[Channeal]

Apologies for the delay in replying, Terry. It has been a bit of a stressful time here the past few days!

 

Thanks for your reply and for all the info about Linux.

 

I am not too bothered about getting the DVD player to work on Linux at the moment. (I only mentioned the message it gave me there because Phill asked me if I had tried to play a DVD on Linux). My main priority here at the moment is to attempt to get the DVD player working on Windows.

 

With regard to the general Linux thing, it would probably be best if I started a separate topic in the Linux forum when I get more time, to avoid going off topic here and to prevent any further confusion. (I will post a link to it here when I have created it).

 

I did have a bit of fun and games yesterday moving all my husband's mail from Outlook Express to Thunderbird so he can get used to using it with a view to moving to Linux. The problem is that he uses Yahoo Mail (like me, but I only use the web version) and he has over 20,000 emails left on the server! So, first of all I let Thunderbird download all the emails, then deleted them, then had various problems getting it to download anything! Eventually I went through all his emails on the web version and transferred them all (50 at a time) to 'Archive', so they will no longer download every time. I then deleted the address on Thunderbird and started all over again! Got it all sorted now and he is only left with the emails which were transfered from Outlook Express (plus any new ones), but I could have done without all that in the middle of an already extremely stressful week!

 

Phill, I really hope you are feeling better. You told me not to try resetting the BIOS yet, but is there anything else I can try? Am a bit stumped for ideas at the moment - and wondering if it would not just be easier to buy a new DVD player? (No hurry to reply though, if you are still feeling unwell).

 

Thank you both for your help.

 

Chris.

 

EDIT: I am almost doing myself out of buying that new (and much wanted) computer here, at least for the time being. The trouble with me though is that once I get the bit between my teeth and feel I might be able to learn something new (e.g. Linux etc) I just cannot leave it alone!

Edited by Channeal, 01 December 2016 - 06:57 AM.

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to be honest i think the drive as had it if vlc won't play your dvd's, because from my understanding on a windows machine vlc includes all the codecs needed to play dvd's leaving the problem to be hardware related in my opinion.

 

something to consider :- https://www.amazon.c...&node=430559031

i have one as a backup and to use with laptops that don't have a built in dvd drive.

 

Edited by terry1966, 02 December 2016 - 07:21 AM.

[terry1966]

to be honest i think the drive as had it if vlc won't play your dvd's, because from my understanding on a windows machine vlc includes all the codecs needed to play dvd's leaving the problem to be hardware related in my opinion.

 

something to consider :- https://www.amazon.c...&node=430559031

i have one as a backup and to use with laptops that don't have a built in dvd drive.

 

Edited by terry1966, 02 December 2016 - 07:21 AM.

[phillpower2]

Hi Folks,

 

I am not too bothered about getting the DVD player to work on Linux at the moment. (I only mentioned the message it gave me there because Phill asked me if I had tried to play a DVD on Linux). My main priority here at the moment is to attempt to get the DVD player working on Windows.

 

 

The idea of trying Linux was to see if either of the drives worked, if one or both did it would suggest a software/OS problem namely codecs or XP, if neither drive works in XP or Linux the issue is hardware related, trying Linux is more or less the confirmation of whether or not the drives have failed.

 

Phill, I really hope you are feeling better. You told me not to try resetting the BIOS yet, but is there anything else I can try? Am a bit stumped for ideas at the moment - and wondering if it would not just be easier to buy a new DVD player? (No hurry to reply though, if you are still feeling unwell).

 

 

Far better than I have been the past few days Chris and thank you for asking 

 

The both drives are identified in the BIOS which again suggest a hardware problem with the drives but if you are adamant that you want to try resetting the BIOS please make a note of the present boot settings etc first.

 

Thanks for helping out Terry, much appreciated 

[Channeal]

Hello Phill,

 

Very pleased to hear that you are feeling a lot better. I hope you will soon be fully recovered and back to your normal self.

 

 

 

The both drives are identified in the BIOS which again suggest a hardware problem with the drives but if you are adamant that you want to try resetting the BIOS please make a note of the present boot settings etc first.

 

Definitely not in any way adamant! Was only going to try resetting the BIOS because you suggested it. It seems pretty clear to me though that the drive has just died of old age and that I need to get a new one!

 

 

Terry, thanks very much for the link to the external DVD drive. Whether I buy that or an internal one really depends on the future of this computer once we have bought a new one. It might go upstairs to be used by my husband (I haven't even asked him if he likes that idea yet, as he is not technically minded at all and does not really even have any idea what Linux is yet!). Or, it might go to somebody else, possibly to somebody who does not have a computer at all who might benefit from it. Maybe an internal DVD player might be a better alternative really.

 

Take care, both of you - and keep warm!

 

Chris.

 

PS Terry, I have now created my new topic in the Linux forum and it can be found here: -http://www.geekstogo...e/#entry2584508

Edited by Channeal, 04 December 2016 - 01:06 PM.

[Channeal]

Hello Phill,

 

Slight change of focus here for a moment.

 

Would like to get the Linux distros I am trying onto dvd, so decided to have another go at doing it on the notebook. I seem to be fated as far as DVD players go though, as all I got was an error message.

 

 

Any idea what is going wrong there, please?

 

Chris.

 

EDIT Am I wrong to be trying a DVD RW? It seems as if I might be!

Edited by Channeal, 05 December 2016 - 02:33 PM.

[terry1966]

try a different burning software , ashampoo :- http://downloads.tec...ing-studio-2013or cdburnerxp :- http://downloads.tec...oads/cdburnerxp

 

the error you're getting is because the software doesn't know what laser power setting it should use to burn data to that disk, could be another sign the drive is going. more info here :- http://www.tech-faq....tion-error.html

 

curious but is there a reason why you want to put the linux iso's on dvd's instead of a usb stick? depending on the size of usb stick you may find it's possible to put a number of test linux os onto the 1 stick. eg :- https://www.pendrive...iboot-live-usb/

 

 

 

EDIT Am I wrong to be trying a DVD RW? It seems as if I might be!

don't think it makes any difference if the disk is dvd r or dvd rw, just means r can be written to only once where as rw can be erased and written to multiply times of course the more times you write to it the more chance it will finally fail.

Edited by terry1966, 05 December 2016 - 05:46 PM.

[Channeal]

Thanks very much Terry.

 

I downloaded Ashampoo, but that wasn't working either. I found a firmware update for the CD/DVD player and then tried ImgBurn  again. It seemed to be proceeding further than before....... but then I got this message: -

 

 

Thanks very much for the info about loading more than one ISO to a thumb drive. I had no idea you could do that! Will give it a go when I get a bit more time.

 

Chris.

 

 

 

 

[terry1966]

 

that's the same calibration problem, as the first error, so only thing left to do is try a different make of dvd's or call it a day with that drive.

 

i bought a pack of 50 dvd's one time and think i only got 3 dvd's that burned correctly out of the 50, yet the drive worked great for years after with a different brand/lot of dvd's, i just put it down to a bad batch of dvd's but it frustrated the [bleep] out of me at the time.

 

[Channeal]

Hello Phil (and Terry if he is still around).

 

I thought it was time I updated you on the situation as far as my disastrous DVD drives goes!

 

As I could not get either the drives on my Dell desktop or my Sony Vaio notebook to burn a Linux DVD,  I decided that I had had enough and that I was going to replace the drives. I know I could have just bought an external drive - but I didn't want to do that. (Now I am getting a bit older, I seem to be getting a somewhat rebellious and go for what I want for a change, rather than always opting for the cheapest option!).

 

 

I guess the idea was kinda to do it all by myself and then come back to you guys and say 'what a clever girl I am, I did this all by myself!' Ha ha! Life is what happens while you are making other plans!

 

Anyway, off I went and ordered two replacement drives.......

 

I will begin with the notebook. I looked at videos etc and they seemed to be saying that DVD drives for all notebooks are usually the same size. So I went ahead and bought one. Turned out though that the little metal bits on the side and back did not fit exactly; there were very slight differences which stopped me being able to screw the drive securely into position. Also, the black front panel (or bezel) simply would not fit on the new drive. So the drive had to be sent back. 

 

Not to be daunted, I then managed to find a drive specifically for Sony Vaio. It arrived and was fitted in no time at all. It looks great and I managed to burn one of a Linux OS onto it without encountering a single error message. So a big success story there and I am very pleased.

 

Things were did not go anywhere near as smoothly with the Dell though. In the first place, I made a very bad mistake and ordered a drive with a SATA connector, rather than an IDE one. (Yes, I do know that I can be very stupid sometimes!).

 

I then managed to find a drive with an IDE connector and ordered it from pcupdate.co.uk last Friday. The first problem was that I somehow unintentally opted to pay almost £9 for delivery the next working day (which would have been Monday 19th) and then did not seem able to change it. After chiding myself for being stupid (yet again!) I told myself that at least I would be able to install it before Christmas.

 

Not long after ordering it, we were just on our way out of the house when the phone rang. It was an unknown number, but we listened and they didn't leave a message, so we just went on our way. 

 

Monday 19th came and went, but no DVD drive arrived. On Tuesday, I emailed them to ask what had happened to it. They replied to say that when the drive arrived from the warehouse, it had a SATA connector, rather that the IDE one that it had been advertised as having. Oh dear!

 

I was a bit annoyed with them really, as by then I had gone down with a really nasty cold virus and was virtually unable to talk, so I explained this in my email and asked them to answer by email. Their email however asked me to phone them! Not only that, they told me that their notes said that they had left a message on our answer phone the previous Friday explaining the situation, but we knew that they had not done this as we were standing by the phone when they rang and are certain that they did not leave any message!

 

The current situation is that they have told me that they have managed to source another DVD RW drive with an IDE connector from their supplier, this time made by Samsung/HGST. They have not however told me the model number, or how much it costs. So I am currently awaiting that information.

 

I wish you a very happy Christmas. Ours is going to be very quiet (apart from my coughing), although our son and his lovely Russian wife are going to stay with us for two or 3 nights so that will be nice. 

 

Chris

[terry1966]

depending on your motherboard you may find you have a spare sata port or 2 available and could have fitted the sata dvd in there anyway, you'd have needed a sata cable of course and maybe a molex to sata power cable adapter. 

 

well done on fitting a new hard drive in the laptop though, that's sometimes much more complicated in my opinion than fitting one into a desktop.

 

hope you and yours have a great christmas and new year. 

 

Edited by terry1966, 22 December 2016 - 06:18 PM.

[phillpower2]

Well you certainly like a challenge Chris 

 

terry has pretty much covered things so all thats left for me to do is wish you both a merry xmas and hopefully a prosperous new year as well 

[Channeal]

Thanks very much to both of you for your messages,

 

Yes, I guess it is certainly true that I do like a challenge!   I honestly do not get what the big deal is with changing the DVD drive on the laptop though. Once I had managed to get the right model, it was just about one of the easiest computer-related jobs I have ever done! Maybe it is just unusually easy on with my laptop model?  

 

Was very unsure about the SATA to IDE adaptor thing, Terry. (Should have asked, I know!). On the model I originally puchased, I couldn't work out where the second connector to the power supply went. At the moment it fits next to the IDE connector. 

 

They have offered me another DVD drive with an IDE connector (an OEM model, though am not sure if that matters) Or I could have my money back. Not sure what to do at the moment.

 

Thanks to you both for your seasonal wishes. I am sick with a really horrible winter bug at the moment, so am likely to be stumbling, rather than dancing my way through Christmas! I hope you both have a really great Christmas.

 

Gotta somehow attempt to make some mince pies and cheesecake now!

 

Take care - and thanks to you both for all your help throughout 2016.

 

Chris. 

[terry1966]

sometimes laptops need more or less stripping down to change things, other times things are really easy and it's just a case of one or two screws to swap things around.

 

to straight fit a sata dvd drive in your pc you'd need 3 things.

 

first a spare sata port on the motherboard, some images to show what sata ports look like on a motherboard :- https://www.google.c...iw=1293&bih=654

 

second you'd need a sata cable :- https://www.amazon.c...x/dp/B002UUSX5C

 

third and finally because it sounds like your power supply (psu.) leads don't have a sata connection, you'd need a molex (4pin white end) to sata (black end) adapter.

this example allows you to power two sata devices from one molex power lead connection from the psu.. :- https://www.amazon.c...HM2M3ZY2KQGANEQ

 

just saw this 2 in one pack while checking the links worked :- https://www.amazon.c...75SGC2MJF2T2SRP

 

oem just means the part manufacturer will not be liable if anything goes wrong with the part and you'll have to deal with the reseller/retailer and not the manufacturer to sort out any problems with the part. dvd drive in this case.

probably better explanations of oem :- http://www.webopedia...TERM/O/OEM.htmland here https://en.wikipedia...nt_manufacturer

 

there is no right or wrong decision you can make in my opinion, if you do have free sata ports on the motherboard i'd probably tell them to ship you the sata drive and buy the needed cables (plus when you're feeling brave enough and decide to build your own next pc instead of buying straight from the shop you can use it again in that. i think you've got the bug so won't be able to not build your own next pc. ),

 

if there's not then you have another decision either just get them to send the oem ide drive. (most parts i use when building are oem parts because they are cheaper.) and fit that or still stick with sending the sata drive but use a sata to ide adaptor for now and you can then still use the drive in your new build without adaptors (ide drive could be used in new build to with an adapter). .https://www.amazon.c...d/dp/B009SO7R0U

 

in my opinion there are no real benefits or drawbacks to using either a sata or ide dvd drive because the extra speed capabilities of sata ports over ide connections are not able to be utilized by optical drive read/write speeds anyway. (different with hard drives, sata drives are always faster/best option and why the ide connection is old tech and hardly ever/if at all now seen on motherboards or devices.)

 

just spent more or less 3 days in bed (started sunday) shivering and sweating myself even though i didn't really feel that unwell and still don't except i now have sniffles and a cough as last remaining symptoms of my man flu, so hope you get well soon enough to really enjoy your christmas.

 

Edited by terry1966, 23 December 2016 - 07:54 AM.

[Channeal]

Thanks Terry,

Sounds like you have had the same bug that I have. Am still feeling pretty unwell; it doesn't seem to be in any hurry to leave me!

Yikes! Although I would love to do it, I doubt that I would ever be clever enough to build my own computer! In my dreams, maybe!

So..... as I suspected I was just lucky as far as being able to replace the notebook DVD player was concerned. Btw, I checked whether I could remove the old one before attempting to order a new one. I didn't just go ahead and recklessly order a new one without believing I had a good chance of being able to install it!

Thanks for the info about adaptors etc. Still haven't definitely decided, but think I will probably stick with the player with the IDE connection, rather than messing about with adaptor cables.

Many thanks
Chris.

[Channeal]

Hello Phill and Terry,

 

I would like to ask you both for your advice about something slightly out of the ordinary in relation to the new DVD drive for my old Dell laptop, the purchase of which seems to have been fraught with problems from the start.

 

As I told you previously, I was informed that the drive I had ordered from pcupgrade.co.uk (which seems to also be associated with laptopparts.co.uk) did not actually come with an IDE connection as advertised. I was told though that there was another drive available which did have an IDE connection and I emailed them back on the 28th December and told them that I would like to purchase the alternative drive. To date, I have not received an answer.

 

Meanwhile, the new year did not start well for us as on the 1st January we received a message on our answerphone from the Fraud Squad at a bank with which we hold a credit card. We had a bit of a problem ringing them back, as although the message asked for me by name to phone them, when I phoned back they said they had to speak to my husband (who was out at the time, but is the main cardholder). He however realised that he did not know his pin number etc (although he is the main cardholder, I am actually the only one who still uses the card now), so we waited until Tuesday when we could actually go into a branch and reset his security details. (Even that didn't go smoothly, as when we went to our local branch we found that it had been closed down permanently so we had to travel further afield).

 

Having sorted all that out, my husband phoned the Fraud Squad back and learned that the police had informed them that my card was one of a batch which the police had told them had been used fraudulently (by somebody in the US I believe). I was called in to identify various purchases and there were indeed a few that I did not recognise (one of which was a US restaurant). They immediately closed down the account and I have now received a new card.

 

The Bank told us that they did not know how the problem with our card arose: it could have been through a purchase made in a shop, or through an online purchase. So, we have no way of knowing what exactly happened and absolutely no grounds whatsoever to think that it was connected with the attempted purchase of the DVD drive. The thing is though, for some reason I feel reluctant to contact the website again about purchasing the alternative drive offered. For one thing, they told me at first they had left a message on our answer phone when they rang to tell me the original drive was found to not have an IDE connection, although we were just leaving the house at the time and there was no message. (Btw, with the initial attempted purchase, I  was told that the payment had been authorised, but would not be debited until the order had been reviewed.)

 

What I am asking you guys now is whether either of you have ever used pcupgrade.co.uk (or laptopparts.co.uk) and if you think it is okay to proceed with the purchase. 

 

I guess it is only natural to feel a bit over-cautious when something like this has happened; it just leaves a nasty taste in your mouth!

 

Chris.