"buffer underrun" burn error

[bugboy]

I apologize if this has been addressed before, but I constantly get ?buffer underrun? errors when trying to burn disks.
I have an ECS K7S5A mobo, with and Athlon 1600, a Maxtor 40gb 7200rpm (I think with a 2mb buffer), a Sony Spressa burner crx100e 24x4x2 with a 1mb buffer, and a Lite-On 163D DVD (16x) player that I use as my main drive.
The HD is the primary master with the burner as slave, the DVD is the secondary master.
It seems that I get this more often if I?m copying from the DVD to the burner and less so if I?m just burning files.

What?s wrong? The error means that the data isn?t getting to the burner fast enough, correct? Sony?s website and tech support were unhelpful. Would it help to put the DVD and the burner on the same IDE connector? What else could I try. The burner is quite old, and this has always been a problem. Do I just need a new burner?
Thanks

 

[Pyromidion]

the reasons i ever got a buffer under run was when i was trying to do processor intense work, such as word process, listeninng to mp3s browse web, and seti all at the same time as trying to burn a CD, and other similar situations, where cPU is being eaten alive. a new burner wouldnt be a bad idea, and most newer ones (like my new combo drive) protect against underruns (and they are faster too )

-john

 

[amdskip]

This is a reason plextor cd burners are so great. They have buffer underrun protection. I can burn cds at 40x and surf the net all I want without problems if I really wanted to. A faster burner won't help your problem really unless it's a plextor. You just can't do anything while burning, thats it.

 

[bugboy]

 

[bugboy]

I forgot to mention that I haven't been touching the computer while I let things burn, and there are almost no progams running in the background. The rest of the rig really should provide the data without a problem (I think) so I'm assuming its the burner itself. Are plextors really that much bettor than other brands?

 

[corkyg]

Short of getting a new burner, there are some techniques you can use to offset underrun. First, try a slower burn speed. If you have a 16X, try 12X or 8X. Next, copy the source completely to the HDD first and then burn from the HDD. Your burner should be on a separate controller from your HDD and systemware. This is why I have always preferred external SCSI, Firewire, or USB 2 burners. They are more reliable without the newer burnproof technology (basically a larger cache or a HDD cache used in the burn process.) Anytime your data flow into the burner's cache falls below 85%, you are in the red zone for an underrun.