Sony CRX100E/X2 External USB CD-RW Drive

steve

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I have a Sony CRX100E/X2 External USB CD-RW Drive that I have not used
in some time. Recently I chose to give that hardware to an out of the
country friend that needed a CD burner. The problem was that I could
not find the original Spressa software that came with that CD-RW drive.


When I started trying to locate software for the drive, I contacted the
Sony online support for the Spressa software and the CRX100E/X2 drive.
They told me that the Spressa software that the software I needed is no
longer available at Sony's support site and that the latest software
would not work for the drive that I had. (It is for Windows 98, which
my friend is also using.) They went on to explain that there is a Win
driver online for the burner (Which I downloaded)

I later found a CD that I had made as a backup of the Spressa software.
Unfortunately when the drive and software were received by my friend,
the software could not be read from the CD. I don't know if the CD was
exposed to X-rays or something as part of the increased security in the
mail, or what really happened. In any case, the CD can not even be
read, and she gets a message that the CD drive on her computer "is not
ready". (The CD drive on her computer can read other CDs with no
problem.) I tried having her load the driver to see if it detected the
CD-RW, but it did not seem to detect the drive. (I had not used the
drive in a while, but the last time I used it, it worked fine.)

The Sony support site said that the drive would work with other burner
software, although I had tried that previously and it did not work. I
imagine that the problem was that the initial software had the drivers
built in and the drivers required were included in the burner software
that I tried before.

My questions are:
1. Have others encountered problems with the Sony CRX100E/X2 External
USB CD-RW Drive and the driver that Sony has provided on their site?

2. Any ideas of what could be going wrong or what she should try to get
this to work?

3. She is living on a fixed income so resources are limited. Is there
any free software for burning CDs that would work with the Sony
CRX100E/X2 External USB CD-RW Drive ? She uses Windows Media Player and
I thought it would burn CDs, but I am not sure. Of course it seems the
"first problem" is the failure of the Sony driver to work.

Any ideas and help sure would be appreciated!

Steve Byers
steve281499@gmail.com
sabyers@bellsouth.net
 

steve

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Thanks for the information Ben! One more question, how can we determine
if that Sony Driver is actually loading?

Thanks!

Steve
 
G

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Have your friend download a copy of either CDBurnerXPPro or Burn4Free, both very
servicable CD burners. They may not have all the bells and whistles of the
commercial products, but they are serviceable for most burning tasks.

.... Ben Myers

On 1 Aug 2005 09:41:08 -0700, "Steve" <steve281499@gmail.com> wrote:

>I have a Sony CRX100E/X2 External USB CD-RW Drive that I have not used
>in some time. Recently I chose to give that hardware to an out of the
>country friend that needed a CD burner. The problem was that I could
>not find the original Spressa software that came with that CD-RW drive.
>
>
>When I started trying to locate software for the drive, I contacted the
>Sony online support for the Spressa software and the CRX100E/X2 drive.
>They told me that the Spressa software that the software I needed is no
>longer available at Sony's support site and that the latest software
>would not work for the drive that I had. (It is for Windows 98, which
>my friend is also using.) They went on to explain that there is a Win
>driver online for the burner (Which I downloaded)
>
>I later found a CD that I had made as a backup of the Spressa software.
>Unfortunately when the drive and software were received by my friend,
>the software could not be read from the CD. I don't know if the CD was
>exposed to X-rays or something as part of the increased security in the
>mail, or what really happened. In any case, the CD can not even be
>read, and she gets a message that the CD drive on her computer "is not
>ready". (The CD drive on her computer can read other CDs with no
>problem.) I tried having her load the driver to see if it detected the
>CD-RW, but it did not seem to detect the drive. (I had not used the
>drive in a while, but the last time I used it, it worked fine.)
>
>The Sony support site said that the drive would work with other burner
>software, although I had tried that previously and it did not work. I
>imagine that the problem was that the initial software had the drivers
>built in and the drivers required were included in the burner software
>that I tried before.
>
>My questions are:
>1. Have others encountered problems with the Sony CRX100E/X2 External
>USB CD-RW Drive and the driver that Sony has provided on their site?
>
>2. Any ideas of what could be going wrong or what she should try to get
>this to work?
>
>3. She is living on a fixed income so resources are limited. Is there
>any free software for burning CDs that would work with the Sony
>CRX100E/X2 External USB CD-RW Drive ? She uses Windows Media Player and
>I thought it would burn CDs, but I am not sure. Of course it seems the
>"first problem" is the failure of the Sony driver to work.
>
>Any ideas and help sure would be appreciated!
>
>Steve Byers
>steve281499@gmail.com
>sabyers@bellsouth.net
>
 
G

Guest

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If the system to which the Sony CRX100E/X2 External USB CD-RW Drive is attached
is running WIndows 2000 or XP, the basic drivers are built into the operating
system to allow the drive to function as a plain CD-ROM. If it installs
properly, it will be visible as a device in the Device Manager within the System
icon of Control Panel.

The software that makes the drive function as a CD-RW is the aforementioned
software, or a commercial product like Nero, Roxio, etc... Ben Myers

On 1 Aug 2005 15:15:06 -0700, "Steve" <steve281499@gmail.com> wrote:

>Thanks for the information Ben! One more question, how can we determine
>if that Sony Driver is actually loading?
>
>Thanks!
>
>Steve
>
 

steve

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Hi Again!

Sorry for the delay, but my friend has been sick. Her system runs
Windows 98SE. I found a driver on the Sony support page, and she "tried
to load it" but can not tell if it did load. How can she load it in
Windows 98SE?

I think she just clicked on the driver file, but there has got to be
more to it. She was trying to run a CD that I thought had a back up of
the original Sony CDRW software (Spressa) on it, but she said it would
not recognize the drive. So, that may have been corrupted in mailing it
to Canada.

Sorry to be so "blank" on all of this!

Thanks!

Steve
 
G

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NO drivers are required for an INTERNAL CD-RW drive to function as a basic
CD-ROM drive. It is automatically recognized during the installation of Windows
98 or any later version of Windows.

You're right. A device driver IS required for an external USB drive. Download
and install the proper driver from the following URL.

http://sony.storagesupport.com/cdrw/usb.htm

There is also a drive firmware upgrade for this model, and it appears to be
important for Windows 98:

http://sony.storagesupport.com/cdrw/firmware.htm

Go to Control Panel, click on the System icon, and look at the device drivers
installed. If a device driver is installed for the Sony CRX100E, you will see
the device identified in the list, under CD-ROM drives, of course.

If the drive is visible in the list of devices, then CDBurnerXPPro or Burn4Free
will do the job. Forget the Spressa software. It is often customized to work
with either very specific models of CD-RW drives or with specific makes and
models of computers.

If the drive is not visible in the list of devices, you have another problem on
your hands... Ben Myers

On 20 Aug 2005 11:03:52 -0700, "Steve" <steve281499@gmail.com> wrote:

>Hi Again!
>
>Sorry for the delay, but my friend has been sick. Her system runs
>Windows 98SE. I found a driver on the Sony support page, and she "tried
>to load it" but can not tell if it did load. How can she load it in
>Windows 98SE?
>
> I think she just clicked on the driver file, but there has got to be
>more to it. She was trying to run a CD that I thought had a back up of
>the original Sony CDRW software (Spressa) on it, but she said it would
>not recognize the drive. So, that may have been corrupted in mailing it
>to Canada.
>
>Sorry to be so "blank" on all of this!
>
>Thanks!
>
>Steve
>
 

steve

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Thanks Ben for the reply and the information. It is an External Drive,
so I will need the Sony Driver. I think what she did before was to
simply click on the driver file (CRX100E2.EXE), but if I remember
correctly it should be copied to the C:\Windows folder and added to the
Config.sys statement using something like this:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\CRX100E2.EXE

Correct?

I will download the firmware upgrade and send it to her.

She downloaded Burn4Free software, so maybe this drawn out process is
nearing an end! LOL

Thanks for all the information.

Steve
 

steve

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Hi Ben,

I thought the driver download would include some documentation but it
does not. Nothing seems to happen when you run the .exe program, and no
driver shows up in the Device Manager. I am baffled.
 
G

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It is highly, highly doubtful that the Sony driver would be used via CONFIG.SYS
as you have suggested: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\CRX100E2.EXE . Very few hardware
manufacturers have made any effort to support USB devices with DOS-mode files
and DOS-mode access.

Carefully read any and all documentation for the Sony driver and install it
exactly as described. It is probably a self-unzipping program which places the
Sony device driver files in the right place, either the WINDOWS folder or a
folder subsidiary to the Windows folder... Ben Myers

On 21 Aug 2005 09:05:14 -0700, "Steve" <steve281499@gmail.com> wrote:

>Thanks Ben for the reply and the information. It is an External Drive,
>so I will need the Sony Driver. I think what she did before was to
>simply click on the driver file (CRX100E2.EXE), but if I remember
>correctly it should be copied to the C:\Windows folder and added to the
>Config.sys statement using something like this:
>
>DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\CRX100E2.EXE
>
>Correct?
>
>I will download the firmware upgrade and send it to her.
>
>She downloaded Burn4Free software, so maybe this drawn out process is
>nearing an end! LOL
>
>Thanks for all the information.
>
>Steve
>
 
G

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Guest
Archived from groups: alt.windows98,alt.sys.pc-clone.compaq,alt.sys.pc-clone (More info?)

In article <1124652951.492867.271860@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
Steve <steve281499@gmail.com> writes
>Hi Ben,
>
>I thought the driver download would include some documentation but it
>does not. Nothing seems to happen when you run the .exe program, and no
>driver shows up in the Device Manager. I am baffled.
>

The .exe program is a DOS self-extracting program that extracts the
drivers into the same folder as the .exe file.

There is a crx100e2.doc file which explains how to install the drivers.
Unfortunately, as you will see when you look at the document, it makes
some assumptions.

Assuming that you have the CDRW connected, you should be able to install
the drivers using the 'Add New Hardware' wizard in the Control Panel.

Unfortunately it is years since I ran a Windows 98 PC so I cannot give
you the full sequence of instructions. You basically will add from a
specific location, have a disk and display a full list of drivers from a
specific location.

A few other thoughts:

- have you checked that USB is enabled in the BIOS settings? Have
you had other USB devices running successfully.

- I assume that the drive has its own power supply, if not total
USB power usage must not exceed 500 milliamps, and your PSU in the base
unit must be able to supply the extra power.
--
Nicholas David Richards -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"
 
G

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An External USB CD-RW (or CD-ROM) drive draws more than the maximum amount of
current supported by the USB 1.1 specification, so it MUST have an external
power supply to operate correctly. It probably does, because few (if any)
external USB CD or hard disk drives are sold without one.

Once the files are unzipped into a folder, the Windows 98 Add Hardware so-called
Wizard will ask where the drivers are. With 95/98/ME, click Browse, and browse
for the folder where the files are unzipped... Ben Myers

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 22:29:06 +0100, Nicholas D Richards
<nicholas@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>In article <1124652951.492867.271860@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
>Steve <steve281499@gmail.com> writes
>>Hi Ben,
>>
>>I thought the driver download would include some documentation but it
>>does not. Nothing seems to happen when you run the .exe program, and no
>>driver shows up in the Device Manager. I am baffled.
>>
>
>The .exe program is a DOS self-extracting program that extracts the
>drivers into the same folder as the .exe file.
>
>There is a crx100e2.doc file which explains how to install the drivers.
>Unfortunately, as you will see when you look at the document, it makes
>some assumptions.
>
>Assuming that you have the CDRW connected, you should be able to install
>the drivers using the 'Add New Hardware' wizard in the Control Panel.
>
>Unfortunately it is years since I ran a Windows 98 PC so I cannot give
>you the full sequence of instructions. You basically will add from a
>specific location, have a disk and display a full list of drivers from a
>specific location.
>
>A few other thoughts:
>
>- have you checked that USB is enabled in the BIOS settings? Have
>you had other USB devices running successfully.
>
>- I assume that the drive has its own power supply, if not total
>USB power usage must not exceed 500 milliamps, and your PSU in the base
>unit must be able to supply the extra power.
>--
>Nicholas David Richards -
>
>"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"
 

steve

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Hi Nicholas!

Thanks for the input. I guess my mind was asleep this morning when I
was thinking about loading the driver! I just could not think when I
had loaded a driver in Win 98 through the Config.sys, but was not
thinking of the "routine way". Guess the heat here (got to 100 F) was
getting to me even in the A/C. LOL

The drive is at a friend's in Canada, and I am not sure how much they
have used anything on their USB. I will check with them on that and be
sure they know how to load a driver from a diskette. The drive does
have its own power supply so that should be ok.

Thanks for the help!

Steve
 
G

Guest

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Archived from groups: alt.windows98,alt.sys.pc-clone.compaq,alt.sys.pc-clone (More info?)

In article <1124696361.646830.161710@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Steve <steve281499@gmail.com> writes
>Hi Nicholas!
>
>Thanks for the input. I guess my mind was asleep this morning when I
>was thinking about loading the driver! I just could not think when I
>had loaded a driver in Win 98 through the Config.sys, but was not
>thinking of the "routine way". Guess the heat here (got to 100 F) was
>getting to me even in the A/C. LOL
>
>The drive is at a friend's in Canada, and I am not sure how much they
>have used anything on their USB. I will check with them on that and be
>sure they know how to load a driver from a diskette. The drive does
>have its own power supply so that should be ok.
>
>Thanks for the help!
>
>Steve
>

No problem and you are welcome. It is confusing; a lot of modern
hardware comes with an executable that does most of it for you, and you
usually have to run the executable before you first attach the hardware.
So, when you get the bare drivers and have to install them 'by hand',
you have forgotten the older methods.
--
Nicholas David Richards -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"