cd writer 9500i not working at all. just a red light is on help please

[dennis trosclair]

my 9500i is not working at all. wont even open. a red light is on and thats it. my pc recognizes it, updated drivers are installed. direct cd doesnt recognize it. i have win2k pro. any suggestions will be greatly appreciated

P.S. This thread has been moved from Disk to Optical Jukeboxes & Drives. -HP Forum Moderator

[Kevin Harlan]

I haven't used this CD writer, but on earlier versions that I did own (i.e the 8100 and 9100 series), that red light being on (and staying on) usually meant that the firmware was toast. Some people had problems with flashing the firmware to the latest version, and this symptom is exactly what they saw.

Were you attempting to upgrade the firmware? Was the box previously opened (i.e. someone unscrupulous tried to flash the firmware, destroyed the drive, returned it to the retailer for an exchange, and then the box somehow got put back out on the sales floor)?

In any case, I think this warrants a return of the device. There is nothing you can do to service this.

[dennis trosclair]

i dont know what firmware is can you explain and how do i find out for sure if thats what happened?

[Kevin Harlan]

In most computer devices, there is a set of computer instructions (for that specific device) which controls the device, tells the device how to do its job, and presents up an interface to the computer.

For example, on a CD burner, there is a chip with computer instructions that tells the burner how to burn a CD, how to spin the drive motor, and so on, and also how to send and receive signals on the IDE bus (and what to do with these incoming IDE commands and signals, how to respond to them, etc.).

In the olden days, these instructions were either printed directly into the circuit boards, or were put into ROM chips (Read Only Memory chips).

The problem with this approach is that it didn't allow for updates (or at best, not for easy or cheap updates). For example, if the manufacturer of the CD burner found a bug in those instructions, or if they added new features and expanded the capabilities, the customers would have to de-solder chips and re-solder new ones, or pull and replace ROM chips, or pull and replace PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), etc.

Today, we have what is called "firmware". The device's instructions are written to non-volatile memory (memory that will not lose its contents when the power is turned off). The non-volatile chip that contains these instructions can only be reprogrammed under certain conditions -- such as, with a utility supplied by the manufacturer.

This allows manufacturers to quickly and easily update existing inventory, as well as more easily address bug fixes and enhance features and performance in products already purchased and in use by consumers.

With regard to how you could verify this, I don't really know that you can.

What you can try to do is go to the HP site and grab the latest firmware for that CD burner, and try to re-flash your firmware. But this will only work if the firmware is only partially destroyed.

If the firmware is more seriously (or completely) destroyed, then you will probably not be able to flash it at all (because the firmware controls how it is flashed, interface with, etc. And if the firmware instructions that perform this functionality are damaged or gone, then you cannot overwrite them anymore!).

If the firmware is destroyed to the point that you cannot flash it, then the only way to recover it is to pull the firmware chip, drop it into a ROM burner, and re-flash the firmware again. (And I doubt you have ROM burner equipment, and of the right type, and the original binary image of the ROM, etc. etc. etc.)

If the firmware re-flash doesn't fix this, then there is nothing else that you can do. You will have to return the burner (or take it to an authorized service center). (It is also possible that this may not be a firmware issue, but a burned-out drive motor, or some other serious failure that you would also not be able to repair.)

[dennis trosclair]

i checked for a firmware upgrade but there are none for this model so i guess im out of luck. it is about 5 yrs old. i appreciate the help and the lesson on firmware. if you have any other suggestions please let me know.