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M1330 DVD-RW drive disappearing - Please help!

post #1 of 30
4/9/09 at 1:16am
Thread Starter 
Hey folks,

I just recently received a warranty exchange to an XPS M1330. It's been working great up until the past few days. When I swap discs out of the drive 4 times in a row, the drive disappears from the "Computer" folder. The drive is a Matshita DVD +- RW. Dell tech support ran me through all sorts of tests, none of which solved the problem . They are going to send out a techie to replace the drive.

Does anyone know are have had this problem? If so, what was the solution?

TIA,

grecinos
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post #2 of 30
4/9/09 at 4:14am
The only thing I can say is to make sure you aren't pulling the drive slightly out of its connector by opening the drive. My secondary HD sometimes gets dislodged and stops working so I have to reboot just to get access to it again.
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post #3 of 30
4/9/09 at 5:13am
Thread Starter 
zzpulp, thanks for the reply. I have a slot-loading dvd drive so it's kinda hard to pull the drive itself. I'm in the process of repairing the Windows Vista operating system. Perhaps there's just something that got corrupted. If that doesn't work, I am going to reseat the drive. Either way, Dell is sending out a techie to replace the drive sometime later this week.
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post #4 of 30
4/11/09 at 1:38am
Thread Starter 
well, the techie came to repair my laptop by installing a new DVD Drive and it didn't solve the problem. To make matters worse, the techie left a loose screw and broken piece of plastic inside the laptop! I could literally hear the loose pieces inside the laptop. I had to remove the battery and shake it until the pieces came out. They are going to replace the motherboard which I know isn't going to solve the problem...

What do you think? should I demand a system replacement?
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post #5 of 30
4/11/09 at 3:05pm
I would personally use a Linux LiveCD to test out your dvd drive in it. If the same behavior occurs in Linux then you have a hardware problem.
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post #6 of 30
4/11/09 at 9:17pm
Thread Starter 
clever idea! I'll see if I can give it a shot.
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post #7 of 30
4/12/09 at 1:02am
If you use ubuntu, you want to look at the directory "/media" to make sure your cd drive is mounted by the way. This is the equivalent of looking at my computer in windows. I think there is a green arrow at the bottom right of each icon that shows you that the device is mounted (viewable/accessable). You'll figure it out.
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post #8 of 30
4/12/09 at 2:42am
Thread Starter 
I downloaded Ubuntu and burnt it to a CD. It booted up fine, but I wasn't able to do the CD repetition test because the Ubuntu CD is part of the OS and refused to eject. I haven't used Linux in quite a while. I am reluctant to install linux to my HD. Any suggestions?
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post #9 of 30
4/12/09 at 10:28am
Haha. I just keep letting these small details get by me. Use a LiveUSB instead if you still want to test this. Here's a program to create one from windows.

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Now there are some better ways to do this but I'm guessing this is the simplest way. I wouldn't use this image too often though. I expect that daily usage of this would significantly decrease the life of the flash drive. This shouldn't be an issue for periodic use though.
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post #10 of 30
4/13/09 at 3:18am
Thread Starter 
ok, i tried booting up Ubuntu via USB drive and ran the test with several CD/DVD's. I was able to swap around 10 times without any serious problems. A few times it took 1 min or 2 to eject, but eventually it did. So I guess this shows that the drive is functioning properly and so is the motherboard. With Windows Vista on the other hand, there is a problem with the DVD drive. I'm thinking that there is a firmware or driver update that I can apply to the DVD drive or other device in the laptop that will fix this problem.

So... that's what I will be looking for in the next day or so. If anyone know's where I can get Matshita firmware/drivers, I would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.

-Cheers.
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post #11 of 30
4/13/09 at 4:34am
Unless you have a MATSHITA DVD-ROM SR-8588 then its not at the site I go to for rpc1 firmware.
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post #12 of 30
4/13/09 at 4:49am
Thread Starter 
The model number that is specified in the Device Manager is "Matshita DVD+-RW UJ-867S ATA Device". I can't seem to find a site that has up to date drivers/firmware....
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post #13 of 30
4/15/09 at 9:31pm
Thread Starter 
I'm on the phone with a techie now and he said they were able to authorize a system exchange . I'm hoping my problems will disappear .
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post #14 of 30
4/16/09 at 2:49am
Yeah, it was either the drive or the mobo causing your problems it seems. Cause that one minute eject time (even on live usb) seems ridiculous. I've never used live usb though so I don't have any comparison times.
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post #15 of 30
4/16/09 at 5:02am
Thread Starter 
Interestingly enough, the techie who came out to fix my laptop replaced the motherboard, Cooling Fan, and Optical Drive.... but, the problem persisted. Kinda spooky if you ask me!
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post #16 of 30
4/25/09 at 1:56pm
Things left to do are checking the hard drive and a clean re-install and see.

cheers ...
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post #17 of 30
4/25/09 at 5:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
Things left to do are checking the hard drive and a clean re-install and see.

cheers ...
Yea, I've already tried running diagnostics on the HD and reset the system to the factory default settings. Unfortunately it didn't solve the problem. I called Dell and they are going to send me a new laptop. It should arrive on Monday . I hope all goes well!
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post #18 of 30
4/28/09 at 2:36am
Thread Starter 
Well, I got the laptop today and it came with the same drive but the OS was Vista Business 32-bit. It had the same exact problem. It had the Matshita drive. I talked to the Dell techie and he couldn't figure it out. I ended up installing Media Center 2005 on the new laptop and the drive worked perfectly fine. uuughhhh... so now I'm thinking it's a conflict of some sort between the Matshita drive and Vista.

Any comments?
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post #19 of 30
4/28/09 at 3:03am
Sorry, I don't run Vista and you've already tried to find firmware.
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post #20 of 30
5/1/09 at 4:02pm
I also had a problem with DVD-RW drive disappearing from My Computer and Device manager on my M1330. It would reappear if I'd press the "Eject" key or insert a DVD.

Later I found out that "Module Bay Device" was set to "Disabled" in BIOS, which caused the problem. Worth checking out.
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