fedora-list Digest, Vol 17, Issue 276

[Parameshwara Bhat]

On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 16:42:14 +0530, <fedora-list-request at redhat.com> wrote:

> Message: 9
> Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 18:40:52 +0900
> From: Dave Gutteridge <dave at tokyocomedy.com>
> Subject: Last Attempt at fixing DVD drives before abandoning Fedora
> Core
> To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list at redhat.com>
> Message-ID: <42E210A4.7060103 at tokyocomedy.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> Okay, this is it. As much as I am rooting for Fedora Core to be a stable
> (enough) desktop environment, the inability to reliably read DVDs is a
> deal breaker. I am making one last ditch effort to see if anyone can
> help, but if not, I'm going to have to give up on Fedora.
> I hope someone can help out here and at least give me a reason why my
> DVD drives are not working, if not solve them, so that I can assess
> whether or not I'm liable to encounter the same problem with another
> distribution of Linux (which is why I haven't already switched).
> 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.
> 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.

I have a SONY double layer DVD writer which has worked immaculately with  
FC3/FC4. I do not think the problem lies in the OS or application programs.

> 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.
> 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.

Before booting, FC4 is just sitting in the hard drive and has no hand in  
the behaviour of the drive. If you mean to refer to booting off dvd, then  
sure the problem lies out of OS.

But if you mean to say, presence of a dvd in the drive delays FC4 booting,  
please refer to bug-report no.163420 which I have filed. I guess that was  
an audio CD.

Most probably, your problem lies in master/slave setting. I have heard MS  
Windows ignores this setting whereas linux does not.


Parameshwara Bhat