Dell 4660 - problems with TDK 840G DVD Writer

endorice,

Since you you ran the drive in a 4550 box without a blue screen, did that 4550 by chance have Roxio 5 instead of 6 installed in it. Seems to be that the Roxio site is showing problems with 6, so this may be a software problem and not hardware. I'm running Roxio 6 with the TDK/Plextor, and used the Roxio wipe clean directions to remove Roxio 5 prior to installing 6.

link: http://boards.support.roxio.com/roxio/board/message?board.id=ez6p_general&message.id=9819

Good luck with this

 

Apladay: V6 has been out for almost a year now with millions upon millions of users running it very nicely thank you…

Just because you are in a minority that have had a problem, is no reason to condemn the product. It that is your logic, you might as well condemn MS and Dell along with every piece of software ever made!

With all your 'Home Brew' experience, I would have expected a more substantial response.

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@Apladay wrote:

JIm,

You appear to have misunderstood my response. I am not bashing Roxio. I have had NO problems with version 6, nor did I say that I have. I am only pointing to the Roxio forum and those users who are having similar problems. Roxio is my perferred software, comparing it to NTI, Nero and Hot Burn.

I am suggesting that if Version 6 is installed on top of Ver. 5, there "might" be coruption, so scrub clean and re-install, which is what my "home brew" experience has taught me. That is my logic.

Cheers,

 

 

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And this v5 to v6 corruption would somehow affect his DVD Movie Player software???

I don't pretend to know what the answer is but this sounds like a snipe hunt.

this is just silly, however I will answer.

Endorice did not say what flavor of software he is using, that is why the first sentence of my response asked if Roxio was used on the two boxes. Since I have the same TDK 840G which came with Roxio 6, I assumed (I know shame on me)that he is using the Roxio DVD Movie player in the 4600.

Since Endorice successfully ran the burner in another box (good trail and error on his part), one could determine that the drive is not the problem, agreed?

so, what next

The 4600 could be ruled out as it had a DVD rom and CDRW drive in it with no problems. agreed?

Software, Drivers??

Since he had a DVD rom, this might mean that the default Dell supplied player software is Cyberlink Power DVD (and no, I am not bashing that product either), and he has a CDRW, burning software unknown. Is the Dell supplied, still Roxio?

Blue Screens when running some versions of Power DVD and Win DVD concurrently are known to exist, so can Roxio DVD Player be added to that list? I don't know, but my "limited" experience dealing with software tells me to clean install when "sniping" at software issues.

I am not sure what has caused your negative comments, as I have apparently ruffled your feathers. I have however, appreciated your previous posts and expertise in this forum. Unfortunately we cannot all be experts, so sometimes suggestions are made from experience and not expertise.

Lastly, another user with a similar problem, changed the ribbon cable selection to resolve his problem, which is contrary to the opinion that burners should be master or first select, ain't that one for the books.

Cheers,

An update on my total lack of progress:

Absolutely no luck.  I did notice that Jigbim resolved his problem by running his DVD ROM and DVD Burner on the same IDE: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_cdrom&message.id=72500  However, that didn't work for me.  I had also tried running the DVD Burner solo on the IDE cable, set the drive to CSEL, but no luck either.  The drive continues to play audio CDs without problem, but insert a movie and the drive spins up, then gets a BSOD.

Pertaining to Apladay's comments about Roxio versions - yes, in the Dell 4550 that this TDK drive works in, that unit does have Roxio CD Creator 5.  In my Dell 4600 that the TDK drive won't work in, I had installed Roxio Easy CD and DVD Creator 6 (supplied with the TDK drive).  I ran a de-install of the Roxio (control panel, add/remove SW), then rebooted, but I still get a BSOD when inserting a movie.

Any other help/suggestions would be welcomed.

Apladay: My feathers are not ruffled, nor is anything else. He has supplied some more information since our posts.

It doesn't rule out the player software but I think the authoring software is out of the picture.

BTW I have seen that Dell has switched to Sonic but I wonder if they mix in Roxio depending on the drive?

Jim,

That's good to hear. I do hope that endorice finds a solution soon, issues like what he is experiencing can really try ones patience. 

Cheers,

 

Message Edited by Apladay on 01-05-2004 06:23 PM

Thanks to packattack over at the fatwallet forum, I too was able to resolve the problem with reading factory manufactured DVD's. I got my Dimension 2400 recently which came with CDROM and CDRW drives, both CS-configured; I decided to upgrade my CDROM by simply swapping it out with the TDK 840G burner (also CS configured).  After the upgrade, I was frustrated by the BSOD problem for several days as I tried everything that has been suggested here or any info I could find on the Net.  At the end, no luck for me as the PC would blue screen as soon as I tried to play any orginal DVD movie in the TDK drive. BTW, it does not really mattter what DVD player I use, the system will blue screen; but playing home made DVDs (DVD+ or DVD-) was just fine.

Then I came across packattack's solution last night as he has the same software that came with my machine; ie, Sonic's Recordnow Max and DLA. He suggested that DLA be removed. Once I did that, everything worked beautifully. So check your PC if you have Sonic's DLA installed for your original CD burner prior to getting your TDK or Plextor DVD drive.

The Sonic fix D2400_Owner is referencing can be found here.

http://support.sonic.com/kb/default.asp?type=desktop&product=recordnow

search entry: blue screen. Then See "Blue Screen of Death When trying to burn DVD on Dell" in the results  

Glad this worked for you D2400, and good digging

Message Edited by Apladay on 01-06-2004 07:34 PM

D2400_Owner -thanks so much for your help!  I de-installed Sonic DLA, and my TDK unit now plays DVD movies w/o a problem.  Don't have time to test burning to DVD media until this weekend, but it's good to know that at this first problem is behind me.

Thanks again!