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LG CD-ROMs Destroyed by Mandrake 9.2

Posted by michael on from the whoopsie dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The latest offering of Mandrake's distribution, 9.2, has been found to not only be incompatible with some LG CD-ROM drives, but to destroy them during the installation process. Mandrake have posted information on their errata page and further information can be found on this thread [google]. Along with over 350Mb of updates within a week of release, it's not been a good start for this latest release."

19 of 685 comments (clear)

  1. Quick... by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone find a 1st level Cleric so they can cast Protection from Evil on these Lawful Good CD-ROMs. That should keep the evil Mandrakes from destroying them.

    At least they should get a freakin' saving throw. What a harsh DM.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    1. Re:Quick... by daeley · · Score: 3, Funny

      So do they wind up getting XP if they fail the saving throw? ;)

      --
      I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
    2. Re:Quick... by tonywong · · Score: 5, Funny

      The sad part is I actually understood that joke and worse yet I found it funny.

      Back to the basement with my pizza stained shirt from 1985.

    3. Re:Quick... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      > So do they wind up getting XP if they fail the saving throw? ;)

      No, they get ME.

  2. Well... by 13Echo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Perhaps the drives don't truly conform to ATAPI standards. This is probably the first drive ever that has been "damaged" by Linux. Sorry, LG, you probably should test these things.

    1. Re:Well... by Big+Jason · · Score: 1, Funny

      Back in 1995, I put a Windows 95 disc in a Goldstar (now LG Electronics) 4x CD-ROM. The drive started making a horrible sound; I hit the eject button and the disc flew across the room! The CD also had scorch marks!

    2. Re:Well... by dknj · · Score: 3, Funny

      hahaha reminds me of a time i put a severely scratched cd inside a 16x drive only to have it shake the case violently. so i hit the eject button and the cd rose straight up out of the drive tray, flew at my coworker and then veered off to the floor. I didn't leave it in long enough for any marks, but it was warm to the touch. ahh fun times with broken hardware

      -dk

    3. Re:Well... by Black+Art · · Score: 4, Funny
      I just read a post from Alan Cox, it appears that if you send a flush cache command to the specific LG drives or their compaq rebadged ones, the drive gets fried. So this really has nothing to do with Mandrake and everything to do with a poorly designed drive.

      I guess LG had a different idea what "flush drive" meant.

      --
      "Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
    4. Re:Well... by Bishop923 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, pretty much any IDE device could be destroyed by a hostile driver.

      Actually damn near anything can be destroyed by a hostile driver with sufficient velocity and mass, I mean even a SCSI drive probably couldn't survive being run over by the typical mid-size car...

    5. Re:Well... by eyegone · · Score: 2, Funny

      You've obviously never seen an IBM 3279.

      --
      "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
  3. Re:"I feel raped." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Me too. I am in an American prison though, which does explain a quite bit of my other problems too, including this sharpened plastic fork embedded in my crotch.

  4. Don't tell Mr. Sherman... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Just don't let the RIAA get hold of this technology!

  5. Re:If you're a hardware manufacturer... by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, if you're a software manufacturer and can actually write software that destroys perfectly normal hardware you have a pretty sweet employment deal waiting for you at the RIAA.

    KFG

  6. Re:Quick...obligatory Futurama reference by gaspar0069 · · Score: 2, Funny

    LG CD-ROM Drive: "I'll need a weapon to fight off drunken Mandrake CDs when I get there."

    Gary Gygax: "Here, take my +1 mace."

  7. Re:More Information by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Could you guys at Mandrake enhance this feature to include Acer CD-ROM drives by 9.3? The Acer I have has given me grief ever since I baught the damn thing (Corrupted data etc.) and now I want to punish it really, really badly.. In fact, I want it to suffer an agonizing death and this is exactly what I'm looking for!

  8. LG makes drives?! by EvilStein · · Score: 2, Funny

    Geez, they make phones, hard drives, and that crazy internet fridge.

    If a drive can be trashed by a Mandrake CD, lord only knows what my cooking will do to their fridge. Eek.

  9. The ''Drive-killing disc'' by 0x20 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Somehow this reminds me of Hofstadter's illustration of Godel's incompleteness theorem in Godel, Escher, Bach... wherein Achilles has a phonograph which he claims can reproduce any sound, so the tortoise gives him a record with a sound which destroys phonographs...




    Well, it was funny to me.


    Where are you going?

  10. Re:Just wondering... by Nucleon500 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Given the current political and legal debates regarding the effects of computers on the music industry, it's not a good idea to allow CD-ROM drives to be destroyed by software. This includes firmware upgrades - there should be a jumper either to restore the original firmware or to disable firmware upgrading.

    My crystal ball has given me this quote from the future: "The track you attempted to burn has been identified as pirated or indie music. Windows Media Player 11 has disabled your CD-ROM for your protection. Call 1-900-THE-RIAA to re-enable it."

    --
    Litigious bastards
  11. There was a very good reason for this... by heironymouscoward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Only it's not quite the traditional reason. Attention, sladerous humour coming up.

    An IYFEG firmware engineer is calling his cousin, who studied English, to discuss a problem of terminology.

    IYFEG Engineer: Ni-haw-mah! Please, you speaking engrish, what to be meaning by "frush"?

    Cousin: How-Mah! I think you mean "flush", it means to wipe, to clean, to get rid of something. Rike you flush the toiret.

    Engineer: OK, I understand. Thank you. (puts down phone). Now, how do I implement a "flush" instruction on broody CD-ROM drive? Broody western committees not thinking straight! OK, I make feedback loop with +5v, so massive power surge wipes firmware crean. That should do it!

    (later) PHB: Engineer! You implemented frush command correctry?

    Engineer: Totarry, boss! It frushes creaner than a radies bottom!

    PHB: OK, let's ship the damn thing. /Apologies.

    --
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