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    M17x slot load optical drive

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by palifrov, Jul 15, 2009.

  1. palifrov

    palifrov Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys, finally got my m17x today!

    It is working great and the screen is of excellent quality, but for some reason i cant figure out why my optical drive is not working

    I can insert a dvd and the computer will give me that "hourglass" thing for a second and nothing else will happen.

    If i try to manually click the d: drive from my computer it just gives a pop up saying " no cd located, insert a dvd" and then it ejects the dvd i put in there.

    specs

    t9800
    gtx 280m sli
    128 ssd
    wuxga display
    4gig 1066 memory

    standard optical drive
    vista 64 home premium
    lunar silver edition

    Thanks in advance guys, I hope its just something stupid that I just cant figure out.
     
    palifrov, Jul 15, 2009
    #1
  2. Larry@LPC-Digital

    Larry@LPC-Digital Company Representative

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    First see if it is recognized in the bios
     
    Larry@LPC-Digital, Jul 15, 2009
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  3. palifrov

    palifrov Notebook Enthusiast

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    yes i think it is supported in the bios, im thinking of just doing the alien respawn to just wipe the system.

    I was planning on wiping it when i was gonna get it anyway.

    although i dont have the alien respawn disc but there is still an option when booting up to restore.
     
    palifrov, Jul 15, 2009
    #3
  4. Larry@LPC-Digital

    Larry@LPC-Digital Company Representative

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    Take some pics and tell us more when you can.
     
    Larry@LPC-Digital, Jul 15, 2009
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  5. palifrov

    palifrov Notebook Enthusiast

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    this is starting to aggrevate me.

    It says the driver is up to date on the optical drive, and even if i wanted to i could not insert the resource dvd.

    I dont understand how it could be working and it shows up, just nothing happens i cant seem to get any dvd working with it.
     
    palifrov, Jul 15, 2009
    #5
  6. airplaneman

    airplaneman Notebook Deity

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    It comes with the system does it not?
     
    airplaneman, Jul 15, 2009
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  7. palifrov

    palifrov Notebook Enthusiast

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    It came with the resource dvd and the vista home premium 64 bit dvd

    Anyway, both those dvds are useless right now since i cant get a dvd to read.
     
    palifrov, Jul 15, 2009
    #7
  8. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    Should make for a shorter conversation when you talk with Dell support since you can't run the diagnostic tools.
     
    Mandrake, Jul 15, 2009
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  9. palifrov

    palifrov Notebook Enthusiast

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    To confuse you guys even more, after popping in a couple other dvds i finally found one that worked, then i tried the respawn/ vista dvds and same thing... strange.
     
    palifrov, Jul 15, 2009
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  10. Larry@LPC-Digital

    Larry@LPC-Digital Company Representative

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    Sounds like you need to call them for a replacement Drive
     
    Larry@LPC-Digital, Jul 15, 2009
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  11. Mandrake

    Mandrake Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    That actually happened with my fathers DVD drive. I removed Windows 7 and put back Vista and it fixed it. He also never had any issues booting from DVD.
     
    Mandrake, Jul 15, 2009
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  12. palifrov

    palifrov Notebook Enthusiast

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    just for an update guys, the optical drive seems to work with all the dvds besides the provided dell ones.

    Plus im installing win 7 and i hope i can get all the drivers from the internet instead of the resource dvd
     
    palifrov, Jul 15, 2009
    #12
  13. GabeZ

    GabeZ Information Technology

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    It almost sounds like the drive is out of calibration. Dell is now using two brands of drives for the standard DVD-RW:

    Hitachi LG
    Sony

    Thanks,
    Gabe
     
    GabeZ, Jul 16, 2009
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  14. fastlappy

    fastlappy Notebook Evangelist

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    I had the hitachi lg version before upgrading to the panasonic uj-235a bd-re burner. No problems with either....
     
    fastlappy, Jul 16, 2009
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  15. palifrov

    palifrov Notebook Enthusiast

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    On windows 7 now, optical drive seems to work perfectly now. Although i had a problem when i tried to install the 186.18 modded inf drivers.

    I have the 9400m totally disabled in bios if that matters.

    When i tried to reboot after installing the driver it keeps freezing at the alien head where the bios and boot menu options are.
     
    palifrov, Jul 16, 2009
    #15