Inspiron E1505 -- Philips SDVD8820 problems

Question

I am having terrible problems with the DVD-RW on my new Inspiron E1505 and hoping someone can help. The bottom line is that many DVD videos and data CDs do not work (and stall or hang the computer), the computer will not boot from the Windows XP Install disk, formatting often encounters errors or takes forever, and data transfers are very slow. More details:

I got my computer about a month ago. Initially everything worked fine, except that Windows starting was exceedingly slow to start up and shut down. DVD videos worked fine and I was able to use the Media Direct button to watch DVDs without ever going through the Windows desktop.

However, one day I ran out of batteries while using Media Direct, and the computer shut itself down. The next time I powered it on, Media Direct would no longer work. I downloaded Dell's Media Direct Repair utility, which requires running from a CD. I used Sonic to attempt to format a CD-RW, which I know works fine on my XPS desktop DVD+RW drive. The formatting did not work at all. After the 22 minutes of formatting time the system told me it would take to do this (is that unusually long?), the formatting just kept continuing. Soon, it started telling me it would be another 12 hours (!!!!) to complete the formatting. The length of time kept changing, but was always ridiculously long, so I cancelled. I was subsequently tried formatting a number of other CD-RWs, using Windows and using Sonic, and there are always problems. Sometimes I get error messages near the end of the formatting, sometimes the time goes into the hours. Once in a while it works ok.

Existing, formatted CD-RWs sometimes are recognized by the drive as write-able, and sometimes not. When they are write-able, transfers of a ~500 Mb file take about 20 minutes (is this long?).

There are many other (worse) problems. I wanted to re-install XP (the Dell PC resore partition doesn't work, so this wasn't an option). I already had two XP install disks that Dell sent to me. When I try to boot from one of these disks, the computer reports that there is no bootable media and can only boot from the HD. When I try the other one, sometimes the system asks me if I want to boot from the CD, and then I get the message "Windows Setup is Examining Your Hardware" but then the screen goes black (with the drive light continuously on) and nothing ever happens again. Other times, when I try to boot from this disk, I get a blinking white cursor on a black screen and the system hangs there, again with the drive light on continuously. Never does the boot from the Windows XP CD work properly.

When I try to run DVDs from Media Direct (which is working now I reinstalled it) or Power DVD or Windows Media Center, DVDs that worked when I first got my system now don't work at all. I have found one DVD that does work (albeit with lots of jittering in Media Center, no problems in Power DVD), but two that don't work at all, even though they used to work and work fine on my desktop's DVD+RW drive. When I try to use them, the screen goes black (in Power DVD/Media Direct/Media Center) and the system freezes until I force-quit and eject the disk.

I am also having problems with the same DVDs, that second Windows XP disk and CD-RWs in the Windows desktop. As soon as I insert them, the drive starts running, and the wait hourglass comes up, and I cannot do anything any more -- as if the system has frozen. Only by ejecting the disk can I continue working. It is as if the system is entirely consumed by the drive when I put a disk in. When I insert that first Windows XP disk (the one that couldn't be booted from at all), the disk is seen as blank by Windows.

I have tried running Diagnostics, but no errors are reported. However, about half way through the seek test, instead of neatly counting up the numbers towards the finish, suddently the numbers start changing wildly, sometimes oscillating between two different numbers, and the drive is noisy and clicks. Diagnostics claims the test passes, but I am very suspicious.

Any clue what could be wrong? I have heard about the PIO/DMA thing, but that wouldn't seem to explain problems at boot-up, with Media Direct or Diagnostics, would it, or the lack of recognizing disks in Windows and how the computer freezes when I insert certain disks I know to be working on other computers?

Thanks so much for any help!!!

Message Edited by dgb17 on 07-20-200601:55 PM

RGT1 · Answer

Have Dell send you a new dvd drive. See if that helps. RGT

dgb17 · Answer

After doing some more experiments, it seems that the problems lies mostly with DVDs, whether movies or data discs.  The Windows XP discs are DVDs, and those together with movies are the ones I am having problems with.  Mosts CDs seem to work fine.  Any idea why only DVDs would cause problems, not so much CDs?

xcyborgninja · Answer

I also have this problem, maybe not entirely the same thing about burning, tho i had afew problems with it in the past. I see no good reason aside from the drive not functioning properly on certain disks. I have many disks, all bought from different stores, and different countries to even top that, and a great deal of non-american disks dont work. Though, my desktop computer seems to read all of them flawlessly. My computer is also no more then a month and a half old, if even that, i still consider it brand new. Again, Diagnostics seem to have no errors, though I try to install a game from two disks, the first takes a long time, the second stops loading intirely and gets stuck on a 2 KB file (!!). Would a replacement drive suffice or what should I (or we) do?

dgb17 · Answer

After doing some testing, it seems most of my problems lie with DVDs and burning/formatting. The Windows XP disc is a DVD and I have problems with ~75% of my DVDs. I have a US machine and have used only US DVDs, so there's no region issue.

Any suggestions from people as to what might cause DVD problems in particular?

Right now, it seems the only suggestion is to replace the drive, and preferably not with a Philips SDVD8820, as they seem to be unreliable.

ChiefIllini · Answer

With all the problems this drive is having, has Dell even considered addressing the issue?  How about a firmware update or at least some update on what Dell is doing to correct all of these problems.  I've seen enough posts on here about this drive to think that it is much more than just a handful of faulty drives.

xcyborgninja · Answer

Hey, i found something that may fix atleast one problem on your DVD drives, it worked for me, maybe it will work for you too. I found this on the Forums, to help with choppy movie rates. and maybe other things

"
Hey guys,

Well I ran into the same issue and I think I have the fix.

1. Go to Computer management by right clicking on My Computer, and select Manage.
2. Go to Device Manager
3. Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers section
4. Right click the Secondary IDE Channel and choose properties
5. On the new screen click the Advanced Settings tab
6. Here you should see Device 0 which is your DVD drive.

When I was running into the same issue (DVD's would stutter with audio/video and even playing mp3's via a burned DVD it would stutter occasionally), the Current Transfer Mode was set to PIO even though the Transfer Mode was set to DMA if available. To fix this you need to reload the device. To do this do the following:

7. Exit out of the Secondary IDE Channel Properties.
8. Highlight (left click) the Secondary IDE Channel controller.
9. Right-click the device and choose Uninstall

The system will ask you to reboot and choose ok (or reboot later if you have programs that you need to save data on).

After the reboot follow the above 1-6 steps to verify that the settings have changed. On my system the Device 0's Current Transfer Mode is now: Ultra DMA Mode 2. I have verified that DVD's are now flawless with video/audio and mp3's are now able to play with no skips from a DVD.

If this works for you let me know (as it's always nice to know that this fixed others issues).

Disclaimer: The above steps worked for me and hopefully will work for you too, but I assume no responsibility for what will result on your machines. YMMV so be careful when using device manager to uninstall and reinstall devices.
"
This is a quote, which redpants has had quoted in another thread

One thing you could do about being unable to read certian disks is to re-write them to a new CD or DVD without a paper cover over it, it has already worked for me, but you will need (maybe) another computer with two drives, one being a writer.

Hope this helps!

ChiefIllini · Answer

Unfortunately for me, my drive has always been in Ultra DMA 2 mode, so that trick doesnt apply. Im completely convinced it has to do with the compatibility of the drive with certain types of DVDs or CDs. I personally havent had problems with CDs, its been burned DVD's that it will struggle to read on occasion. When it goes thru its preliminary spin it starts to make some really loud 'grinding' type sounds. I have no clue what is making the sound but it will only do it on certain DVDs...not all. That is why I would think that a firmware update may resolve some of the issues since firmware updates for DVD players/burners typically help the drive be more compatible with different brands of DVDs. And again, where is Dell on this? Better yet, where is Philips on this? They dont even have a single web page on their site that mentions this model. Very strange.

ashu_dps · Answer

I too m facing the same problem. This DVD drive just refuses to read various DVDs which otherwise work fine. The seemingly consumed system gets normal only when the disk is ejected and grinding noise is persistent. I dont know how did they put in such a useless drive here bt if they put it in, atleast they should replace it.

Does anyone has a clue what DELL is doing to address our problem

xcyborgninja · Answer

I have been told about what may cause this problem. This DVD drive is VERY fast. unless the DVD is in perfect condition, the disc may not work perfectly. unless the disc is printed on perfectly it will likely make the clicking noises and also prevent it from working properly. I have no idea whether this applies to america or not, but you may want to discover where the discs are from when they dont work, and where they are when they do because the problem can be caused by the disc printer.

hope this helps

KML_UA · Answer

I've bought my Inspiron 6400 recently. My DVD 'Philips SDVD8820' has latest firmware AD18 and he can't read DVD+RW which have been written by him (very funny, isn't it?). But he reads DVD+RW disks which have been written in NEC, LG, ASUS etc. This DVD writes DVD-RW, DVD+R and CD-RW properly. I think Dell *must* replace SDVD8820 drive.

liquidmime · Answer

The Fix involving uninstalling your DVD drive and then restarting windows worked for me. I tried it just before I did a whole system restore because nothing else worked. But now, I'm up and running. Thank you for sharing your solution!

Message Edited by liquidmime on 03-03-2007 10:40 AM

hereandnow101 · Answer

Thanks a million for your post! It's sorted out my problem... I was considering buying an external CD/DVD reader/writer... but after following the instructions in your post I can now play audio CD's, which previously caused a blue screen.... and I can now watch DVD's, which previously were chopping and unwatchable. I'm so happy! :smileyhappy:

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Inspiron E1505 -- Philips SDVD8820 problems

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