Mandrake Linux 9.2 Killed My Cdrom Drive


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Thread: Mandrake Linux 9.2 Killed My Cdrom Drive

  1. #1
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    Mandrake Linux 9.2 Killed My Cdrom Drive!!!!!!!!!

    First off: MANDRAKE LINUX SUCKS!!!!!
    now that I have that out of the way, i'll explain my problem.

    I'm so mad right now, I'm steaming.
    Mandrake Linux 9.2 DL edition KILLED my cdrom drive. I didn't know that it was even physicly possable for software to DO something like that, but it did. TWICE.
    When I installed it, the drive suddenly died during hardware detection. I finished the install with a USB cdrom drive. I thought the drive dieing was kinda wierd, but i figured it might have been just a power serge.
    I took the cdrom drive from my OTHER computer and stuck it in later to try and reinstall win98 (located on the other partition) i booted in mandrake to copy off some documents before I repartitioned everything. (I wanted to move windows 98 off one hd onto another so I could have an extra hd to install linux on another computer)

    mandrake started up, and then, when it got to the detecting new hardware screen, suddenly it froze. AND THEN MY CDROM DRIVE DIED!!!!! It won't work, in ANY computer!!!!!!!!
    I could break all my mandrake disks in half right now, i'm so mad. I can't believe I actuly wasted $60 in equitment to this thing.
    Now, I can't do anything. Can't even run windows anymore because its broken.

    Mandrake sucks.
    Running Debian Sarge
    No operating system is perfect, but mine is more perfect then yours is.
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  2. #2
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    hey,

    You probably have a LG CD-rom drive, eh ?
    Unfortunately, many people had the same problem you did and was widly documented on the net.
    [one quick example - http://lists.q-linux.com/pipermail/p...er/031157.html

    Did you know 10.0 had came out ?! Why didn't you try that one first ?!?!


    regards,
    keyshawn
    <a href="http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131047">JustLinux's Newbie Reading Guide</a>

  3. #3
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    Im curious as to what model and make the cdrom is and how old it was. I ask cause Ive run mandrake through its last 5 incarnations and have never had a problem with any of my hardware (its always even autodetected everything) Im wondering if your problem isnt simmilar to the one they had last year http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/lgerrata.php3 take a look at that and check/contact the hardware manufacture's site to see if there are any simmilar problems that they're aware of; also check mandrake's hardware compatability list to see if the drive is on it as well.
    Somethings are but lost
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    Til our paths cross again.

  4. #4
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    The problem with LG drives was that LG did not follow the ATAPI standard for their drives.

    Mandrake didn't kill your LG CDROM, it was the LG engineer who changed the firmware so that the documented ATAPI "clear_buffer" command actually cleared the firmware, not the cache buffer.

    Information and links on how to fix your LG CDROM (if that is what you have) can be found on the Mandrake site.

    Cheers
    Last edited by Choozo; 09-25-2004 at 10:01 AM.
    Linux User #181509

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  5. #5
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    I hope you statement that "Mandrake sucks" is not based on the fact that your CD-ROM drive died. It is LG that sucks and I will never by an LG drive as long as I live. Standards are standards!

    Personally, I think that Mandrake is one of the best distros for a power user, but I have had problems incorporating RPMs from other distros. I'd been using Mandrake still if I hadn't discovered SuSE.

    BTW CD-ROMs are dirt cheap, pick up a new one? I got an OEM DVD-ROM for $37 CDN so it'll be peanuts for a new one if you are American.

    Please give it a shot after you get your CD-ROM fixed. Perhaps the newer 10.1 Community Edition of something.

    BTW did any other distros have this problem? If not then why only Mandrake?
    Please use your spare cpu cycles to help a good cause (its free!!1)... http://folding.stanford.edu

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  6. #6
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    I'm sorry, but I after doing some reserch on this, I discovered that this problem had been found by some SuSE engenners over TWO YEARS before Mandrake 9.2 came out.
    Why LG did not fix it and why Mandrake did not test it is beyond me. I my opinion, they should have known there would have been issues with LG drives and had some sort of note in the docs about it.
    CdRom drives are dirt cheap? I don't call 30 bucks 'peanuts' especaly when I've got two to replace.

    Yeah, mandrake 10 is out. It came out like a month ago. Most people don't upgrade that quickly, especaly when they don't have a network connection on the computer in question that they will be upgrading.

    I was using 9.2 because I installed it when it first came out because of all the hype about it. The 'well documented problem' was as of then rather undocumented.
    It killed my first cdrom drive back when it first came out. I thought there was a power surge or something. I finished the install using a USB drive.

    I went and anoyed some mandrake IRC users untill they told me why my cdrom drive had died. I found a link to 'fix' the problem. Now I'm even more frustrated. The official LG firmware restore thing does not work. First, I rebooted into DOS. It said that my cdrom drive could not be found to update.

    Then, I rebooted into dos using a win98 disk /w cdrom support. Same story. I tired like three times.

    The instructions tell you to change the jumper settings, plug in the data cable, boot into DOS, plug in the power cable while holding down the eject button, and then to run a batch file.

    I preformed this three times with no luck, and the forth, as I plugged in the power cable, a spark jumped across from the power cable into the jack where it was to be pluged in and shut down the computer. When I rebooted I got a BIOS error saying that the floppy drive could not be found.

    So, now my floppy drive is dead, too.

    Curse you, LG!!!
    Last edited by jamez1988; 09-25-2004 at 05:39 PM.
    Running Debian Sarge
    No operating system is perfect, but mine is more perfect then yours is.
    www.linuxteens.com

  7. #7
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    Originally posted by jamez1988
    So, now my floppy drive is dead, too.

    Curse you, LG!!!
    So I'm guesin' it's fair to say that it hasn't been your day today?

    best of luck

    ps: consider yourself lucky it was just a floppy drive. take a walk and almost any coputer being thrown out will have a functioning floppy drive.
    Please use your spare cpu cycles to help a good cause (its free!!1)... http://folding.stanford.edu

    BSD, Java, and Functional Programming fan.

  8. #8
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    I wonder if LG would send me a new computer as compensation.
    Running Debian Sarge
    No operating system is perfect, but mine is more perfect then yours is.
    www.linuxteens.com

  9. #9
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    Originally posted by jamez1988
    I'm sorry, but I after doing some reserch on this, I discovered that this problem had been found by some SuSE engenners over TWO YEARS before Mandrake 9.2 came out.
    Why LG did not fix it and why Mandrake did not test it is beyond me. I my opinion, they should have known there would have been issues with LG drives and had some sort of note in the docs about it.
    The note was on the Mandrake site at least. And as for "bugs" like this: One can't really expect any distributors (Microsoft included) to test against blatantly ignorance of standards,

    Yeah, mandrake 10 is out. It came out like a month ago. Most people don't upgrade that quickly, especaly when they don't have a network connection on the computer in question that they will be upgrading.
    AFAIK, Mandy 10.0 has been publicly available for at least 6 months now .... if not longer.

    Cheers
    Linux User #181509

    * It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on this planet
    has ever come up with the phrase "as pretty as an airport" *
    -- Douglas Adams --

  10. #10
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    note: I typed out a rather long reply, and then discovered that dillo is not compatable with justlinux. So heres the short version. Grrr.

    I know it's not mandrake's fault, but I find it interesting that it's the only distro that has had problems with this.
    After using debian for a while, I realized that the computer was too slow for mandrake anyway and that much greater speeds could be attained with something like slackware or libranet.

    I hate LG.

    My floppy drive actuly seems to work, more or less, I think my BIOS just got reset.

    I need some ideas on how to get that firmware uploaded! Every time I try it, I get a message saying that no cdrom drive was found. (Yes, I'm loading the correct firmware. Yes, It's plugged in at the right place.)
    Running Debian Sarge
    No operating system is perfect, but mine is more perfect then yours is.
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  11. #11
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    Originally posted by jamez1988
    I know it's not mandrake's fault, but I find it interesting that it's the only distro that has had problems with this.
    I'm not positive about this, but I believe that the problem was Mandrake over-streamlining hardware detection (actually not over-streamlining if the CD drive weren't programmed stupidly, but anyway), so it was actually just that they were trying to be efficient. I just happened to hear that somewhere quite a while ago though and I know nothing about the details so maybe that's completely bogus. That's it to the best of my knowledge in any case.

    Unfortunately (or fortunately), I don't have an LG cd drive so I can't help you much on that end. I assume that their support pages haven't been very helpful?

  12. #12
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    Yeah, now mandrake has a check to see if the drive is actuly a cd-r or dvd drive (and not a cdrom drive) before actuly sending that command. btw, not having that check before was only efficent for the owners of cd-r/dvd drives as it would waste the processing power of owners of normal cd drives. (not by much, admittedly, but i thought i'd point that out.)

    I have followed the instructions to a T. Reading the posts on forums and such, it sems that the restore process only works on *some* kinds of computers. For instance, IBM computers can't do it. (why not? who knows.) My Acer Aspire (yes, the first one. its really old.) seems to fall into the catagory of "can't".
    It reportedly works on old Compaq computer, thats the kind of computer that mandrake 9.2 is installed on, but all my floppy disks are corrupted at the moment, so I have not been able to try it sucessfuly yet.
    Last edited by jamez1988; 09-27-2004 at 06:18 PM.
    Running Debian Sarge
    No operating system is perfect, but mine is more perfect then yours is.
    www.linuxteens.com

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