Plextor PlexWriter 40/12/40A, Installation And User Manual

Page: 35 / 56

PlexWriter 40/12/40A Installation and Users Manual
29
4. Maintenance and Troubleshooting
This chapter explains maintenance and troubleshooting procedures for your
PlexWriter drive.
With proper maintenance, you can prevent problems. If problems arise, you can
often solve many simple problems on your own, rather than wait for assistance from
a Plextor representative.
Upgrading Firmware
Plextor creates firmware revisions to meet the peculiar needs of large computer
manufacturers. It is rare that these will impact the performance or operation of your
PlexWriter drive. However, we advise that our customers always update drives with
the latest available firmware. Before troubleshooting a possible problem with your
drive please make sure to visit our web site at www.plextor.com to check if you have
the latest firmware.
To obtain new firmware for your PlexWriter drive:
1. Go to the Plextor web site at www.plextor.com.
2. Look for firmware upgrades in the Support area, on the Downloads page. There
is a description of the latest firmware revision and its intended use.
3. Download the firmware to your computer.
To upgrade firmware:
1. Run the executable file that you downloaded from Plextor’s web site.
2. Accept all defaults by continuing to click on the “Next” button until you see the
message:
Firmware update has completed.
If You Need to Disable DMA
If the firmware upgrade does not complete successfully, you may need to disable
direct memory access (DMA) in software. In this case, please follow the appropriate
procedure below.
To disable DMA in Windows 95, 98 and Me:
1. Click the Start button, then Settings, then Control Panel, then double-click on
System icon, then select the Device Manager tab. You see a list of devices in
your system.
2. Double-click the CD-ROM icon and choose the PX-W4012A by clicking on it
once. Then, click on the Properties button and select the Settings tab. You now
see the drive properties for the PlexWriter.
3. Disable DMA by clicking the DMA checkbox OFF, then click OK.
4. Close the System Properties window by clicking on the Close button.