topic Re: Docking station problems in PCs & Accessories

Docking station problems

dwaincchm — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:00:46 GMT

I have been having problems with the CD/DVD reader/burner on my docking station - the Vaio is a PCG-R600HMPD. I have gone to the download area for updates but I still cannot seem to get the driver to either read or burn disks when I insert a new CD into the slot. Any recommendations? I have tried to go through Sony technical support but they have not been very insightful into a solution.

Re: Docking station problems

kee-lo_ — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:01:54 GMT

Did you update to Windows XP SP2?

Re: Docking station problems

dwaincchm — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:03:51 GMT

Yes I did. Several days ago, but still no luck.

Re: Docking station problems

kee-lo_ — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:04:22 GMT

Did the drive work before this?

Re: Docking station problems

dwaincchm — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:08:36 GMT

no it didn't. I tried several times to get assistance from Sony Tech support online but they only recommend superficial solutions to this problem. The problems started after I sent the unit to France for repair, they replaced the harddrive and since them it has not worked correctly.

Re: Docking station problems

Marcos — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:29:14 GMT

I have the same docking station and same series laptop as you, my disc drive has major problems reading or writing recordable media. Pre-written CDs and DVDs play without a problem but CD-Rs or CD-RW in whatever state make the drive click away and not get anywhere. I have given up with my docking station and bought myself an external DVD-RW, which can be had for as little as 80GBP i think.

Re: Docking station problems

dwaincchm — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:32:55 GMT

Thanks for the response, I think I have come to the conclusion that this is the only solution for me as well. Cheers

Re: Docking station problems

kee-lo_ — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:40:12 GMT

Try searching google for ASPI drivers.
This might help you out.

Re: Docking station problems

Jacko — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:36:02 GMT

I'm having the same problem with my PCG-R600HFPD's docking station, and I've tried all sorts of things to get it working. It'll read DVDs, but nothing else (not even 'manufactured' CD-ROMs or CD-Audios, let alone CD-Rs I've made myself in the past).

I reckon it's a driver problem of some kind - probably to do with Nero or CloneCD which I installed and removed about 8 months ago. But there is so little USEFUL information out there from SONY to explain exactly WHAT drivers and registry keys are supposed to be there, and the whole thing is complicated further by the fact that the DVD/CD-RW drive is connected via the IEEE 1394 Firewire port into the docking station. For all I know, it's nothing to do with the DVD drive drivers, it could be the 1394bus.sys or sbp2port.sys files (which got patched in a recent XP update).

I haven't yet taken the plunge and installed XP SP2 - still waiting to confirm that I'm not going to lose any functionality in Adobe Photoshop Elements, as I have read tales to that effect. But I have also read that there were some fixes made to sbp2port.sys in XP SP2, so who knows....

Kee-Lo - regarding your ASPI drivers idea. I looked that up, and discovered that (apparently) XP is meant to work WITHOUT ASPI, and it's not recommended to install it. I'm not suggesting you're wrong (quite the opposite - you're probably right) - but can you confirm this is a 'back-trackable step' if it turns out that ASPI is a bad idea for XP? I don't want to make matters worse, if I can help it.

Cheers all

Re: Docking station problems

kee-lo_ — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:43:17 GMT

I've never heard ASPI is bad for XP, things like CDRWIN require it and I think even Clone CD does too.

Re: Docking station problems

Jacko — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 19:55:23 GMT

Cheers for the tip, Kee-Lo.

I went and downloaded the Adaptec ASPI layer (from here - ftp://ftp.adaptec.com/software_pc/aspi/aspi_v470.exe ) and although it checks out ok with the enclosed ASPICHK checker, it hasn't made any difference.

CDs, CDAs and CD-Rs still 'click-click-click' give up after a while, begging "Please insert a disk into Drive E:" - and DVDs work fine (just watched Blackadder 2 again to make sure ;))

I'll try a different version of ASPI just as soon as I have worked out how to remove this one. I found a possibly useful site here http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aa571/aspi.htm which may possibly be of use to others in the same boat as me.

Re: Docking station problems

kee-lo_ — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 20:00:00 GMT

Hi Jacko,

Sounds a right pain really... I'm wondering if you have tried that Nero cleanup utility?

Re: Docking station problems

Jacko — Fri, 24 Sep 2004 09:31:21 GMT

Hi Jacko,

Sounds a right pain really... I'm wondering if you have tried that Nero cleanup utility?

Yup - scraped the whole thing several times - by hand and with utilities alleging to remove all trace of Nero. I'm as sure as I can be, that there's no trace of it left - but to be honest, I'm more worried about 'stub-ends' from CloneCD or simply a failure to replace swapped items with their originals (rather than just deleting the Nero/CloneCD versions).

For example - PXHELP20.SYS - I noticed this was left behind, and have finally removed it - but I've never been convinced if this really WAS a Nero addition, or something SONY put in. And Google's not been all that helpful determining that fact. I'm hoping SONY can clarify.

Re: Docking station problems

kee-lo_ — Fri, 24 Sep 2004 15:00:54 GMT

Yeah I'm not too keen on CloneCD.

Re: Docking station problems

Jacko — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:11:05 GMT

A quick update on this thread (at least, as far as my 'quest' is concerned).

In my post above, I mentioned removing PX20Help.Sys. DON'T!!!!!! I did it, sometime after the above post, but its removal COMPLETELY locked out my XP after reboot. Could not even get to Safe mode, couldn't boot from CD, couldn't get to the XP login screen. Completely shut out.

Stupidly, I'd placed the PXHELP20.SYS file into a folder on my desktop, thinking I could replace it if it was a bad idea removing it in the first place... But of course, I didn't expect a TOTAL lockout, and could not get back to the files to replace them....

In the end, I had to remove the drive, and host it in ANOTHER PC. Even that wasn't smooth - the VAIO drive was NTFS-formatted, and it was a the devils own job doing a 'registry spoof' so that I could take control of the (protected) Desktop folders owned by the VAIO-user (and thus un-modifiable by the other PC's XP user!!)

Eventually, I put the PXHelp20.sys files back, undid the registry changes on the drive, and put the harddrive back into the VAIO and thank GOD it booted again.

Of course, the f&(*$^)&ing CD-RW/DVD still didn't work though....

In the end, I finally managed to get my Vaio-Link online account up and running, explained the problem, and they told me they would fix it. I had to ship the Docking Station to France..... They sent me an invoice for nearly 200 UK pounds, which freaked me out - but on further hassling, they agreed that they HAD said it would be a free fix - ONCE - when I originally contacted them.

So in the end, I got my Docking Station back... and YIPPPEE!!!! IT WORKED!!!!! I was chuffed. This was about 3 months ago now, max. Maybe less.

However, even though I have installed NOTHING which would affect the DVD/CD drivers, IT HAS DIED AGAIN!!!

Slightly different symptoms - the drive doesn't seem to 'chug-chug-click' when it can't read a disc, but it just seems to give up after a few minutes with the LED on. Can't read DVDs, CDs, shop bought CD-Audios, home-made DVD+RWs, home-made CD-ROMs, etc.

I am so frustrated....and feel I am nearing this PCG-R600HFPD VAIO's end of life (and certainly my end-of-patience). I can't afford 200 quid to get it fixed this time - I would rather put my money towards a decent DELL laptop. They NEVER used to let me down as badly as this VAIO has, their support is better (ie, THEY do it, they don't leave it to dedicated users to wrestle for themselves, like Kee-lo has here for years).

Re: Docking station problems

kee-lo_ — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 20:40:08 GMT

Hi Jacko,

Yeah this has been a real headache on this forum, people's drives dying for no apparent reason.

I have no idea why, but I bet it's to do with MS

Re: Docking station problems

Jacko — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 00:53:06 GMT

Well, I've reopened my support case with SONY again, but I haven't heard anything back yet (not surprising really, it being the weekend ;))

What annoys me is that the vaio-link site contains NOTHING about there being any compatibility problem with Nero drivers or whatever.... I found that out by hunting Google for about two weeks, eventually it was tucked away on a US-only site, in connection with the 505, which is (I think) the US version of the R600 or similar, anyway.

I don't actually think the version of Nero I installed (last year, but removed very quickly afterwards) actually caused the problem - apparently it was only ONE specific Nero sub-version that messed up the firmware.... but of course, the bint who answered my original Sony Support email seized upon that as being the reason. If I have said I had spilled coffee on it, or that it was cold outside, she'd probably have said THAT was the cause, too!

I wish to god they would actually make some of these KNOWN compatibility issues, or Win-Update clashes (I'm sure it's that, really) completely public. At least then I will be able to pin down the exact problem, or know what NOT to install or do. As it is, it's a case of 'do you fancy spending £200 sending this back to SONY so that some goon can re-burn a chip (allegedly), drink coffee, send it back, and have it go tits-up again in a month's time when you've done nothing wrong. Again.

Never got this kinda sh*t off of Dell. I'm never gonna buy another SONY again, after this. Too much like hard work.

Re: Docking station problems

kee-lo_ — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:56:12 GMT

They need to investigate it, as it's been happening to a lot of drives in many series, which does beg the question why is this happening and can Sony find some one who's able to say "yeah it's x and y and z needs to be done"