Unable to boot from UJ-815A on ThinkPad T23

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hjulian · #1 Post by **hjulian** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:54 am

I have tried different firmware versions on this DVD burner to no avail. This is the drive's info right now:
M a t s u s h i t a (Panasonic) Slot-in drive
Model: UJ-815A (UJ-815B labeled, though)
Firmware: D101
RPCII
secondary slave
DMA on
Autorun on

ThinkPad T23 has latest BIOS and embedded software.
HDD is primary master.

I was able to boot and install my system from an old CDRom drive that I keep as backup, just in case. I would love to be able to boot from this drive: it is supposed to support DMA66! Installing any other system would be 'cake' at that speed.

I have the feeling that the T23 BIOS does not recognize any optical drives with DMA on.

Does anybody have any idea why this drive isn't booting?

Thanks.

#2 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:34 pm

I have a DVD/CDRW combi Matshita UJDA730 in my T23, that works perfectly under Ultra DMA Mode2.
It has Autodetect on and is Device 0 (primary drive on second IDE), the first device.

You probably look at Device 1 (secondary drive on second IDE), which says: 'not applicable' on my TP, as it is not installed.

hjulian · #3 Post by **hjulian** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:27 am

No chance!
Now I did try everything. I tried the following device configurations:
1,0 (secondary master)
1,1 (secondary slave)
cable select ended up in 1,1 (secondary slave)

When I tried secondary master the BIOS just froze. It was immediately recognized by the BIOS because the IDE activity LED was blinking the whole time but the BIOS just froze, no boot, no nothing!

The firmware I am using is the one from this so called "Firmware Page".
Could it be that the firmware stated as "Master" is a "primary master"?

But maybe I didn't flash the "master" firmware properly so I am going to try that one more time and see what happens.

Unless anybody has better, more informed advice?

#4 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:52 am

There should not be any need to set any jumpers, the IDE bus should automatically pick it up.
Does a floppy drive (or other CD/DVD) work in that port?

hjulian · #5 Post by **hjulian** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:03 am

First, some clarifying: I am using the Panasonic M a t s u s h i t a drive as an internal drive.

I flashed the firmware as secondary master, again. This time I decided to wait and see what the BIOS does. I waited 4 or 5 minutes and then it booted.

So, it worked!

The only downside to it is that I have to wait 4 or 5 minutes for it to boot. But I installed what I wanted to install and then flashed the secondary slave firmware back.
Now I don't have to wait the 4 minutes.

Thanks for your help, anyways.

I guess this drive is just not made for the T23.

#6 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:27 pm

That's what I meant anyway, just checking if other drives work internally.
Your flashing makes no sense to me, but I'm glad it worked for you.
Did you wait 4/5 minutes with the UNflashed drive as well?

#7 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:23 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:There should not be any need to set any jumpers, the IDE bus should automatically pick it up.

Right,
There are no jumpers because the Master or Slave designation is in the firmware. If a drive is designated as a master it will always be the master, no matter which system you put it in. The same with Slave.
Now, some laptops only have 1 IDE chain, Primary. In those usually the hard drive is the master and the optical drive is the slave. Other laptops have 2 IDE chains, Primary and Secondary. In those the hard drive is the primary master and the optical is the secondary master. Any optical drive flashed to be a master will not work when installed in a system where it is the slave and so forth.
I am not sure how the T23 is setup for IDE.

#8 Post by **rkawakami** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:29 pm

PC Doctor system information says the following on a T23:

IDE Drive Info:

Primary IDE Controller Master Drive Data
Drive model: HTS548080M9AT00
(Hitachi 80GB hard drive installed in HD bay)

Primary IDE Controller Slave Drive Data
Identify Command Failed. Feature not supported or no drive present.

Secondary IDE Controller Master Drive Data
ATAPI Drive Data:
Drive model: MATSHITADVD-ROM SR-8174
(DVD drive in Ultrabay)

Secondary IDE Controller Slave Drive Data
Identify Command Failed. Feature not supported or no drive present.

hjulian · #9 Post by **hjulian** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:53 am

Thanks, carbon_unit!
I thought it was general knowledge that Master and Slave settings are a firmware thing with slim drives. I know there are some old slim drives that actually had a switch to set the drive as Master or Slave but I don't know of any modern slim drives with such a switch.

I used the Nero Infotool to check the IDE configuration after I had done the flash and everytime it showed it exactly as I had flashed it. The flash as "Cable select" resulted in the laptop BIOS giving it the Secondary Slave setting.

I only waited the 5 minutes for the system to boot when set as Secondary Master. None of the other settings ("flashes") gave me a 5-minute wait, the T23 just booted normally.

rkawakami, if you have the Nero Infotool, I would appreciate it if you could tell me what it shows with your drive as Secondary Master. I will see if I can install this "PC Doctor" software and see what it shows me now that my drive is set as Secondary Slave.
Just curious.

I think it's time for me to start looking for a new DVD burner that will let me boot normally on startup.

Maybe somebody can share what DVD burner they have installed in their T23s and if it boots normally to a bootable CDRom.

(I mean DVD-R/ DVD-RW or DVD+R/ DVD+RW or the combined + and - DVD burners. No DVD/CD-R CD-RW combo drives, please. I already have one of those and I know it will take bootable CDs on startup fine.)

Thanks a lot, guys!

#10 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:28 pm

I have a UJ-840D DVD burner in my T23. It boots a PC Doctor CD without any problems. I've got the BIOS boot list set to floppy, CDROM, then the hard drive.

The burner was designed for some other laptop (can't remember which at the moment). It needed the front bezel cut at the right corner and the Ultrabay 2000 rails installed, but that's it. This is the information from PC Doctor's probe of the IDE channels:

Code: Select all

SECONDARY IDE CONTROLLER MASTER DRIVE

ATAPI Drive Data:

  Drive model:  MATSHITAUJ-840D
  Firmware revision: 1.02
  Drive serial number: [N/A]

  Device Type: 05H (CD-ROM)
  Protocol Type: 02H (ATAPI)
  Command Packet Size: 12 bytes
  The drive is removable

I'll try installing the Nero Infotool tonight or tomorrow and see what that says.

BTW: Windows Device Manager reports the Secondary IDE Channel Properties/Advanced Settings/Device 0/Current Transfer Mode as "Multi-Word DMA Mode 2"

hjulian · #11 Post by **hjulian** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:24 am

I booted the PC Doctor software and it says exatly what the Nero Infotool says: secondary slave.

The strange thing is that I installed the drive in a 600E and it booted with no problem.

I am now thinking of moving the BIOS version in my T23 down one number and see what happens. I can't think of any other explanation for this other than the BIOS having some problem with this specific drive.

I'll keep you informed.

Unable to boot from UJ-815A on ThinkPad T23

Unable to boot from UJ-815A on ThinkPad T23

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