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23 Posts
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285943
Inspiron Combo DVD CD-RW Speed Problem (GCC-4240) - Media Suggestions
Ok folks, it looks like we are on our own. There are literally hundreds of us having this problem, and Dell technical won't even admit that it's a problem. Of course I am talking about the Combo DVD CD-RW drive (GCC-4240) that will not recognize media at anything higher than 10x.
I have been experiencing this problem since the day I received my Inspiron 8200 back in August, and I have tried everything to correct it. Technical has had me update all my drivers, BIOS, update Roxio, try Nero, install ASPI, swap my drive 4 times, and finally Reinstall Win XP. Nothing helped.
I have read dozens of posts in this 'Community' (for Dell, this means 'people with problems that we are unwilling to solve'). As far as I can tell, this problem is caused by a poorly manufactured combo drive. This drive is simply incapable of properly identifying modern media correctly. Hitachi LG screwed Dell, so Dell figures they will pass the screwing down to us. Regardless, there is nothing we can do about it. We have been screwed, so we may as well come together as a group to make the most of the situation.
During my research, I have discovered that some folks are reporting that with certain specific types of media, they are able to break the 10x boundary. I would like to start this post as a collection of those medias that people have had sucess with. As I said, if I am stuck with this drive, then I want to make the most of it.
I will start. These are Media's that I have tried that are NOT recognized for their high speed abilities. DO NOT BUY THESE if you are stuck with the same junk drive:
TDK 48x
Phillips CD-R80 48x (marked with 'CD-R 80 CJLHM3002' around the center)
I have outright asked technical, "If there is a certain disk I should use, tell me, and I will use it.". They won't even admit that there is a problem. If you don't believe me, take a look at this. These are just a few posts that I have found in the last day. I am sure there are many more:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_cdrom&message.id=22098
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_cdrom&message.id=22334
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_cdrom&message.id=21017
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_cdrom&message.id=22123
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_cdrom&message.id=20282
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_cdrom&message.id=21326
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_cdrom&message.id=23153
Mike Souza
23 Posts
0
March 26th, 2003 18:00
I must agree. I also purchased a Dell because of past service quality and I will be extremely hesitant to buy another based on my experiences trying to solve this problem.
Amen to your statements guys. I was beginning to think I was the only one who felt that way. We are all power users, and we are all capable of effecting purchase decisions. Dell has suceeded largely due to our recommendations. I know I have personally configured, sold, and set up dozens of Dells. No more. Not until they step up and do what's right. Even then, it would take an extrordinary act of customer support to make me happy at this point. That doesn't mean it's not possible, it just means it would take a serious effort on their part to turn me around.
I think we all feel this way. We are all reasonable people. We are all at the end of our ropes with this problem, and it is likely to effect all of our future purchase decisions.
DELL-Rance
298 Posts
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March 26th, 2003 18:00
Mike Souza:
I haven't posted an update because there has been nothing to update. Our engineers continue to validate the forthcoming firmware update. We appreciate your patience.
Mike Souza
23 Posts
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March 26th, 2003 19:00
Rance,
With all due respect, it wouldn't hurt you to drop into this thread once and a while to assure us that the problem is still being worked on. On 2/28/2003 you promised us that a new firmware would be available soon. Perhaps the word soon leaves a lot for interpretation, but to me a month is not soon.
You also say that 'Our engineers continue to validate the forthcoming firmware update'. Does validate mean that the firware has already been created and it is now in testing? If so, it seems to me that there was something that could be used as an update. It sounds like a firmware has been created, and that validation has begun. Those two items alone would have put a lot of people here at ease. Didn't you notice that more than 6 people thanked you with excitement after your last post? Haven't you been watching the mood of this forum slip with every passing day and every subsequent post?!?
To clear all confusion and interpretation, please respond and tell us all exactly when we should expect the firmware to be available.
JersWork
770 Posts
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March 26th, 2003 19:00
Your comment implies that the engineers have an update, but it has not been certified for release. Have you considered offering this update to some of these users to allow them to help validate it for you and at the same time, generating some better relationships with them?
DELL-Rance
298 Posts
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March 26th, 2003 20:00
JersWork and Mike Souza:
When I said the firmware update would be available soon, I did not expect it to take this long. Yes, the firmware has been created and is being validated. I have requested that the update be made available in its current state, but have been told that this will likely not occur. Actually the mood of this thread seemed fine until 04:47 AM this morning. I assure you this firmware update will happen, but I cannot tell you when to expect the update as I myself do not know.
jlax01
66 Posts
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March 26th, 2003 23:00
Jamie Watson
7 Posts
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March 27th, 2003 07:00
Rance,
Thanks for your comments. As Mike has said we are all power users and hence why we all have machines of such specification and is why you will not get away with fobbing us off as you would your bog standard joe bloggs computer users of this world. I understand that the new firmware has to be fully tested, but hey I am prepared to try anything.
This needs to be resolved, I am personally loosing a lot of time as I use this drive day in day out.
Jamie
PS
Unfortunately it took a change in the mood of the forum for you to update us, maybe try and be more proactive and keep us up-to-date without us having to demand it. I think its called something like customer service.
Bugs Bunny
4 Posts
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March 27th, 2003 22:00
Rance: I think that you have misjudged the mood of the forum.
I was pretty well ready to call the government consumer advocate over this issue. Dell has not delivered me the drive specification promised. Dell email support have ignored email requests from me regarding Dell's intent to resolve this issue, therefore arguably not providing the next business day support for which I've already pre-paid.
I did not expect Dell to fix the drive overnight. Being ignored by support is not acceptable to me.
jlax01
66 Posts
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March 28th, 2003 02:00
DELL-Rance
298 Posts
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March 28th, 2003 13:00
jlax01:
Messages are deleted if they violate the forum's Terms of Service Agreement (abuse, solicitation, offensive language, attempts to circumvent the offensive language filter, etc.). They are not deleted for any other reason.
jlax01
66 Posts
0
March 28th, 2003 20:00
Apanto
1 Message
0
March 29th, 2003 14:00
Greetings,
I read your forum analysis on LG GCC-4240 with great interest. well done!
I have a problem with a Dell Latitude C840 and the CDRW/DVD drive. It ran fine on Win2K. I upgraded to XP and now cannot even see the drive.
Any suggestions?
would appreicate any pointers you can give me.
Regards,
Tony
spiked_martini
948 Posts
0
March 29th, 2003 16:00
Tony, you shouldn't cross-post to multiple forums at the same time, especially in threads that have nothing to do with your problem, like this one. Just post once, or you run the risk of all of your posts getting ignored. I'll check your thread in the Latitude forum and see if I can offer any suggestions.
Message Edited by spiked_martini on 03-29-2003 01:53 PM
Scandy
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
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20 Posts
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March 31st, 2003 15:00
I am going to go against the tide here and say that I think that Dell has handled this situation fairly well. I agree that when this problem was first being discussed, it took a while to convince Dell that a problem existed. But once Dell was aware of the problem, they handled it correctly, by working to obtain a firmware upgrade.
On January 31st, Rance posted that Dell was looking into the problem. I know it seems like 2 months is a long time for us to wait , but if you consider how much work has to done in order to provide new firmware, I don't think that 2 months is really that long to wait. In order to correct this problem, Dell had to: verify that the problem really existed, contact the manufacturer (who also had to verify the problem), wait for the manufacturer to come up with a fix (this usually involves writting a requirements spec, making the firmware change, verifying and documenting the result, and releasing the new firmware). Then once Dell has the new firmware, Dell has to verify the fix before releasing it to us.
When you consider that all of this work has to be scheduled in with everything else that both companies are doing, a couple of months is really not that long. You can't really expect them to drop everything else that they are doing to fix this problem (not an emergency situation). To me, it is really not that inconvenient to have to use a CD rated at 40X or less while wating for the firmware update. I am happy that Dell is providing a fix.
TGoat
1 Message
0
April 1st, 2003 09:00
Scandy - What makes you think anybody, anywhere is working on a firmware update? Certainly the response that Mike got from LG wasn't promising. I reviewed the reponses by Rance and don't find any mention of working on or requesting an update.
The posted responses here would suggest that the drive isn't or won't be fully supported. I'm beginning to wonder if a firmware solution is even possible for this drive... Maybe some of you tech oriented types out there might have a better idea about this.