I'm experiencing this problem with my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-7N400Pro), which is based on the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset.

When the ATAPI CD-ROM/CDRW/DVDRWs are hooked on the on-board nForce2 MCP IDE channels (in any pri/sec master/slave combinations, or standalone), I get playback stuttering / skipping when playing:

1. DTS encoded Audio CD using PowerDVD5 / WinDVD5. I can hear the audio output for a few seconds, then it skips, then reappear again. Disc is perfectly clean and readable ... as shown by a CDDA ripping in EAC -- flawless.

2. HDCD CD playback in Windows Media Player 9, with 24-bit output activated in Tools > Options > Devices > Speakers ... same stutter/skip problem. However, when the 24-bit option is turned off, it seems ok.

All the drives on the channels are detected as Ultra DMA Mode 2 in Device Manager.

I've tried using SBLive! 5.1, Audigy, and Audigy 2, all with latest drivers ... same problem.

I've tried using the original XP drivers, and the nForce IDE out-of-the-box drivers 2.70 (6.1.2600) as bundled with nForce driver 2.45 on 30 July 2003 ... same problem.

Experimentally tried installing various ASPI drivers, including Adaptec's 4.72 XP and the good old 4.60 #1261 release ... no help... apparently the Windows Media Player and the PowerDVD/WinDVD does not use ASPI at all, but their own reading engine or SPTI.

However, when I hook the drives on an external (PCI) ATA133/ATAPI controller, (which is based on the Sil0680 chip from Silicon Image/CMD) everything just work great. No stutters, no skips. When I extract the CD image (when the drive is on the nForce2 channel) and mount it in a virtual device, the playback also works fine. Playing normal CD (as in PCM CD Audio) using the nForce2 controller also works fine.

As such, it seems the problem lies with the nForce2 IDE controller ... but the problem is, drives on that controller read data CD / DVD just fine, only problematic when reading "special" audio CD (such as HDCD/dts/dolby digital CD).

Does anyone here using a nForce2 Ultral 400 motherboard run into similar problems? And what do you guys suggest? I don't really want to hook everything on that PCI controller ... (it's actually dedicated only for the 2 writers)


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System configurations

Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro
AMD AthlonXP 3200+
1.0GB Kingston (Winbond ICH5) DDR-400
MSI GeForce4 Ti4200
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy (6 speakers mode, analogue)
Windows XP Professional w/SP1

LiteON LTN-526 52X CD-ROM
Sony CDU-4811 48X CD-ROM
Sony CDU-5211 52X CD-ROM
Sony DDU-1621 16X DVD / 40X CD
LiteON LTR-52327S 52/32/52 CDRW
TDK DVW+A040212N Dual Writer

can rip fine from an audio cd image mounted on a virtual drive, but not directly fronm the cd drive. Any solutions???

I have the same motherboard, rev 2.0. I have not been doing any audio but I have trouble trying to burn CDs with UDMA 2 enabled, with PIO mode it will burn at very inconsistent speeds at about 12x speed and my CD rom is a Liteon LTR-48125W 48x burn 12xRW 48xread.

I have not been able to get it to work properly with the "standard PCI IDE" drivers from windows 2000 or with the nVidia drivers. Trying the latest 4.27 right now.

With Ultra DMA mode 2, ATA33 it doesn't burn at all and just makes a coaster, locks up the program and makes the CD-ROM spin for ever until reboot.

I must say, this is very annoying. The mobo also makes small tweety noises but that is another issue.

I have solved this problem now. Sort of anyway. Full speed burns but you have to use the right driver and mode, see my topic here http://www.cdburnerxp.se/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3830
PS: it should work with any burning software but I have switched from Nero to CDBurnXP because it is free and more fun to use.

I dont do much burning of music, but I was looking around for other people with problems with the GA-7N400 Pro2 board and saw this thread.

I have the same problem which I have traced to the IDE controller. No combination or bios, drivers, cables, jumper IDE configs, will work. I had tried everything and bought a new DVD drive and PSU in the process of trying to work out why some discs just wont read.

After soem research on the net I came to the conclusion that the IDE controller is just a POS for this board and gigabyte have not yet made a bios that fixes these issues.

So after reading this thread and read how you used a PCI IDE controller to get around it, a light bulb went off and I think I will just buy one of those so I can install my games, and play DVD movies again.

I feel so ripped off that i payed good money for this board and its flawed in such a silly way and they have not fixed it in over 1 year of release

did you try Multi-word DMA 2?

Yes I tried that, tried everything I can think of and some things others thought of.

Tried using 5.03 N-force 2 drivers from ABit, didn't work
tried windows drivers didn't work
tried updating ASPI to 4.7 ......... didn't work
tomorrow im gonna get a pci IDE controller and try that.

Dammit when I install the IDE card the system wont boot, it looks for a installation on the IDE controller instead of my SATA HDD like it should. Tried configuring the boot sequence every which way but it still stits there on detecting dmi and then after a while finds invalid system disc, how can I get it to not look on the Card and look at sata?

The boot sequence in bios is right but its ignoring it

press CTRL-F1 to get advanced options in BIOS is all the tricks i know...
did you install the nVidia nforce drivers rather than the abit drivers?

This is an old thread but I thougt I'd share some info:

I have an Abit KX7-333 (old shizzot I know) that supports up to ATA133/DMA Mode 6.

I have a Maxtor HD as Primary Master (Mode 6), IBM HD as Primary Slave (Mode 5).

My Pioneer DVR-109 is Secondary Master (Mode 4), and my LTR-48125W/Sony CRX reflashed to VSOD is Secondary Slave (Mode 2).

Is the LTR-48125W supposed to be Mode 2? Mode 4 is ATA66, so what is Mode 2? Less than ATA33!!

So far it has not burned any coasters.