Diagnostic Puzzler: Pioneer BDR 205 Gets Lost To SL 10.6.5

[MtnSkier]

Note to Administrator:

 

This topic might be better placed under SATA/IDE issues subforum

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showforum=155

 

I am not eligible to put it there at this time. Please let me know if you wish to move it there. That is fine with me.

 

Thank you for reading this lengthy post concerning a very difficult diagnostic puzzle. I believe the gentlemen and ladies here who know IDE/Sata issues are best equipped to advise me.

 

The problem is that a Pioneer Optical drive BD-RW BDR-205 disappears after mac SL 10.6.5 is booted for 35 or more minutes in a mac pro 1,1

 

First, hardware configuration:

 

I have a mac pro 1,1 with the following configuration:

 

Hardware Overview:

 

Model Name: Mac Pro

Model Identifier: MacPro1,1

Processor Speed: 3 GHz

Number Of Processors: 2

Total Number Of Cores: 8

L2 Cache (per processor): 8 MB

Memory: 19 GB

Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz

Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08

SMC Version (system): 1.7f10

Serial Number (system): G873727BUQ2

Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F20D58CE

 

Here is the Pioneer drive serial ATA configuration:

 

Intel ESB2 AHCI:

 

Vendor: Intel

Product: ESB2 AHCI

Link Speed: 3 Gigabit

Negotiated Link Speed: 1.5 Gigabit

Description: AHCI Version 1.10 Supported

 

PIONEER BD-RW BDR-205:

 

Model: PIONEER BD-RW BDR-205

Revision: 1.10

Native Command Queuing: No

Removable Media: Yes

Detachable Drive: No

BSD Name: disk3

Power Off: No

Async Notification: Yes

Partition Map Type: Unknown

S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported

 

here is the other optical drive in the machine, under the ATA bus, which is not having any problems:

 

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7170A:

 

Model: OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7170A

Revision: 1.N8

Serial Number:

Detachable Drive: No

Protocol: ATAPI

Unit Number: 0

Socket Type: Internal

Low Power Polling: No

Power Off: No

 

 

Second, Description of problem

 

When the Pioneer drive disappears, disk utility no longer can find the drive, and the drive cannot be opened from the "carrot" menu at the top, upper right of the SL home screen.

 

Interestingly, the Pioneer optical drive does awaken from sleep OK.

 

The other drive, the Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A does not have this problem, and also awakens from sleep OK

 

The Pioneer problem can happen while reading a newspaper with Safari open, or with nothing but system log, journal log, disk utility log open, plus a wait of 30 to 90 minutes.

 

When the problem occurs, a window pops up saying:

 

"You inserted a blank DVD. Choose an action from the pop up menu or click Ignore"

 

It also says action : "Open finder"

 

"Make this action the default"

 

You have three buttons to push, eject, ignore or OK.

 

Pushing "ignore" or "OK" does not get rid of the problem.

 

If you push "eject", another window pops up saying:

 

"The disc can't be used because the disc drive is not supported (error code 0x80020025)"

 

If you shut down and reboot, the problem will recur anywhere from 35 minutes to two hours later, whether or not you run Safari.

 

I have tried to get an error message to show up in system.log, kernel.log and DiskUtility.log, in fact any other log, to help us pinpoint the cause, but nothing about SATA, AHCI or the ATA drivers is logged.

 

However, there is an error message that appears every 5 minutes in the system.log that may be (or most likely is not) related to the Pioneer problem is as follows:

 

Dec 15 11:01:01 Peter-Hoons-Mac-Pro xgridagentd[864]: Warning: agent error opening connection to controller "localhost" (error = Unable to connect: BEEPError 600 (could not bind socket))

 

 

Third, Attempts to solve the Pioneer problem so far

 

Note that the Pioneer drive is connected by a red Sata cord to one of two ports on the mac pro 1,1 mobo under the fan assembly. The problem occurs regardless of which mobo port you use.

 

There are a number of interesting attempts to solve the problem that have not worked.

 

I ran Applejack at boot to make sure the system permissions and repairs were run and to clean the SL op sys.

 

I ran techtools to see if any hardware was deficient. None detected.

 

I ran memtest for 13 hours to check all ram. No ram problems were detected.

 

I took the machine to Apple in Boulder and they ran more detailed hardware diagnostics on all hardware, including this Pioneer drive, and found no problems. However, we did not wait long enough to see if the Pioneer would "get lost" when Apple ran their diagnostics. They might have found it.

 

I ran temperature stat to see if any CPUs or ram were overheating. Yes, ram runs hot, around 50 degrees cent, but OWC and other mac techs tell me this is normal. CPU cores, all eight of them, are fine around 47 degrees cent.

 

Now this is interesting: I used Insanely mac web site to enable sata ports on the mac pro(1,1) mobo, and ESB2 AHCI, under windows Vista, by johnsock and others. You have to do a MBR patch and a registry change. Windows Vista is run under bootcamp. All Sata ports are detected and working properly under Windows Vista, 32 bit. The Pioneer drive works fine under windows, and never disappears!

 

I have run lengthy movies under both windows Vista and and SL. The Pioneer drive stays visible, and never disappears while movies are being shown in both Vista and SL.

 

I have upgraded the Pioneer firmware to the latest version 1.10, with no resolution of the problem.

 

I bought a SATA to IDE converter to try running the Pioneer drive on the ATA bus, along with the Optiarc DVD 7170A. Edit: I am running the Pioneer now alone under the ATA bus, thinking: "can I re-create the problem under the ATA bus? If so, it would suggest a Pioneer hardware problem." After 90 minutes, the drive remains ejectable, and is completely usable to disk utility, and is usable for DVD viewing.

 

I have the latest SL 10.6.5 software upgrades.

 

There are two other web sites where users have noted the Pioneer problem, but no one has clearly found and stated what the Pioneer BDR-205 diagnostic issue actually is:

 

Http://discussions.info.apple.com/message....sageID=10740291

 

http://xlr8toyrmac.com/archives/nov09/112509.htm#S26298

 

In one case, the problem was waking from sleep, which does not seem to be the problem I am having with my Pioneer BDR-205. Mine disappears to the SL op sys, and no longer ejects and is completely unusable.

 

Now here is a very strange story: My machine is under Apple Care. I took the machine to Apple in Boulder because the OTHER Optiarc DVD 717A "superdrive" would not wake from sleep in SL, but would under Vista. They said: "drive defective, and it is failing". They replaced the drive free. To my surprise, the new Optiarc wakes from SL sleep fine now, as well as from sleep in Vista. That drive really did have a hardware problem!

 

Forth, Diagnostic Impressions

 

It is hard for me to believe that the Pioneer drive has a hardware problem, because it works fine under windows Vista, and second, because it works fine under the ATA bus.

 

A more likely cause to me is that there is a driver problem in SL under the serial ATA bus (SATA), including possibly, the ESB2 AHCI driver.

 

Techs at OWC have said: "Send the drive back to Pioneer and have it replaced. It is defective." In light of my experience with the other Optiarc drive, they could be right! It is still under a 1 year warranty, and I could do that. Yet it is hard to believe that the drive has a hardware problem.

 

A gentleman named David Maurer at the Mac Pro and Linnux AHCI Sata driver help website, in 2006, stated a couple of mac pro 1,1 driver additions that might solve the problem in linnux red hat, but I do not know how to add these driver work arounds 4 years later to the existing SL driver. And it seems to me that Apple would have these included in the existing SATA-AHCI drivers by now for SL 10.6.5 if they were needed.

 

Thank you for reading this post, and I am open to suggestions for where to go from here.

 

I will post the solution to the problem, so everyone will eventually get closure on this difficult issue.

 

Best Wishes,

 

MtnSkier

Nederland, Colorado