#Mac/NEC 74 Driver prob
14 messages in this thread
I have just spent a very frustrating 5 hours hooking up my new Christmas
present NEC CDR-74 to my Apple Powerbook much to my wifes disgust. After a
few hundred restarts it appears NEC driver hates any extensions beside its
own. What really bamboozled me was that even Now utils startup manager
crashes it. Finally got it working by removing all extensions from system.
Problem extends to extensions loading after driver (even Quicktime, DD and
Auto Doubler). Can this be the best I can expect or is there a later
driver? Mine is 2.24 BTW I expected to need to terminate device but it nly
works unterminated. At the moment its a very expensive toy. When it works
its fantastic. Any hints gratefully received.
NEC has a BBS with all the new drivers on it. I don't know the number but
if you download the file CDROMF.ZIP (which is another frequently asked
questions) file it has a list of BBSes with phone numbers.
Thanks I downloaded CDROMF.ZIP but I don't know how to unstuff it. Where do
I find the unstuffer? Also a BBS in the USA may be a bit costly to access
here from Australia. I'm a deperate man though so I'll try. Thanks for your
help.Nothing worse than a Christmas present that doesn't work and all local
support on Hols for a week.
Tony,
I hope you have a PC since you need to unzip it. You can download it from
IBM top ten list of files. (GO IBMNET)
If you have a MAC you might check to see if they have anything in their
forums. Or maybe other MAC users can jump in and say whether or not their
is ZIP on the MAC side.
Thanks I don't have a PC Hopefully someone will tell me how to "unzip" it
and if I can read it on a Mac. I'll keep my ears peeled.
Use the Mac File Finder. With the keyword UNZIP, you get nine different
programs listed from one forum or another, each of which has something to
do with unzipping text files on the Mac, about half of which will actually
do the unzipping. Check out UZ102C.SIT in the MACSYS Utilities Library,
for example. Of course, these are all shareware, so do the right thing and
pay for what you use.
Bill
Thanks for the advice on unzipping Ill try that. Does this mean I can now
get all the good stuff you IBMers have been hiding to yourselves?
You can unzip text files to your heart's content, Tony. I don't know what
will happen when you try to unzip programs – they will probably unzip ok,
but they won't run.
TG> you IBMers
Gee, I hope you were smiling when you said that. <g> When I was an
independent consultant, I learned to use whatever machine(s) the client
owned; this tended to make me somewhat eclectic and generic.
Bill
Try adding JUST the NECCDrvr file to your System Folder. If that works ok,
then you will be able to read standard Mac HFS discs. If Foreign File
Access and the like won't work, it may be just that you have old versions
of them.
<<Try adding JUST the NECCDrvr file to your System Folder. If that works
ok, then you will be able to read standard Mac HFS discs.>>
Thanks I thought you had the solution it worked for a while and then next
time I restarted I'm back to the old problem again. Crashes and bad F line
instructions. If it was only consistent I might have a chance. Is driver
2.24 tried and proven? Is there a chance it may have corrupted system and I
should reinstall system from scratch?
Any more hints gratefully received.Down Under here in Australia we
sometimes are a bit behind on info.
I too have "bad F-line instruction" errors and sometimes the CDR-74 simply
doesn't boot. I too, am frustrated as the problem comes and goes with no
apparent rhyme or reason. NEC suggests renaming the driver so that it is
the first INIT that loads (like adding an 'A" to the beginning of the
name). Again, that worked for me sometimes, and then I returned to the same
problems. Right now, I'm just trying to get my computer (Mac IIcx) to work
reliably with the CDR-74 attached.
I'm also fooling with different SCSI cables. My dealer suggested that bad
F-line errors commonly come from SCSI chain problems.
Take a look in the Macintosh Hardware Forum, Section 9: Disks/Storage,
under the topic, "CD-ROM Driver role". A long string of messages there
discusses problems with the NEC driver, and contains advice to replace the
driver with Drive7 from Casablanca Works(?).
Tks for your reply. This is really frustrating. I got the NEC as the new
Apple 300 CD-ROM is not avail here (Australia) as an external and dealers
have no idea when. Maybe I should have waited. The only fail sure fire way
safe I can use the CD_ROM is to use a floppy system 7 HD disk with NEC
drivers (it just fits) This seems problem free but it is so slow. Anyway
keep me informed if you find the magic cure and I'll do likewise. Its sure
nice to know I'm not the only one with a problem When I ring the dealer and
he says nobody else has had this problem I will know mine is the first unit
he has sold.
Tony,
You may want to try Drive7. We suport that NEC74 quite well. In fact, we
use one here. Drive7 comes with Drive7rem, which is our removable driver.
It supports a number of CD (not all), as well as Syquest, Bernmoulli, and
most opticals.
We are the publishers, here in the US. Our number is 415.461.2227. (Fax is
415.461.2249) Feel free to call/fax any questions.
Conexus distributes for us the Australia.
Good luck!
John Catalano
Casa Blanca Works, Inc.
P. S. I hope you wife is feeling better now! 🙂