HP DVD 840i does not write

Hi BrianAmy,

The drivers for optical drives are generic to your Operating system, so you will not find any on Dell`s site.
Just a couple of things to double check, Dell uses the Cable Select jumper feature and since it is reading media, we could assume this is correct. Verify that the drive is running in DMA mode (UDMA-2) and not stuck in PIO mode. Click on the CD/RW link in my post and scroll to Section 15, articles 14 & 17.
I ran a quick Google search on the drive and it looks like HP has a firmware update available for the drive as well.
May I ask, What burning software are you using?


Best Regards




God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do
and the eyesight to tell the difference.

---

CD/RW Link

Message Edited by Predator on 11-02-2006 09:48 PM

Thanks Predator,

Frist is their a easy way to tell which device is 0 and 1 on the SEC IDE(I removed the CD-R so I just have the DVD840 on it now).

The DVD does show "Ultra DMD mode 2".

I tried the FWU from HP and get "Not detected target drive" and "Model mismatch". HP says they post a new FWU in the near future.

Using Nero 6 for burning. Uninstalled all the others trying to get the DVD to work.

On a side note and likly mixed in this somewhere I'm running windows live one care and the back-up section of it says that it can find no CD-R or DVD on my system(did this when the CD-R and DVD showed up in my computer).
Will work on it later.

Thanks

Hi BrianAmy,

If you have the drive jumpered to Cable Select, the device attached to the "end" connection will be Drive 0 (Master).
You said this is the only drive attached at the moment, DMA mode is correct but where is it setting on the Cable?


Best Regards!




God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the
difference.
CD/RW Link

Hi BrianAmy,

We are making a little progress. Although in theory it should not matter but in the real world we have found that DVD/RW tend to prefer the Master position, (must be a guy thing ;) )
Uninstall both drives again from Device Manager, shutdown; place the DVD/RW in the Top Bay (Cable Select) "End" connection, the CD-R in the Second Bay (Cable Select) "middle " connection. Turn the system on and enter the BIOS, verify that the IDE channel is set to Auto and/or that both drives are turned on, save/exit.
Both drives should now be recognized and running in DMA mode, if not; Then same CD/RW link Section 15, article 13 and use the Dell "Push Utility" to force the DMA setting. I hope this helps..
BTW: you are using the Dell factory IDE Cable or a new 40-pin / 80-conductor type, correct?

Best Regards!





God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the
difference.

---

CD/RW Link

Predator,

Got a mess here.

With just the HP840 connected at the end of the cable it shows Sec IDE 0 as ultra DMA mode 2.

With my CD-R at the end and the HP on the second connector, Sec IDE 0 is Ultra DMA M2 and Sec IDE 1 is PIO.

Did the sec 15 art 17 to reset DMA with no change.

For sec 15 art 14 reg settings nothing looks like what is listed. I have the following sub keys:
0000 id lists it as Sec IDE
0003 id lists it as Ultra ATA storage controller
0004 id lists it as Pri IDE
Also have a sub key named "properties" and when I try to check the data for it I get "error reading contents"


Are we having fun yet?

Predator,

Both on the Sec IDE now show Ultra DMA Mode 2.

Am using the original cable.

Burned a test disk with Nero CD DVD speed.

Windows one care still sees no DVD or CD-R.

Tried the HP FWU on the 840i again, no go.


Thanks

Brian,

Uninstall the CD/RW drive, disconnect it from the IDE cable, turn the system and test the 840i as the only device.
Does it work now?

Jeff

Jeff,
Just the HP840i on the system.

Windows Live Onecare still doesn't see the drive.

Tried a Data DVD with Nero 6 get an err: 1:38:22 PM #22 CDR -400 File Writer.cpp, Line 311 Unspecified target error

Tried a data CD with Nero6 worked fine.

Drive still shows Sec IDE0 Ulra DMA M2

Out of DVD disks till I get some more.


TKS
BDW

Hi BDW,

With the HP 840i still connected as the only device, uninstall / reinstall Windows Live Onecare and now see if it will pick up the drive.

Best Regards,
Jeff

Jeff,
That did it. See's the DVD and lets me back up files on CD-R (no DVD's left).

Will get some more DVD's and see if the orig problem is still their ie. not being able to write more then ~1G to a DVD.

Thanks
BDW

Jeff,

Looks like everything is working now. Even got a new tab showing up on the optical drives that say recording(wouldn't show before).

Did a Nero6 write test to DVD, cked gd.

Did a Nero6 data disk on DVD, cked gd.

Did a system BU using Windows Live Onecare onto DVD, cked gd.

Reinstalled my CD-R drive and it's working!

Thanks much for the help

Brian