I can understand your frustration, you are not the first to complain about support, the lack there of or not being about to understand the India dialect. Apology accepted, however there are a few additional things to discuss, I have been around this forum since late 97 and have a fairly good idea of Dell's policy's, friends with many of the Regulars as well as a number of the Moderators. We the Regulars try to provide as accurate information as possible but nothing is 100% and the majority try to word their replies in such a way not to mislead the Members with guarantees, because 99% of the time you never get "all" the information, updates, un-installs, deletes, tweaks, etc...any number of things a Member fails to remember or does not want to give out, no two PC`s are exactly alike.
For piece of mind, here is the post in the thread to Mr. Gibson:
Hi E-G,
Both Dell-Cody and Stephen stated for now Dell is shipping only "+" factory installed drives,<--- this a fact, ask any Regular member here, we have seen this a number of times..... however you can purchase DVD+/-R/RW drives, example the Plextor 708a from Dell as a side item you must install yourself. <--- Again a known fact, you can purchase these drives from Dell and the Plextor 708a is a dual format writer.... If you purchase a drive from Dell, they will support it, <--- this is Dell's Policy, has been for the last 6+ years I have been here... even help "talk" you through the installation over the phone, or at least they are suppose to. <---they are "suppose to", I know of many people, friends, co-workers that have used the service
Granted over the years, service & support has dropped and not just with Dell, I added the "or at least they are suppose to" due to the fact that nothing is 100%, if you are not satisfied with the support, then request the on-duty Supervisor, the key is to be firm but polite.
Once again, I apologize for the original comment. Here is the most recent follow-up. I have not only talked to supervisors, etc, but executive support, both customer and tech. It would appear that Dell has built a whole line of computers that WILL NOT support dvd -r/-rw. That comes straight from the executive support team in the person of Brian Dial. They tell me that there is no-one of higher authority at Dell. They also tell me that they have no idea why they did this, or how to fix it. Kinda sad. So, basically, I am now shafted. Thanx to the wonderful world of Dell. At least they sent me a couple hundred worth of drives that wont work in my computer, so I can sell them on Ebay and at get some of my $$$$ back. If anyone can figure out how to get a dvd -r/-rw to work on my freaking Dell 4600, they can have a free DVD burner, I have extras now *grin* Every time I try to use the multi-function from Plextor, *boom* big crash, stop error message (7f). I tried changing cables, resetting jumpers, repairing windows, firmware upgrades, diagnostics, reformats and reinstalls...running out of ideas :( The multifunction was a Plextor 708a, I believe...latest model out on the Dell website.
@Tull Fan wrote:
Just for clarification -- are you saying that Dell says that "-" DVD drives won't work on any of their machines, or just on the 4600? Some posters have stated that "-" drives have been successfully installed on other models, such as the 8200. Since I own both types of systems, I have an interest in Dell's position on this.
Message Edited by Tull Fan on 02-24-2004 04:10 PM
Oh come on… It is not possible to make a PC that cannot utilize a particular format of an optical drive.
Any drive capable of writing DVD 'dash' media will work in any Dell PC as well as all other PCs in the rest of the world!
Dell does not
install any writer capable of writing DVD 'dash' media.
You can buy a DVD 'dash' burner (multi-format) from Dell or anywhere, install it and it will work.
Just for clarification -- are you saying that Dell says that "-" DVD drives won't work on any of their machines, or just on the 4600? Some posters have stated that "-" drives have been successfully installed on other models, such as the 8200. Since I own both types of systems, I have an interest in Dell's position on this.
I agree with Jim, But must say i just got a Plextor 708A from Dell and I installed it and burned some CDr's without any problems. I just got some DVD's -R and +RW but wanted to test before i made coaster out of the DVD's. I had a old CD RW disk and i wanted to save my tax data to the disk but i could not add any files, access dinied or something. so i erased it add tried to copy the files back but this drive don't seem to like the CD RW disks both XP MRW and Nero 6.3. I am in the process of troublshooting it right now, that is what i came here looking for any info i can find before i start on the DVD disks.
I am using nero 6.3. I had installed the Plextor with cable select and slave and the left the master GDR6182B that dell install on cable select. I am right now running just the Plextor as master with cable select and have disconnected the other drive for a test and tried to simulated a burn as a test and it went to 11% and locked up, i canceled and after 10 minutes the program came back to life and ended.
Well it turned out to be the CD RW disks, not sure what but the drive works with the DVD disks even when it is not in DMA when the other DVD ROM drive is connected to the same cable.
Message Edited by mmainprize on 02-24-2004 10:20 PM
I installed the DRD R/W from my old home built system in my dell & it works without any problem (yet). It's a dual format DVD R/w drive and while I don't really know if it's burning "+" or "-" but I know it works. I use Nero 6.3 Ultra software and it works well /w my system.
Dimension XPS Gen2 Win XP Home SP1 Intel P4 3.2Ghz HT 800mhz FSB 2Gb DDR3200 (400mhz) RAM 2 - 120Gb S-ATA HD 7200RPM 8Mb (RAID 1) Intel ICH5R on-board RAID 2 - 60Gb ATA133 HD 7200RPM 2Mb (RAID 0) on a Promise FastTrak TX2000 PCI UltraATA/133 RAID Card 128Mb Radeon 9800 Pro Video SB Audigy2 Sound CD-RW: 48X/48X/24X; DVD-ROM: 16X DVD-RW DVD-4X/2.4X/2X CD-40X/24X/10X Ext USB 100Mb ZipDrive 17" 1703FP LCD Monitor Intel Pro 1000 Ethernet 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Yeah, I k ow...didn't make sense to me, either. Unless they messed with the BIOS, which also doesn't make sense. However, I tried replacing the drive, the system, the cable, resetting jumpers, running diagnostics, repairs, reinstalls of Windows...everything else I could. Dell corp tech support says as far as they can tell, the 4600 just will not burn DVD - media.
Predator
2 Intern
•
15.3K Posts
0
February 23rd, 2004 23:00
Ryan,
I can understand your frustration, you are not the first to complain about support, the lack there of or not being about to understand the India dialect. Apology accepted, however there are a few additional things to discuss, I have been around this forum since late 97 and have a fairly good idea of Dell's policy's, friends with many of the Regulars as well as a number of the Moderators. We the Regulars try to provide as accurate information as possible but nothing is 100% and the majority try to word their replies in such a way not to mislead the Members with guarantees, because 99% of the time you never get "all" the information, updates, un-installs, deletes, tweaks, etc...any number of things a Member fails to remember or does not want to give out, no two PC`s are exactly alike.
For piece of mind, here is the post in the thread to Mr. Gibson:
Hi E-G,
Both Dell-Cody and Stephen stated for now Dell is shipping only "+" factory
installed drives,<--- this a fact, ask any Regular member
here, we have seen this a number of times..... however you can purchase DVD+/-R/RW drives, example the Plextor 708a from Dell as a side item you must install yourself. <--- Again a known fact, you can purchase these drives from Dell and the Plextor 708a is a dual format writer.... If you purchase a drive from Dell, they will support it, <--- this is Dell's Policy, has been for the last 6+ years I have been here... even help "talk" you through the installation over the phone, or at least they are suppose to. <---they are "suppose to", I know of many people, friends, co-workers that have used the service
Granted over the years, service & support has dropped and not just with Dell, I
added the "or at least they are suppose to" due to the fact that
nothing is 100%, if you are not satisfied with the support, then request the on-duty
Supervisor, the key is to be firm but polite.
Regards
Predator
ryancw
8 Posts
0
February 24th, 2004 13:00
Jim Hardin
2 Intern
•
2.1K Posts
0
February 24th, 2004 19:00
Oh come on… It is not possible to make a PC that cannot utilize a particular format of an optical drive.
Any drive capable of writing DVD 'dash' media will work in any Dell PC as well as all other PCs in the rest of the world!
Dell does not install any writer capable of writing DVD 'dash' media.
You can buy a DVD 'dash' burner (multi-format) from Dell or anywhere, install it and it will work.
Tull Fan
75 Posts
0
February 24th, 2004 19:00
Message Edited by Tull Fan on 02-24-2004 04:10 PM
mmainprize
260 Posts
0
February 24th, 2004 22:00
I agree with Jim, But must say i just got a Plextor 708A from Dell and I installed it and burned some CDr's without any problems. I just got some DVD's -R and +RW but wanted to test before i made coaster out of the DVD's. I had a old CD RW disk and i wanted to save my tax data to the disk but i could not add any files, access dinied or something. so i erased it add tried to copy the files back but this drive don't seem to like the CD RW disks both XP MRW and Nero 6.3. I am in the process of troublshooting it right now, that is what i came here looking for any info i can find before i start on the DVD disks.
I am using nero 6.3. I had installed the Plextor with cable select and slave and the left the master GDR6182B that dell install on cable select. I am right now running just the Plextor as master with cable select and have disconnected the other drive for a test and tried to simulated a burn as a test and it went to 11% and locked up, i canceled and after 10 minutes the program came back to life and ended.
Well it turned out to be the CD RW disks, not sure what but the drive works with the DVD disks even when it is not in DMA when the other DVD ROM drive is connected to the same cable.
Message Edited by mmainprize on 02-24-2004 10:20 PM
Garfield Rules
51 Posts
0
February 25th, 2004 01:00
I installed the DRD R/W from my old home built system in my dell & it works without any problem (yet). It's a dual format DVD R/w drive and while I don't really know if it's burning "+" or "-" but I know it works. I use Nero 6.3 Ultra software and it works well /w my system.
Dimension XPS Gen2
Win XP Home SP1
Intel P4 3.2Ghz HT 800mhz FSB
2Gb DDR3200 (400mhz) RAM
2 - 120Gb S-ATA HD 7200RPM 8Mb (RAID 1) Intel ICH5R on-board RAID
2 - 60Gb ATA133 HD 7200RPM 2Mb (RAID 0) on a
Promise FastTrak TX2000 PCI UltraATA/133 RAID Card
128Mb Radeon 9800 Pro Video
SB Audigy2 Sound
CD-RW: 48X/48X/24X; DVD-ROM: 16X
DVD-RW DVD-4X/2.4X/2X CD-40X/24X/10X
Ext USB 100Mb ZipDrive
17" 1703FP LCD Monitor
Intel Pro 1000 Ethernet
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
ryancw
8 Posts
0
February 25th, 2004 13:00
Dungeoncrawler
28 Posts
0
February 29th, 2004 08:00
i currenlty am using a plextor dvd/rw on my dell 8100. seems to be working just fine. it is a external drive though. just trying to help.
sincerly
dc/gary