USING WATCHETSOFT'S DRIVECHECK PROGRAM ====================================== (readme.txt) Last update : 28 May 2002 CONTENTS ======== 1) What DriveCheck does 2) What is ASPI and why do you care ? 3) Installing and using Drivecheck 4) "WatchetSoft ASPI layer does not detect my drives" - what to do next 5) "I have an ASPI dll installed but none of my drives are detected" - what to do next 6) Still having problems ? Email us the output text file Dear User, DriveCheck allows you to test the ASPI driver installed on your PC and to check whether your CD or DVD writer is visible. And if there are problems then this readme file makes some suggestions for actions/updates which may resolve any problems. If your writer is visible to DriveCheck then you should be able to use it for WatchetBurn! and its sister products which write to CD/DVD. This readme file is intended to get you help you install and use the WatchetSoft DriveCheck program. 1) What DriveCheck does ======================== This very small downloadable file will unzip to give you a program called drivecheck.exe. This stand-alone program should tell you whether your CD or DVD drives will work with WatchetBurn! or its sister burning products - and, if you experience any problems, this readme file details what steps you can take to solve the problems or to obtain a more recent ASPI driver. 2) What is ASPI and why do you care ? ====================================== ASPI is a black art ... It stands for Advanced SCSI Programming Interface and was developed by Adaptec. It is a convention which permits a PC and its operating system to communicate with certain hardware devices. WatchetBurn! contains its own built-in ASPI layer but if you experience problems - such as being unable to see your drive through WatchetBurn! you can run DriveCheck to help resolve the problem. 3) Installing and Using DriveCheck =================================== Double-click on the self-unzipping file drvcheck.exe. You will be prompted to select where to install it - if you're a tidy person its best to type in the drive/path e.g. c:\drivecheck. If not, it will install to a Windows default path. When its unzipped/installed, all you need to do is to double-click on drivecheck.exe and you'll see 2 vertical panes. Hit the Go button. The right-hand pane should list all writable drives (CD/DVD) which use the ASPI interface. If you don't see all drives you should be prompted with one of these messages. "WatchetSoft ASPI layer does not detect my drives" - consult section 4 below or "I have an ASPI dll installed but none of my drives are detected" - consult section 5 below 4) "WatchetSoft ASPI layer does not detect my drives" - what to do next ========================================================== If the DriveCheck program doesn't show any ASPI driver in the left-hand pane it will use its built-in ASPI layer. If it shows all your drive(s) in the right hand pane then you should be able to use WatchetBurn! and any sister burning products successfully. But if the left-hand pane is blank and the right hand pane doesn't show all your drives then you should obtain an upgraded ASPI driver from one of the 2 sites below : From Ahead Software =================== NT 4, 2000, XP ftp://ftp4.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll 95, 98, ME ftp://ftp4.nero.com/neroaspien.exe Read the readme.txt which accompanies this file Place either of these files in the program path where you've installed WatchetBurn! or where you've installed this DriveCheck program. There is also additional information (in English) at www.nero.com/en/download.htm From Adaptec ============ You can also get latest release of Adaptec ASPI drivers for all but '95 by visiting http://www.adaptec.com. Choose Support, then press the Download drivers & software button, search for ASPI and then choose Windows ASPI package 4.70 and follow the instructions for installation. There are some reports that this Adaptec driver causes problems under XP. 5) "I have an ASPI dll installed but none of my drives are detected" - what to do next ===================================================================== If you have an ASPI dll shown in the left-hand pane but don't have all your drive(s) appear in the right hand window you can try re-naming the dll shown as .sav instead of .dll and then try running DriveCheck again. If DriveCheck shows an ASPI dll but you can't find it using Windows Explorer or My Computer, check the Folder Options set in Windows. These may be found under Tools / Folder Options / View (2000, NT, XP) or View / Folder Options (95, 98, ME). Ensure that you select "Show all files" or "Show hidden files and folders", whichever is available under your Windows version. If you leave the default Windows setting "Do not show hidden files and folders" then when you search for the dll Windows may not show you the file as a result of this setting. If this doesn't work then follow the steps to obtain an up to date ASPI driver from either Ahead Software or Adaptec. 6) Still having problems ? Email us the output text file ========================================================== If you experience any further problems please consult our forum which can be reached via the website at http://www.watchetsoft.com. If that doesn't answer your questions then please email us the text file called drivecheck.txt which will be created in the directory where you installed the drivecheck program when you close the program. Kind regards, Watchetsoft Support email : support:projcom.co.uk websites : www.watchetsoft.co.uk & www.watchetsoft.com www.projcom.co.uk & www.projcom.com Watchetsoft Division Project Computers Limited Palmers Castle Luxborough Watchet Somerset TA23 0SR United Kingdom