Replies

Rob,

Since you are probably running XP, which is a 32-bit OS, you might want to get a 32-bit Linux installer. You can check if your computer supports 64-bit addressing (can handle more RAM, etc.) by using the Securable utility:

https://www.grc.com/securable.htm

It will tell you if it is 32 or 64, whether it supports hardware security (DEP), and if it can handle virtualization, like VirtualBox.

I also find it handy to know about the CPU and RAM available. Start > Control Panel > System: General tab. That info is under “Computer:” I also run Speccy from piriform.com to get a summary. I jot both sets of info on a pad in case I need it.

Here is another article (from a site with good articles):

Windows XP Support Ends Today: Here’s How to Switch to Linux
http://www.howtogeek.com/186591/windows-xp-support-ends-today-heres-how-to-switch-to-linux/

By the way, if your hardware is old, there are lighter weight Linux distributions (‘distros’) and window managers out there. I haven’t had to take that path, fortunately.

The Ubuntu folks also have good articles, like this one:

DualBoot/Windows
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DualBoot/Windows

Again, good luck to you.

Paul

Rob,

I just stumbled upon a nice resource for Linux exploration: http://virtualboximages.com/

I already had VirtualBox installed (virtualbox.org) that allowed me to work with virtual machines. The advantage of the ‘images’ site is that you can download VirtualBox appliances. These are archives that include a virtual hard disk and a VirtualBox prefs file. Double-clicking the latter launches VB and opens the virtual machine. For login, both username and password are ‘adminuser’. This would give you the chance to explore Zorin (you can search for it) and see if it really is friendly enough for you.

Another alternative is downloading a ISO image file (from a distribution vendor like Ubuntu.com), burning it to DVD to create a Live DVD and then boot from it to try Linux before committing. It will also allow you to install later, if you desire. A recent Linux install went ridiculously easy. It noticed i had another OS (Win7) and asked if I wanted to install Linux (Ubuntu in my case) alongside. I clicked Yes. It did the smart partitioning.

Naturally, I would encourage you to have a backup first.

By the way, I installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (long term support) that just came out about a week ago. But later found a site that has 10 steps to get you to a full desktop environment (plays audio CDs, DVD films, good selection of fonts, etc.) It does take some familiarity with terminal commands and adding a couple package repositories to the prefs. The instructions are straight-forward and mostly copy-and-paste to the command prompt.

Things to do after installing Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr
http://howtoubuntu.org/things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-14-04-trusty-tahr

Good luck.

Paul

Life is too short to buy Toshiba. I mean, really. Just step away from the salesperson.

P.S. I did all the steps shown in the Acronis KB article and it did not help. But, that problem should be another thread. Tech support wanted me to do a pay-per-incident to interact with me despite the fact that their download was not good. Again, life is too short. I installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on half the drive and it is the default boot now. I will work with it for awhile and see if I get a good workflow when I switch to that machine.

Do we consider this thread solved?

Sudo15,

It gets the drive letter D: well enough and when a disc is inserted, I see in Computer Management (local) > Storage > Disc Management that it has the D: letter there also, as expected.

By the way, somehow the reinstall ended up as Win7 Pro despite the complaints about the key. Go figure.

In any case, it is time to move on. Thanks for the discussion.

Cheers,

Paul

P.S. it’s been a bad week, the wireless printer had a yellow warning flag in Device Manager and that took a couple days of uninstall/reinstall to finally fix. Acronis True Image Home 2014 stopped backing up to my external drive. There was a free update but after downloading (several times across a couple months) I still get “not a win32 application”. These sorts of things happen far too often. Hence my comment on Ubuntu despite its annoyances.

Today, I restored to out-of-the-box Windows 7 Home Premium, pressing F8 to access the Repair computer menus and using the Toshiba utility to erase data and set it up as new. Following restart and configuration, Windows Update auto-installed three updates. I activated the 60-day demo version of Norton Internet Security as the only third-party application. (As an initial test, If I double-click the CD/DVD drive icon, it responds with “Please insert disc” and it pops the tray.)

I test the sleep/CD issue… The CD/DVD drive vanishes, while I hear the 5x surge up and down sounds. So, it is a from-the-Toshiba-factory problem. I just missed it in the past two years of use. (If Windows has a problem, restart. “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”)

I did many update and restart cycles to get to an up-to-date version of Windows 7 Home Premium. (This time, if I double-click the CD/DVD drive icon, it responds with “Application not found”, which is curious compared with the previous, intuitive behaviour.)

I test the sleep/CD issue again. After sleep, the CD/DVD drive is gone. Problem continues.

For a final test session, I update to Windows 7 Professional and test for the sleep/CD problem again. (Could not do Anytime Upgrade to Pro as the key no longer works. I guess “keep if you ever need to re-install” has a time limit.) So, I’m done and despite only Windows, Toshiba, and Norton Security as the only applications, the behaviour is the same. If sleep, CD/DVD is gone on awakening.

Cheers,

Paul

Yeah, Toshiba and Windows go together like hand in chipper…

Maybe I’ll give them a call.

Searching HP help and forums online reaffirms that the driver is from Microsoft and updates to it should be via Software Update. It is not available from HP. I confirmed in Device Manager when drive available. ‘Update Driver’ returns ‘latest driver installed.’ I ran the local CD/DVD troubleshooter and downloaded and ran the Microsoft FixIt utility and both returned results showing good performance (when the CD/DVD drive was available after restart, of course.)

The CD/DVD drive was replaced a couple months ago under extended warranty but the replacement is the same model.

According to one post in the Windows Secrets Lounge discussion, The BIOS might be an issue. I have the latest version, 2.0, according to the Toshiba support page. I also see “Toshiba Optical Disc Drive Service” is “Started” and “Automatic” in Services.

Another post suggested the power plan settings may need review. Running ‘powercfg -energy’ generated a report (‘C:Windowssystem32energy-report.html’ that I copied to Desktop for review.) It only warned about the Microsoft USB wireless keyboard and mouse. For a couple iterations of testing, I had them and an external backup drive disconnected. I ran several sessions of the ‘powercfg’ utility with or without CD/DVD available and compared reports.

Ran ‘powercfg -availablesleepstates’ which showed that ‘S3 – Standby’ is the only sleep state supported by this computer’s firmware.

Ran ‘powercfg -devicequery S3_supported’ which showed ‘hp DVD RW AD-7701H’ as a supported device.

I thought perhaps there are drive issues. I ran ‘sfc /scannow’ and scheduled ‘chkdsk’ for next boot. Both returned ‘no problems found.’

I downloaded the correct Windows 7 Pro ISO and used the Microsoft Store utility to burn a DVD. I booted from it and ran suggested utilities at the command line to ‘bootsec -fixmbr’. I ran ‘sfc /scannow’ again. All good.

I had CD/DVD in first position for boot in the BIOS setup screens. I moved it after the hard drive. No change.

All of these things had no impact on the behaviour: CD/DVD driver does not load after sleep.

In addition to the restart option to get the CD/DVD drive back, I found I can select the battery/AC icon in the system tray, click it and choose ‘Performance’ instead of the usual ‘Balanced’ power plan. This has the display but not the computer sleep. I noticed the fan still runs and warm air exhausts so there is more stress on the laptop but it is an additional option if I am going to be working through the day with breaks away from the computer where I can return and work with CDs and DVDs, if needed without a restart. I would have to get in the habit of changing it back to “Balanced” of course. Selecting ‘Sleep’ in the Start menu or briefly pressing the power button provides true sleep and the CD/DVD drive vanishes.

Another option I thought of is to wipe the drive, install Ubuntu and run Windows 7 in a virtual machine with VirtualBox or something similar.

Naturally, this will be my last Toshiba. (It was my first, but never again… hard drive, motherboard, and CD/DVD drive all replaced in first two years.) I spend more time administering and updating the blasted thing than working. My other two are OS X and Ubuntu, which is where I’ve been for the past couple days.

Sudo15,

In addition to seeing your suggestion here, I saw a similar recommendation in another online search. I did try it just now

1. restart, login, and see CD/DVD (I inserted a movie to be sure. It appeared.)
2. right-click Computer, choose Manage > Device Manager
3. pop open CD/DVD and double click the hp item there. Select the Driver tab and choose the Uninstall button. Restart.
4. on login, driver gets auto-installed, DVD appears. I pop into Device Manager and try update driver, it says I have the latest. Exit.
5. put the computer to sleep, wait 5 LED blink cycles, awaken, CD/DVD gone.

Eh… it was worth a try but still no solution. Have to stick with my work-around.

To clarify: what is happening is that the CD/DVD driver is not [re]loading after sleep. If I have a CD or DVD in the drive, I hear a spin-up sound for 1 second then a spin-down sound for 1 second. It does this five times and stops.

Still open to suggestions of course.

Cheers,

Paul

Finishing up here folks…

I booted from an Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Live CD (took 2 tries but worked.) Chose “Try Ubuntu” and found I could “suspend” with no trouble in awakening over several tries. May not be the same as Windows sleep but the LED on the front of the laptop looked the same with its regular “winking” as it does when sleeping. Conclusion? I don’t think it is the hardware; I think it is the driver.

Searching HP on both US and Australian sites shows no result for that model. Searching Google/Bing I found a thread on an HP support forum in the results and the HP moderator suggested the Microsoft FixIt program to troubleshoot:

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/en-us

Naturally, if the CD/DVD drive doesn’t appear in Computer window, it can do nothing. After restart and re-run, I followed its prompts, inserted a DVD to read and it found no problem.

I have to give it up, now. If I need to do something with a CD or DVD after it has awakened from sleep, I will quit all applications, saving where needed, and restart. Seems daft, but there you go.

Thanks to all posters.

Paul

Decided to try a couple more things…

– went to the “Does Windows recognize your CD?” page. It assumes Device Manager shows a warning triangle on the CD/DVD drive and it doesn’t even show up there. Moving on…

– restarted to F8 to “Repair Computer”. No problems found. “System Restore” didn’t make sense as this is a chronic problem that I only notice when I work intermittently after a start-up, when it has gone to sleep. I made no changes to bring on the problem and in checking my troubleshooting log and screen captures, I had the same behaviour months ago.

– I happen to be running OpenDNS for DNS resolution. Disabled it and tested things. No change.

– Restarted to “Safe Mode” (no networking) and the drive showed up. That would indicate third-party software trouble but then I remember this was simply another restart. It shows up then. I discovered that one cannot put the computer to Sleep from Safe Mode. Power button press doesn’t sleep and it is gone from the Start menu location. Curious. So, the bottom line is I could not test for the sleep-and-gone behaviour. (I tried setting the Display to sleep after one minute but it didn’t.)

– I did try to move the Microsoft cdrom.sys file to Desktop but permissions did not allow that. I was thinking I would restart and Repair Computer to get it back.

So, I soldier on when I have time. Back to other tasks. Here’s hoping some Lounge reader will have an idea or two.

Cheers,

Paul

mrjimphelps,

Yes. I had a DVD in for the PC Diagnostics utility once the drive reappeared after restart. Inserting it at any other time did nothing. When I first saw that I grabbed a couple discs: a music CD; a DVD movie; a data CD or DVD. All were equally ignored. It is very odd behaviour.

Paul

Joe,

I did visit HP.com and searching on the model number was a royal pain. Search results on the HP site returned names not model numbers, “Multi-disk”, etc. The Toshiba specs. list “DVD SuperMulti Double/Dual Layer” and no permutation of those terms appeared. There were several and I did check a couple. I will return there slog through the group hoping something becomes obvious.

Paul

Thanks, all. I will backup, image, and restore to factory default, wiping the free space. That way my data is safe with me and they don’t need username and password, etc. for access and testing.

This isn’t Toshiba, it is an extended warranty service group. The repair agreement states, “It is your responsibility to backup your data. During the repair process ‘your hard drive will be re-imaged if it fails Quality assurance testing.'” Naturally, they do offer “Complete Hard Drive Back Up ($199) and Data Protection Service ($99)”, if desired.

While in the past, I have had no trouble working and replacing components in desktop/tower computers, laptops are always a hairy proposition. Read the extensive intro chapters in Rosenthal’s “The Laptop Repair Workbook” to gain some humility. I’m leaving it to the pros.

Thanks again to all. It is much appreciated.

The recommendation and tasks changed the DNS settings on the router and all devices go to the ISP through the router. The changed DNS settings were there. Most devices (laptop, tablets) are set to DHCP, which dynamically assigns a local/LAN IP address and handles DNS queries. In comparison, I do testing on my computer using OpenDNS and the other devices show no impact.

At some point I did not have Flash running on my system. I launched Secunia PSI for a scan and noticed I could not get any of the usual reports to display. After some other work and testing, I found that it used Flash to give the bar graphs, etc. So, this may be a component of the problem. (I see that another poster noted IE was required for rendering and, therefore, MS Windows Updates for IE may impact.)

Good luck.

Paul