CF-29 Recovery fails

After doing some searching in this forum I didn't come across anyone else with this particular problem, so here goes...

I'm trying to restore a CF-29 (CF-29ETPGBKM) from the product recovery CDs. All goes well until 24% and it's ready for disk 2. A dialog pops up with:

"Insert media 2 containing file "I:\images\install1.002" into drive L:."

I insert disk 2 of 3, which does have the referenced file in a folder named IMAGES, and click OK... Then, immediately with no CD spin-up:

"The media does not contain the correct file."

The path in the first message is odd; it looks like it expects the CD drive to be I: when in fact it's L:. I've looked through the .bat files that run the restore process to see if there's some way to influence drive letter assignment, or any other clues, but nothing obvious stands out. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree. I'm about 99% sure that these are the CDs that came with this unit (...we only have one), and it seems that if they weren't it would have failed on the first one.

There seems to be a ton of expertise here, so... any ideas? Any assistance will be appreciated. Thanks!

Rick

 

Do you have any usb devices or pcmcia card installed in or on the unit?

 

For some reason it is looking at drive I instead of L that is why the cd never spins up and it will not continue. I have had problems in the past with usb devices (mainly thumb drives) taking different drive letters and messing up installs.

 

Also you can shut off the WWAN with the switch in the front just incase it is messing with the install.

 

Thanks for the quick replies. No USB or PCMCIA devices. All the slots/ports are empty. Nothing in it but the CD drive. This one doesn't seem to have a switch on the front for the wireless. I suppose I could disable it in the bios though...

Update... Went into the bios and disabled WWAN, USB, floppy. Same result. This thing is seriously tempting me to test it's toughness, maybe by flinging it off a high place

 

Make sure you are formatting the hard drive to begin
You have the option to partition when restoring, just have 1 partition
The correct restore disks if original are as follows:

DFQX3783LA1
DFQX3783LA2
DFQX3783LA3

(Mk2-XP1AM-TSW) marked on all

The properties of install1.002
638MB (669,908,992 bytes)

Bad or dirty disk?


Alex

 

Thanks Alex,

Yes, those are the disks that I have. Actually we have 2 sets, that were in unopened original packaging... tried them both; same result. Even tried burning "images\install1.002" onto another disk.

I did the "Erase" option first, then tried the 1 partition option, and the 2 partition option when that didn't work.

The immediate failure after hitting ok, and the incorrect path have me leaning toward that as the root of the problem... anyway, I'm starting again from the beginning. Isn't that one of the definitions of insanity? doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result?

 

Rick,
The path is correct
I did a restore on one of my 29s and it says the same message
The only way to duplicate your message is to put in a different disk when asked than disk 2


Alex

 

I was afraid you'd say that... I really am putting in disk2, and have checked it for the existence of that file; even tried 2 different disk 2s.

When you click OK with the wrong disk, does the drive spin up and seem to be seeking? During the disk 1 copy process, the MP light is active. When I put in disk 2 and close the drive, there's no MP light activity and the drive isn't spinning. I click OK; the MP light flashes once and that's it.

We have another CF-29 but only one CD drive. I'm told that the other one did the same thing. I've never had a cd drive "sort of work", but I'm thinking that I'd like to try to borrow another one, and see if that's it.

 

When prompted to insert disk 2 Try moving the laser to the center of its travel,or move to the opposite side that where it is parked.
That will make it seek across the whole cd.

Alex

 

Gee... I thought that was going to do it! No dice. The laser stays wherever I put it.

I'm checking with some customers now to see if I can borrow a drive. So far I have some with 28s and 30s. No 29s yet, but it looks like the 28 one will fit.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Rick

 

27s 28s and 29s will all work

Alex

 

Success! It's finished with disk 2 and now reading disk 3!

My boss wandered in, looked at the drive and said "You know, if we take that apart, I think I have another drive in the IT room that'll fit that enclosure." Sure enough, we swapped in a DVD/CD-R/RW from a wreck, and it's working like a champ now.

Thanks Alex and Zippy!

 

No problem even tho my ideas had nothing to do with it lol


Did you follow the DVD drive tutorial here and solder the two pins on the caddy PCB when you put the new drive in?

Alot of people have problems with long boot times and not being able to boot from the modified drive without soldering the two connectors.

If yours is working well without having to solder the connector what drive did you use to put in there?


-James

 

I still appreciate your taking the time to try and help James.

I didn't think to look for a tutorial first ... We just saw that the drives were the same form factor and figured that was all that was necessary. The first one I tried was a Toshiba DVD-ROM (SD-C2302), which seemed to spin up, but wouldn't boot. Now I know why. Then we came up with a DVD-R & CD-R/RW from a CF-73 (Matsu$hita UJDA750) . Aside from the face plate of the tray being a little different shape and rubbing on the carrier, that one worked perfectly with no other mods.

Now it's time to do some reading up on the next issue: Why doesn't the USB port work? Once I remembered to enable all the stuff I disabled yesterday, that still didn't work. It does feel loose, so I'm guessing I have some soldering to do.

Rick

 

It is easy to swap in a brand new DVD MultiDrive to get total functionality out of your drive! The fujitsu and matsu$hita drives work in the Panny enclosure without modification. However you can soldera small 000 resistor, piece of wire or blob of solder across R2 on the inner pc board and you will have, basically, a brand new optical drive!

 

Can the cf-30 drives be modded as well?

Toughbook,
I noticed that you have a dvd rom and will be modding it into a multi drive has someone figured this out?

 

I haven't had the time to do the swap. It looks like it can be done but I'm not sure if the internal soldering procedure would be the same. I'm working 80+ hour weeks these days... And thankful I HAVE a job... If it keeps going the way it is... I'll have plenty of time in the not-so-distant future! I'll let you know then.

But it looks like a fairly straightforward swap.

 

I have started on the Mod

I have a CF-VDR301U
I removed the UJDA-770 dvd/cdrw drive
I replaced it with a UJ-840 DVD Super-Multi Drive
I swapped out the front bezels to allow for the notch on the cf-30
(That was easy as the drives have identical mounting points for the bezels)
I removed the label from the top of the stock drive and replaced it on the dvd/multi drive
This drive now looks perfect, and it was easy so far
My next step is to see if it works as is, or if I have change the c/s configuration

I actually don’t know for sure if this will work!

I need a cf-30 to try it on!

I have a cf-30 on order and will report back in a few weeks when received


Alex

 

Any news on that dvd multi drive?

 

James

My latest toughbook cf-30 is still in transit
So still no confirmation on if this will work properly as is , or whether I need to do some soldering


Alex

 

Alright Well I am hoping it works without any soldering but if i have to solder i will.

I noticed alot of toshiba drives have to be set to master to work.

If that is the case then one of those drives should work as well if your drive works.

I would like to purchase another drive than a toughbook one since most of the toughbook drives are going for alot more than the toshiba ones.

I read somwhere on the forums that the fujitsu and matu$hita drives also work on the cf-29 without soldering. I wonder if that will be the same with the cf-30 caddy.

-James

 

I listed the mastsu$hita part # earlier ,
I used it because of the front plastic besel that is the same hookup to the drive , so I didn't have to trim the slot out, I just removed the besel from the cf-vdr301u dvd/cdrw drive


Alex

 

Ya I saw the drive you used was a uj-840

I was watching a few uj-850 drives but i have to make sure they are set at master before I buy one.

I know the toughbook has to have the drive set to master to boot.

I hope the mod you did works so i can get a dvd burner again.

-James

 

"Success! It's finished with disk 2 and now reading disk 3!

I was having this very same problem trying to restore a
CF-27 to the factory disks. It did this same "media not found" thing.

I tried 3 different CD drives in it to no avail.

Then I found this link to the manual for the CF-07 and what do ya know.

"NOTE:
"If [OK] is not immediately selected:
"[The media does not contain the correct file] may be displayed.
"In such cases,[Insert media 2...] is displayed again when [OK] is
"selected. Confirm that Product Recovery CD-ROM 2 has been
"inserted by opening the tray of the CD-ROM drive,
"then close the tray and immediately select [OK].

The key word here in IMMEDIATELY. Do not wait for the drive
to spin up and start reading. Hit the "OK" button as soon as
the drive door closes on the second disk.

After MANY tries and much frustration, this solved the problem.



http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/CF07LZAZYDM.PDF

 

Hmmmm.... Good info. Thanks!

I also had a similar problem... when loading Recovery Disks... It turned out that it wouldn't read the disk properly because there was a pinhole scratch on the CD... You could actually hold the CD up to a bright light and see through it where the little pinhole was. Apparently I had set the CD down somewhere and it got one little tiny scratch. Normally I put everything right back into the sleeves... And it might have happened while it was in the sleeve for all I know.. It was just a pinhole and very hard to see.