Gateway 200ARC Laptop problems
Hi Masahiro,Thanks for getting back to me. It's good to hear that you got your laptop fixed. So what parts did you swap in from the used laptop you bought that resolved the optical drive problem? Was it just the DVD/CD-ROM drive itself, or was there more to it?
As far as my problem is concerned, I did manage to recover the Secondary IDE channel in the Laptop BIOS and Windows followed suit accordingly. The reason it did is because I reflashed the original Combo DVD/CD-ROM drive with the original F/W version it came with (or so I believe). I physically had to install it into another computer to flash it again, but afterwards the laptop BIOS detected it properly so that I could now see it. Unfortunately the original problem was still there that started this whole mess, i.e., would not read DVD's, just CD's.
What I thought was strange is how the alternate test PC I used detected the drive before I flashed it back to the original F/W version, and how it detected after I reflashed it, and finally how the 200ARC laptop detected once I reinstalled it. When the laptop wouldn't see it, the test PC detected it as a MASTER on the secondary channel. And then once I flashed it, it redected it as a SLAVE on the secondary channel. (It worked both times like this reading just CD's though!) And then to top that off, the Laptop BIOS detected it as a Master on the Secondary channel when I moved it from the PC to the laptop.
I guess the BIOS's in both the PC & laptop are able to auto-negotiate with the BIOS in the DVD/CDROM and grab either Master or Slave position on the secondary IDE channel. This is a unique as far as I'm concerned because I proved it has nothing to do with CSEL or cable select method of determining what position it will become (Master or Slave) on the IDE channel.
I tried swapping in a CDROM unit only (no DVD) that physically uses the same type connection interface (for data & power) as the Samsung SD-324F, but it was clearly marked CSEL on the mfg. label and the laptop wouldn't detect it at all. The desktop PC I used for test did see it though because it's an ASUS mainboard that has CSEL capability.
I tried to get some information from Gateway pertaining to all this, but they're pretty closed-mouth about it. Furthermore, when I specifically asked Gateway's Tech Support dept. what other manufacturer & model units were compatible with the 200ARC laptop... well they pause for a min and then tell you the unit is not field replaceable. Just send us the laptop and $300 dollars in and we'll fix it for you. So then I asked about upgrades for the combo dvd/cdrom unit that have more capabilities, and they recommend buying an external optical drive unit from them instead of replacing the internal one. Hmmm, the whole thing sounds pretty fishy to me.
Now I understand why there's so many people out there on the internet bad mouthing Gateway.
