Hi all,
this problem appeared recently, a few weeks ago. My LG GSA-H50N optical drive won’t boot the suse11 bootable dvd. The dvd works fine. I tested it on other systems. I suspect a drive issue since the dvd is cannot be seen or accessed even under XP (dual boot system, XP/Suse11). A google search returned similar problems on LG drives, nut no working solution. I tried removing the filters under XP (Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs) and got nothing.
I hear ya Ken. That’s the perennial plan B. However, I wonder if it is not just a question of resetting the drive in some way. You see I can still write CDs and DVDs with it, even access other non-bootable media. The problem really started when I switched from 10.3 to 11. All of a sudden, no more booting from DVDs. It boots just fine from CDs though. This is how I managed to install suse11 with the liveCD. :\
yes I tried other bootable DVD’s. They didn’t work either. In fact I can’t even boot the old suse10.3 DVD anymore, and that one used to work no problem. All these DVDs work on other machines.
This is why I am wondering if the drive settings got inadvertently altered at some time.
I tried every single jumper setting possible without getting it to boot from a DVD.
The machine is dual-boot XP-SP2/Suse11, mobo asus m2n-e, athlon x2 5200+, 8G ram. 2 sata hd’s, one for windows and one for suse.
No, hardware sometimes does odd things like that. I had a DVD drive which stopped reading DVD-R but would still read DVD+R ok. They may have been using different lasers. I also have in my collection a DVD drive that won’t read CDs but handles DVDs just fine. Again probably different lasers.
However you might want to check if there any settings in the BIOS that might have changed. I have no idea what since I can’t think of a BIOS setting that would say ok to boot from CD but not from DVD.
On doubt: replace the drive, they’re only around € 20 / $ 20. Spending more than an hour on a drive that doesn’t boot any bootable media is a waste of time. Even if you manage to find out the hdparms to send to the drive, the memory of the drive might be corrupt (happens) and on reboot, to boot into the bootable media, the needed settings would be lost, so…
I am leaning towards getting a sata optical drive. This problem is really frustrating cause the drive is only a couple of years old. All bios settings are correct and I don’t want to flash a new bios. This will just open a whole new can of worms.
I’ll take a look at what can be done with the hdparms. Meanwhile, can anyone recommend a good and sturdy sata optical drive? Knurpht we seem to be using similar systems (except for the overclocking). What you got?
I don’t know if you’ve flashed to check if it will help or not but even though you might have the latest firmware still try to flash it.
I’ve heard LG’s are good
I got a SATA LG DVD writer and i’m not complaining. The chances of borking the dvd/cd with a SATA drive is lesser as the timeouts are almost inexistent, you can’t say the same about PATA DVD writers (E)IDE]
Also, maybe there’s something with the motherboard BIOS ??
Have you tried clearing CMOS or flashing the mobo??
The latest firmware was flashed on last night. no dice. I’ll try uninstalling and reinstalling the drive, different cable and whatnot to see if it makes any difference.
checked the bios throughout and everything seems fine. flashing a new bios is not really an option since it will most likely raise new issues. I don’t even want to go there since it is easier to just get a new drive.
someone on the techsupportforum website suggested looking at the voltages and the temperatures in the bios. I’ll post them tonight.
PIO Mode: auto
UDMA Mode: auto (set to 4 by system)
Primary IDE master: auto (manual makes no difference)
Access mode: auto
IDE Function Setup:
Onchip IDE Channel0: Enabled
IDE DMA Transfer access: Enabled
IDE Prefetch mode: Enabled
Parallel port address: 378/IRQ7
Parallel port mode: EPP
Dual-boot Suse11/XP-SP3
there is no burning software under windows. got k3b under linux.
