15 August 2006 - 07:34 PM

[The Highlander]

Hi aahhaaa,
Im sorry to say if it was me id do a clean install of windows XP SP2 and update all the drivers and then if you have a backup app like ghost or any other imaging application, take a snap shot image so that you dont have to do all that installing stuff again. (very handy also when you have the computer how you like it to , incase you have a crash) anyhow, then JUST install Avid video editing app and the Roxio EMC8 items, and you should be good to go..
im sorry if you disagree on this comment but it sounds like there is already to much installed old apps and drivers causing confilicts.
hope this may be a help?

This post has been edited by Dr Who: 16 August 2006 - 12:48 AM

[aahhaaa]

Thanks Neil - are you an Outpost Gallifrey guy too?

You have a might nice setup! I'm interested in your using VMware; is that experimental on your part, or is it something you've fully restructured to?

I'm thinking I need a new mobo with LBA & ditch the Promise card. I stuck with it because the idea of having 6 large HDs (& now they are getting real affordable) made sense for serious A/V editing. If I'm going to re-install everything, might as well. My problem is that with the DVD burner down, I can't easily backup what I've done already. I don't trust that the 250 will be recognized once its off that system setup. (I'm using an Epia as my net workhorse.)

Then I start wondering if I should just start over with Vista & dual core, then I add up the tab for that... or mebbe linux... I wanna edit video, not rebuild computers, download updates, or struggle with what should have been fixed by the manufacturer before they sold it to me. (sorry, ranting )

Anyway, how's things in NZ?

[StanC]

I am not sure how serious you are about upgrading to a dual core. But if you are, you should really check out the new Conroe's. Those blaze through transcoding and encoding at an affordable price!