Warning to LG drive owners who plan to install Mandrake 9.2
Posted on 24/10/03 22:26 by Seán Byrne                             
Warning to LG drive owners who plan to install Mandrake 9.2
Liggy used our news submit to let us know that Mandrake Linux support have warned not to install Mandrake 9.2 on any machine with an LG-based CD-ROM drive.  Many users have reported that installing Mandrake Linux 9.2 particularly on Dell computers with an LG drive ended up rendering their LG CD-ROM drive unusable, even after multiple reboots.  This includes network installations also.

Error scenario: Installing 9.2 and being told unable to install the base system and subsequent reboot reveals that CD-ROM drive is physically dead.

Why: According to LG Electronics, their ODD (Optical Disc Drive) products do not support Linux nor do they test with Linux. Unfortunately, many Dell computers (possibly others) come with these CD-ROM drives.

Solution: Currently there is no solution or work-around for this issue; it is still under investigation. Damage occurs even when doing a network install. At this point, please do not install Mandrake Linux 9.2 on any computer containing a LG-based CD-ROM drive or it will damage your CD-ROM drive! We are actively looking for a solution to this problem.

 

I had Mandrake 8 corrupt the BIOS in my previous machine.  While it installed fine, the computer crashed while Mandrake ran its soundcard configuration utility.  When I tried rebooting, the PC would lock up just after displaying the IDE device list before the boot stage. :(  Later on when I built a new PC I gave Mandrake 8.2 another try, but this time it would crash when ever I loaded any CD in my Samsung SW408 CD-Recorder!  I have switched over to Redhat Linux 9 and have not tried any later Mandrake version so far.

 

Liggy wrote:  If the LG drives hardware can be destroyed simply with some software, then it's not a plus for their drives in my opinion. One should consider a second thought if you should really buy their drives. In my opinion it's definitively a drive problem and it may happen to every other operating system anytime!

Source: Mandrake Linux

Reactions
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By thyfleshconsumed, Friday 24 October 2003 22:53
I say it's not LG who is at fault. The reason is that according to the news report the damage occurs even during a network install. I could understand if the drive would become damaged during a normal install from a CD, but during a network - definitely mandrake has some issues to work out...
By babaz, Saturday 25 October 2003 00:25
babazIMHO it's not fair to put ashame the LG drives itself... as u surely know, every firmware flashing utility is purely software based... so it's the software that can corrupt a drive (read: corrupt a drive's firmware,actually) not vice versa... it's definitely mandrake that has to get beaten over this issue, LG are "just" short of luck in being directly targeted for such a nuisance (a pretty bad one, indeed) loveit
By GristyMcFisty, Saturday 25 October 2003 08:25
GristyMcFistyMandrake = virus...do we need to make Norton, SopHos et al aware? Not even Micro$oft have managed a cock up as bad as this... So who's to be first with a lawsuit?
By Liggy, Saturday 25 October 2003 09:26
LiggyI don't think Mandrake intentionally sends IDE commands to the drive which start flashing. Is it possible to flash a misflashed LG drive again like for example drives with mediatek chipset? If that's possible, one could easily find out if it's just a matter of an accidentally misflashed BIOS. If not then it's up to LG to provide a fix. I hope it's not too hard to find out, what causes the damage
By ShadowBlaster, Saturday 25 October 2003 19:42
ShadowBlasterLG may build respectable electronic domestic devices, but when it comes to computer stuff, LG sucks! Their CD/DVD drives are the worst I've ever seen, and their monitors are always blinking, even at 60Hz, and what about their discs? they begin to decay after two years of recording... No ladies and gentlemen, Never Ever buy LG computer products! Wink
[edited by ShadowBlaster on 25.10.2003 19:43]
By thyfleshconsumed, Saturday 25 October 2003 20:09
Congratulations, ShadowBlaster, you just made a fool out of yourself. First, their monitors do blink at 60Hz, but not because they suck, it's because the refresh rate is too low, and any monitor, even sony, samsung and iiyama will blink at 60Hz. That "blinking" you refer to will disappear if you increase the refresh rate to 75-100Hz. Congrats. Second, AFAIK LG does not manufacture their own CDRs, I think they mostly use prodisc so saying LG CDRs suck is like saying Toyota suck because that cheap fuel pump made in vietnam failed. Third, I owned LG 16/10/40x CD-RW and it was one of the best I ever had, not one coaster, very quiet, especially compared to LiteOn burners, and very high quality burns. After I upgraded to top of the line Plextor Premium and did some C1/C2 testing I was unpleasantly surprised that Premium burns weren't that much better than those of LG.
By compu44, Saturday 25 October 2003 23:03
compu44^ claps for thyfleshconsumed
By aviationwiz, Monday 27 October 2003 01:01
aviationwizThis is a Mandrake Problem. As the article stated, it even happens on network installs when the drive is not being used. You would think that MandrakeSoft would provide a quick fix for this problem. This type of problem is un-heard of, and, as a result, I will NOT be trying Mandrake 9.2
By Scour, Tuesday 28 October 2003 23:18
I read at Brennmeister.com that LiteOn has this problems too puke
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