Last Attempt at fixing DVD drives before abandoning Fedora Core

From: Dave Gutteridge (dave_at_tokyocomedy.com)
Date: 07/23/05

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To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list@redhat.com>

    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.
    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.
    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.

    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.

    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@localhost dev]# ls -l /dev/dvd
    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jul 14 2005 /dev/dvd -> hdb

    Here are the results of hdparm:
    [root@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@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@localhost dev]# hdparm -i /dev/dvd2

    /dev/dvd2:
    HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed: Invalid argument
    [root@localhost dev]# hdparm -i /dev/dvdwriter

    /dev/dvdwriter:
    HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed: Invalid argument 

    -- 
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