PHILIPS DVD+-RW DVD8631

I had same trouble, there is a fix you can download from DELL website its called DW CD21, had no trouble since.

 

As I said, I insisted on an NEC. I said I had read some bad things about the Philips 8631 and that Dell should know by now that the drive is less than reliable. Even Philips doesn't support it on their own site. But, I was told that the 8631 was their preferred drive. Still I asked for an NEC over a Philips, but, that's what they sent me. Maybe it's because I seemed unhappy about doing the exact same troubleshooting steps over and over and over that I knew wouldn't work. Anyway, I have someone coming over to install my replacement drive. We'll see how that goes. I've sent an e-mail to Dell asking about this, asking about their policy on refurbished items. Are they really as good as new? Can I return it and ask for a brand new drive, such as an NEC?. Maybe they will respond, maybe not. This has been my first encounter with Dell Support, as this is my first Dell computer. I didn't see the sticker on the bottom of the package that said "refurbished" at first. Since this is my one and only drive, it's hard not having one. I've owned PCs before, but, I've never had a disk drive fail. After buying a $900 computer, I'd expect the drive to last longer than 4 1/2 months. Mark.

 

So, after updating the firmware, I still can't burn on DVD-Rs. Now it seems like some of my programs can't even burn on DVD+Rs without making coasters. So, I finally put in a support ticket to dell, specifying that I did NOT want another phillips replacement.

They sent out a tech guy, and low and behold, what did he have. That's right, a phillips dvd. same model. He laughed about dell and all the problems he was having to fix of theirs. So he put it in, and I tried it out, and it still didn't work.

He told me I should just get an NEC burner.

So, now I've sent another support request in to dell to do just that. Let's see if something happens.

 

I went to the Dell site and I found a FAQ page that asks "Why was I sent a refurbished part for my warranty repair?" But, it doesn't give the answer! It just has a few links to pages with warranty info. None of which answers the question as far as I can tell. Why don't they come out and say why people are sent refurbished parts instead of new? It doesn't even say that refurbished parts are as good as new or promises that they will work like a new part. Well, I'm not having my friend install my refurbished Philips disk drive untill I hear from Dell. I've e-mailed them asking about refurbished vs new. It's hard being without a disk drive, but, I don't want to have one installed that will just cause more problems. Mark.

 

I have DELL XPS GEn4 system with the Philips DVD8631 drive. I worked with dell support for 4+ hourstoday. I have been passed around like a bogus twenty dollar bill. they are offering the same drive aurgh... should have stayed with HP or moved to alien.

 

I will send an update when the "new drive" comes in.

 

try here for rpc1 firmware - http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1978



...Didn't work on my Philips DVD8631.
It will not accept anything

 

Why is everyone having problems with this drive? I got one and i'm loving it. Never had a problem. I have dell 8400

 

If they dont want to send you the new drive, Just ask them for an addresse that you can ship the computer back to. That worked for me. When I asked the tech for the addresse I thought he was going to cut flips to get the new drive to me.

 

got a message that they may swap out my drive for diffrent mfg. - will update once i get the unit in.

 

My refurbished Philips 8631 drive is working working Ok, so far. I have my PC hooked into a good stereo system. I'm playing a CD now, using my drive, and the sound is great through my system's big speakers. Greeting card making software, photo disks, PC games, every disk I've tried works and I'm hoping and praying that it continues to be that way. Mark.

 

Oh my goodness. I love you people! I bought my Dell Dimension 8400 back in January, but have never found a need to burn a CD or DVD. Until last weekend, when I tried, but the door doesn't come open, ever. Now that I think about it, I seem to remember that door opening for no reason back when I bought it. But I thought it was a fluke. So I got online and chatted with tech support, and they wanted me to do a bunch of things to my computer. Before I did, I googled Philips DVD+-RW DVD8631 and I'm so glad I did. I'll bet I have a defective drive too, and I'm not going to go through all their hoops.

And yes, I've been in technical support for years, so it's not user error. The drive is bad, and I'm going to insist on an NEC.

Unless my warranty is bad, since I bought it in January. I don't know. Argh.

This is the last PC for me, though. I'm switching to Apple. I *love* my PowerBook at work.

A bit later, and I'm "chatting" with some tech support named Veneza (after Karan), and she is obviously not a native English speaker/writer, but I don't know where she's from. Seems like she's wanting to replace the drive, and I'm asking for anything but Philips. After reading this whole forum, I feel like I know more about the issue than Dell does! Wonder what they'll offer. Course, my computer is six months old. I sure wish I'd gotten this replaced earlier!

30 minutes later: I'm getting the NEC. And the guy is coming to install it. Guess they've heard this issue quite a few times.

 

i have been reading through this post with much interest as i have been thinking of getting a dell cos my friend has one and it burns perfectly.

there seems to be one common theme throughout this and that is the phillips 8631 does not burn -R but burns +R (which is what my friend uses). i had a look at the manual and the website and it specifically states that it only writes to +R media.

can people confirm that they had trouble burning to +R media, in which case i will demand an nec drive.

thanks

 

I am having huge problems with this drive (writing DVD+RW etc). Just got this drive as part of an HP system and it came with firmware BB03, with a manufactures date of December 2004. The problem is I am completely unable to update the firmware. HP has a softpaq to get it to CD21 which fails. The Dell site has BD10, CD21 and GD30 which all fail. The Device Manager states that the drive is a Philips DVD8631.

So with all this problems, HP send me a replacement with a manufacture date now of July 2005. I've just put it in and had the exact same failures, this drive does not want to update the firmware.

Anyone suggest a good replacement drive from HP that I can convince their support to exchange this for? Anyone successful at getting HP to give you a different drive?

=alanjudy

 

Ok, now I'm pissed. I had chatted with the Dell support person about my faulty drive. She said they'd get me an NEC and have the technician come and install it. Then she closed the chat without telling me how they would get in contact with me. Two days later, and I've heard nothing. Tried Dell chat again today, but I keep getting errors. So I call and someone looks it up and says there's nothing in their records about my chat at all! So now I'm pissed off!

I swear, this is the last Dell I'm ever buying.

 

I have a philips DVD+ RW DVD8631. When I make movies they only play on my computer they do not play on any of my dvd players that are on my tv is there something that i am doing wrong please help

 

Hi there,
I have bought a Fujitsu PC with a DVD8631/34 in it and apparently this cannot be updated with any firmware ??? any clues ?

 

Just found this forum and it is an eye-opener.
I bought a Dell 3000 that has the Philips 6851 installed. It seems to work okay for most stuff but I can't create a new folder and rename it at the drive level. I can create a new named folder on C:drive and then copy it over without problem, but when I try to do that at the DVD-RW drive it's disaster and I get a BSOD with a cdudf_xp_sys message. Then I reboot and get a Win XP Crash Analysis report of a serious incident and which subsequently informs me that it is caused by a device driver. Later I get Microsoft Windows error signature screen with a BCCode 27 .... Product 768_1.
I called Dell Support and spent 2 hours with them (I got one of their overseas locations ... ) and in the end they told me I would have to pay for software support because the drive checked out fine in diasnostics. Can't believe I paid for two extra years of this non-support. They gave me that cr__ about it being maybe spyware, etc.!!! Come on my 2 mos. old machine is supposed to be protected by Norton and MS updates.
I subsequently have updated the firmware to GD30 (which I found by myself and Dell support did not even suggested yesterday).
They wanted me to pull the drives connections in the computer. I opened the computer but was not able to get my hands into the space to do that and then redo the connections.
Am I wrong in thinking that I should be able to create and rename a new folder at the dvd-rw level? Everything goes haywire when I do. Can someone try it on their philips drive and tell me if they have a similar problem? Or again, maybe I am expected too much? Thanks!!!