T43: An odd issue with the optical drive

[Sudevan]

I was trying to load Linux Mint 17 on a recently (and cheaply) acquired T43, in very nice cosmetic shape, which I was planning to give to my brother who has become curious about Thinkpads. The MTM is 1872-4AU. The machine came with Zorin 9 installed, no Windows of any sort. Well, it would not load the Mint 17 OS from my disc. I had carefully reset the boot sequence in BIOS to give first priority to the optical drive. The Mint 17 disc I used was one which I had burned a while ago and used on at least 25 Thinkpads, plus other machines like Dell Latitudes. But it did not work. The drive did, however, work fine with music CDs and a DVD. I was about to try using a USB stick I had made up a while ago with Linux Mint 16 on it, and which I knew worked fine.

But as a last resort, I tried something simple, which I should have tried in the first place (the fault of an aging mind, I suppose): I took out the optical drive from one of my many T43s (which I knew worked with the same Mint 17 disc I was using), and put that into the T43 with the "bad" drive. Well, it worked! The Linux Mint 17 OS loaded fine without any trouble -- a bit slow, but the T43 has a 1.86 MHz CPU, so I suppose it's understandable; and the later Mint OSs are relatively bulky. I installed it, and that took a bit of time too, but once it was all set up, the machine worked fine. It now has a choice of OS: the Zorin 9 or the Mint 17.

As is occasionally the case, the problem gets resolved, but one is not much wiser as to what caused the issue. This is the first time I have had an optical drive work with CDs and DVDs, but balk at a software CD. I'm posting this because I am almost certain someone in the Thinkpad universe has encountered a similar problem, and probably knows the answer to this puzzle. I did some searching, but did not get anything specific enough to compare to my situation. Unless I missed something, which is ever a possibility -- in which case, my apologies.

Sudevan

[RealBlackStuff]

Considering those T43s are about 10 years old, it's not surprising that a CD/DVD dies.
It could be as simple as a dirty lens, or else old age.

[Sudevan]

Very true, and that sort of issue has happened to me on T43s. But shouldn't that kind of deterioration also affect playback of music CDs or film DVDs? They both worked fine, and yet it refused to load software. That's what puzzles me.

Sudevan

[rkawakami]

The Mint 17 disc I used was one which I had burned a while ago... <snip>

Some old drives will have problems reading CD-R or RW disks.

[Neil]

In my experience with old optical drives, factory pressed discs are much easier to read than are burned discs. RW disc are especially difficult for a weak laser to read.

[Sudevan]

These are good points, Ray and Neil. Thank you. I had not thought about the factory-pressed, commercial CDs and DVDs versus a burned DVD+R disc. Possibly because I had not had a problem with the burned discs so far. Now I'll be forewarned!

Sudevan

[Hans Gruber]

It's always a good idea to have an external USB drive handy if you have a bad/faulty/broken optical drive.

[Sudevan]

Hans, excellent idea. This afternoon, I was thinking of getting one. Perhaps someone here in these forums might be willing to sell one. George, would you possibly have any spare external USB CD/DVD drives? I'll keep an eye out for an external CD drive which could work with Thinkpads, in the Marketplace section. I think I saw some Lenovo drives on eBay as well.

Sudevan

[Hans Gruber]

Here is a link with a promo code for $19 with shipping for a USB burner drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6104-S3A6C

[RealBlackStuff]

I have a full-blown CDRW/DVDRW SAMSUNG SH-222BB from a PC, built into in an external case with built-in power supply.
It connects to any PC or laptop or TV or whatever via USB2.0.
(George/ajkula66 has a similar setup; I actually 'copied' mine from his idea).

I also have an official IBM external encased 12.5mm DVD-ROM in an IBM-sleeve for use with laptops.
And I have another DVD/CDRW from a T23 in an external case.
Those are only there for emergencies.

[Sudevan]

Hans and RBS, thanks for your suggestions. I'll try to get one in the next few days.

Sudevan