Burning

JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Hi guys,

Got a problem with my PC :( Bit of a shame
I seem to be having real trouble burning CDs. It more often than not fails the burn and wastes the CD.
I know its not a problem with the CDs as I've used them many times before and have got dozens of albums burnt onto the same discs from my old PC.
I'm also using the Nero Essential that was supplied with the rig. I used Nero before on the old system all the time with no problems.
This only leads me to suspect that there may be a problem with the drive itself? :(

Any ideas? / Help? / Advice?

Cheers.
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
Is the drive DMA enabled.Also try changing burn speed if you get the option.
 
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PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Give us a quick call JSG10 - if we can't fix the problem over the phone we'll dispatch you a new drive on a next day delivery service.
 
JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Thanks for the replies, what are the line hours PCS? Just got back from a night shift.. not doing anything other than going to bed in a minute XD
 
JSG10

JSG10

Expert
vanthus said:
Is the drive DMA enabled.Also try changing burn speed if you get the option.
Click to expand...

Burn speed, isn't or rather *Shouldnt* be the problem here, I've always burnt my CDs at max speed with no ill effects, I only ever slow down the burn speed when doing DVDs.
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
JSG10 said:
Burn speed, isn't or rather *Shouldnt* be the problem here, I've always burnt my CDs at max speed with no ill effects, I only ever slow down the burn speed when doing DVDs.
Click to expand...
Yes,i do the same,although its possible to get better quality on audio cds at lower speeds in certain circumstances.Point i was trying to make was maybe burn speed is set too low without realising it.Also i know dma is set by default in windows7 but its still worth checking.It could also be bad batch of discs though hes used them before on other pc,ive had full spindles that were bad on the media i use & i use the best.Admittedly its probably a bad drive but are these things not worth trying first?If the answer to everything was just replace it we could forget about trouble shooting.
 
JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Yes, I see your point.
As for DMA, yes it was set to enabled on ATA Channel 0 in Muti-Word DMA Mode 2. I've now disabled it and will see if that makes a difference. Currently in PIO Mode 4. By the way, I have no idea what these modes are :)
I can rule out a bad batch as I'm halfway through a batch that I was still using on the old rig and I never once burnt a coaster until now.
I can burn at times, it seems to depend on the way I'm doing it and what I'm doing at the time. For example, if I'm listening to what I want to burn in WMP then try to burn in Nero, it more than often fails. If I close everything down, insert a disc and choose burn an audio CD in Nero from the auto-run then it more than often succeeds.
This is a bit odd, especially as I should be able to run about 10 different processes at once and still successfully burn a CD with this current rig.
I've also noticed that the drive emmits quite a high pitched noise when burning which I've never noticed on drives before :S

Will have to give you a call either Monday or Tues PCS as I'm off on another Night shift tonight and will be asleep until about 2-3 tomorrow.
 
JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Just tried burning a CD without DMA on. Makes no difference it seems. Failed again and another new coaster XD
Again it was making the high pitched noises and sounded as though it was spinning up to fast.
I had Nero set to determine the Max write speed so it couldn't try and do it too high. Its a 48x drive as it is so really shouldn't be a problem.
I've saved the error log file if anyone wants to have a look I can email it over? I can make no sense of it :(
Quite annoying this as I burn a lot of music, not sure what the problem could be other than a faulty drive which would be a little disappointing :(
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
JSG10 said:
Just tried burning a CD without DMA on. Makes no difference it seems. Failed again and another new coaster XD
Again it was making the high pitched noises and sounded as though it was spinning up to fast.
I had Nero set to determine the Max write speed so it couldn't try and do it too high. Its a 48x drive as it is so really shouldn't be a problem.
I've saved the error log file if anyone wants to have a look I can email it over? I can make no sense of it :(
Quite annoying this as I burn a lot of music, not sure what the problem could be other than a faulty drive which would be a little disappointing :(
Click to expand...
Ok looks like faulty drive,not a major problem, though very disappointing as you say.Still maybe worth trying different media just to eliminate that possibility .
 
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JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Tried burning an mp3 disc today using the method that has previously worked and that failed pretty much straight away so definitely something wrong here. Not had a chance to call the last couple of days. Things keep getting in the way! I will get a phonecall in to you guys sometime asap though! Definitely needs sorting :(
 
M

misterdave

Enthusiast
Could I point you to my post here. By the looks of your spec it could be an iHAS124 B drive easiest way to check is open up device manager (right click my computer and select manage, then device manager) and click on + next to DVD/CD ROM Drives. If it lists an iHAS124 device in there try the firmware update.
 
JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Hi thanks for the info there,
No not a iHAS124 B drive.

Its a Optiarc AD-7260 if thats any help.

It is also listed as being fully up to date and working correctly which clearly isn't the case :(
 
JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Only 1.00 according to Nero InfoTool. Will upgrade via link and let you know what happens.
Thanks for the help.
 
JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Flashed the firmware and it *seems* to have done the job which begs the question as to why the firmware was not the most recent when it was sent out? :S
I assume that media burning isn't one of the tests before dispatch. Probably too time consuming thinking about it :S
I also noticed that there was no region code for the drive, not even region 0, just blank, had never been applied, odd, thought these were set from manufacture? Anyways, I set it incase that caused an issue too. Never know.

Just burnt an mp3 jukebox cd and a standard audio cd no problem :)

I'm still getting a high pitched noise as it burns though which I find unusual as I've never had a drive do that before. :S Its actually extremely irritating sat here whilst its burning. Its very loud and very high pitched. Reminds me of one those hearing tests with all the different noises just about 3 or 4 times louder. Is this normal for these drives?!

It also seems very slow at burning. It is set at 48x yet is taking 6-8minutes to burn a standard audio cd yet on my old system it was only about 2 minutes. :( ok 6-9 minutes isn't a particularly long time but when compared to my old one it really makes a difference! Should be the other way round given the specification difference. Maybe I should have opted for a better drive?
 
JSG10

JSG10

Expert
Sorry to bump this back up but it seems the problem has reoccurred.... great :(

I'll be phoning up on monday to hopefully get a replacement drive sent out. Hopefully one thats not broke :( Rest of the system is still awesome :D
 
M

misterdave

Enthusiast
That's a shame, they'll sort you a replacement out. We've not seen many of these fail so you should be fine with a new one.
 
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