Optical Drive Issues

[Rolu]

Hi Everybody,

I have been browsing through this forum today for a while and realized that there are all kinds of issues with the optical drives Sony is delivering with their notebooks (but not limited to notebooks). Despite there may be some problems related to incorrect system setup I would regard a significant amount of them as hardware (?) related. I am having such a problem too.
I just wonder whether Sony is aware of this and whether they have identified the root causes of all these issues. Are there any driver related problems or is it a manufacturing problem? I would like Sony being more responsive and active on these quality issues. So far I am very disappointed with the way Sony is handling the problems.

By the way, I also do not appreciate the way Sony is bundling their notebooks with Sony SW packages that aren't really good in my opinion but intend to bind customers to their products. In terms of updates and bug fixing this part (have a look which SW has been updated recently) seems to be far better supported than the pure basics of the system.

Best Regards
Rolu

[rich912]

 I've been waiting 2 weeks to top up now..................................................

Saves you money in the long run Kee-Lo!!
For anyone with a Matshita UJDA710 optical drive in their Vaio (as I do) this is worth a look: http://www.lieffcabraser.com/dvddrivecomplaints.htm
Ambulance chasers I suspect but it confirms that there are one or two others that have similar problems!

[kee-lo_]

Having problems burning your data?
Maybe you want to watch a DVD, but can't
Maybe you wanted to burn that home DVD of your kids last summer?

Can't

Well call us,
LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP
Specialist in getting your DVD drive working again

My god, sounds like a Claims4U ad
Maybe I could do it.
Hi, I'm Kee-Lo, a VAIO Master....

Ugh, maybe not

[rich912]

Maybe I could do it.
Hi, I'm Kee-Lo, a VAIO Master....

Ugh, maybe not

I think that it is for the American market place!!

[kee-lo_]

Ugh don't give Sony ideas

[robpaxton]

Optical drives are without doubt the most unreliable part of any computer because they are mechanical and rely on an inherently unreliable laser.

For example - the specs for one desktop DVD writer are:
MTBF: 60,000 hours, Operating Duty Cycle (Read) 20% POH, Operating Duty Cycle (Write) 2% POH

This means that this drive will be liable to fail (If it is only used for writing) after a mean time of only 1200 hours of writing.

The above isn't an excuse for the general unreliability of some particular drives but because of the inherent limited life of DVD/CD drives, I tend to use an external drive for most burning tasks at home and only use the notebook internal drive whenever I have no other choice. I would obviously much rather replace a £40 external drive than a £300 internal notebook drive.

[rich912]

Thanks for that Rob, I have no idea what your second paragraph means but get the gist that optical drives are inherently unreliable due to their mechanical nature.
I thought the boffins had mechanics and lasers sorted years ago and that semiconductors and the like were now the forefront of technology.
I am just pleased that my car and CD player managed to keep going for more than 12 months and a day before going belly up.
I will take your advice and stick to the external drive for burning ¿ not that I have a choice at present as the internal one is knackered.

[robpaxton]

Calling the laser inherently unreliable was the wrong choice of words; inherently limited lifespan would've been better.

[Underdog]

Hi guys,

my first post here.

I thought that I'd be clever and sort out my collection of around 8000 photos whilst away on a trip to Sydney (in Singapore at the mo')

I burnt my DVDs (2) with my photos on my desktop (non Sony), checked they worked - and thought nothing of it - UNTIL gets to hotel room puts a DVD into the drive (S1XP) and after a few minutes the DVD-RW drive decides to give up and starts calling itself a CD drive!!!

Came on this web-site to get some Sony support - and - well - nothing - just this (v. pleasant) forum! No Sony!!!

What gives - it p^ssed me off that the S2XP came out just after I bought the S1 and now I find that the machine is not fit for it's intended purchase.

I feel a return coming on - under UK law anything you buy must be 'fit' for the purpose for which it was bought. This laptop doesn't work reliably - so I'm going to bang a few tables when I get back to the UK.

Sony - get your act together - this is the first, and now probably the last Sony product I've bought.

Remember people a dissatisfied customer will tell at least 10 others of their woes - I intend to make sure I don't lower that average.

Bottom of the class Sony.

Rant over - for now!

Cheers,

Underdog

[ScorpioTaz]

Hey Underdog,

Welcome to this forum, a great place to vent your spleen over the Sony product line and support...

I had exactly the same problem with my drive... after about 4 months mine decided it was a CD player and not DVD. Only a send back to base sorted it out. The problem about it was that when trying to send it back you get "walked through" what's wrong with the DVD part of it... so about an hour on the phone with them before they realise it is knackered!

As for support on the website... you have to go to www.sony.co.uk and then follow the links from there to the support section for notebooks. This then takes you to http://vaio.sony-europe.com/ShowProductCategory.do?site=ite_en_GB&category=VAIO+Notebooks

Strange that they don't let you into the support area from the club-vaio home page the laptop is set for!

Another poor service from Sony!

Managed to find a firmware update for the drive, but not burning as I use my desktop at moment.

Maybe the link will help for some to complain or somesuch.
:smileygrin:

[TygerTyger]

The support website is www.vaio-link.com. There is a link to it that was there when you got your computer, although it's not the home page like here. I never thought about it before, it is rather strange they don't interlink the sites isn't it.

Anyway I know what you mean about support, I had to forcibly stop them walking me through diagnosis so I could tell them what the problems were.

"My computer needs repair the hard drive has failed."
"Alright sir could you just press the power on button once then press F2. That's the BIOS now press the right arrow key once, then the down arrow key three times.........."
"No I already know the problem my hard drive has failed, among other things."

He still made me go through the BIOS because they don't permit you to read the serial number from the sticker on the bottom, only the BIOS. They really are mickey mouse sometimes.