Toshiba SD-M1102

[KuifjePDX]

I have been using my Gateway G6-400 with Win98 (First and Second Edition), WinXP Home (Initial, SP1 and SP2) and Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Edubuntu (5.10 and 6.06) for about eight years without any problems on the Toshiba SD-M1102 DVD drive. Way back when I updated the firmware to version 1026 and it has always been a reliable drive for me.

Until this weekend. I setup a multiboot system involving Win98 (First), WinXP Home (SP2) and Edubuntu (6.06). Everything worked fine except for the wireless network card under Win98. The drivers for the card require Windows 98 Second Edition. So I upgraded the Win98 to Win98SE. At that point I noticed the Toshiba SD-M1102 drive would only read CDs and not DVDs anymore.

So I downgraded to Win98 (clean install on a reformatted hard drive) but the problem remains the same. As it does now on WinXP and Edubuntu, where it worked just fine before.

I updated the Toshiba firmware to 1426 and my BIOS (from rev 6 to rev 21) but still the problem remains. I can read CDs just fine but when I pop in a DVD it says the drive is not ready.

All operating systems list the correct drive and firmware and do not report any conflicts or errors in the device managers. WinXP reports that I have two region changes left on the drive and that currently no region has been selected. Could the region selection be the root of the problem?

Help! Any input getting me back to where Win98 can read DVDs again would be highly appreciated. It is important to get it running under Win98. I can live with reading CDs only under WinXP and Edubuntu.

Or could it be that my Toshiba is just getting old and the DVD portion of the pickup failed to the point where it can only support CDs?

Again, any help or pointers to get the drive to read DVDs again under Win98 would be HIGHLY appreciated.

Doei!

[dodecahedron]

Or could it be that my Toshiba is just getting old and the DVD portion of the pickup failed to the point where it can only support CDs?

that certainly sounds like a plausible explanation. eight years is a healthy age, you've certainly got good use of this drive.

[Han]

Setting the region shouldn't affect the reading of DVD media. BUT it is highly recommended that you have set a region prior to the new firmware upgrade.

If cleaning the lens doesn't help, replace the drive with a new one...

[KuifjePDX]

...BUT it is highly recommended that you have set a region prior to the new firmware upgrade.

What kind of negative effects can one see if the region has NOT been set before a firmware upgrade? And, since I didn't set the region prior to upgrading, should I redo the firmware upgrade AFTER I set the region?

Doei!

[Han]

The main negative effect on Toshiba SD-M1612 DVD-ROM drives, which haven't had set the region before they were flashed with the 'no speed limit' firmware, was disabled ability to read DVD media. These drives had to be flashed back to their original official firmware and set the region. Only then they worked flawlessly after applying a new firmware...

Furthermore, after a successful flash it is recommended to remove the drive and its IDE channel from Device Manager and restart Windows.

[dodecahedron]

SD-M1612 only or other Toshiba DVD-ROMs ? (1712, 1812, 1912, 1512 etc.)?

[Han]

I'm sure only for SD-M1612. Since SD-M1712 has the same processor and very similar hardware, I guess it applies to this model, too, and might as well to older ones. SD-M1802 and newer have totally different chipset and hardware.

[LoneWolf]

I had an SD-M1102 for awhile in one of my systems. I found it notoriously flaky, so I ditched it for another drive. It had issues with burned media, both CD-R and DVD-R.

With a drive that age, I'd recommend looking for an upgrade. DVD-ROM drives are cheap these days.

[KuifjePDX]

The main negative effect on Toshiba SD-M1612 DVD-ROM drives, which haven't had set the region before they were flashed with the 'no speed limit' firmware, was disabled ability to read DVD media. These drives had to be flashed back to their original official firmware and set the region. Only then they worked flawlessly after applying a new firmware...

Furthermore, after a successful flash it is recommended to remove the drive and its IDE channel from Device Manager and restart Windows.

The strange thing is that it stopped reading DVDs on any OS even before firmware upgrade where it had been performing flawlessly for about eight years prior to that. And I do believe I did do a firmware upgrade six or seven years ago.

How do I go about unflashing the latest firmware back to the factory default?

[dodecahedron]

The strange thing is that it stopped reading DVDs on any OS even before firmware upgrade where it had been performing flawlessly for about eight years prior to that. And I do believe I did do a firmware upgrade six or seven years ago.

How do I go about unflashing the latest firmware back to the factory default?

that may not be possible, the factory default firmware isn't always available.
did you try www.rpc1.org ?
http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=182 (don't know which firmware is "factory original").
in any case after so many years it's likely that the drive is faulty and this has nothing to do with firmware.

[SkaarjMaster]

My lord, I think I have one of those Toshiba DVD-ROMs in my Dragon1 system. Glad you got good use out of it. Probably the only reason mine is still working is I hardly use it anymore.

........just looked and mine's an SD-M1202.