Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized
last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Charles |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
In ,
Charles typed on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:07:27 -0600: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Hi Charles! That sure sounds like the optical drive is shot. A lot of laptops it is very easy to replace the optical drive. And many of them will take virtually any slimline optical drive. I am working on my niece's D610 and her optical drive is a Philips. And it is currently having problems with any DVD with copy protection. I updated the firmware, but no help. I may end up replacing the drive and I welcome any hints how to on a D610. I also have a few external USB optical drives. So this is another option for you. They are handy to use as a second optical drive for laptops and the main optical drive for netbooks. -- Bill Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2 |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 14:00:25 -0600, "BillW50" wrote:
In , Charles typed on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:07:27 -0600: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Hi Charles! That sure sounds like the optical drive is shot. A lot of laptops it is very easy to replace the optical drive. And many of them will take virtually any slimline optical drive. I am working on my niece's D610 and her optical drive is a Philips. And it is currently having problems with any DVD with copy protection. I updated the firmware, but no help. I may end up replacing the drive and I welcome any hints how to on a D610. I also have a few external USB optical drives. So this is another option for you. They are handy to use as a second optical drive for laptops and the main optical drive for netbooks. Bill, I couldn't have but laugh "but not at you". Why do I get the feeling that many of us regulars on this newsgroup service our families/extended families' pc and laptops g ? I know I do sometimes and it's not necessarily on a voluntary basis even tho it's still a free service :( . Bill, not sure you have this already but maybe this will help... http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/en/index.htm |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:25:53 -0600, "RnR" wrote:
On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 14:00:25 -0600, "BillW50" wrote: In , Charles typed on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:07:27 -0600: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Hi Charles! That sure sounds like the optical drive is shot. A lot of laptops it is very easy to replace the optical drive. And many of them will take virtually any slimline optical drive. I am working on my niece's D610 and her optical drive is a Philips. And it is currently having problems with any DVD with copy protection. I updated the firmware, but no help. I may end up replacing the drive and I welcome any hints how to on a D610. I also have a few external USB optical drives. So this is another option for you. They are handy to use as a second optical drive for laptops and the main optical drive for netbooks. Bill, I couldn't have but laugh "but not at you". Why do I get the Excuse me Bill for my typo... (I'm under the weather today) Bill, I couldn't help but laugh "but not at you". Why do I get the feeling that many of us regulars on this newsgroup service our families/extended families' pc and laptops g ? I know I do sometimes and it's not necessarily on a voluntary basis even tho it's still a free service :( . Bill, not sure you have this already but maybe this will help... http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/en/index.htm |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
In ,
RnR typed on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:25:53 -0600: On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 14:00:25 -0600, "BillW50" wrote: In , Charles typed on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:07:27 -0600: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Hi Charles! That sure sounds like the optical drive is shot. A lot of laptops it is very easy to replace the optical drive. And many of them will take virtually any slimline optical drive. I am working on my niece's D610 and her optical drive is a Philips. And it is currently having problems with any DVD with copy protection. I updated the firmware, but no help. I may end up replacing the drive and I welcome any hints how to on a D610. I also have a few external USB optical drives. So this is another option for you. They are handy to use as a second optical drive for laptops and the main optical drive for netbooks. Bill, I couldn't have but laugh "but not at you". Why do I get the feeling that many of us regulars on this newsgroup service our families/extended families' pc and laptops g ? I know I do sometimes and it's not necessarily on a voluntary basis even tho it's still a free service :( . Yes so true. Plus I read your later post and I read it actually as you meant it. Funny how that happens, eh? Bill, not sure you have this already but maybe this will help... http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/en/index.htm Yes that helps a lot. Gee that is so easy to remove the optical drive. Many thanks! grin -- Bill Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 2 of 3 - Windows XP SP3 |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 17:23:57 -0600, "BillW50" wrote:
In , RnR typed on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:25:53 -0600: On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 14:00:25 -0600, "BillW50" wrote: In , Charles typed on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:07:27 -0600: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Hi Charles! That sure sounds like the optical drive is shot. A lot of laptops it is very easy to replace the optical drive. And many of them will take virtually any slimline optical drive. I am working on my niece's D610 and her optical drive is a Philips. And it is currently having problems with any DVD with copy protection. I updated the firmware, but no help. I may end up replacing the drive and I welcome any hints how to on a D610. I also have a few external USB optical drives. So this is another option for you. They are handy to use as a second optical drive for laptops and the main optical drive for netbooks. Bill, I couldn't have but laugh "but not at you". Why do I get the feeling that many of us regulars on this newsgroup service our families/extended families' pc and laptops g ? I know I do sometimes and it's not necessarily on a voluntary basis even tho it's still a free service :( . Yes so true. Plus I read your later post and I read it actually as you meant it. Funny how that happens, eh? Bill, not sure you have this already but maybe this will help... http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/en/index.htm Yes that helps a lot. Gee that is so easy to remove the optical drive. Many thanks! grin Bill, you are more than welcome. You've helped me a lot in the past too. |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
Charles wrote:
After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Charles Charles, If the CD/DVD device does not show in the Device Manager, it may well have bitten the dust. Before giving up on it and buying a replacement, make sure that it is completely inside its drive bay. There is a small chance that it is making intermittent contact. On the bottom of the D610 (and D600 and Inspiron 600m and several other similar models) there is a single screw that holds the drive in place. If this screw is gone, the drive can slide out just a tiny bit or even more. The D610 and similar models do not use a CD/DVD drive with a flat plastic bezel. Instead, they use a drive with a curved bezel, and you are better off with a replacement made for this series of Dell laptops. The single screw needs to be removed to release the drive from its drive bay. You can open the drive by pushing a small paper clip (straightened) straight into the small hole in the drive bezel. The drive tray will then pop out a little bit, and you can pull gently on the drive tray to remove the whole drive. You can get replacement drives in good condition from reputable sellers on eBay. Fortunately, Dell parts are inexpensive and easy to find on eBay, unlike other brands with smaller market share. Once the drive is removed, the sticker with its Dell part number is visible. Buy the same part number, or possibly a compatible DVD-RW if it suits your purpose... Ben Myers |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
Hi!
I am working on my niece's D610 and her optical drive is a Philips. And it is currently having problems with any DVD with copy protection. Is it really any DVD? The drive itself shouldn't really care, it only relays the encrypted data for the decoder to handle. Some of the more "interesting" approaches to DVD copy protection (Sony's ARccOS would be one) will give a DVD decoder a reason to head for the hills. You might try a newer decoder program? One has to wonder why they dream this stuff up. It does *nothing* to stop real piracy, foils "soft" piracy for only a while, and only frustrates the legitimate customer. I updated the firmware, but no help. I may end up replacing the drive and I welcome any hints how to on a D610. I'd have to think that it would come out easily, as many Latitude models have removable drives. On some models, there is a security screw that goes into the bottom of the machine and locks the release lever for the drive/module so it won't come out. William |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
Ben Myers wrote:
Charles wrote: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Charles Charles, If the CD/DVD device does not show in the Device Manager, it may well have bitten the dust. Before giving up on it and buying a replacement, make sure that it is completely inside its drive bay. There is a small chance that it is making intermittent contact. On the bottom of the D610 (and D600 and Inspiron 600m and several other similar models) there is a single screw that holds the drive in place. If this screw is gone, the drive can slide out just a tiny bit or even more. The D610 and similar models do not use a CD/DVD drive with a flat plastic bezel. Instead, they use a drive with a curved bezel, and you are better off with a replacement made for this series of Dell laptops. The single screw needs to be removed to release the drive from its drive bay. You can open the drive by pushing a small paper clip (straightened) straight into the small hole in the drive bezel. The drive tray will then pop out a little bit, and you can pull gently on the drive tray to remove the whole drive. You can get replacement drives in good condition from reputable sellers on eBay. Fortunately, Dell parts are inexpensive and easy to find on eBay, unlike other brands with smaller market share. Once the drive is removed, the sticker with its Dell part number is visible. Buy the same part number, or possibly a compatible DVD-RW if it suits your purpose... Ben Myers The D610 DVD is easily removable. It's made to swap out with the optional floppy drive unit. The bezel on the unit is likely removable. Almost (if not all) laptops have a removable bezel. I just replace the drive in my daughter's HP laptop. It was a bit tricky to remove the bezel, and you want to be VERY careful, since the plastic used on them is not very flexible and will only bend a few times. I recommend www.ultradrives.com. They were very good to deal with and shipped very promptly. Good luck! Phil |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
In ,
William R. Walsh typed on Mon, 4 Jan 2010 02:00:19 -0600: Hi! I am working on my niece's D610 and her optical drive is a Philips. And it is currently having problems with any DVD with copy protection. Is it really any DVD? It appears so. As it fails to load Sims2 and Sims3 games on DVD (they are copy protected) and any copy protected DVD media quits just seconds before the one hour mark. Non-copy protected DVD flies right on through. The drive itself shouldn't really care, it only relays the encrypted data for the decoder to handle. Some of the more "interesting" approaches to DVD copy protection (Sony's ARccOS would be one) will give a DVD decoder a reason to head for the hills. You might try a newer decoder program? I ran Nero DiscSpeed on the drive. Copy protected DVDs would fail and non-protected ones flew right on by with flying colors. And my niece wanted to play Sims3 on her Dell D610. And half way through the install, it would complain it couldn't read a file. I clicked on ignore and it would continue for awhile and the same error and file. Repeat a few more times and 5 hours later the progress bar would be at 100%, but it won't ever finish. I threw an external USB optic drive and it installed in 20 minutes without any problems. It also played copy protected DVD movie disc just fine too on the external. You would think the drive wouldn't care about copy protection, but some drives do. There are many cases of some drives don't like some copy protection. I have one copy protected audio CD that will stop after the seventh song on some players. Even if you have repeat set. One has to wonder why they dream this stuff up. It does *nothing* to stop real piracy, foils "soft" piracy for only a while, and only frustrates the legitimate customer. They seem to back off a bit when it frustrates the legitimate customer too much. Plus I feel they make extra money from copy protection from legitimate customers. Maybe that is why they do it. As I and I bet many other customers end up buying retail copies of the same thing over and over again. Like my niece thought her Sims3 disc was bad and went out and bought another brand new one. Her original one wasn't bad in this case, but I bet people buy extra copies all of the time like this. And sometimes the original one does goes bad. This also happens with Windows too. As many still has the recovery disc that came with their computer. But since they upgraded something, like the sound card or video card. Now the branded Windows recovery disc may not even be able to boot up. As the drivers are now wrong. So what do the legitimate user usually do? Go out and buy a retail version of Windows, when they shouldn't have to do this. Sad isn't it? I updated the firmware, but no help. I may end up replacing the drive and I welcome any hints how to on a D610. I'd have to think that it would come out easily, as many Latitude models have removable drives. On some models, there is a security screw that goes into the bottom of the machine and locks the release lever for the drive/module so it won't come out. Yes it does come out very easy. Thanks again. -- Bill Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 2 of 3 - Windows XP SP3 |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 08:28:59 -0600, "BillW50" wrote:
In , William R. Walsh typed on Mon, 4 Jan 2010 02:00:19 -0600: Hi! I am working on my niece's D610 and her optical drive is a Philips. And it is currently having problems with any DVD with copy protection. Is it really any DVD? It appears so. As it fails to load Sims2 and Sims3 games on DVD (they are copy protected) and any copy protected DVD media quits just seconds before the one hour mark. Non-copy protected DVD flies right on through. The drive itself shouldn't really care, it only relays the encrypted data for the decoder to handle. Some of the more "interesting" approaches to DVD copy protection (Sony's ARccOS would be one) will give a DVD decoder a reason to head for the hills. You might try a newer decoder program? I ran Nero DiscSpeed on the drive. Copy protected DVDs would fail and non-protected ones flew right on by with flying colors. And my niece wanted to play Sims3 on her Dell D610. And half way through the install, it would complain it couldn't read a file. I clicked on ignore and it would continue for awhile and the same error and file. Repeat a few more times and 5 hours later the progress bar would be at 100%, but it won't ever finish. I threw an external USB optic drive and it installed in 20 minutes without any problems. It also played copy protected DVD movie disc just fine too on the external. You would think the drive wouldn't care about copy protection, but some drives do. There are many cases of some drives don't like some copy protection. I have one copy protected audio CD that will stop after the seventh song on some players. Even if you have repeat set. One has to wonder why they dream this stuff up. It does *nothing* to stop real piracy, foils "soft" piracy for only a while, and only frustrates the legitimate customer. They seem to back off a bit when it frustrates the legitimate customer too much. Plus I feel they make extra money from copy protection from legitimate customers. Maybe that is why they do it. As I and I bet many other customers end up buying retail copies of the same thing over and over again. Like my niece thought her Sims3 disc was bad and went out and bought another brand new one. Her original one wasn't bad in this case, but I bet people buy extra copies all of the time like this. And sometimes the original one does goes bad. This also happens with Windows too. As many still has the recovery disc that came with their computer. But since they upgraded something, like the sound card or video card. Now the branded Windows recovery disc may not even be able to boot up. As the drivers are now wrong. So what do the legitimate user usually do? Go out and buy a retail version of Windows, when they shouldn't have to do this. Sad isn't it? I updated the firmware, but no help. I may end up replacing the drive and I welcome any hints how to on a D610. I'd have to think that it would come out easily, as many Latitude models have removable drives. On some models, there is a security screw that goes into the bottom of the machine and locks the release lever for the drive/module so it won't come out. Yes it does come out very easy. Thanks again. Can you try a different decoder or software with that internal before you junk it? My hunch is that it might be in the decoder but of course another internal might prove me wrong. You might google "sim decoders" and see if anyone else describes the same problem. |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
In ,
RnR typed on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:50:44 -0600: Can you try a different decoder or software with that internal before you junk it? My hunch is that it might be in the decoder but of course another internal might prove me wrong. You might google "sim decoders" and see if anyone else describes the same problem. Well she was excited to get the laptop back to play her Sim3 game. So I don't have it right now. And I told her I could change out the internal drive or she can buy an external one. Her Sim3 game checks for the copy protected DVD before it will start. And the drive seems to work ok for that. But not for installing the game. Btw, wouldn't it be the drive itself instead of the decoder since the external drive works just fine? That is what I would think anyway. -- Bill Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 2 of 3 - Windows XP SP3 |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
Hi!
It appears so. As it fails to load Sims2 and Sims3 games on DVD (they are copy protected) and any copy protected DVD media quits just seconds before the one hour mark. Non-copy protected DVD flies right on through. That is really, really odd. I'm still not sure it is a hardware problem, as the drive simply shouldn't care in most cases. There is some copy protection out there that hopes to foil copying by introducing mastering errors to the disc, so that a ripping program or unauthorized drive will be tripped up and (hopefully) rendered useless. This is the kind of scheme that causes problems for some legitimate players--especially players that try to read a given disc faster than playback speed to buffer it. I wonder about filter drivers and software driver issues causing this. A lot of copy protection systems use their own "filter" drivers to handle one particular protection scheme. Have you got access to another similar Latitude series system? If so, you can put the drive in there to see what it does and know right away. (The Latitude D600, D610, D620, D630, D800, 810, 820, 830 and Precision M60 should accept the drive.) I can look at the drive if you'd want to mail it to me. That is something which can be discussed by private mail wct atsign walshcomptech dot com if you're interested. (I'm in the US.) I threw an external USB optic drive and it installed in 20 minutes without any problems. It also played copy protected DVD movie disc just fine too on the external. Even stranger. Could be a mix of hardware and software having an interesting reaction? They seem to back off a bit when it frustrates the legitimate customer too much. I well remember the Sony audio-CD-rootkit controversy. I bought one of the CDs, but did not play it in a Windows-based computer. The claim was that the CD could not be ripped. Nobody told Windows 95 (on an IBM PS/2 Model 85) or the Mac OS about this. There was a number on the back of the CD case to call if you felt the CD had a quality defect. I did call, and I did complain, long before this ever became news. They took it seriously but I failed to follow through. It just got worse and worse for them, as the more they tried to defend what they were doing, the more of a backlash there was. First they claimed that customers wouldn't know or care what rootkit was when Mark Russinovich started to explore it. Then a security vulnerability turned up. Some GPL code turned up in the copy protection software, in a way that violated the GPL (as no source code was made available, nor was there an offer to get the source code for the parts they'd used). Eventually the whole thing turned into a class action lawsuit. Around that time, Sony instructed retailers to pull the affected discs. I participated in the class action and returned the CD for a replacement that did not have the "copy protection" applied to it. At the same time, I received coupons for online music stores and the option to download MP3 files of the album. Gee, I think this just might have been more of a fiasco and an expense to them than real piracy. :-) Whoops. I think I got on a soapbox there... This also happens with Windows too. As many still has the recovery disc that came with their computer. But since they upgraded something, like the sound card or video card. That's why I so like the Dell disc, which is usually just a straight up copy of Windows! William |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 14:31:44 -0600, "BillW50" wrote:
In , RnR typed on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:50:44 -0600: Can you try a different decoder or software with that internal before you junk it? My hunch is that it might be in the decoder but of course another internal might prove me wrong. You might google "sim decoders" and see if anyone else describes the same problem. Well she was excited to get the laptop back to play her Sim3 game. So I don't have it right now. And I told her I could change out the internal drive or she can buy an external one. Her Sim3 game checks for the copy protected DVD before it will start. And the drive seems to work ok for that. But not for installing the game. Btw, wouldn't it be the drive itself instead of the decoder since the external drive works just fine? That is what I would think anyway. Are you using the same decoder for both the internal and external? I guess what I'm thinking is if everything else is the same, then perhaps the internal is shot but I guess I have a hard time believing this when other things work fine in the internal. Now if you have a way to buy a new internal and return it if does the same thing, without any (or significant) extra cost, do this first. The time testing / researching this will amount to more than the time to swap the internal (if that's the problem... the big question). Now the other alternative perhaps is to just stay external (if that works for you / her). I seem to recall my daugher played with some sim games many years ago and I think she had a problem with it too but I guess she solved it then. I can ask her if I am correct and if she remembers later the problem and solution. |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
On Wed, 6 Jan 2010 16:28:02 -0800, "BillW50" wrote:
In , RnR typed on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:16:01 -0600: On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 14:31:44 -0600, "BillW50" wrote: In , RnR typed on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:50:44 -0600: Can you try a different decoder or software with that internal before you junk it? My hunch is that it might be in the decoder but of course another internal might prove me wrong. You might google "sim decoders" and see if anyone else describes the same problem. Well she was excited to get the laptop back to play her Sim3 game. So I don't have it right now. And I told her I could change out the internal drive or she can buy an external one. Her Sim3 game checks for the copy protected DVD before it will start. And the drive seems to work ok for that. But not for installing the game. Btw, wouldn't it be the drive itself instead of the decoder since the external drive works just fine? That is what I would think anyway. Are you using the same decoder for both the internal and external? I guess what I'm thinking is if everything else is the same, then perhaps the internal is shot but I guess I have a hard time believing this when other things work fine in the internal. The only thing I did was to connect up an external USB slimline DVD burner. And used this instead of the internal one. And everything worked perfectly. Now if you have a way to buy a new internal and return it if does the same thing, without any (or significant) extra cost, do this first. The time testing / researching this will amount to more than the time to swap the internal (if that's the problem... the big question). Now the other alternative perhaps is to just stay external (if that works for you / her). I gave her the options, so it is up to her. Although her Sim3 game is now working as is. So she probably doesn't care right now. She just can't run Sim2 (which she doesn't care right now) or reinstall Sim3 without another drive. Oh yeah, play copy-protected videos DVD past the 1 hour mark. This one might bother her. I seem to recall my daugher played with some sim games many years ago and I think she had a problem with it too but I guess she solved it then. I can ask her if I am correct and if she remembers later the problem and solution. Yes I would be very interested in what she remembers. grin P.S. I didn't know this before, but The Sims is the most popular game with over 100 million copies sold, according to Wikipedia. Bill, I will ask my daughter if she remembers. And interesting about the game but honestly I really don't play games on my systems so I'm ignorant of gaming facts. For some reason, I've played some games in the past on my systems but they never really interested me as much as tweaking system performance on each system. I guess I'm either a geek or weird. |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
In ,
RnR typed on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:44:30 -0600: Bill, I will ask my daughter if she remembers. And interesting about the game but honestly I really don't play games on my systems so I'm ignorant of gaming facts. For some reason, I've played some games in the past on my systems but they never really interested me as much as tweaking system performance on each system. I guess I'm either a geek or weird. Yes that would be great! And I used to be into games back in the 70's and 80's. Although I was young back then. Also I did write a number of games in the 80's. That was fun back then making the machine do things that the engineers never thought of. Although nowadays it is just fun enough keeping up with the maintenance of my many computers. wink P.S. I was going to say your time zone is set wrong. As you are two hours ahead in the future. Although I discovered it wasn't you, but this machine I am working on now. All is well now. lol -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3 |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
In ,
RnR typed on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:16:01 -0600: On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 14:31:44 -0600, "BillW50" wrote: In , RnR typed on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:50:44 -0600: Can you try a different decoder or software with that internal before you junk it? My hunch is that it might be in the decoder but of course another internal might prove me wrong. You might google "sim decoders" and see if anyone else describes the same problem. Well she was excited to get the laptop back to play her Sim3 game. So I don't have it right now. And I told her I could change out the internal drive or she can buy an external one. Her Sim3 game checks for the copy protected DVD before it will start. And the drive seems to work ok for that. But not for installing the game. Btw, wouldn't it be the drive itself instead of the decoder since the external drive works just fine? That is what I would think anyway. Are you using the same decoder for both the internal and external? I guess what I'm thinking is if everything else is the same, then perhaps the internal is shot but I guess I have a hard time believing this when other things work fine in the internal. The only thing I did was to connect up an external USB slimline DVD burner. And used this instead of the internal one. And everything worked perfectly. Now if you have a way to buy a new internal and return it if does the same thing, without any (or significant) extra cost, do this first. The time testing / researching this will amount to more than the time to swap the internal (if that's the problem... the big question). Now the other alternative perhaps is to just stay external (if that works for you / her). I gave her the options, so it is up to her. Although her Sim3 game is now working as is. So she probably doesn't care right now. She just can't run Sim2 (which she doesn't care right now) or reinstall Sim3 without another drive. Oh yeah, play copy-protected videos DVD past the 1 hour mark. This one might bother her. I seem to recall my daugher played with some sim games many years ago and I think she had a problem with it too but I guess she solved it then. I can ask her if I am correct and if she remembers later the problem and solution. Yes I would be very interested in what she remembers. grin P.S. I didn't know this before, but The Sims is the most popular game with over 100 million copies sold, according to Wikipedia. -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3 |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
On Wed, 6 Jan 2010 17:05:09 -0600, "BillW50" wrote:
In , RnR typed on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:44:30 -0600: Bill, I will ask my daughter if she remembers. And interesting about the game but honestly I really don't play games on my systems so I'm ignorant of gaming facts. For some reason, I've played some games in the past on my systems but they never really interested me as much as tweaking system performance on each system. I guess I'm either a geek or weird. Yes that would be great! And I used to be into games back in the 70's and 80's. Although I was young back then. Also I did write a number of games in the 80's. That was fun back then making the machine do things that the engineers never thought of. Although nowadays it is just fun enough keeping up with the maintenance of my many computers. wink P.S. I was going to say your time zone is set wrong. As you are two hours ahead in the future. Although I discovered it wasn't you, but this machine I am working on now. All is well now. lol I'll email my daughter and ask her. No problem on the time zone. I was tweaking my system a month or two ago when I forgot I changed my system clock and then posted here before I caught the error. I already felt bad about it and someone added to the misery when they made a snide remark at me about it. Oh well sh.. happens as they say. |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
On Wed, 6 Jan 2010 17:05:09 -0600, "BillW50" wrote:
In , RnR typed on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:44:30 -0600: Bill, I will ask my daughter if she remembers. And interesting about the game but honestly I really don't play games on my systems so I'm ignorant of gaming facts. For some reason, I've played some games in the past on my systems but they never really interested me as much as tweaking system performance on each system. I guess I'm either a geek or weird. Yes that would be great! And I used to be into games back in the 70's and 80's. Although I was young back then. Also I did write a number of games in the 80's. That was fun back then making the machine do things that the engineers never thought of. Although nowadays it is just fun enough keeping up with the maintenance of my many computers. wink P.S. I was going to say your time zone is set wrong. As you are two hours ahead in the future. Although I discovered it wasn't you, but this machine I am working on now. All is well now. lol Bill, sorry I can't help much now. I exchanged emails with my daughter and she said she doesn't remember. She got a little snappy with me because she said it was like 7 years ago and said it was the original sims game and that she bought it. Unfortunately I don't remember what the problem was nor the solution. Sorry Bill. |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
"BillW50" wrote in message ... In , RnR typed on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:16:01 -0600: On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 14:31:44 -0600, "BillW50" wrote: P.S. I didn't know this before, but The Sims is the most popular game with over 100 million copies sold, according to Wikipedia. -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3 That a strong indication of how many people need to get a real life. eg -- "Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you." |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
In ,
RnR typed on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:43:59 -0600: Bill, sorry I can't help much now. I exchanged emails with my daughter and she said she doesn't remember. She got a little snappy with me because she said it was like 7 years ago and said it was the original sims game and that she bought it. Unfortunately I don't remember what the problem was nor the solution. Sorry Bill. Many thanks for giving it a shot. I hope I didn't cause any problems between you and your daughter. I guess it is all water under the bridge now. ;-) -- Bill Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC Windows XP SP2 |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
Ben Myers wrote:
Charles wrote: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Charles Charles, If the CD/DVD device does not show in the Device Manager, it may well have bitten the dust. Before giving up on it and buying a replacement, make sure that it is completely inside its drive bay. There is a small chance that it is making intermittent contact. On the bottom of the D610 (and D600 and Inspiron 600m and several other similar models) there is a single screw that holds the drive in place. If this screw is gone, the drive can slide out just a tiny bit or even more. The D610 and similar models do not use a CD/DVD drive with a flat plastic bezel. Instead, they use a drive with a curved bezel, and you are better off with a replacement made for this series of Dell laptops. The single screw needs to be removed to release the drive from its drive bay. You can open the drive by pushing a small paper clip (straightened) straight into the small hole in the drive bezel. The drive tray will then pop out a little bit, and you can pull gently on the drive tray to remove the whole drive. You can get replacement drives in good condition from reputable sellers on eBay. Fortunately, Dell parts are inexpensive and easy to find on eBay, unlike other brands with smaller market share. Once the drive is removed, the sticker with its Dell part number is visible. Buy the same part number, or possibly a compatible DVD-RW if it suits your purpose... Ben Myers Received the replacement drive from an ebay seller in Texas and all is well again. It even came in a Dell box and looks to be new and not used-- or a real good job of cleaning up if it was used :) Charles |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
Charles wrote:
Ben Myers wrote: Charles wrote: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Charles Charles, If the CD/DVD device does not show in the Device Manager, it may well have bitten the dust. Before giving up on it and buying a replacement, make sure that it is completely inside its drive bay. There is a small chance that it is making intermittent contact. On the bottom of the D610 (and D600 and Inspiron 600m and several other similar models) there is a single screw that holds the drive in place. If this screw is gone, the drive can slide out just a tiny bit or even more. The D610 and similar models do not use a CD/DVD drive with a flat plastic bezel. Instead, they use a drive with a curved bezel, and you are better off with a replacement made for this series of Dell laptops. The single screw needs to be removed to release the drive from its drive bay. You can open the drive by pushing a small paper clip (straightened) straight into the small hole in the drive bezel. The drive tray will then pop out a little bit, and you can pull gently on the drive tray to remove the whole drive. You can get replacement drives in good condition from reputable sellers on eBay. Fortunately, Dell parts are inexpensive and easy to find on eBay, unlike other brands with smaller market share. Once the drive is removed, the sticker with its Dell part number is visible. Buy the same part number, or possibly a compatible DVD-RW if it suits your purpose... Ben Myers Received the replacement drive from an ebay seller in Texas and all is well again. It even came in a Dell box and looks to be new and not used-- or a real good job of cleaning up if it was used :) Charles Dell must have yard sales of spare parts after a while. A lot of people in the Austin TX area sell Dell spares on eBay. I've bought some myself and not encountered any problem. Better than paying extortion money to the "leading" 3rd party parts houses for the same stuff... Ben Myers |
Latitude D610, DVD/CD ROM
Ben Myers wrote:
Charles wrote: Ben Myers wrote: Charles wrote: After some extensive traveling the past week with my laptop I realized last night that the light is on constantly on the CD/DVD drive and the drive will not open. Rebooted several times and removed and replaced the drive also and no change. It also does not show in Device Manager. Have I lost it or is there anything else I can try? Charles Charles, If the CD/DVD device does not show in the Device Manager, it may well have bitten the dust. Before giving up on it and buying a replacement, make sure that it is completely inside its drive bay. There is a small chance that it is making intermittent contact. On the bottom of the D610 (and D600 and Inspiron 600m and several other similar models) there is a single screw that holds the drive in place. If this screw is gone, the drive can slide out just a tiny bit or even more. The D610 and similar models do not use a CD/DVD drive with a flat plastic bezel. Instead, they use a drive with a curved bezel, and you are better off with a replacement made for this series of Dell laptops. The single screw needs to be removed to release the drive from its drive bay. You can open the drive by pushing a small paper clip (straightened) straight into the small hole in the drive bezel. The drive tray will then pop out a little bit, and you can pull gently on the drive tray to remove the whole drive. You can get replacement drives in good condition from reputable sellers on eBay. Fortunately, Dell parts are inexpensive and easy to find on eBay, unlike other brands with smaller market share. Once the drive is removed, the sticker with its Dell part number is visible. Buy the same part number, or possibly a compatible DVD-RW if it suits your purpose... Ben Myers Received the replacement drive from an ebay seller in Texas and all is well again. It even came in a Dell box and looks to be new and not used-- or a real good job of cleaning up if it was used :) Charles Dell must have yard sales of spare parts after a while. A lot of people in the Austin TX area sell Dell spares on eBay. I've bought some myself and not encountered any problem. Better than paying extortion money to the "leading" 3rd party parts houses for the same stuff... Ben Myers This was shipped from Round Rock just North of Austin. I have always figured there were people that bought up excess inventory and sold it off as necessary. They probably get a pretty good price on a pallet of something. Charles |
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