CD-RW troubles...

[cmaMath13]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out why my friends CD-RW drive will not 100% reliable. He has a Dell (WinXP, 866mhz, 256MB RAM) and we upgraded his old CD-RW drive to an MSI 52x52x24x drive. It will burn many CD fine, but sometimes it will "stop" in the middle of the writing process. When we upgraded it, he installed the Nero that came with the drive, but did not uninstall the Roxio CD Creator until later (could that be the problem?). I swapped his CD-RW drive with mine to see if it was just the drive, but we had the same problems with my known good drive. We have tried various media and making iso's to the hhd, etc. Also, his computer has never been reformatted and is about 3 years old.

The questions are:
1) What do you think the problem is?
2) What do you think the solution is?

I have told him that by reformatting (or repairing XP) his computer, we may fix the problem. His concern is some of the software he may lose in the process.

 

[Boonesmi]

have you checked for any firmware updates? very possible they have a new firmware to fix some bugs

 

[Boonesmi]

whats the drives model #?

and here is a link where you can get firmware updates
http://forum.firmware-flash.com/dl_firmware.php?category=6&manufactor=21

 

[cmaMath13]

Thanks for the suggestion.

If I swapped his drive out for my drive (known good), then would firmware make a difference?

 

[DrZone]

This might seem simple, but check the DMA setting - make sure it's enabled!

 

[StraightPipe]

does it give an error when it stops? is it buffer underrun?

DMA

 

[Boonesmi]

firmware can make a huge difference, expecially if the bugs that are being fixed with the firmware update are the problems your experiencing

not only that firmware updates can often times add new features, and make it more compatable with new media types

 

[cmaMath13]

I just stops or freezes in NERO. It does not lock up the computer, but the drive remains active (red light keeps going). The computer must be restarted to get the drive to stop.

 

[Shagga]

Could be a power source problem...on the basis it happens with both of the writers...

Q. Why does Nero/Nero Express always stop to burn at about 2%-3% during the writing process? The Nero Error log shows a Power Calibration Error, or Power Calibration Error Full Error Message.

Power Calibration is controlled by the recorder. Before any write operation, all recorders must do a 15 step power test to determine the optimum power for writing to the CD; this is called "Optimum Power Calibration"(OPC). And during the write, it continues to do this test to get the best write throughout the whole CD; this is called "Running Optimum Power Calibration" (ROPC). This whole process is controlled by the recorder, though initiated by programs such as Nero. There is an area on the inner part of the CD for the test and test data info to be stored. You can use this area up to 999 times.
So, when you receive the "Power Calibration Error" or "Power Calibration Area full" error message, then the cause will be either poor media, poor Power, or a defective Recorder.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:

1) A Firmware Update might enable the OPC on this medium
2) Try another brand of CDR or CDRW media.
3) Some of these symptoms can also be caused by poor power or power fluctuations.
So try different power connectors, and for recorders, do not share power with other devices. It needs its own power connector. If this occurs with an External recorder, the power source in the chassis could be the cause. Take the recorder out of the external chassis, and make into an internal, as a test.
4) Try different configurations, such as taking the CDROM to the Primary IDE bus as Slave, and have only the recorder connected to the Secondary IDE bus as Master.
5) Send the recorder in for Service.

 

[cmaMath13]

Could be a power source problem...on the basis it happens with both of the writers...

That is something that I had not considered.

I am surprised that no one has suggested reformatting. I guess my original thinking was incorrect.

 

[Boonesmi]

did you ever try updating the firmware?

 

[cmaMath13]

I do not have the computer. It is at his house. I will visit him this weekend and see if there is firmware update. I'll let you know.

 

[cmaMath13]

I have now updated the firmware for both the CD-RW drive and the DVD drive. I have updated WinXP, too. I have done everything expect reformat the computer.

So here is where I am at:

I am going to bring my spare computer over to his house and put his drive/s into it and see if it burns ok. If the drives work ok in my computer, then it seem reasonable that the problem lies in the software install on his system and I should repair or reformat his computer. If the driver reproduce the same errors in my computer, then the drive/s are bad and should be RMA'ed.

Comments?

 

[Ant001]

Perhaps the IDE controller? I was having problems with my Lite-On combo drive until I swapped IDE controllers. Works fine now.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: cmaMath
I am going to bring my spare computer over to his house and put his drive/s into it and see if it burns ok. If the drives work ok in my computer, then it seem reasonable that the problem lies in the software install on his system and I should repair or reformat his computer. If the driver reproduce the same errors in my computer, then the drive/s are bad and should be RMA'ed.

Good troubleshooting logic. It doesn't eliminate all hardware issues, but reformatting is a lot cheaper than blindly buying new hardware to see what fixes the problem.

 

[cmaMath13]

Ant001,
I have not tried that so that will go on my list of things to try.

jliechty,
Thanks. I am trying to avoid the reformatting, since I friend wants this to be the last option. I figure if I elimate the drives, then I will have a solid reason to investigate the software side of it.

Thanks for your comments and feel free to keep them coming!