ANNOUNCEMENT OF BETA DRIVER UPDATE FOR PHILIPS 2X CD-ROM There is a BETA driver available on the Digital BBS (508-496-8800) and WEB site (HTTP://WWW.PC.DIGITAL.COM). From the WEB site look in the Support/Software Library/Recent Uploads Filename is CP90W95A.EXE - this is a self-extracting file. After download, expand the file by double clicking on the file from Explorer. After expansion, copy the files to a blank, formatted diskette. Specific instructions are included below for the different Starion models. This BETA driver update fixes the problem of loss of CD audio when Windows 95 is installed Starion systems with the 2x Philips CD-ROM (LM-207). SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS FOR: STARION 200/300 STARION 400/500 STARION 700 =============================================== THIS INFORMATION REFERS SPECIFICALLY TO THE STARION 200 OR STARION 300 ONLY. This file describes the process for installing the BETA2 Windows95 protected mode CM-207 CDROM device driver. THIS DRIVER HAS NOT BEEN FULLY TESTED! USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! This driver acts as a replacement for the generic ATAPI driver developed by Microsoft which is not fully compatible with the CM-207. The only change this driver makes is to correct the problem that mutes CD audio playback. If you do not plan on using this feature, you do not need to install this driver. ***IMPORTANT*** The installation procedure described below assumes the following: * Windows95 is fully installed and running PROPERLY on your system. * The CM-207 hardware installation is complete. * You are using an IDE hard drive as your boot device. This entry is the one you will disable. To install the driver; 1). Go to the Windows95 "Control Panel". 2). Run the "System" utility. 3). Select the "Device Manager" page. 4). Remove any older copies of the CM-207 device driver by highlighting the device entry under "CDROM Controllers" and clicking "remove" at the bottom of the page. On the Starion 200/300 there were originally no other drivers installed. Please ensure that if any new drivers have been installed that they are now removed. 5). Expand the "Hard disk controllers" entry by clicking on the "+" sign in the box to the left of the entry. This should expand the entry to show a sub-entry called "Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller". 6). Double click on this entry to bring up the "Hard disk controller properties" window. 7). Select the "General" page. 8). UNCHECK the "Original Configuration (Current)" check box in the "Device usage" section. The check mark must be cleared from the check box. 9). Click on "OK". The system will then respond by indicating that your hardware settings have changed and to restart for these changes to take effect. At this point click "No" and you will be returned to the "System Properties" window. 10). From the "Control Panel", run the "Add New Hardware" utility. 11). Select "Next". 12). When asked if you would like Windows95 to search for your new hardware, select "NO" and then "Next". 13). Double click on "CDROM Controllers" and click "Have Disk". 14). Insert the diskette that contains the updated driver into the diskette drive. Choose the path to the driver files (this should be "A:\") and click "OK". 15). Double click on the "Philips CM-207 CDROM Controller" entry. 16). Click on "Next" in the "Resource Type/Setting" window. 17). Select "Finish". 18). When asked if you would like to shut down your system, choose "Yes" and reboot the system. The Windows95 CM-207 CDROM device driver should now be installed on your system. When the system restarts you will see that the Hard Disk Controller is now "X'ed" out and a new "CD-ROM Controller" is now installed. Known Problems; 1). The IDE/ESDI device driver supplied with Windows 95 will not work if a non-supported device is present on the slave position of the primary IDE port. This IDE/ESDI driver is incapable of selectively loading for a single device. If it can't control both devices on the port, it won't control either and will revert to a compatibility mode driver (16-bit). What this means to the user is that, if your CM-207 is connected to the slave position of the primary IDE port, the primary IDE hard drive in the master position will run in 16 bit mode. This is a Windows 95 problem and cannot be corrected without a modification to the operating system. This problem is easily avoided by running the CM-207 on a secondary IDE port. 2). Autoplay is not supported for either data or audio CD's. 3). CDROM drive transfer rate is heavily dependent on data buffering. In real mode (DOS, Windows 3.x) buffering was performed, in part, by the device driver. In the Windows 95 environment, the operating system has complete control over system resources and allocates a percentage of them to peripherals as it sees fit. If this percentage is too low, the result is poor CDROM performance at slower processor speeds. If you experience problems using or installing this driver, fill out the included BETARESP.TXT response form and fax it in to the number on the form. ==================================================== THIS INFORMATION REFERS SPECIFICALLY TO THE STARION 400 OR STARION 500 ONLY. This file describes the process for installing the BETA2 Windows95 protected mode CM-207 CDROM device driver. On the Starion 400 and 500 there are two releases of the BIOS: 4.04G and 4.04I. On systems with BIOS 4.04G, the system will display only a single IDE controller when examining the Device Manager in Step #5 below. On those systems which have 4.04I, you will see what is described in Step #5 below. THIS DRIVER HAS NOT BEEN FULLY TESTED! USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! This driver acts as a replacement for the generic ATAPI driver developed by Microsoft which is not fully compatible with the CM-207. The only change this driver makes is to correct the problem that mutes CD audio playback. If you do not plan on using this feature, you do not need to install this driver. ***IMPORTANT*** The installation procedure described below assumes the following: * Windows95 is fully installed and running PROPERLY on your system. * The CM-207 hardware installation is complete. * You are using an IDE hard drive as your boot device. This entry is the one you will disable. To install the driver; 1). Go to the Windows95 "Control Panel". 2). Run the "System" utility. 3). Select the "Device Manager" page. 4). Remove any older copies of the CM-207 device driver by highlighting the device entry under "CDROM Controllers" and clicking "remove" at the bottom of the page. On the Starion 400/500 there were originally no other drivers installed. Please ensure that if any new drivers have been installed that they are now removed. 5). Expand the "Hard disk controllers" entry by clicking on the "+" sign in the box to the left of the entry. This should expand the entry to show two identical sub-entry called "Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller". The first entry will appear normal and the second will have a red "X" over the icon. This indicates that the second IDE/ESDI controller is not installed. On the Starion 400/500 there is only the Primary IDE controller installed (the one without the red "X"). Please ignore the other entry. (applies to BIOS version 4.04I only - version 4.04G will display only a single controller). 6). Double click on the first entry to bring up the "Hard disk controller properties" window. 7). Select the "General" page. 8). UNCHECK the "Original Configuration (Current)" check box in the "Device usage" section. The check mark must be cleared from the check box. 9). Click on "OK". The system will then respond by indicating that your hardware settings have changed and to restart for these changes to take effect. At this point click "No" and you will be returned to the "System Properties" window. 10). From the "Control Panel", run the "Add New Hardware" utility. 11). Select "Next". 12). When asked if you would like Windows95 to search for your new hardware, select "NO" and then "Next". 13). Double click on "CDROM Controllers" and click "Have Disk". 14). Insert the diskette that contains the updated driver into the diskette drive. Choose the path to the driver files (this should be "A:\") and click "OK". 15). Double click on the "Philips CM-207 CDROM Controller" entry. 16). Click on "Next" in the "Resource Type/Setting" window. 17). Select "Finish". 18). When asked if you would like to shut down your system, choose "Yes" and reboot the system. The Windows95 CM-207 CDROM device driver should now be installed on your system. When the system restarts you will see that the Hard Disk Controller is now "X'ed" out and a new "CD-ROM Controller" is now installed. Known Problems; 1). The IDE/ESDI device driver supplied with Windows 95 will not work if a non-supported device is present on the slave position of the primary IDE port. This IDE/ESDI driver is incapable of selectively loading for a single device. If it can't control both devices on the port, it won't control either and will revert to a compatibility mode driver (16-bit). What this means to the user is that, if your CM-207 is connected to the slave position of the primary IDE port, the primary IDE hard drive in the master position will run in 16 bit mode. This is a Windows 95 problem and cannot be corrected without a modification to the operating system. This problem is easily avoided by running the CM-207 on a secondary IDE port. 2). Autoplay is not supported for either data or audio CD's. 3). CDROM drive transfer rate is heavily dependent on data buffering. In real mode (DOS, Windows 3.x) buffering was performed, in part, by the device driver. In the Windows 95 environment, the operating system has complete control over system resources and allocates a percentage of them to peripherals as it sees fit. If this percentage is too low, the result is poor CDROM performance at slower processor speeds. If you experience problems using or installing this driver, fill out the included BETARESP.TXT response form and fax it in to the number on the form. =================================================== THIS INFORMATION REFERS SPECIFICALLY TO THE STARION 700 ONLY. This file describes the process for installing the BETA2 Windows95 protected mode CM-207 CDROM device driver. THIS DRIVER HAS NOT BEEN FULLY TESTED! USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! This driver acts as a replacement for the generic ATAPI driver developed by Microsoft which is not fully compatible with the CM-207. The only change this driver makes is to correct the problem that mutes CD audio playback. If you do not plan on using this feature, you do not need to install this driver. ***IMPORTANT*** The installation procedure described below assumes the following: * Windows95 is fully installed and running PROPERLY on your system. * The CM-207 hardware installation is complete. * You are using an IDE hard drive as your boot device. This entry is the one you will disable. To install the driver; 1). Go to the Windows95 "Control Panel". 2). Run the "System" utility. 3). Select the "Device Manager" page. 4). Remove any older copies of the CM-207 device driver by highlighting the device entry under "CDROM Controllers" and clicking "remove" at the bottom of the page. On the Starion 700 there were originally no other drivers installed. Please ensure that if any new drivers have been installed that they are now removed. 5). Expand the "Hard disk controllers" entry by clicking on the "+" sign in the box to the left of the entry. This should expand the entry to show a sub-entry called "Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller". 6). Double click on this entry to bring up the "Hard disk controller properties" window. 7). Select the "General" page. 8). UNCHECK the "Original Configuration (Current)" check box in the "Device usage" section. The check mark must be cleared from the check box. 9). Click on "OK". The system will then respond by indicating that your hardware settings have changed and to restart for these changes to take effect. At this point click "No" and you will be returned to the "System Properties" window. 10). From the "Control Panel", run the "Add New Hardware" utility. 11). Select "Next". 12). When asked if you would like Windows95 to search for your new hardware, select "NO" and then "Next". 13). Double click on "CDROM Controllers" and click "Have Disk". 14). Insert the diskette that contains the updated driver into the diskette drive. Choose the path to the driver files (this should be "A:\") and click "OK". 15). Double click on the "Philips CM-207 CDROM Controller" entry. 16). Click on "Next" in the "Resource Type/Setting" window. 17). Select "Finish". 18). When asked if you would like to shut down your system, choose "Yes" and reboot the system. The Windows95 CM-207 CDROM device driver should now be installed on your system. When the system restarts you will see that the Hard Disk Controller is now "X'ed" out and a new "CD-ROM Controller" is now installed. Known Problems; 1). The IDE/ESDI device driver supplied with Windows 95 will not work if a non-supported device is present on the slave position of the primary IDE port. This IDE/ESDI driver is incapable of selectively loading for a single device. If it can't control both devices on the port, it won't control either and will revert to a compatibility mode driver (16-bit). What this means to the user is that, if your CM-207 is connected to the slave position of the primary IDE port, the primary IDE hard drive in the master position will run in 16 bit mode. This is a Windows 95 problem and cannot be corrected without a modification to the operating system. This problem is easily avoided by running the CM-207 on a secondary IDE port. 2). Autoplay is not supported for either data or audio CD's. 3). CDROM drive transfer rate is heavily dependent on data buffering. In real mode (DOS, Windows 3.x) buffering was performed, in part, by the device driver. In the Windows 95 environment, the operating system has complete control over system resources and allocates a percentage of them to peripherals as it sees fit. If this percentage is too low, the result is poor CDROM performance at slower processor speeds. If you experience problems using or installing this driver, fill out the included BETARESP.TXT response form and fax it in to the number on the form.