Last Attempt at fixing DVD drives before abandoning Fedora Core

[Jim Cornette]

>  This will be the most complete description of the problem, and if
>  this doesn't do it, then I have to call it quits.
>
>  1. The Set Up: Fedora Core 4, complete yum update as of minutes
>  before writing this email, latest kernel. Desktop PC, Pentium III,
>  600Mhz.

The output of lspci might help people understand the hardware specifics 
that your computer has.

>  2. The Problem: When I put any kind of DVD, whether it's data or
>  video, into my DVD drives, they work poorly or not at all. Data CDs
>  and Audio CDs work fine, and I can even *write* DVDs on my external
>  DVD player and burn CDs on my other drives. It's only in reading DVDs
>  that the problem arrises.

>  External USB DVD drive: Will usually show the DVD icon on the
>  desktop, but copying data is extremely slow and will almost always
>  fail. I have succeeded maybe once or twice in copying data from a DVD
>  when the amount of data is less than 100 MB. But not reliably, and
>  not in any pattern that I can reproduce.

I haven't tried an external USB DVD burner yet. I will soon get one 
where I could try out. Using an internal drive, I commonly transfer 2 
gig files from the DVDs  to a hard drive. Other than the one smp kernel 
version killing the machine with defective DVDs, I had no problem 
transferring files as large as 2 GB.

>  Internal DVD 1: Putting a DVD in this drive causes the light to flash
>  as if it is reading, but no icon comes up and it does not become
>  accessible. Ejection is impossible unless I reboot and press the
>  front eject button during the power on sequence, or if I force an
>  ejection by inserting a pin into the manual eject hole on the front
>  of the drive. This DVD drive is on the sequence of boot devices
>  (between floppy disk and before hard drive), so if there is a DVD
>  present in the time of booting, it will delay the boot process by
>  five to ten minutes and eventually show an error before booting.

This sounds more like a hardware settings issue. Do you have the jumpers 
on the DVD drive set appropriately for master and slave operation? What 
OS are you trying to boot with the 5 minute hang? I also had one Memorex 
2x CDROM burner that loaded down the controller too much and failed at 
times. Changing to another CD burner, which I still use corrected the 
problem.

>  Internal DVD 2: Will spend about a minute reading the DVD before an
>  icon shows up on the desktop. Copying takes a long time (at least
>  twice the time it takes to copy the same number of files under
>  Windows XP), but it will actually complete. However, while it is
>  copying files, it seems to slow the whole system down, to the point
>  where mouse movement and typing is delayed.

I wouldn't be able to compare one to the other. I see no differences 
between the two OS performance levels. I hardly use the XP OS on the 
system though.

>  In Xine, when attempting to play a DVD, or an audio CD from my DVD
>  drive, I get the following error: There is no plugin available to
>  handle 'dvd:/'. Maybe MRC syntax is wrong or file/stream dource does
>  not exist.

Xine does not give me this error. I do get this error with totem though. 
Where are you getting Xine from?
>
>  I hope someone will be able to figure out what the issue is and help
>  me get this resolved.
>
>  Dave
>
>  Additional info: Here is what is in the auto.misc file: cd
>  -fstype=iso9660,ro,nosuid,nodev :/dev/cdrom
>
>  Here is the result of ls -l /dev/dvd:
>[root at localhost dev]# ls -l /dev/dvd
 >lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jul 14 2005 /dev/dvd -> hdb
>
>  Here are the results of hdparm:
 >[root at localhost dev]# hdparm -i /dev/dvd
 >/dev/dvd:
>  Model=RICOH DVD/CDRW MP9060, FwRev=1.50, SerialNo= Config={ Fixed
>  Removeable DTR<=5Mbs DTR>10Mbs nonMagnetic } RawCHS=0/0/0, TrkSize=0,
>  SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=0
>  CurCHS=0/0/0, CurSects=0, LBA=yes, LBAsects=0 IORDY=on/off,
>  tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0
>  pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 *mdma2
>  AdvancedPM=no
>
>  * signifies the current active mode
>
>  [root at localhost dev]# hdparm -i /dev/dvd1
>
>  /dev/dvd1:
>
>  Model=SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-608, FwRev=bp22, SerialNo= Config={ Fixed
>  Removeable DTR<=5Mbs DTR>10Mbs nonMagnetic } RawCHS=0/0/0, TrkSize=0,
>  SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=0
>  (maybe): CurCHS=0/0/0, CurSects=0, LBA=yes, LBAsects=0 IORDY=on/off,
>  tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0
>  pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 *mdma2
>  AdvancedPM=no
>
>  * signifies the current active mode
>
>  [root at localhost dev]# hdparm -i /dev/dvd2
>
>  /dev/dvd2: HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed: Invalid argument [root at localhost
>  dev]# hdparm -i /dev/dvdwriter
>
>  /dev/dvdwriter: HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed: Invalid argument
>

It looks like the two internals are working in mdma2 mode and /dev/dvd2 
is completely unknown by Linux.
Try searching for mdma2 and see what you come up with. I found the link 
below that may show an earlier RH related thread you can sift through.

Good Luck!

Jim

-- 
GIVE UP!!!!