DVD burner problems

[PoisonJam]

This is a long shot but you guys have helped me out in the past...

 

I recently bought a DVD burner from NewEgg (NEC ND-3550A) but all it makes are coasters. No matter what I try to burn, no matter what software I use, it gets about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way done and then spits the disc out with an error. I have tried Nero 7 and Sonic's RecordNOW, and I have tried writing DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs, all with the same failed result. I ended up sending the drive back and (today, a month later) I got a replacement drive...same result.

 

Any ideas what I can check or where to go from here? The NEC website indicated that if I am on Windows XP SP2 (and I am) I wouldn't need to download any drivers. And in fact, they don't even offer drivers or firmware updates on their site. I'm at a loss here...does anyone have any ideas?

[Robot Monkey]

What is the error when it spits out the disc? Nero, I believe, can generate a log file for you, explaining the error.

[PoisonJam]

Yes, a natural question...RecordNOW simply says "Write error" and suggests the DVD may be smudged or scratched. All 10 discs I tried, presumably. Nero provided an error log but the only instance of the word "error" in the log indicated a Read error, not a Write error. I tried to burn hundreds of different files to see if perhaps I just had a few bad eggs and the burner software was choking on them but nothing I tried completed successfully.

 

The error logs are lenghty but I will post one below (warning, long post, etc). As an update, I did manage to track down the latest firmware for my drive and flashed it, and I ran a diagnostic from within Nero and it created a disc okay with no errors. Wh-wh-what??

 

Error log:

Windows XP 5.1

IA32

WinAspi: -

ahead WinASPI: File 'C:\Program Files\Nero\Nero 7\Core\Wnaspi32.dll': Ver=2.0.1.74, size=164112 bytes, created 11/2/2004 1:54:32 PM

 

NT-SPTI used

Nero Version: 7.2.7.0

Internal Version: 7, 2, 7, 0

(Nero Express)

Recorder: <_NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A> Version: 1.05 - HA 1 TA 0 - 7.2.7.0

Adapter driver: <IDE> HA 1

Drive buffer : 2048kB

Bus Type : default (0) -> ATAPI, detected: ?

CD-ROM: <_NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A >Version: 1.05 - HA 1 TA 0 - 7.2.7.0

Adapter driver: <IDE> HA 1

 

=== Scsi-Device-Map ===

DiskPeripheral : Maxtor 6E040L0 atapi Port 0 ID 0 DMA: On

CdRomPeripheral : _NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A atapi Port 1 ID 0 DMA: On

CdRomPeripheral : SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-248F atapi Port 1 ID 1 DMA: On

 

=== CDRom-Device-Map ===

_NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A D: CDRom0

SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-248F E: CDRom1

=======================

 

AutoRun : 1

Excluded drive IDs:

WriteBufferSize: 83886080 (0) Byte

BUFE : 0

Physical memory : 1534MB (1571836kB)

Free physical memory: 993MB (1017600kB)

Memory in use : 35 %

Uncached PFiles: 0x0

Use Inquiry : 1

Global Bus Type: default (0)

Check supported media : Disabled (0)

 

4.10.2006

ISO compilation

6:46:09 PM #1 Text 0 File Isodoc.cpp, Line 6440

Iso document burn settings

------------------------------------------

Determine maximum speed : FALSE

Simulate : FALSE

Write : TRUE

Finalize CD : FALSE

Multisession : TRUE

Multisession type: : Start multisession

Burning mode : DAO

Mode : 1

ISO Level : 1 (Max. of 11 = 8 + 3 char)

Character set : ISO 9660

Joliet : TRUE

Allow pathdepth more than 8 directories : TRUE

Allow more than 255 characters in path : TRUE

Write ISO9660 ;1 file extensions : TRUE

 

6:46:13 PM #2 Text 0 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 540

ReadBuffer-Pipe got 262144KB of Memory

 

6:46:13 PM #3 Text 0 File Reader.cpp, Line 124

Reader running

 

6:46:13 PM #4 ISO9660GEN -11 File Geniso.cpp, Line 3312

First writeable address = 0 (0x00000000)

 

6:46:15 PM #5 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 3405

Turn on Disc-At-Once, using DVD media

 

6:46:17 PM #6 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 298

Last possible write address on media: 2298495 (510:46.45, 4489MB)

Last address to be written: 953295 (211:50.45, 1861MB)

 

6:46:17 PM #7 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 310

Write in overburning mode: NO (enabled: CD)

 

6:46:17 PM #8 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 2842

Recorder: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A, Media type: DVD-R

Disc Manufacturer: RITEKF - 1

Disc Application Code: 64, Disc Physical Code: 193

 

6:46:17 PM #9 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 482

>>> Protocol of DlgWaitCD activities: <<<

=========================================

 

6:46:17 PM #10 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 848

Setup items (after recorder preparation)

0: TRM_DATA_MODE1 ()

2 indices, index0 (150) not provided

original disc pos #0 + 953296 (953296) = #953296/211:50.46

relocatable, disc pos for caching/writing not required/ required, no patch infos

-> TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048, config 0, wanted index0 0 blocks, length 953296 blocks [D: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A]

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

6:46:17 PM #11 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 1063

Prepare recorder [D: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A] for write in CUE-sheet-DAO

DAO infos:

==========

MCN: ""

TOCType: 0x00; Session Closed, disc not fixated

Tracks 1 to 1: Idx 0 Idx 1 Next Trk

1: TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048/0x00, FilePos 0 0 1952350208, ISRC ""

DAO layout:

===========

___Start_|____Track_|_Idx_|_CtrlAdr_|_____Size_|______NWA_|_RecDep__________

0 | lead-in | 0 | 0x41 | 0 | 0 | 0x00

0 | 1 | 0 | 0x41 | 953296 | 0 | 0x00

0 | 1 | 1 | 0x41 | 953296 | 0 | 0x00

953296 | lead-out | 1 | 0x41 | 0 | 0 | 0x00

 

6:46:17 PM #12 Text 0 File SCSIPassThrough.cpp, Line 39

SPTILockVolume - completed successfully for FCTL_LOCK_VOLUME

 

6:46:17 PM #13 Phase 24 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1730

Caching of files started

 

6:46:17 PM #14 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 4236

Cache writing successful.

 

6:46:17 PM #15 Phase 25 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1730

Caching of files completed

 

6:46:17 PM #16 Phase 36 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1730

Burn process started at 16x (22,160 KB/s)

 

6:46:17 PM #17 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 2722

Verifying disc position of item 0 (relocatable, disc pos, no patch infos, orig at #0): write at #0

 

6:46:17 PM #18 Text 0 File DVDR.cpp, Line 2965

Recording mode: Sequential Recording Mode for Multisession

 

6:46:17 PM #19 Text 0 File DVDR.cpp, Line 3121

Start write address at LBA 0

DVD high compatibility mode: Yes

 

6:46:18 PM #20 Text 0 File Cdrdrv.cpp, Line 9096

---- DVD Structure: Physical Format Information (00h) ----

Media Type: 0, Layer: 0, Address: 0 (0 h), AGID: 0; Length: 2050

Book Type: DVD-R (2), Part Version: 2.0x (5), Extended Part Version: 2.1 (33)

Disc Size: 120 mm, Maximum Rate: <not specified> (F h)

Number of Layers: 1, Track Path: Parallel Track Path (PTP), Layer Type: recordable

Linear Density: 0,267 um/bit, Track Density: 0,74 um/track

Starting Physical Sector Number of Data Area: 30000 h (DVD-ROM, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW)

End Physical Sector Number of Data Area: 26127F h

End Sector Number in Layer 0: 0 h (LBN: FFFD0000 h, 4193920 MB)

Data in Burst Cutting Area (BCA) does not exist

Start sector number of the current Border-Out: 2FE10 h

Start sector number of the next Border-In: 2FFA0 h

Media Specific [16..63]:

00 60 00 10 20 30 40 50 - 00 00 00 21 00 00 00 00 .`...0@P...!....

00 02 FE 10 00 02 FF A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

 

6:46:48 PM #21 TRANSFER -25 File Reader.cpp, Line 364

Error reading data

 

6:46:48 PM #22 Text 0 File Reader.cpp, Line 367

Exception value: -1

 

6:46:48 PM #23 Text 0 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 235

conversion failed, stopping writers

 

6:46:48 PM #24 Text 0 File DVDR.cpp, Line 3337

EndDAO: Last written address was -1

 

6:46:48 PM #25 Phase 133 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1730

Writing short lead-out

 

6:46:48 PM #26 SPTI -1023 File SCSIPassThrough.cpp, Line 291

D: CdRom0: SCSIStatus(x02) WinError(0) NeroError(-1023)

Sense Key: 0x05 (KEY_ILLEGAL_REQUEST)

Sense Code: 0x2C

Sense Qual: 0x00

CDB Data: 0x5B 01 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00

Sense Area: 0x70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 2C

 

6:46:48 PM #27 CDR -1023 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 167

Command sequence error

D: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A

 

6:46:48 PM #28 TRANSFER -24 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 167

Could not perform end of Disc-at-once

 

6:46:48 PM #29 Phase 38 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1730

Burn process failed at 16x (22,160 KB/s)

 

 

Existing drivers:

File 'Drivers\ADPU160M.SYS': Ver=v3.60a (Lab01_N(johnstra).010529-2218), size=101888 bytes, created 8/17/2001 3:07:32 PM

File 'Drivers\CDRALW2K.SYS': Ver=5.3.4.21, size=23436 bytes, created 12/17/2002 1:32:46 PM

File 'Drivers\PXHELP20.SYS': Ver=2.03.28a, size=20640 bytes, created 10/26/2005 4:12:48 PM (Prassi/Veritas driver for win 2K)

 

Registry Keys:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\AllocateCDROMs : 0 (Security Option)

 

 

(Again, sorry for the length.)

[kelley]

I had a very similar issue to this before, it turned out that my DVD-Rs were shit and couldn't burn at the advertised speed, so I knocked the drive down to 4x and they burned fine. Went out and bought a more expensive brand of 16x disc and the drive had no problems going full speed.

[Robot Monkey]

Yeah, I'm going to suggest an 8x burn over the 16x.

[PewterPirate]

What brand of media are you using? My NEC hated Memorex dvd's, got more coasters than finished discs.

[GrumpyElf]

I fixed this issue with a friend last week... let me ask something here...

 

Do you have 2 DVD drives in your PC? I do, I have one source DVD player, and one Destination DVD-RW. So I can simply load up CloneDVD and go one to one in less then an hour.

 

Now, if this is the case, then check your EIDE cables. Make sure you don't have both DVD drives on the same cable. My friend did, and it was too much for it to handle. Once we moved his DVD burner to the Master, and then slaved the other DVD player to the HDD, his problems are gone.

 

If that's not the case. Then remove either Record Now or Nero, having both on there can play hell with your aspi driver, and that could be an issue.

 

As the others suggested, slow the speeds down, try a different brand...

Let us know...

 

T.

[PoisonJam]

What brand of media are you using? My NEC hated Memorex dvd's, got more coasters than finished discs.

 

I am using cheap DVD-Rs by Fujifilm that I got from BJs so that might be the problem. I will try throttling back the write speed as Kelley suggested and I will also see if I can boost a few Verbatims from work to try. I also used some DVD-RWs by Ridata but I have no idea if that is a good brand or not.

 

Do you have 2 DVD drives in your PC? I do, I have one source DVD player, and one Destination DVD-RW. So I can simply load up CloneDVD and go one to one in less then an hour.

 

Now, if this is the case, then check your EIDE cables. Make sure you don't have both DVD drives on the same cable. My friend did, and it was too much for it to handle. Once we moved his DVD burner to the Master, and then slaved the other DVD player to the HDD, his problems are gone.

 

I have a CD-RW and the new DVD-RW drive and they are on the same cable. The jumpers are set to cable select, and when I check the hardware profile the DVD-RW is set to Master (0) and the CD-RW is set to slave (1). You are running on the ragged edge of my technical prowess...are you suggesting I unplug the CD-RW drive from cable that the DVD drive is on and instead plug it into the cable that the hard drive is connected to? Other than the physical cable swap, is there anything else I would need to do to do that? Should I switch the jumper on my DVD drive to Master in that case?

 

Here is my initial plan of attack:

 

1) Throttle back the write speed to 4x and try the write again on the cheap discs.

2) Try some better media.

3) Unplug the CD-RW entirely and just have the DVD drive on the cable (would I need to reset the jumper to Master from cable select?)

4) If that works, I will figure out how to reconnect the CD-RW as a slave to the HDD instead of the DVD drive.

 

That sounds like a pretty solid plan...thanks, guys, and I will let you know how it goes. :tu

[GrumpyElf]

are you suggesting I unplug the CD-RW drive from cable that the DVD drive is on and instead plug it into the cable that the hard drive is connected to?

 

Yup, that's my suggestion. But, ONLY if you are having an issue with duping DVD's or CD's.... meaning, the cable is only the problem if you are running both drives at the SAME time. If you can't burn a DVD just using the burner itself, then that's probably a media issue.

[PoisonJam]

Oh, okay. That makes sense...I'll try the media route first then. Thanks, er...Grumpy!

[exile]

Throttling back and trying different media were going to be my suggestions. I haven't had a lick of trouble with my NEC drive. I'm using Roxio EZ media creator .

[PoisonJam]

Update:

 

Throttled back the speed to 8x: Failure.

Throttled back to 4x: Failure.

Switched to pro quality Verbatim media that we use to distribute training images at work. Burn at 8x: Failure.

 

Here's where it gets interesting...

 

Set up a disc-spanning archive on the same files to span a few CDs: failure.

Popped a blank CD-R in my CD-RW (which had worked just fine): failure!

 

Uh, oh, now I think there is something wrong with my files and if I have managed to corrupt every photo we have taken since 2002, including the birth of both of our children (well not the actual birth...) I am going to be sleeping on the couch for six months.

 

Tried backing up some videos in a different directory: failure.

Tried backing up My Documents: failure.

 

Finally, I took a data DVD that Jay sent me, copied off about half of it into a new directory off the root drive, and then tried to burn that back onto a blank disc. Success!

 

It looks like my files on the rest of the computer are hosed and that is why I kept getting "read errors" when trying to back them up. I can open all of them in Photoshop but I can't copy them anywhere, even if I try folder by folder.

 

I am going to try to zip the photos up and move them to a different directory in a different sector and see if I can back that up to a disc. If not...well, it's best not to think of such things...

[GreenMonkey]

Yikes! Good luck. That does sound like a bigger problem.

 

BTW I wouldn't recommend putting an optical drive on the same IDE channel as a HDD.

 

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf_Recommendations.htm

 

There's a lot of issues that can crop up with an optical and a HDD on the same channel. Keep faster devices like HDDs on their own channel, and slower optical devices on a seperate channel.

[Ryan FB]

If you think your hard drive is dying AND it contains non-backed up important data (like those photos), it's best to do as little as possible with the drive before sending it to a recovery place. Having an expert deal with it will be expensive, but it beats 6 months on the couch. If you really know what you're doing and have another storage drive you can use, there are recovery methods you can try while using the disk in a read-only fashion, which is less likely to cause further corruption.

[dogbert]

I am going to try to zip the photos up and move them to a different directory in a different sector and see if I can back that up to a disc. If not...well, it's best not to think of such things...

 

No, you need to back these upto a different hard drive NOW. Buy a new HD. Put them on a USB key & back them up on a different PC. Anything but writing to that potentially bad harddrive. The more you write, the more chance you have of total failure. You need to get those photos off that harddrive if you think it's going bad.

[GrumpyElf]

BTW I wouldn't recommend putting an optical drive on the same IDE channel as a HDD.

 

That is some awesome advice! :tu See above

[Robot Monkey]

Listen to Ryan and dogbert -- stop fooling with it and immediately back up onto another drive! Pick up another drive (I got a 300 gig at Staples for about $100) put it in your PC and copy off important files.

 

If you don't want to open your PC and don't mind the extra cost, buy an external drive. You can save some money by buying an internal HDD and an external enclosure (I picked up an enclosure for about $20).

[PoisonJam]

I have a 200GB drive that's been sitting in a box for at least 6 months. The whole reason for buying the DVD burner was so that I could back up all the important files from the old drive and eventually transfer anything I still needed to the new one; I wanted to avoid hooking both hard drives up at the same time because I have never done that before. It sounds like the best thing would be to just go ahead and do that though.

 

Okay then, switching gears, do I install the new hard drive as a master, format it, install the operating system, and then add the old one as a slave and transfer the files? Is that about the right sequence? Any gotchas I need to know about?

 

Thanks again for all your help, everyone.

 

[edit] Okay, I JFGI'ed it () and found the following link on replacing a hard drive. I'll give it a go tomorrow.

[PoisonJam]

Wow, what a process. I'll spare everyone the details but I am up and running on the new hard drive after about 10 hours of work. When I tried to copy my photos, music, and videos from the old drive to the new I found they were riddled with "CRC" (cyclic redundancy check) errors, which I'm sure is why they could not be burned to a disc. I weeded through and deleted all of the corrupted files and I was able to copy at least 95% of everything to the new drive so happily the damage wasn't too severe yet.

 

Next step would be to back up the new files from the new drive to a few DVDs but I don't have the strength right now...if it fails again I might have a breakdown.

 

Thanks to all for their help and advice.

[dogbert]

Glad you're back up & running, PoisonJam.

[Robot Monkey]

This reminds me of an episode of Ask This Old House I saw a couple years ago. Tom Silva was called in to a rowhouse because the homeowners were struggling with a tight and squeaky door they couldn't fix.

 

It turned out that the house was sagging along its main beam and they had to jack up the entire house like a car in order to to fix it. I thought it was hilarious watching the homeowners go from trying to fix a recalcitrant door to jacking up the entire damn house.

[PoisonJam]

On Friday morning I would have found that hilarious, too. Now it's just heartbreaking.

 

The good part is I now know a lot more about installing hard drives, switching the master/slave settings, formatting, and installing and updating an operating system from scratch. Plus, the fact that my mass copy of my old drive to the new one didn't work means that I am working with a fresh, clean install of everything instead of potentially copying over any "undesirables" from the old one along with the data.

 

The labor itself was kind of a pain and frequently very frustrating ("What the eff do you mean, 'hal.dll' can't be found?!?!?") but a great learning experience. :tu

[Robot Monkey]

What the eff do you mean, 'hal.dll' can't be found?!?!?

 

I'm sorry, Dave, but I can't let you find that.

[GreenMonkey]

Always better to have a fresh install!

 

Be careful, though - corrupted files can also be a memory issue. Keep an eye out. I had some screwed up files - some flaky RAM I had to RMA back to Corsair.

[PoisonJam]

That's good advice. I think I saw some RAM checker utilities in my travels online during this whole process. Probably worth running one just to be sure.

 

BTW, last night I installed my first wireless network in the house, and then upgraded an old Windows ME machine to XP, installed a wireless card, and got it on the network. Just call me Joe Computer Pro now.