HP DVD writer 740b

DVD 740b

Thanks Lookinaround, I did the dwnld. It installed fine and I ran it, it asked me to insert a disc into drive for speed ck, I did. It came back with wrong type or something.
I installed a Cd, same response I installed A BLANK DVD and a BLANK CD and some disks with music some with a move ect. ALL the same error message so I skipped that step and it did it's thing and then it showed all red cks in the DVD ASUS anus what ever,, all GREEK to me.
I for the life of me cannot imagine an intellegent LAYMAN understanding any of this lingo, nor do I understand why something so un-reliable and filled with what seems to me "Installed self destruction b****" would be allowed to be sold let alone become such vital part of our lives. Had it been an auto there would be lawsuits up the yang yang. This is the 5th and last computer I will own, the 4th used one. The first one cost me $800 and spent it's first year in the shop under warranty more then it did with me, then it started costing me and I retired it under my truck tires and have had used ever since. I would just love at my AGE of 55 to meet Bill Gates and "TRY" to push my fist through his face for screwing up the sane world.
Okay, now with that out of the way,,,now what?
one other question,,,what is the point for the 12 postings before PM's?
ANOTHER CONTROL FREEK AT THE HEELM?

Hi miloman

I can understand your frustration with computers!

I just bought a fancy new smart phone and I had to learn how to do things all over again on the new phone! It can be frustrating when you want to do the simple and seems lots of work to figure out

Run the Nero InfoTool again. I know there's lots of information overload. But this time just look for where it says firmware . Tell me the firmware version (it's probably a mix of letters and numbers) Should be around the upper right quadrant of the infotool window

HaHaHA!

A BIG thanks there to you "Lookinaround", I like that, it would save me the gas and tires doing it McDucks way!
Okay here is how it reads; Firmware ED24
Buffersize 2MB
Date: 05-06-30
Serial # 01586A@4
Hope that helps you HELP me,, I won't even try a NEW touch screen phone, I had enough trouble when they went from Tower "Johnstone Box type's w/ the keypad mic combo to cell pocket phones, and I fought that one for a few years till I went back to homeline. Thinking of going way back,,,,like to cave days.
Thanks again

OK. On the one hand I DID find a firmware update for your DVD drive! (the newer version is HI24)

On the other hand, I don't know if that will fix the problem with the drive but I'll keep my fingers crossed! Download HERE

Dwnload 740b

I thank you in advance!
I haven't a clue how anyone does these sort of things, it is a totally different thought process for the norm and like the new form of texting short hand,,,,WHERES THE dictionary ? Where is the encyclopedia? How did this evolve ? All those numbers/ letters , software hardware hard disc/ floppy disc, motherboard, programs ect. Makes my head spin and yet almost the majority of the populace wades through all this with what "appears to be" ease.

Ok, enough of the ratteling, "administrator" even with my old New out of the box laptop I use to have,,what is it how do I set myself as such and am I already ?
I never set it up or was prompted too on that laptop from best buy, this dwnload I see says I must be to use it, "How do I know if I am and if it has been set?"
When I have been asked before by this computor, I just pressed ok and it "I think did alright,,,but I never know for sure cause I don't know what or how or why it is there.
I assume I must be, cause I have the ability to destructive recovery or wipe out the partition like I did on the last desktop I mistakenly ruined. That was the down fall of desktop #3 and because of that learning experience, I don't assume anything anymore. Sorry for going on and on. i will give her go!

Hi again "Lookinaround",
well that didn't do it. sorry. It dwnld alright , and installed in desktop, but when it came to run prompt, it required I copy it to cd, cd-r, thumb something, or to DVD,,,,.
I tried the cd and got a message , unable to create bootable cd , please insert CD-R and try again, which of course I did only to come back to here, Now what, I only have blank,,,DVD+R, CD-RW and DVD-RW's I have no thumb deally bobbers.
SEE what I mean,, why didn't the designer of this program go the simplified, less step method of install like adobe does?

Oh also, I could hear it trying over and over but of course it didn't,,,OF COURSE NOT,,,it's a computer with a mind ALL it's own,,,how nice.

Maybe I should try "bribing it",,, a good thick peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the disc tray,, what do you think Jiffy, petterpan ,,, crunchy or smooth?

HPDVD740b

Hi lookinaround, hope my joking about a peanut butter sandwich in the disc tray as a bribe didn't cause you to give up on my troubles.
Sometimes ya just got to give it a break and find some humor in it.
I was wondering if I could take one of the burners from another older xp and replace this one, I assume they are 2000 or so year and they use to work.
Or, How about I go to the Public Library and try copying a disc of that program from there and then bringing it home to install on this,,,would this work if possible. Would the library have any reason that would prevent such a tasK?
Any way thanks for trying,, I appreciate it and the time you spent. Tell me what you think either way,,,,,,,,, Miloman/Ed

I was wondering if I could take one of the burners from another older xp and replace this one, I assume they are 2000 or so year and they use to work.

Click to expand...

Yes, you can swap the optical drive and use one from another computer. Based on the year, I'm guessing it's one w/ IDE connection (ribbon cable)? If that's the case, before you connect the new drive, make sure the jumper setting is correct.

Next to the ribbon connection, there should be two row of pins, either four or five columns. There will be a jumper connecting a pin in the top row and another pin in the bottom. There are three options: master, slave & cable select. Note the setting on the HP drive. The replacement drive needs to be set the same.

Hi miloman

No, i haven't given up. (I thought your peanut butter joke was funny )

Just been busy. All the helpers on this site volunteer their time and effort so one's availability and such can vary. (That's another reason why problems are addressed in public forums vs private.. so everyone can pitch in to help with fresh ideas)

Public computers (like at a library) usually don't allow users to run EXE (executable) files so it probabaly won't help for your case.. Any friends with a computer? or a flash drive? As to replacing the drive, Rabbit and others can probably help you more with questions about replacing it then I can (Again, another reason the forums work well as a "collective" effort )

I probably won't be able to post back again till tonight or maybe tomorrow night

miloman said:

<snip>
I tried the cd and got a message , unable to create bootable cd , please insert CD-R and try again, which of course I did only to come back to here, Now what, I only have blank,,,DVD+R, CD-RW and DVD-RW's I have no thumb deally bobbers.
SEE what I mean,, why didn't the designer of this program go the simplified, less step method of install like adobe does?

Click to expand...

ARGHH indeed! I tried running that file myself (I thought maybe i could create a boot image for you somehow). Only to get an error message! Apparently that file will only run on a machine that has a HP DVD writer 740b on it!! You're right. It was very poorly designed

That said, I think there are limited options
> Around here, near me, simple , basic USB thumb drives can be found for $6 - $10. I don't know if you can find them cheap as well. Though I also don't know if a firmware upgrade will even fix your problem or if maybe your drive (perhaps the write lens) is simply broken
> Others can give you better advice on replacing it then I can

If you choose to try a USB thumb drive a couple things to note:
> Do you know how to tell your computer to boot from USB? (If no, is another topic to discuss. Shouldn't be TOO dificult)
> And note that thumb drives are handy for temp storage but DON'T rely on it for backups (saving copies of critical docs) as they're also known to go bad at some time

I opened the EXE file w/ 7zip and there is an ISO and IMG file plus some other files & instructions. I'm guessing the IMG is for a floppy. There's folder called USBDisk, for creating a bootable thumb drive I assume.

Anyway, like LookinAround said, firmware upgrade is no guarantee. While searching for info on the 740b, I came across a lot of posts about various problems people are having w/ it. Haven't seen a definitive way of resolving it. Given the age of the drive, it might be better/less headache just to replace it. DVD burner w/ IDE connection are about $25 at Newegg.

Rabbit01 said:

I opened the EXE file w/ 7zip <snip>

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Good thinking Rabbit. I'll have to remember to try to unzip as well next time

That's one thing I like about 7zip, that you can look inside some of these installation files.

well Lookinaround, and Rabitt01, it's official! My computer is out to get me! I did not know you two had written me since my last post. No e-mail notification as before. I only just now, today discovered all the suggestion's because I used the nieghbors computer to copy the 740b to disc and had to come back to this forum on her computer to do so to find the link.
It wrote fine, but NOW, My computer won't read. It use to read all my older written disc's from my old computer's, but it won't even read those anymore.
Something else happened too. Today, when I turned it on, instead of it going to desk top as usual, it went to a kinda dos with the energy star logo and stated " HD failure is imminent select F2 or F"?something" and back up files. I clked whatever to continue F2?, and here I am, now I am afraid to shut it down,, what do you all think? I really think these things have a self destruct bug installed@ factory,,, but I don't and can't prove it. It is like it knows what I am attempting to do and goes into defiance mode. I will leave it on for as long as it takes to hear from one of you,,,thanks again,,better hold off buying a new writer though,,, might have to buy a whole new computer to use, "but that is not happening, not again.

Hi Rabbit01, this newegg, is that an online store? Given the new problem I have "Harddrive failure iminent" message,, I guess I better wait till I know what is fixin to happen. I am so positive with bad luck,,, anyway I am thinking,,,still thinkin,,,tomorrow,,,, still thinking!

man I really hate these things, If I go to "destructive recovery" again, I lose all my data pdfs and circuit diagrams ect.
I can try system restore but if it shuts down now during restore,,,could be the death of this one too. I guess I will wait till tomorrow for now.

guess I better give you guy's one final thankyou just in case, my computer is on "SUICIDE WATCH" so THANK YOU!

Found this on HP's site: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&dlc=en&docname=bph05701&lc=en&product=12455#N181

It said that the error could be a false positive and that there's nothing wrong w/ the drive, and a driver update might resolve the hard drive failure message. I wasn't able to find any software since I don't know the exact model of your computer. To see what's available, you'll have to type that in (top right of the page) and "Hard disk failure is imminent" in the second box (w/o the quotes). There's also instruction on running hard drive diagnostics.

Now, while it's still working, you should backup all the important files.

p.s. Yes, newegg is an online store.

Thanks Rabbit01! I appreciate that, don't know how you guys do all this, I mean, do you actually stay on this site scanning it for questions you can fix, or do you have a type of the old "AOL, You've got mail! " alarms? Anyway I do appreciate this, and will try to locate the info,,, is it the info in "my computer+ system info? as for the backup,,I cannot backup anything cause I have no writer.

SMART data includes a set of data counts indicating how often different disk errors occur. Each disk error attribute has both a "count" and "threshold".
> An error count greater then 1 but less then the threshold means a disk warning
> An error count equal or greater then the error threshold means the disk is failing

Google once published an interesting paper of the correlation between SMART data and hard drive failures. If i recall correctly they found
> 33% of drives crash without any type warning (such as no prior SMART data errors occuring)
> Once a drive has at least one SMART error, the probability of that drive ultimately failing in the future is very high
> For more info, see THIS post

In my opinion (IMO), better to be safe then sorry and err on the side of caution: it's better to replace the drive after any SMART error occurs

Run CrystalDiskInfo. It's an easy tool which shows each drive's SMART data and a visual status of the drive's health.

As for backups, best to run backups ASAP to save any important data. There are some alternatives:
> Buy an external hard drive. I suggest one with its own AC power supply. A 1TB external disk will cost about $15O tho you may need less then 1TB and buy something smaller
> There are free online storage sites that allow you to save 2 - 5 GB of your files for free. just need open an account (I use DropBox private folders). These are best if you aren't concerned about any of your data sitting on a server on the internet (probably not good if that includes very private data, income tax returns, etc.)
> There's also a service Carbonite. Never used it but here's my understanding about it
> $59/year (14 day trial)
> Their software handles the automated backup of all personal files/folders on the computer
> They also use strong (128bit) encryption - which means you're the only one who knows the encryption key so your data is protected on their servers

So backup all your data ASAP one way or another then you can at least deal with fixing/replacing your computer at least knowing your data is safe

G'luck!

I appreciate that, don't know how you guys do all this, I mean, do you actually stay on this site scanning it for questions you can fix, or do you have a type of the old "AOL, You've got mail! " alarms? Anyway I do appreciate this, and will try to locate the info,,, is it the info in "my computer+ system info? as for the backup,,I cannot backup anything cause I have no writer.

Click to expand...

I check the site once or twice a day and try to answer what I can.

As for make/model of your computer, there should be a label on the computer case. At least that's the case w/ the Dell laptops & desktops here at work. Or if you right click on My Computer and select properties, it might be listed there also.

There's also Mozy. Never used it but remember reading about it on my IT dept.'s site. 2GB free. Then it goes to $6/mo per computer for 50 GB.

Hello again "lookinaround", well I am still operating in critical condition. I have done a few things though and would like ur view. I went into my shop and dug through all my old computors and dis-assembled a few of the DVD/CD writers "removed them" I then shut down my unit and removed the 740b and replaced it with the old one, turned on unit and let it find the driver, I then went to, "Create HP recovery disc" and loaded up and began copying. it took two DVD's, after the first disc virified, and finished, the burner quit working and would not copy the second disc. So I removed that unit, and replaced it with another and after the computer installing it's driver, it would read but not write,,, I then took the last unit,,Not the 740b,,apart and though I did not see any dust, I cleaned the laser and hooked it up open to the patch cords, inserted a disk and it would read. Then shuting down the unit I removed the writer and put it back together and reinstalled it, turned on the computer and copied the second disc. So I have both recover disc's,,,,,,,,I think. How would I know till I need them? and what do think I may have done to fix this problem,,,cleaning? I live in Midland,Texas, a very dry and dusty place"oil Field". If it was dust maybe all I need to do is clean the others?
Now having said that,, I have the crystal page loaded/ NOT downloaded yet, what if anything willl this do to help me with my HD? is there something out there that will?
I understand that this site is about tech help/learning,,, but at this immediate moment I need to save this thing first,,then I can take the time to understand and learn what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future,,without it I cannot reach this site. I did try to find a HD this morning while in town, but all that was open at the time was wal-mart and they had nothing but discs and thumb thingys. I most likely could not have afforded it anyway, I am disabled and have limited resources, which is why I I bought the first computer, to try an learn something to generate my own income again,,that was 5-6 yrs ago and , well I am not stupid,,just not sharp enough for this time in my life. Thanks to you all for the great help and assistance.