Dell complaints

[davidl]

Here is my situation:
- Dimension 8400 purchased in December 2004
- Philips DVD+-RW DVD8631 GD30
- Samsung CD-R/RW SW-252S R902

Dell Support (the automated pop-ups that alert Dell customers of driver updates, etc.) had been alerting for some time that there was new firmware for my DVD drive. As my DVD was working perfectly, I ignored the pop-ups. However, on April 9 I had time on my hands and decided to do the update (gd30.exe). Very, very bad idea.

The DVD driver no longer recognized audio CDs or DVDs. In addition, the tray would no longer eject (i.e., open). I decided to contact Dell tech support via the hardware chat. During that day (April 9) I spent 12 1/2 hours chatting with various 'technicians', all to no avail. We tried the following:

- tried to disable Sonic DLA, but was unable to do so
- updated firmware (actually, Dell sent me a link for firmware for my CD drive, which I informed the technician of but did the installation anyway)
- was asked whether there was a ! in Device Manager in front of the name of either the CD or DVD drives; there was not
- uninstalled the Philips DVD drive in Device Manager
- reinstalled the DVD drive
- reboot, go to System Setup, tried to eject DVD drive and checked whether drive was listed in BIOS
- and on to my 2nd technician of the day, as I was chatting from the computer with the problem
- went to Device Manager to see what devices had yellow or red symbols; at the time there were none
- in Device Manager uninstall both the DVD and CD drives
- Shut down the system, remove flea power by pressing power button for 10 secs after removing power cable and open system tower.
- After that remove the data cables ( only the data cables ) for both the drives.
- Restart the system, press F2 at the Dell Blue logo to enter system set up and clear NV RAM through following steps:
Restart the system and press F2 at Dell logo.
All Keyboard LED’s should be ON ( CAPS LOCK, SCROLL LOCK AND NUM LOCK).
Press Alt + E
- Boot the system to windows
- After that again Shut down the system and open system tower.
- Attach the data cable for the upper drive, restart system, press F2 at Dell Logo and again clear NV RAM and after that boot to windows.
- After that again Shut down the system and open system tower.
- In the end, Attach the data cable for the lower drive, restart system, press F2 at Dell Logo and again clear NV RAM and after that boot to windows.
- Okay, after you have done above steps and you reboot, please follow these steps to clear upper lower filters:
Open the Registry Editor:
a) Go to Start then select Run
b) Type “regedit” and click “OK”
c) Remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values by:
1) Expand the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” key (looks like a folder) by double clicking it.
2) Expand the “SYSTEM” Key
3) Expand the “CurrentControlSet” Key
4) Expand the “Control” Key
5) Expand the “Class” Key"6) Please look for a key containing the following string of letter and numbers: {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
7) High light this key by left clicking once on it
on the right hand side you are looking for “Upperfilters” and “Lowerfilters”
Once we are done the last thing on reboot we have to do is to install the right drivers for which I will give you the links.
- I had to re-install gd30.exe, the file that started all my problems in the first place
- And now for the 3rd technician of the day
- Reboot, go into the BIOS and press the eject button on the DVD drive and check if it closes completely and opens completely.
- Now for the 4th technician
- Go to Device Manager to check for yellow or red symbols
- Now 'Multimedia Audio Controller' has a yellow ?
- No ! or ? by either drive; technician concludes this is likely a hardware AND software problem
- Check to see whether contents of a disk inserted in DVD drive are displayed in Windows Explorer -- contents are not displayed
- Verify that transfer mode is set to DMA for primary IDE channel (there is no secondary IDE channel)
- Run 32 bit hardware drive test and check if the drive is working in Safe mode or not
- "If these 2 steps do not work, we will replace the drive."
- "I am giving you a web page to download the audio driver. Please read the instructions and download and reinstall and restart the system after that and the mark will be gone from the device manager. Please restart the system and when you see the blue Dell logo press F8 key 2-3 times. Select Safe mode."
- "Please play CD and DVD disk to check."
1. Restart the system and when you see blue Dell logo press “F12” key 2-3 times.
2. It will take you to a new screen, select Boot to utility partition by clicking on it.
3. Then, please double click on “Custom Test”.
4. "These are the steps for the 32 bit hardware test."
- But first we do to Device Manager again and go to the Multimedia Audio Controller (where there is a mark). Right click on it and select update driver. But the Wizard couldn't find the software.
- Technician pushes driver to me and I then install the driver and then restart and go to safe mode.
- 5th technician
- Results of test: In Safe Mode, neither the CD nor DVD drives worked (though the CD drive works when I have booted normally). In Safe Mode, I got the following error when I tried to play an audio CD in the CD drive using Winamp: Bad DirectSound driver . . . error
- In the 32 bit hardware test, the CD drive produced no audio output, but passed the Device Self-test, Read test and Seek test.
- The DVD drive did not recognize either a CD or DVD, and so was not able to run the Audio test, Read test or Seek test. It, however, passed the Device Self-test.
- Instructed to open Device Manager. Again the only red or yellow symbol was by Multimedia Audio Controller. I was told this was why there was no sound.
- New problem -- whenever I reboot, Windows tells me I have a new device, the Multimedia Audio Controller, and a wizard pops up that tries to find the software to install. However, it never is able to find the software.
- Technician offers to replace DVD drive. I stupidly say are you sure it is a hardware problem and not software, as I still thought the problem was with the firmware update. Essentially I rejected the offer of a replacement drive. I was also concerned about the new problem with the Multimedia Audio Controller.
- I had to break for dinner, and then had my 6th technician of the day, but the connection was broken, so now I am on my 7th technician
- Download and run PIOtoDMA.exe
- Technician promises her manager will call, and 2 hours later he does
- Manager promises that someone from the 'specialized call back department' will call and work with me on April 13 or 14, and I specify April 14, as that is a holiday.
- The 'solution' from the technician from the specialized call back department is to do a PC Restore, which is supposed to return my computer to the state it was as the time I bought it in December 2004. I reject this solution as it would involve far too much of my time to re-install all my software, reset all software options and so on, and restore all data files. To me this, this seems like I have to do an awful lot of work to fix a problem that Dell created by the suggestion from Dell Support that I install the new firmware for the DVD drive.
- I back up all my files, however, and let Retrospect attempt to create a Disaster Recovery CD. It turns out that my Samsung CD-R/RW will no longer burn CDs, which is a new problem.
- April 14 was the last communication I have had from Dell, as the technician from the specialized call back department refuses to respond to my repeated e-mails.
- I have e-mailed him with several questions about alternatives short of doing a PC Restore, including: (1) uninstalling updated CD and DVD drivers and re-installing original drivers, how would I do the uninstall and which Dell CD contains the original drivers, (2) replacing both CD and DVD drives, (3) re-installing Win XP instead of doing a PC Restore (I am hoping that re-installing Win XP would avoid having to re-install all my software and restore all my data files (though I may be wrong).

I apologize for this very long post, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible. Obviously, I have included edited quotes from the Chat Logs that Dell sends after each chat.

I would appreciate any suggestions that anyone might be able to make. I will attempt to reply promptly, though I will be traveling on business this week and next.

In advance, thanks for your help.

David

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Whew, that's a lot of data. Unfortunately there is no continuity to it, negative progress (things getting worse), toss it out and start over.

Your initial intuition was right--if it's working, don't fix it. Trouble with firmware 'upgrades' is, if they fail you can't go back to the original.

Now, the 'helpful professionals at Dell' have led you down so many paths, there's no telling what else (besides the drive's firmware) is corrupt. In THOUSANDS of systems, I have NEVER had to edit the registry to solve a drive problem. (Is that even on the script, or did the guy just make that up?)

And there are some gaps in your reporting--
The drive drawer wouldn't open, but then it would? Under the F2 screen for drives, do you see the word 'Philips' anywhere? Are the IDE channels set to 'auto'? (Hey, this stuff IS hard to read off a script!)

There's a lot more questions, but since Dell had you muck with everything from NVRam to the registry, no telling what caused what. Take them up on a replacement drive. Plug-and-play and see if good old Windows can make sense of it. If you can see an entry in Windows Explorer for the contents of a disk you've inserted, the drive is working.

No 'Dell Resource CD' came with your system? That's where the audio driver lives and where you install it from. There are other ways but they're all more complicated. Get them to mail you the Resource CD for the 8400. It should be free upon request.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[davidl]

Rocke,

Thanks for reading through my long message. Let me try to fill in the gaps.

Regarding the tray on the DVD drive not opening, it is not opening now when I press the button on the drive. When I click eject in CyberLink PowerDVD, the tray on my CD drive opens. Now, early on in this tale of woe, the tray on the DVD drive did open and close, and I was able to run the tests outlined in my original post. I no longer remember when the DVD drive stopped opening, but I can no longer get it open (other than using a paperclip in the emergency eject hole.

When I say didn't 'recognize CD-audio and DVD,' what I meant was that audio (e.g., Winamp) and DVD software (e.g., Cyberlink PowerDVD) didn't recognize that there was a disk in the drive. Hence, no disks recognized.

I think the suggestion to push for new drives is right, and I shouldn't have (foolishly) rejected the offer previously.

Unfortunately I've got to head to the airport in a couple of hours and won't be home again for over a week (and then only for one night, before an even longer trip), so I don't know when I'll be able to deal with this again.

For my information, what did you mean by "you've got 'bangs' on multimedia audio"? I'm not familiar with the phrase.

Incidentally, what is your reaction to the suggestion to do a PC Restore? It struck me as a very easy 'solution' for the Dell technician to make, but one that would impose an awful lot of work on me to fix a problem that, I think it is reasonable to say, Dell created.

Thanks for your help,

David

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

So many things changed, I can't keep up with them or where their status left off. So you say that data disks will read, but media disks will not? And is the other drive (Samsung) back to working right?

If they'd had you enter a restore point just before they had you mess with the registry (they definitely should have, if editing the registry was even a rational step in the first place), I'd say 'yes', DO restore to that point. But restore to as-shipped, when we don't even know what the hardware status is? No. That IS a lot more work for you than reinstalling the audio driver (though how THAT got into the argument they were having with the DVD, I'll never know).

Get the hardware to where it will read data disks in both drives. Click the icon for Winamp and hit 'exit'. Wait a tick. Now will the drawer open? Yes = Winamp is corrupt or set to lockout the button. No = exit Cyberlink. Drawer opens? Cyberlink is corrupt (or...above). Get the Device Manager to take away the yellow mark ('bang') from multimedia audio--uninstall and reinstall the audio driver from Resource CD (if you don't have one, have them mail it to you). Uninstall then reinstall Winamp or Cyberlink--whichever was locking the drawer button--or choose different ones--they all tend to be flaky--worse yet, DVD decoder software is licensed so you have to pay for it AND it doesn't work right. (But hey, you wanted a computer...)

This stuff is really pretty easy to do, but really pretty hard to outline in text to cover every eventuality. That much harder when it's being read from non-native language scripts by people who largely don't have any more idea what it means than you do.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[davidl]

Rocke,

Audio disks (CDs) can be read in the CD drive, but the CD drive won't burn any longer. The DVD drive won't read either CDs or DVDs. I haven't tried data disks in either drive, however.

I'm about to head to the airport for a business trip (I'll be back briefly on May 9 & 10), and then off again. So I'll try your suggestion when I get back from my travels. Until then, thanks.

Regards,

David

[davidl]

Rocke,

One last question before heading to the airport. You encouraged me to get Dell to replace the drives. What would you guess the likelihood is that replacing my current drives will solve my problems?

Thanks again,

David

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

The CD writer didn't just suddenly break out of sympathy for all the other stuff that quit. The program that runs the burning operation is now corrupt, all that 'resetting NVRam' and tinkering with the registry, while that software was running. (I don't remember you saying you were instructed to 'exit' the media players and burner before all those drastic alterations.)

If you can read the contents (even the list of contents) of data disks in both drives, the hardware is working. Reading media, and burning CDs, is software. Reinstall those functions. It's easier than recreating your entire harddrive contents after you restore to as-shipped.

Now that you petted the Dell dog and it bit you, you'll know next time--in terms of time, work, lost usability, undoing damage caused by incompetence and indifference--it's more effective to refer computer problems to a LOCAL expert than it is to call Dell--even if the expert charges. Dell doesn't 'charge' for hardware support, but they've stolen a whole working day of your time and to show for it you now have at least 4 problems where you started out with one.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'