[Cialug] OT: DVD drive problem

[kristau]

On 9/10/07, Josh More <morej at alliancetechnologies.net> wrote:
> Doing an audio CD isn't a good test, as a failing drive would produce
> exactly the same result as a corrupt codecs, regardless of what OS
> you're using.

Agreed.  Either the tech is utterly stupid or blowing smoke.

> Go ahead and run Knoppix on it, both Knoppix CD and Knoppix DVD.

When you get to the Knoppix 'boot:' prompt, type 'testcd' and hit
enter.  If the drive is bad, the CD test will fail.  Of course, you
will need to do the same test on a "known good" drive with the same CD
first to make sure the disc is good. . .

I've used that method twice to test failing optical drives.  Both
times Dell Warranty Support accepted that as a valid test, replacing
the faulty drives with no further questions.  But GeekSquad is a far
cry from Dell support, unfortunately.

-- 
Tired programmer
Coding late into the night
The core dump follows

My GNUPG public key is available at http://www.kristau.net/public_key.asc