[ltp] DVD/CD trouble, and my experience with IBM tech support

[Tom Grydeland]

Having finally decided that there *is* something wrong with the CD/DVD
player in my ThinkPad 600E, I got in touch with IBM tech. support.  As
I've reported on this list previously, the first person I talked to was
not very helpful, insisting that the computer was supported only in its
initial configuration (Win98), and that any problem I experienced under
Linux was therefore my own problem.

((
    The problem I experienced was that reading large files from a mounted
    CD would sooner or later run into a wall, the DVD player obtaining data
    only *very* slowly, and with the drive "grinding" incessantly --
    bzzt, bzzt, pause, repeat.  The log filled up with lines like these:

    kernel: hdc: packet command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error } 
    kernel: hdc: packet command error: error=0x50 
    kernel: ATAPI device hdc: 
    kernel:   Error: Illegal request -- (Sense key=0x05) 
    kernel:   Invalid field in command packet -- (asc=0x24, ascq=0x00) 
    kernel:   The failed "Start/Stop Unit" packet command was:
    kernel:   "1b 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 " 
    kernel: cdrom: open failed. 
    kernel: hdc: cdrom_decode_status: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error } 
    kernel: hdc: cdrom_decode_status: error=0x30 
    kernel: hdc: cdrom_decode_status: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error } 
    kernel: hdc: cdrom_decode_status: error=0x30 

    This would only show up after having read 150-200 MB from the CD,
    however.
))

Doing my homework and calling again produced some more helpful results,
however.  I got hold of a Win MD5 program, so that I had a way to force
reads of large amounts of data under Windows, and I verified that the
drive behaved the same way there (except there were no error messages
anywhere I'm aware of).  This time I was told to test the drive from the
BIOS -- both the basic test (which does not read data from the drive)
and the advanced test (ctrl-a, then select the DVD -- you'll be prompted
to insert a CD-ROM into the drive) which reads some data, but not enough
to trigger the behaviour which troubled me.

The tech supp rep I talked to eventually suggested that I could send it
in and they would take a look at it, if that would make me feel better.
It would.  The box went to IBM on a Thursday (overnight shipping), and
on Tuesday I was informed that they were waiting for parts, expected to
arrive next Monday(!).  (How is it that they can ship the laptops
overnight, but have to wait almost a week for parts?)  Anyway, the
laptop did in fact arrive with me Tuesday, with a new DVD drive(!), but
sadly, the problem remained exactly as before.

New call to IBM tech support.  This time I got an "escalation case
number", and they would try to call me before shipping the laptop back.
The box arrived Wednesday morning and went back out after lunch, and ...
I received it back on Friday!  This time I got a new system board.
Sadly, they never called me.  Sadly, because the problem remains.  I
haven't sent it back to give them another shot, because I don't have
time to wait for it again -- I need to get some work done now.

I've also looked for my error messages elsewhere, and I've tried booting
with the option 'append  = "ide1=noautotune"', reported by some to work
for similar errors in IDE hard drives, but that doesn't seem to make any
difference.  I've also tried compiling my kernel (2.4.3 by now) with the
option CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE set to true, which is supposed to work
for another type of similar errors, but that didn't make any difference
either.

So, to round it up:

  * I did manage to be taken seriously by IBM tech support, although I
    don't know if it was because I could reproduce the error under
    Windows, or if I just wore down their resistance.
  * I'll grant them that they've made a serious attempt at fixing this
    -- replacing the DVD drive *and* the system board.  Unfortunately,
    the problem remains.

and, of course

  * If any of you have seen this or similar errors, I'd like to know
    about it.  If you've fixed it, I'm particularly interested in how.

Thanks,


-- 
//Tom Grydeland <Tom.Grydeland@phys.uit.no>

	"you cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind." -- H. D. Thoreau


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