Losing optical drives in various laptops - All XP

Hello and thanks for reading!

I've searched Windriver's forums and Microsoft's KB to no avail. I have 3 laptops (HP Omnibook 500, HP Omnibook 510 & IBM Thinkpad T30) running XP SP1 with latest patches & updated BIOS (laptop & expansion base). All 3 are "losing" their optical drives [CD (500) & 2 DVDs (510 & T30)]. When lost, the is absolutely no evidence in XP that the drive exists. The only repeatable scenario I've found is:

laptop docked
optical drive available
shutdown
undock
boot (optical available in T30, not physically present in 500/510)
shutdown
dock
boot
optical drive unavailable (all 3 laptops)

I've deleted both docked and undocked hardware profiles. Moving the floppy to the optical drive bay; floppy works.

Thanks for any insight!
SAM

Do any of these have hotswap bays? How about hotdocking drivers?

They are all hot swappable. Re: hot dock drivers, I'm not sure what you mean. The Omnibook 510 was reloaded from the recovery CDs about 6 weeks ago.

hp drivers and firmware updates for 510 Can I assume you have never looked at hp for updates and patches?

I have updated completely; my previous post was meant to show the system is fresh. Also, this is a multi-brand problem which is why I posted to the XP forum. It's occuring in HP and IBM laptops. While I appreciate the need to update OEM drivers, I feel this is more a Microsoft "feature" since more than one type of laptop is involved. I have encountered similar situations commented on the web that seem to support this.

http://channels.lockergnome.com/news...s/009793.phtml
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;834563

Thanks for the effort,
SAM

I was talking about the firmware for the optical drives... I put the entire page up for information.

Have you got the 834563 fix? Or are you positive that acpi and hibernation are not involved in these laptops?

You see, there have been a number of posts where the dvd functionality vanishes on laptops that have never been docked.

I am just wondering if we are looking at a root cause here, even if the symptoms seem different.

No, I have not updated the firmware on the HP opticals. Have dloaded and will do when can gain access to unit. Is that the 834563 fix you reference? I could find no mention of that number. No ACPI or hibernation involved. Will post results of flash.

Thanks, Noo Noo.

The you didnt read the link you posted fully

Quote:

---

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

---

I had a customer just come in stating that their IBM ThinkPad R32 will (apparantly) "lose it's CD-ROM drive" and XP will not detect the drive anymore. No docking station and I've yet to recreate the problem, but I'll keep an eye on this thread and post if I discover anything.

I've had the same thing happen recently in 3 desktops that came in from different customers..all had XP pro. For some reason, spyware cleaning fixed the problem in two, but one required a repair install of XP..I'm wondering if maybe just repairing the ASPI layer would have worked

geo, I would agree if the device was in the device manager, but according to sam here, they are gone.

Noo, you got me! :)
I was looking for 834563 in the link you posted! :rolleyes:

Any solutions yet? I recreated the problem, but I'm still stumped.

What did you do to recreate the problem?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NooNoo

What did you do to recreate the problem?

---

:D

I put a music CD in and hit play on Windows Media player. Around track 4 the music stopped and windows didn't see the drive anymore. I rebooted and the CD-ROM was back, but it went away on it's own after about 10 minutes. A couple of times the CD-ROM was missing right from boot. Scanned and removed spyware to no avail. I'm about ready to tear it down and check the connections. :rolleyes: