DVD-RW for Satellite 2800-500: IDE1 error, drive not recognized

Question

Installation of a DVDRW slim drive NEC ND6500 has caused an "IDE1 error" message on boot and the drive was not recognized.
Would the Toshiba SD-R6472 DVDRW drive be compatible with my Satellite 2800-500?
Does anyone know a way to make anyone of them work?
[Edited by: admin on 22-Jul-05 17:57]

Answer 1

If you took some effort in reading this:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Forum/tm.asp?m=84345&mpage=15??
you would have known already.
Well, you always have people who know better, and ofcourse there are always people who know better....
(euh, never mind, hihi)
Ok about the IDE error.
Vasdiak has an ide error-notification.
I didn't.
In my case it was not recognized with the ND6500 connected and the 2nd controller dissapeared in bios and OS.
Nevertheless was there the same solution for what appeared the same problem.
This (and reading lot's of info on the web) got me thinking.
In case of NEC equipment(and maybe other brands as well) basically you have to look for a real OEM drives, which are configured as Master/Slave
Bulk & Retail drives are most of the time deliverd as CLS (even though retailers/dealers say otherwise), and that's no good for Satellite Pro 4600 (and many other toshiba laptops).
Just to cut to the chase:
The GNR-version of the NEC-ND6500A will work in a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 (2100 & 6100 too, and I think many more will).
As for the Toshiba SD-R6472 DVDRW:
My guess is it's the same problem with the same solution:
1.Buy a Master/Slave configured drive OR
2.modify it yourself by:
2a.soldering pin45&47 together (like I did).
2b.flashing the proper firmware (which is not always available/hard to get), which will result in reversed ATA.
Problem is that the NEC, Toshiba and many others do NOT sell (real)OEM-parts to the end-users, even though many retailers believe they do.
But that's merely because of the lack of consensus on how to interpret the meaning of "OEM".
Fact is that many retailers sell bulk-parts as if there where OEM, but that's wrong !
In my particular case:
I bought a NEC-ND6500A which was OEM-specified on the website (dealer), and after informing with the dealer I bought the drive.
The NEC did not work and I,amongst a lot of other things -->, contacted NEC.
I mentioned the "OEM-story" and NEC explained.
They won't deliver GNR-version to the end user, but he also told me the reverse ATA trick and send the proper firmware via email.
Then again I decided not to use reverse-ATA-firmware because it cannot be undone, and there is less available firmware in reverse-ATA mode (no problem if you want to use official firmware only, by the way).
To make things more confusing:
GEN-version is specified as master, also by Nec, but the Toshiba does not cope with it well.
And so do a lot of other laptops that cannot recognize CSEL-drives (which it really is !!).
Kinds of errors one can get: IDE-error, unpredictable behaviour, no DMA possible, etc...
The GNR-version (or GEN-version with soldering trick or reverse ATA-firmware) IS however recognized as master (or slave) drive on the 2nd controller....
Enfin, if people here are really interested in solving their problem I think I really got them started here.
My advise: put some effort into it (by reading link above and search the web).
Good luck to y'all !
Ger