Whoops, my bad. I went to type my message, but the focus was on the POST button, and when I hit space (when I wasn't looking at the screen), it posted the message... On with my message.
I just finished emailing Dell support, and it never turned out the way I hoped. I have a DVD+RW burner in my Inspiron 5150. Device Manager reports it as a "_NEC DVD+RW ND5100A" burner. I looked through the download site for my laptop, trying by model and service tag, and I couldn't figure it out. So, I emailed Dell Support. They gave me a link on how to use the Dell Support Download site. I told them I already tried it (in a nicer tone). I gave them a list of choices I seen on the list, and what was in my Device manager, they gave me a link to a download. I thought "Good. Maybe this one will work" I tried it, and it could not find the device. Not only that, the program suffered a crash (Windows had to terminate it, and brought up the normal display you would see about sending an error report). I replied, went into great details about what happened in the program, and someone else replied (the first tech went home, I guess. Don't blame them). They just said "Download the link in the previous email. If the link is broken, try again in a few days" I replied, said the link worked, and I downloaded it, but the application didn't work. Then, that technical support agent said "The update may not be compatible with your system. There is no other update available for optical drive", grammer mistakes in the last sentence and all. I replied, explained some quotes, kind of like "Giving in" kind of thing, thinking "It won't work, leave it alone!" (BTW: I should add, I seen a notice on a case of DVD+Rs that said I need to update my firmware to use them if I am using a 4x burner, noticed after the DVDs were opened). Then it got escalated to the supervisor. I was thinking "Didn't want that". They gave me another link. This one was for the DEC DVD+RW ND-1100A (close to my model this time). They said if the issue still persists, the media may not be compatible with the drive. "Ypu'll need to speak with the media vendor for any alternative". (Yup, another typo, but these guys are only human) So, I'm giving up, as I planned to do the last email before.
In case you are wondering, it is DVD+Rs that I have, and it is a DVD+RW drive that I have (not the DVD-Rs or anything) Also, the DVD+Rs say "1x-8x burning speed" and they are unreliable without the burner firmware upgrades. They gave me a link to www.dvdrwservices.com I looked, and it had Dell's logo (so Dell was part of this alliance) The site said to contact your manufacturer for an upgrade. And that's how it all started.
I guess my question is, does anyone know where I can get a firmware upgrade for a DEC DVD+RW ND-5100A? (Manuf. number 313-2193, as seen on my invoice) Thanks for any help!
I see no firmware updates listed for that burner under your notebook in the Downloads section, and the following link indicates it's not listed under an I8600 either. It's possible there is an update that didn't get listed on every notebook model that burner may have shipped with, but it's also possible there is no update available, and possibly not needed.
Was the statement that you needed a firmware update for your burner specific? Perhaps your burner was delivered with compatibility to burn at 4X on 1-8X DVD+R media.
Thanks for the quick reply, GreyMack. The Maxell CDs say "Use of this disc with some '2.4X-4X' write speed DVD+R drives and/or recorders may result in writing errors, failures in retrieval of the data or damage to the data on this disc. Before using this dic in '2.4X-4X' DVD+R drives and/or recorders please visit
http://www.dvdrwservices.com or contact your hardware manufacturer directly for information regarding free hardware updates to correct this problem" When looking at that website, I stumbled upon a page (served from their server) that said that none of the 4X DVD drives ship out with the correct firmware, and will need to be updated. Maybe that website is wrong. I never tried burning the DVD yet. Maybe I should give it a try. I'm a little bit cautious, though. These DVDs were bought by my sister, and I really don't want to wreck them. Thanks for your help.
BooneBytes
7 Posts
0
January 31st, 2005 17:00
Whoops, my bad. I went to type my message, but the focus was on the POST button, and when I hit space (when I wasn't looking at the screen), it posted the message... On with my message.
I just finished emailing Dell support, and it never turned out the way I hoped. I have a DVD+RW burner in my Inspiron 5150. Device Manager reports it as a "_NEC DVD+RW ND5100A" burner. I looked through the download site for my laptop, trying by model and service tag, and I couldn't figure it out. So, I emailed Dell Support. They gave me a link on how to use the Dell Support Download site. I told them I already tried it (in a nicer tone). I gave them a list of choices I seen on the list, and what was in my Device manager, they gave me a link to a download. I thought "Good. Maybe this one will work" I tried it, and it could not find the device. Not only that, the program suffered a crash (Windows had to terminate it, and brought up the normal display you would see about sending an error report). I replied, went into great details about what happened in the program, and someone else replied (the first tech went home, I guess. Don't blame them). They just said "Download the link in the previous email. If the link is broken, try again in a few days" I replied, said the link worked, and I downloaded it, but the application didn't work. Then, that technical support agent said "The update may not be compatible with your system. There is no other update available for optical drive", grammer mistakes in the last sentence and all. I replied, explained some quotes, kind of like "Giving in" kind of thing, thinking "It won't work, leave it alone!" (BTW: I should add, I seen a notice on a case of DVD+Rs that said I need to update my firmware to use them if I am using a 4x burner, noticed after the DVDs were opened). Then it got escalated to the supervisor. I was thinking "Didn't want that". They gave me another link. This one was for the DEC DVD+RW ND-1100A (close to my model this time). They said if the issue still persists, the media may not be compatible with the drive. "Ypu'll need to speak with the media vendor for any alternative". (Yup, another typo, but these guys are only human) So, I'm giving up, as I planned to do the last email before.
In case you are wondering, it is DVD+Rs that I have, and it is a DVD+RW drive that I have (not the DVD-Rs or anything) Also, the DVD+Rs say "1x-8x burning speed" and they are unreliable without the burner firmware upgrades. They gave me a link to www.dvdrwservices.com I looked, and it had Dell's logo (so Dell was part of this alliance) The site said to contact your manufacturer for an upgrade. And that's how it all started.
I guess my question is, does anyone know where I can get a firmware upgrade for a DEC DVD+RW ND-5100A? (Manuf. number 313-2193, as seen on my invoice) Thanks for any help!
GreyMack
2 Intern
•
2.2K Posts
0
January 31st, 2005 18:00
Was the statement that you needed a firmware update for your burner specific? Perhaps your burner was delivered with compatibility to burn at 4X on 1-8X DVD+R media.
GM
BooneBytes
7 Posts
0
January 31st, 2005 19:00