The Haus

Saturday, October 25, 2003

Mandrake 9.2 vs. LG CD-ROMs -- 9:31 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Mandrake Linux 9.2 has some packet-writing code in its kernel that can cause certain LG CD-ROMs to become doorstops. Apparently if you send an ATAPI "flush cache" command to it, it actually dumps its firmware. Nice feature, eh? This Google groups post has a list of affected drives. LG is claiming that Linux isn't supported, so as of now, it is turning a deaf ear. Thanks Slashdot, I think.

Unfortunately my drive (GCC-4480B) with its current firmware is susceptible. As an added bonus, the 1.0 firmware causes it to be flaky with DMA enabled (which might explain some problems I've been having). The 1.2 firmware causes it to be unable to read some of the disks it burns, although other CD drives can read them fine. Right now, I can't find any reference to any updated firmware for the drive on the LG websites. The way things are looking, this is the first and last LG drive I'll ever buy. I only got the stupid thing in March.

News for 10/25/2003

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