Studio 1535 eject button issue - NOT the sticking problem!

Hi, all...

Recently (as in, the past couple of months), my touch-sensitive media panel has been having some issues above and beyond the common complaints of the sticking eject button. Don't get me wrong, it still does that, but it adds something new to the mix:

More often than not, the eject button does not function at all, even after it unsticks itself.

Once I boot up, it sticks like normal until I boot into Windows, then attempts to eject about 10 times, and then stops. However, most of the time, it will no longer eject when pressed after this. Touching the button will cause it to illuminate like usual, but the DVD drive does not respond, regardless of whether there's a disk in the drive or not.

Sometimes, it works just fine for hours on end, ejecting every time I press the button. Sometimes it starts out working, but I'll come back to it half an hour later and it will no longer function.

Also worth noting is that when the capacitive eject button does not function, neither does the Fn+F10 keyboard shortcut.

I don't believe it's an issue with the DVD drive itself, as I can still eject via software while this happens, by going to My Computer, right clicking the drive and selecting "Eject" (although this occasionally causes an instant Blue Screen of Death).

However, I don't believe it's a touch panel issue either, because I've had the entire panel and ribbon cable replaced by Dell, and there was no difference. Also, all the other buttons (volume, playback controls) work perfectly when the eject is not sticking.

I also doubt it's a keyboard issue, because this started happening with my old keyboard, which I later replaced with my current backlit keyboard, but the Fn+F10 shortcut still does not work when the eject button does not work.

With all this, it left me to believe that the only thing it could be is software, so I completely reformatted the hard drive, left no partitions intact, not even the Dell Recovery partition, and re-installed Windows Vista 64-bit from scratch, but as luck would have it, it was doing exactly the same thing within 30 minutes of loading Windows for the first time.

I am really out of ideas here. I just can't think of anything else that could possibly be causing this, unless it's an issue with the DVD drive itself, which as I said earlier, is unlikely because ejecting via software works. Also, Dell refuses to replace the DVD drive anyway after I sent them basically this exact same message, because they "do not believe that there is a problem with the DVD drive".

Any ideas on why this might be happening? If it were just the regular sticky eject button, I would not be bothered as long as it worked as normal once it stopped sticking, but this is not the case.

Help would be greatly appreciated, and naturally, rewarded with rep.

Also, apologies for the wall of text, but I want to be as precise and descriptive as possible. Better to give too much information than too little.

Cheers,
Brendon

 

Sorry to hear you haven't been successful in solving this problem. Frankly, I think your symptoms are being caused by whatever causes the sticking eject button. I've come to the conclusion that Dell doesn't know how to fix it.

In the other thread, you indicated you had some success by holding down the power button on startup. Is that still effective?

Some people have disconnected the cable that will keep all the touch sensitive keys from working. That helps them avoid the insanity. I wouldn't be happy with that solution, but could see myself doing so as a last resort because you don't want to keep wasting your time trying to figure out the problem.

Personally, I had a 1537 with eject key problems and sent it back within the 21 day return period for a refund. After reading about the issue on this forum and at Dell Community, I noticed that there was NO SOLUTION that worked consistently for all. Some people have had parts replaced that seemed to do the job, but others would continue to have the same problems even after replacing the hinge/keyboard/drive etc.

You can insist that Dell repair the 1535 under warranty, but as you said, "it works fine for hours on end", and you might get back the machine with nothing done if it "behaves" for the Dell techs.

Maybe you should try disconnecting the media cable. If all else works properly, and you have an alternative way to eject a disk, then at least you can use your laptop without wondering if it will work properly every time you turn it on.

 

Apparently problems only occur on studio 15's that have a backlit keyboard. I have the normal keyboard and I have never had these problems, even with the AMD board. I've yet to find a fix that doesn't involve taping off the connector. The only way to know if the backlit keyboard is the trouble, is to unplug the second connector and see what happens. Have you tried this? I say give it a shot.

 

Hey, my Studio 1537 had the same problem twice. After the sticky eject button disappeared, the drive stopped ejecting even on my command (regardless of touching the eject button or using Fn+F10.) I restarted the computer both times and it was fine afterwards. I have since then completely disabled the touch buttons and nothing out of the ordinary has happened as far as I know (granted, I don't use the DVD drive that much.)

The two times that it did happen were in Windows XP though. Never had it happen in Vista. That and with the BSOD you reported, I agree with you about it being software/driver related. It could also be because of the bad touch panel causing the drive to eject so much.

Maybe the drive got mad and decided to strike as protest - they might be unionized

What is your drive's make/model and what firmware do you have on it?

 

That still does the job of preventing or shortening the sticky eject button, but in half of those cases, it just boots into Windows with the eject button already non-responsive.

I don't think that's the case. Mine's been doing this since way before I bought my backlit keyboard.

Lucky you, then.

On average, I'd say it happens just about every other boot. As in, if I use this thing for a couple hours and the eject button works for all that time, then I can basically guarantee that it will not work the next time I turn on the computer, whether it's 10 minutes later or 10 hours.

I'm not ruling out the touch panel itself entirely, but I think it's much less likely, since this is a replacement touch panel, and it's no better or worse than the old one when it comes to the eject button going completely inert.

Haha. It's a totally believable theory, except for the fact that if they went on strike, it would affect everyone's 1535/1537, not just yours and mine.

It's an Optiarc AD-7640S, just the standard slot-loading DVD+RW drive at the time I purchased this thing. I have no idea what firmware it's using, as Dell didn't see fit to release a firmware utility for this particular model. They did release one for another brand of DVD+RW drive for the 1535, as well as the Optiarc Blu-Ray drive, but neither of those work.

Of course, Sony's Optiarc website doesn't even list the AD-7640 anywhere either.

 

I hope I don't encounter this or I might start losing hair early. D:

 

Haha...luckily for you, this only seems to affect me, and KingRaptor when he's on XP.

It's just the strangest thing. Right now, for instance, the button works fine, and it's been over 3 hours since I booted.

 

And Dell has no idea what is wrong or how to fix it? For a popular laptop they don't seem to be jumping on the gun to fix the issue.

 

The couple times I called or chatted with Dell about it, they said it was an issue with the media in the drive.

Yes, the media in my empty DVD drive. :/

 

I don't know which drive you have, but mayby a firmware update will solve this? ( http://support.dell.com/support/dow...stemID=STUDIO1537&os=WLH&osl=en&catid=&impid=)

(I see there are two updates for two different models)

 

Nice try, but in one of my previous posts I pointed out that Dell does not have a firmware update for my particular DVD drive, and neither does the manufacturer.

Also, that drivers page you linked is for the Studio 1537. I have a 1535. Nice try though.

 

I have 7640 and I'm running it under (S)ATA because another reason.
IMO AHCI mode makes my HDD to clicking loudly.

So I use 7640 under SATA and my only problem is freezing sound during the ejection.
If you want and know how I can provide you my firmware.

Do you ever try to switch from AHCI to SATA?

 

I didn't know you could do that. I assume that's a BIOS setting of some sort?

 

Be careful when you switch from AHCI to SATA, it might cause the OS to blue-screen (I think it changes the operating mode of both the HDD and Optical disc drive.)

I have the TSST DVD-RW drive. I'm chancing a guess this non-working eject is not because of the drive itself but because of some internal problems with either the motherboard or media board...darn that thing...

I wonder what they will say if you told Dell support that your DVD drive went on strike...

 

Duly noted.

I guess I'll call them again and see about a motherboard replacement...who knows, if it goes through maybe they'll replace mine with a 1537 motherboard so I can have the PM45 chipset.

I think the joke would be lost on the Indian call center people.