HEEELP!! DVD-ROM PROBLEMS

[SUSIEJO]

I want to upgrade my 600E to a dvd-rom, so I purchased a 27L3873. I put it in and started up my computer, the light came on so I know it is getting power but I couldn't get it to play anything. I know that I probably need some dvd software so I tried to download VLC media player and got "fatal error--Error while loading DLL 'unicows.dll.'!"
I also tried to make sure I had the right driver for the dvd rom.
Well to make a long story short, I can't even get the dvd drive to open now and I've got this in "Device Manager":

Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Primary IDE controller (dual fifo) (this one is currently disabled)
Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) (yellow exclamation point on this one)
Standard Bus Mastering IDE Hard Disk Controller
Toshiba Extended PCI IDE Controller Type-B (this one I added)

O.K. so, which of these do I need and which ones can I delete?

My 600E specs.:
Win 98se
6.4 Gb HD (I have a new 40 Gb HD that I need advice on installing)
Intel 366 MHz PII
64 Mb RAM (I need advice on how much, what kind, and where to find RAM for 600E) (I am going to upgrade this also)

I Love my 600E so I just want to upgrade as opposed to buying something new. Anyone who has upgraded their 600E PLEASE contact me about what you've done and how you did it.
And I am fairly new to working on the physical being of my computer, I will need you to s-p-e-a-k- s-l-o-w-l-y and use little words.
I can do a complete low level format and start from scratch if that would help. I don't know if I downloaded things I didn't need or what.
Well also, should I go on a install the new HD first?

O.K. so if you've made it through all that, Thank you for reading and if you can lend some advice Please do.

Thank you!!!
~susiejo

[pkiff]

I want to upgrade my 600E to a dvd-rom, so I purchased a 27L3873.[...]

I don't know why you are having problems with this, but you should fix the IDE Controller issue first, then re-install whatever DVD software you are going to try, then test again.

Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Primary IDE controller (dual fifo) (this one is currently disabled)
Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) (yellow exclamation point on this one)
Standard Bus Mastering IDE Hard Disk Controller
Toshiba Extended PCI IDE Controller Type-B (this one I added)

First, get rid of the Toshiba Controller that you added. I don't recognize it, and it is probably unnecessary.

Next, regarding the Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller, is there a conflict identified there? Assuming there is a conflict there, then you will find several previous threads that discuss the Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller conflict:
Intel 82371ab/eb pci bus master IDE controller conflict
TP 770X, 98SE, IRQ conflict ???

The error comes about because when Windows 98/98SE was installed the appropriate patches from the Supplementary Files disk were not applied. In particular, you need to apply the APM2APM.reg file from the Windows 98 "supplemental files disk":
Windows 98 installation supplement files - ThinkPad 770, 600E/X

Apparently Windows misidentifies the USB controller as an additional IDE controller. After applying the patch, the device conflict should disappear from the IDE controller section and a new device will appear in the USB section as an Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller where it belongs.

Then you can continue testing for other problems with your new DVD drive.

Phil.

[SUSIEJO]

Well, I went on and installed the new hd and also installed xp pro.
Everything seems to be running fine, and Belarc Advisor shows the 40 gb hd.
Now I put the dvd drive in and it shows up in B.A. and in the device manager and with no conflicts. But I still can't get it to play anything. It says, under device manager-double click on the dvd drive- under volumes-- disk: cd-rom 0 type: dvd status: No Media
and there is a dvd in the drive.
Do I just need a dvd movie program now?

[whizkid]

I would try an audio CD or a CD-ROM (like your Windows XP disc) in the DVD-ROM drive to see if you can see any files. If you can, the drive is fine.

Put in a DVD and see if you can see files. If so, then you just need some DVD player software. Most DVD drives come with player software for Windows. If you don't have a title, you should be able to pick one up cheaply.

[SUSIEJO]

It does the same thing no matter what kind of cd I put in it. It keeps saying, "windows cannot read from this disk. The disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format that is not compatible with windows."
I've tried a dvd, a data cd, and a music cd.

So is the drive bad?
When I put a disk in I can hear it click a couple of times while the light blinks and there is a cd icon next to the cursor, then I don't here anything, the cd icon disappears and the light on the dvd drive stays on.

Please let me know what you think cause I need to return it within a couple of days or I won't be able to.

Thanks!

[pkiff]

A couple suggestions:

1. Do you still have whatever drive you were using before you tried to upgrade to this DVD drive? If so, then you could try simply putting it back in and checking to see if it will read regular CDs correctly or not. This would help eliminate the possibility that your laptop has a hardware problem not related to the new drive.

2. Are you running the latest BIOS? The ThinkPad 600E series should be running the latest BIOS in order to run XP correctly.

3. You could run the built-in BIOS tests and see if everything checks out okay. The BIOS tests are available from the "Easy-Setup" screen that appears if you press and hold F1 during boot-up. Select TEST, then click on the CD/DVD drive icon. This will help determine if the problem is software or hardware related.

Phil.

[SUSIEJO]

I ran a check on the board, the memory, the hard drive, and the dvd rom and all of them were o.k.

My original cd-rom drive still works fine. and I believe I do have the latest BIOS running.

The person I got the dvd drive from said I could send it back and he would replace it.

[WarMachine]

Hello,

Hmmmm, running XP on a machine with 64 MB is not the best thing to do.

You should upgrade to the max (ie 288 MB or 544 MB, depending on the exact reference of your laptop).



W.

[pkiff]

Hmmmm, running XP on a machine with 64 MB is not the best think to do.

Yeah, WarMachine has a good point there. I'm surprised you can even run XP at all if you haven't added any memory to your original config, though I'm not sure your current DVD symptoms will be cleared up by adding memory.

Last suggestion: when you say you tested it with a DVD and a CD, are you using factory-pressed original DVDs and CDs rather than burned ones? And with the DVD, I would try to use an older, factory-pressed version from the 1990s to test with as some drives run into problems with some later DVD formats (especially "dual-layer" DVDs). XP may want to identify the region of your DVD drive before letting you use it, and in order to do that, you may need to have DVD software installed first and insert a readable DVD disk before the drive becomes generally usable for other purposes.

That's all the ideas I've got. Good luck.

Phil.

[WarMachine]

Thx !

Classic tips, if you want to run your DVDs smoothly :

- Try to lower the color depth of the screen :

By default, the 600E will display 24-bits colors. 16-bits is better,

- Have a look at the selected transfer mode :

You must avoid PIO Mode, DMA mode is a lot better, for every drive of your machine,

You'll find an how-to here :

http://www.plextor.be/technicalservices ... nter=False

You should also defragment your HDD, and terminate all unnecessary processes (by typing on Ctrl + Alt + Del).

As I said earlier, the more more RAM you have, the better. DVD Playing depends a lot on the CPU. PII 366 can be used just fine for this task, but no need to say that a more powerful one would be better.

FYI, I used to play DVDs perfectly with a 600E loaded with PII 366, 288 MB RAM, and a 20 GB HDD (5400 rpm, and 8 MB cache). And with 24 bits color depth !

Now, I have a PIII 500 in this lappy; It's even better.

IMHO, the 1st thing to do is upgrading the RAM.

You should give us th S/N of your 600E, as certain models can accept up to 544 MB (2x256 MB + 32 MB soldered to the Mobo). You'll find the S/N on the back of the machine, typically 2645-xxx).

I've understood you're a beginner with this machine. As I'm not a native english speaker, forgive me if my sentences aren't very clear (they appear to be clear to me, but who knows... )

W.

[WarMachine]

Ooops ! One more thing !

You should type a description of your lappy in your signature. Then, it will be viewable anytime.



W.

[sktn77a]

The original DVD decoder software for the 600/E (IBM's Mediamatics DVDExpress) dropped the screen resolution to 640x480 and 256 colors for DVD playback - there's a message there!

It sounds like there may be a problem with the 6x drive. Check back in the LENOVO site - I recall some compatibility issues with certain 600s and the 2x and/or 6x drives (?) However, I can concur that you need at least 288Mb of RAM on the 600E to get XP running satisfactorily. And avoid SP2 on a low spec machine like this - it'll grind to a halt.

[SUSIEJO]

Hi All,
Well I got the new dvd drive and it is working. It actually works better than I was expecting, everything runs really good except it is just a little bit jerky.

I have it set on "DMA if available" and under current transfer mode it has "Ultra DMA Mode 2".
My settings are: screen resolution -1024 x 768 pixels: color quality- Medium (16 bit): DPI setting- normal size (96 dpi): my adapter type is NeoMagic MagicGraph256AV driver: My screen refresh rate will only allow 60 Hertz setting: hardware acceleration is set at full: and I have VLC media player installed.

I put in the Garfield movie and accessed it through VLC and with the above mentioned settings it ran good except for being just a little jerky.

And about the Win XP it actually runs really great on this computer. (Right now it's my desktop with Win XP that seems to be running really sloooooow.)
I definitely am going to upgrade my ram. I've been looking but I really want to know how much I can add to this particular 600e. BTW, it is a 2645-4AU.

And since my thinkpad didn't come with a dvd-drive it didn't have the Mediamatics DVDExpress and the Microsoft media player that I have won't play the dvd's. But the VLC plays them so I don't guess that'll be a problem.

BTW, I had to change my CMOS battery so do I need to reupdate my BIOS?

I installed a new 40GB,5400rpm,(8MB Cache) Hard Drive.

Also, how do I find out what "Processes" need to be there, which ones don't need to be there, and which ones definitely need to be removed? I've actually been fighting with that on my desktop computer. One site will say this definitely needs to be removed, then another site will tell you that it is an essential program a to definitely leave it alone.
Currently I have these programs in my "Processes":

msmsgs.exe
tp4mon.exe
taskmgr.exe
mwssw32.exe
mwmdmsvc.exe
explorer.exe
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe LOCAL SERVICE
svchost.exe NETWORK SERVICE
svchost.exe SYSTEM
svchost.exe SYSTEM
lsass.exe
services.exe
winlogon.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
System
System Idle Process

Do you think I should try to install Win 98se instead of the Win XP? I just figured that XP might run the dvd-rom and the dvd's better.

Belarc is showing:
Win XP Pro. build 2600
IBM 26454 AU78WDC
BIOS: IBM INET35WW 11/20/1999
40 gb hd
64 mb memory
toshiba dvd-rom SD-C2302
display NeoMagic MagicGraph256A V driver

I just saw that I have 2 MS windows media players installed. One is version 6.4.09.1120 and the other is version 8.00.00.4477. Do I need to uninstall one of them?

Well, anyways, Thanks a lot for all the advice so far and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!

~susiejo

[SUSIEJO]

Hey all<
Well I have my TP 600e working like a portable dvd player and it works GREAT!!!!!!!
I got a Margi dvd-to-go card and it works perfectly.
Just ALWAYS remember to load the drivers first, THEN insert the card.
I did it the other way around the first time and it wouldn't work, then I read that you need to install the drivers first then insert the card. So I uninstalled everything and took out the card, then I reinstalled the drivers and then inserted the card and WOW there it was.

[WarMachine]

Waow ! Nice to see taht you can now watch DVDs without a problem.

Unlike sktn77a, I'd say that it's better to have the SP2, which is improving a lot the machine's security.

Lots of test have been made, and have demonstrated that there's not a lot of difference in terms of used ressources, between SP1 and SP2.

And you can deactivate the services you don't need.

I've resinstalled XP with SP2 last week on a friend's desktop PC, and I have had to install 62 updates !!!

It was pretty quick, but imagine the time it'll take, if you want to upgrade your machine without installing the SP2 !

So, install Windows XP with SP1, the the SP2, and then, the 62 upgrades available at this time.

Anyway, that's nice to see that you're happy with this very nice laptop (I've 5 TP at home, and, even if I have more powerful machines, that's the 600E I prefer).



W.