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PHILIPS DVD+-RW DVD8631
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. May 2005 @ 16:57 |
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Hi mad4max, Welcome to Afterdawn!
I would just change it out with a nice 16X double layer drive. I like Pioneer and Sony, there are lots of good drives out there... this is just not one of them.
I'm not sure if changing an optical drive voids the warranty. You probably don't want to loose the warranty so you could call HP and find out.
Maybe you could have HP change the drive to retain the warranty.
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mad4max
Newbie
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3. May 2005 @ 20:31 |
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Thanks fasfrank.After the phone call I just had with HP, I'm not inclined to have HP do antyyhing. As fo voiding the warranty! What good is it if you have to do a "system Recovery" anytime something goes wrong?? I just thank whatever deity Ican think of that this POS is not mine. It might be sacrelogious to say this here, nut this is being typed on a G4 Mac :-)
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mad4max
Newbie
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4. May 2005 @ 01:08 |
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New question. Could my problems be related to "illegal" copying of DVD'?. I don't consider backing up my expensive movie collection illegal, but I guess the vendors have other ideas. I use DVD Shrink, and DVD Fab for this. Is it true that copying DVD's can 'trash' the drive, or the system? As I said in my last post, I generally use a Mac, nad have had no such issues on that platform, so I am doubtful.
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AfterDawn Addict
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4. May 2005 @ 17:56 |
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No, it won't hurt your drives or PC at all. Your computer can display the contents of a DVD so you can watch it on your monitor, encrypted or not.
As far as burning goes, the movie you are burning will have the same file structure as a home movie being burned to a DVD. The ripping program takes care of that by removing the encryption and re-sorting the files so they are DVD-Video compliant.
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rgb07
Newbie
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5. May 2005 @ 21:23 |
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I burned one disk and my DVD died -- trying to do my own troubleshooting before I called Dell I typed in Philips DVD8631 and low and behold this site was the number one hit on google. Clearly there is something wrong with the drive, so I called Dell and went through all the troubleshooting tasks, of course there was no enlightenment. They are going to send me a new drive; I asked for the NEC drive but was told he was authorized to replace part for part; I would need to escalate the issue in order to get a different part. I use the drive to back up data and I have a working CD RW so I didn't escalate the issue. I'll post back here later next week to let you know what I received and if it worked. Thank you all for taking the time to post these messages -- it really helps.
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drummerd
Newbie
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6. May 2005 @ 02:31 |
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I received my new drive from Dell, the same Philips model. So far so good, it actually works.
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mad4max
Newbie
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6. May 2005 @ 03:20 |
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Best of luck, drumerd. I trashed mine. Installed benq instead.Voided warranty in the process, but who cares. It was useless anyway (HP). Machine working fine.
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mgaudet
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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8. May 2005 @ 18:08 |
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Hi I wish to thank those who have suffered before me..I too have a new dell 8400 with the dreaded Philip dvd8631..I have tried numerous software to burn dvds..Most of the time I get the first one done without too much trouble but when I tried to do another dvd it usually crashes. After reading this thread I see I am not alone and now know I am not at fault..I have wasted many blank dvds and numerous hours...Dell must know of something they got me to go to their site and flash the dvdburner....That didn't help so I will get on them tomorrow.
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crazydew
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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10. May 2005 @ 06:57 |
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If you are having trouble getting dell to help, you can try this solution. I have 2 of the Philips 8631 Dvd+-RW drives. I found that the dvd8631 is very similar to the Benq 1620. So I cross-flashed both of my drives to the Benq 1620 - B7P9 firmware. Now everything works great! You need to use the windwflash tool.
I got the flash tool and the .cvt's from the unofficial BenQ website (you need WinRAR to extract the .cvt).
http://dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BENQ_FW.htm
CraZyDew
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drummerd
Newbie
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11. May 2005 @ 07:53 |
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Just to keep you all updated, my Philips replacement drive doesn't burn DVDs anymore.
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drummerd
Newbie
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11. May 2005 @ 10:33 |
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I flashed my drive with the benq b7p9 firmware and it didn't make a difference. At this point I sent an email to Dell requesting money back for the 2 dvd drives I bought. This has been a miserable experience. Dell support SUCKS.
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mgaudet
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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11. May 2005 @ 17:15 |
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I mentioned to my Dell representative on sunday night by email that I had heard about other problems thanks to this posting and on Tuesday the repair guy showed up with a new NEC dvd burner to replace the philips 8631..I must say that Dell support has been wonderfull both times that I have had a problem. The Nec seems to work great...I have been able to burn without a problem.
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Moderator
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11. May 2005 @ 18:53 |
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I should point out. Dell support has 3 call centers (at least what I've dealt with). They have a call center in India, SE Asia and the US. If I get the call center in India I hang up and call back. I prefer to speak only to the US call center, but have had good luck with the SE Asia center. They cannot transfer you, so that is why you have to hang up and call back. I've had to do this several times, before I got the call center I wanted. Believe me it's worth it.
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rgb07
Newbie
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11. May 2005 @ 21:02 |
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To follow up on earlier posting. I received my drive today and this is what was on the label: Manufactured March 2005, H/W rev. 02 F/W rev: CD21. Another label read: made in malaysia REV A00. The drive is working, but so was the first one for about a week.
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rdevil
Newbie
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15. May 2005 @ 15:16 |
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After being on the chat line with Dell User Support for well over an hour, they determined that there was a problem with the burner (no kidding). This burner would read DVD-R & DVD-RW already burned, but would not recognize blank DVD+R discs. Dell wanted to replace it with another Philips, but I was quite adament that I did not want another Philips and I asked them how many times would they replace the Philips before they considered the NEC that I wanted, they gave in and are sending the NEC. Since this system is less than 2 months old, they're also sending out a tech to install it! Be insistent!!! They will replace it with what you want!
reddevil929
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tieone
Newbie
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16. May 2005 @ 11:45 |
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I have the same problem on a brand new Dell computer bought last week shipped with this Philips DVD8631 (with latest BD10 firmware installed) and could not burn any DVD-R media at all. The drive would just make the computer freeze whatever the burning software I would use. I tried Nero, Nti, Roxio, CloneDvd2, Sonic, all with the same result.
When burning on a DVD+R media, it would seem to burn fine (much faster as expected with DVD+ media) but when watching the burned DVD in a home DVD player, weird shit happen. Jerky image, jump to other scene or to beginning, would not start at all, or freeze. I called Dell support service and had to argue till I mentioned that if they do not change my drive for another make, I will simply return back the whole computer. I did mentioned what I had read here before.
Therefore, I am supposed to receive a new NEC drive later this week. I will post my conclusion later.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 16. May 2005 @ 11:56
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europa3
Newbie
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17. May 2005 @ 09:32 |
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Wow, after spending the past 3 days trying to figure out why my drive stopped working, I stumbled across this site. Good to know I'm not the only one. I'm running Mandrake linux on a Dell optiplex GX280, with the Philips 8631, have it about 6 months. Could never burn DVDs, but that turned out to be a software issue. Finally upgraded to Mandrake 10.1 last week, burned a few DVDs, and now I can't even read a CD.
When I got the machine initially and couldn't burn DVDs, I phoned Dell and they refused to deal with me because I was running linux. In fact, the guy wanted me to uninstall linux and install windows, so I gave up after that. As it happened, it was my software that was at fault, but I wonder if I go looking for a new drive now will they tell me to install windows and it'll work.
Well, I tried a windows boot floppy which has CD support, and it can't see the 8631, so hopefully that'll be good enough for them, and they might replace it with a NEC. Dell customer support must be trained to be as unhelpful as possible, it's a nightmare having to deal with them.
After my 3 days of changing every setting I could think of in my linux installation, I need some rest...I'll call Dell tomorrow.
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Senior Member
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17. May 2005 @ 11:26 |
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Hi there,
When I phoned Dell Tech Support, I told them straight.
Do not make me install and uninstall 1000 things.
I know it's the drive because it was removed from my Dell 8400 and was placed in my old Dell, freshly installed and I had the same problems, so I just eliminated 100% my Dell 8400 and software etc...
I did argue for like 2-3 hours, making try shit (STILL) but finally for them to replace it.
I now own the NEC-3450A and I'm very happy with it !
VSO Software Golden Membership Proud Owner / VSO Software Beta Tester
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tieone
Newbie
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17. May 2005 @ 12:02 |
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This is just to post my conclusion over my previous post regarding the Philips drive. I have just installed the new NEC drive received from Dell and everythings if fine now. I have burn a DVD on a DVD-R media without any problem. Very happy !
Big thanks to you, I would probably still be searching otherwise.
P.S. if you want to have your drive changed from DELL, you have to tell them that your computer freezes and have no other choice then to reboot when trying to burn a DVD.
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jrocket
Newbie
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18. May 2005 @ 19:04 |
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hey i just found this forum. thank goodness im not the only one. what's my better option? calling Dell and trying to get them to send me the NEC or just taking my burner from my old computer and putting that into the new one? my old one was working fine in my old computer.
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tieone
Newbie
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19. May 2005 @ 07:38 |
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I believe there is enough information in here for you to decide what is best. Of course, you deserve the right of having a drive that is fully working and the NEC drive performances worth calling Dell if you got the Philips DVD8631 burner, and found that is not working correctly.
The only way to prevent large computer manufacturer, such Dell, of selling crappy stuff is to not accept it.
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AfterDawn Addict
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21. May 2005 @ 11:55 |
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I do a lot of DVD burning......... I have your beloved Philips DVD8631!! I love it! I bought a Dell Gen 4 XPS with Dual Drives which included your Philips 8631 and I have absolutely NO PROBELMS!Got my computer on April 29th and it was 3 days ahead of schedule and I've been burning DVDs ever since (About 2-3 a day!). Either you guys don't know how to copy or you're doing something wrong! I copy,transfer, or make Data and video disks with ease! I recorded 4 DVD in one hour and that's a full 8.5Gig! Double Layer! I must admit that Memorex doesn't work as well as Sony disk and Verbatim! I just bought Philips disks to try them out. But Sony disks are the best! On my old computer (an Amd Athalon) I used Memorex just fine. But Sony and Verbatim are the best for this Philips DVD+-RW DVD8631.
For all you people having problems with this drive: is this the only DVD drive you have on your computer or is it part of a Dual Drive that came with your DELL? All I know is that I am SUPER HAPPY recording like a freak and still doing it!!!!!! NO PROBLEMS HERE! BUT THEN AGAIN i'VE BEEN COMPUTING SINCE 1970 WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL WITH THE OLD IBMs!!!!! do you remember fortran and cobalt? hahahahaha Keep the faith....... and compute onnnnnnnnn!
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Moderator
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21. May 2005 @ 11:58 |
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Quote:
Either you guys don't know how to copy or you're doing something wrong!
Yup, ... your sooooo smart :)
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AfterDawn Addict
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21. May 2005 @ 12:06 |
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thanks flip....... I thought I was all alone on this one!
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Moderator
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21. May 2005 @ 12:08 |
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lol ... It was a joke :) .. fact is alot of people have had problems with this drive. And I do believe they know what they are doing, cause the problem has been fixed by just replacing the drive which shows it's not user error.
I'm glad your drive works, a friend also has the same drive and has had no problems, but still there are a ton of qualified users having problems with this drive.
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