My XP machine at work has this symptom too. I successfully burned a DVD using the Sonic MyDVD software that came with the drive but DVDA doesn't see the device. I have copied files to the drive via USB too. I flashed the drive to 2.0F, checked for hardware driver updates, etc.

Sony's nearly useless support site (sony.storagesupport.com) is more confusing than helpful. I downloaded their drive check utility and it says the drive is bad. But it also says it is for SCSI and IDE CD ROM drives. In this case I am hooked to a 1394 port using a Pyro board.

This same drive (external) works fine at home with W2K Pro. Weird.

Thus far, my e-mail communication with a Sonic Foundry support technician has been horrible, and this forum has been just as bad. Typically, I use on-line forums and discussion groups all the time...for my router, Tivo, cable connection, and even Microsoft products, and have always gotten solid and quick answers to my questions. I alos try to help others to the best of my ability. Even if I don't know the answer, I try to give them ideas that may eventually solve thier issue. I must say, typically larger companies like Adobe, and Hp have been like this forum...ignored entries, poor advice, and NO TECHNICAL HELP! It too bad, as its the users who make the forum what it is, and this one has so far, been extremely ineffective. I am currently trying to educate myself on some of Sonic Foundry's products so that I can been a help in here, as it seems we are not getting any! Sorry to vent...

Alex - I spent some time today getting my XP machine to load Cyberlink Power DVD from a Sony drive onto the workstation. I chatted with Sony tech support; then called them on the phone. Turned out you had to uninstall Veritas DLA in order to load the Power DVD software. Otherwise it didn't realize it was loading from a Sony DVD unit.

I'm thinking there might be something about the Sony DRX-500ULX and my ADS firewire card that keep it from showing up in the DVDA and Vegas selection list. Plus the drive works with Vegas on my home machine, a W2k box.

I downloaded the eval of Reel DVD to see it that works. Sonic MyDVD does burn a disc successfully.

Don't give up yet ...

I had a similar problem when I booted up my computer. MY sony dru500ax was not detected in any of the applications including vegas and dvda (using w2k). Although it sounds like your still able to use the drive with other applications, my problem stemmed from installing roxio ez cd creator 5. I had to delete some files in a submenu of the hkey_local_machinesystem\current controlset\control\class\ and then(first backupto another folder) deleted letters and numbers that were exactly 4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318 . Only If your problem is similar to this one(installed roxio 5) . After that, everything worked just fine after bootup. This was one idea...

Try toggling the "Skip drive database; autodetect drive capabilities" option and restart DVD Architect. This option can be found on the General page of the Preferences dialog (Options | Preferences...).

I tried the skip database method, but still could not get my HP 100j DVD+RW drivce on Oxford Firewire casing to be recognised in DVDA (Win2k)

Is there any way to manually add an entry to the drive database?

Thanks to everyone who gave me some ideas. I have already tried the toggling idea with no resolution. I will try some of the others. I don't understand this at all. The Sony DVD drive has been tested by Sonic Foundry, so why does it seem that people are having so many problems with it?

We have tested the DRX-500ULX in the non-1394 configuration and it works well. We'll try it in a 1394 housing tomorrow.

I tried toggling the database setting on my XP system and it still does not recognize the Sony drive. I wonder if other burners on the system could interfere? I have a CD burner on the system too (Liteon). I did try disabling this in the system devices but still didn't see the Sony from Vegas or DVDA. At the OS level everything is visible as a working device. Vegas and DVDA are the current builds.

Yeah, me too, STILL having to the same issue. SF "technical" support has all but abandoned me on the e-mail support...I must admit the people in this forum have come up with more creative ideas on fixing this issue than what they have attempted....("Have you upgraded your firmware...?" is pretty much all I have to work with from them." I really enjoy paying $700.00 for a product that does not work! Pinnicle Studios here I come...by the way where can I return my software? It was a download so can I even get a refund, I have only had it for a little over a month?

Alex

Hello Alex,

I've gone through your posts in this thread and just want to confirm some stuff:

What OS are you using?
Are you using the Sony DRU-500A in a firewire case or just a simple IDE connection?
When you installed the drive, did you install a bunch of software that came with it? If so, what?

So far, I've been using the Sony DRU-500A (IDE) drive more than any other DVD burner we have and haven't had any problems with it yet. I just stuck it in a Firewire case, and it worked fine there too.

Dave

So sorry I haven't included any specifics...

Windows XP SP1a, Athlon 1900+, 1GB PC2100 DDR, Nvidia GeForce3 Ti200
Sony DRU-500A IDE

I did install all of the software that came with the drive:

Veritas RecordNowDX; Sonic MyDVD; Veritas DLA...

The drive performs great when buring CD's and DVD's in other applications. I just cannot get it to show up as a drive in my SF software...I guess I could render it in the SF software and burn it in another application...if that's what I have to do to use vegas+DVD...maybe I can get some money back on the +DVD...oh well.

Could be a conflict with one of the other burning apps. Try uninstalling the other DVD apps, one at a time, check DVDA after each of these other apps is removed...and see if you can find the offender (you'll know you're there when the Sony shows up in DVDA). It might even be related to DVD app install order.

Anyway, rest assured this drive does absolutely work in XP- our lead drive tester uses XP and the Sony more than any other config.

Are SF apps sensitive to the version of ASPI that is loaded? While troubleshooting a problem installing Cyberlink Power DVD, Sony had me force ASPI to 4.6. Here is a section of their guidance:

"Description: ASPI or Advanced SCSI Programming Interface is a software layer which allows communication between all kinds of software (applications, DLLs, or drivers) and your peripheral devices. As the name already tells you, ASPI was meant for SCSI. Later the programming interface was adopted for other non-SCSI bus types, such as FC, parallel port and ATAPI (IDE)

Many applications require the ASPI layer for communication with your CD-ROM and/or CD-writer. Windows 95 and 98 come with an totally outdated ASPI layer. Windows NT and 2000 come without ASPI layer. In both cases it's strongly recommended to update to a recent ASPI layer. XP may be using ASPI 4.7 and we suggest you "force aspi" to revert to 4.6. The website below will direct you how to do this.

http://aspi.radified.com/
[end quote]

Now I have the external version of Sony DVD burner, and it fails on both 1394/Firewire and USB connections to be visible to Vegas and DVDA, regardless of the ASPI version.

Chip Gallo

I fixed the issue...well actually all of you did, thanks!!! I removed two entries in the Registry the referred to DLA and something called Storage Guard - both refer to Veritas software (software that comes with the Sony drive). The following is the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Run

Since I deleted the two entries without making a backup (stupid, I know) I don't remember what they were. But like I stated before, they both refer to Veritas software DLA and Storage Guard. I rebooted and opened Vegas, and select Preferences>Cd settings and a box came with trying to detect the drive and then there it was....I am a happy camper....hope this helps people...thanks for all your help...

Alex

FIXED... ME tooo.....

I removed a couple of entries that MEDIAFOUR (Xplay) hoked on in the same area (Tray notification) and it worked....

I had this same problem and tried the fix alexselect offered. I only deleted the dla entry. The storage guard entry has to do with the record now software that came with the sony burner. Anyway, this solution worked for Architect but you can't copy files from explorer to a RW disk without the DLA running. My temp solution was to run DLA manualy. In my case (WINXP) the program is located C:\windows\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe.
I made a shortcut to this and run it whenever I need to copy files. Then when you need to run Architect again you have to restart computer.

Attn: Sonic Tech Support, could you work on some kind of fix for the problem between veritas DLA and Archetict. I don't want to give up RW capabilities.
Thanks

Thanks everyone. We'll look into the software conflicts. In my time working with optical drives I've learned a few things - one is don't automatically install all the software that comes with the drive. :)

Glad you are all up and running.

In my case uninstalling RecordNow fixed the problem but removing DLA did not. It is interesting that DLA even interferes with installation of another app that Sony provides with the drive (Power DVD).

Sorry for not posting sooner;

It is widely known (or perhaps not too widely) that the Veritas proprietary DLA (this is NOT an open standard) interferes with just about everything else that would access the drives that are affected by DLA. Remove it, but better still, never install it to begin with.