What the stuff? "Head Select Error" on my OPTICAL drive?

starhawk

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
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OK, I've got a slim external optical drive here, it's the kludge type -- I bought a kit on eBay to convert my IDE laptop DVD burner to a USB device. Two cables, one for data and one for power.

I plug everything in, stick in my CD-RW, and open ImgBurn. As soon as I get to the "burn an ISO" page (a Puppy Linux ISO was the intended data) it tells me "Device Not Ready: Head Select Error".

What.
The.
F*ck.

Is the drive just bad, or do I need another kit, or what do I do to fix this thing?
 
OK, I've got a slim external optical drive here, it's the kludge type -- I bought a kit on eBay to convert my IDE laptop DVD burner to a USB device. Two cables, one for data and one for power.

I plug everything in, stick in my CD-RW, and open ImgBurn. As soon as I get to the "burn an ISO" page (a Puppy Linux ISO was the intended data) it tells me "Device Not Ready: Head Select Error".

What.
The.
F*ck.

Is the drive just bad, or do I need another kit, or what do I do to fix this thing?

Head select errors are usually found when you have an incompatible media type. Have you burned rw discs (or these particular rw) in this drive. Does the problem continue if you just burn a straight cdr?. Sometimes a firmware update can fix these problems by updating the media write strategies.
 
I know I've burned an -R disc in it, although I'm not sure if I've used that particular -RW... I'd be surprised if I hadn't.

I'll see if I can find a firmware update for the drive, but I have a question... it's an IDE drive in a USB enclosure, so do I have to attach it to something IDE in order to update it? (That would be hard but not impossible.)
 
I know I've burned an -R disc in it, although I'm not sure if I've used that particular -RW... I'd be surprised if I hadn't.

I'll see if I can find a firmware update for the drive, but I have a question... it's an IDE drive in a USB enclosure, so do I have to attach it to something IDE in order to update it? (That would be hard but not impossible.)

If it were initially meant to be an internal drive (meaning it isn't like a samsung or plextor which was purchased in a branded usb enclosure) then yes, you would have to connect it to a regular ide connector to do an upgrade.
 
It's an OEM Panasonic drive, and Panasonic won't give me any info on it. Model is UJ-850 (no "S"). I got it from a friend, without the laptop it came in, so now I've no idea where to get that firmware :(

I'd just get another drive, but I have no money at all right now.
 
Looks like I don't have a single computer that both runs Windows and will accept that drive as IDE. Argh.

I'll just save my pennies for a new drive.
 
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