Ubuntu

cdrom drive appears confused

Asked by altaaa

- Standard install (tested on Ubuntu 6.06 & 6,10)
- hp NX6110 laptop
- Ubuntu seems to freeze randomly, with or without beryl

If I switch to console on TTY1 while logged in to X, the following message appears:
hdb: cdrom_pc_intr: the drive appears confused (ireason = 0x02)

top gives a 100% on the wa-counter, which is:
wa -- iowait
Amount of time the CPU has been waiting for I/O to complete.

If I disable the drive by adding "hdb=noprobe" to my kernel boot options, the freezes are over. But it also renders my cd/cdrw drive unusable.

I think it could be a hardware fault, maybe my cddrive is defective. But Windows can use it perfectly, it reads and burns with no faults, errors, blue screens or lock-ups whatsoever.

Is this a bug or is there a workaround where I can use my cd drive?

I'm using Edgy without cd support now, and I'm completely happy with it. But sometimes I'd wish I could use my cd drive, so I can stop booting into Windows alltogether.

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altaaa
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Revision history for this message
williamts99 (williamts99) said : 		#1

Have you checked HPs website for any BIOS and firmware updates for your system?

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altaaa (altaaa) said : 		#2

Yes, I have checked HP, but I'm already running the latest BIOS. Same goes for the firmware.

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williamts99 (williamts99) said : 		#3

Ok, it seems that there are multiple NX6110 laptops, with different specs, is there more to the model number? Also what drive is in the laptop?

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altaaa (altaaa) said : 		#4

The model number is: PY496ET#ABH

I have looked into the cd drive firmware more closely. Turns out I can't install it, because the firmware listed on the website is for the GCC-4243N drive, while I have a TSSTcorp CDW/DVD TS-L462C drive...

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williamts99 (williamts99) said : 		#5

Well, it seems that there have been updates to the firmware, and there is an 'auto updater' called 'liveupdate' available for windows.
http://www.samsungodd.com/eng/Firmware/FAQ/Faq.asp

Best Regards,

Williamts99

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altaaa (altaaa) said : 		#6

Williamts99, first of all thanks for your help.

The Liveupdate program wouldn't flash my drive. However, after some searching, I have downloaded a firmware update from this site:

http://www.toshibaer.com/firmware/index.php?path=TS-L462C/

Since my drive is HP branded, I used the HP firmware listed on that page. Version went from HP07 to HP10. It seems to be functioning correctly (in Windows), so I'm pretty confident it is a correct firmware.

I will test it some more in Ubuntu to see if the freezes still appear, will post my findings here.

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Best altaaa (altaaa) said : 		#7

It's been ten days now, and I haven't had a single lockup. I'm able to finally use my cd drive in linux, works like a charm. Guess the problem's solved. Williamts99, thanks for your help!