DVD burner going berserk during write-out

[monomer]

In short, I have this Lite-on DVD burner (811s, I think) and it's burned over 400 DVDs in the last 3-years without a problem... however, last night I just opened a new 'cake box' of DVD-Rs (Taiyo Yuden 8X) and burned four movies in a row. The first two burns were uneventful but the third one got weird during the write-out phase... the drive started thrashing about every few seconds and the red 'burning' light went out... after an unusually long time (over a minute) the DVD ejected and the software (DVD Shrink) said the burn was successful... so I continued to burn a fourth DVD and experienced the same craziness during the write-out phase. When I tried to watch the first two movies, they both played perfectly... BUT when I tried watching the last two movies, neither were even recognized as a DVD. So I rebooted the machine and re-burned one movie... same write-out problem, so then I tried different software (DVDfab and Imgtool), again, periodic drive thrashed during the write-out and the 'burn' light went out but the software said the burn was successful... but DVD players (software and hardware players) can't even 'see' the DVD.

What I'm thinking is happening here is that when instructed to burn the write-out, the DVD drive for some reason tries to find some other location to 'burn' the write-out info to but it picks a place that has already been burned-in (with the movie files) and so doesn't burn actually anything... but some how the software program isn't aware of this and so assumes the burning of the write-out when fine but in reality the DVD was never 'closed off' and thus no DVD player will accept it.

:confused: Finally... my questions are... has anyone ever experienced something like this before? AND... how do I determine if the problem is in the burning software or with the DVD drive?

Thanks to all who respond...

[setarip_old]

Hi!how do I determine if the problem is in the burning software or with the DVD drive?There's nothing in your description that indicates a problem with your burning software.

Two obvious possibilities:

1) Your burner is failing and/or might benefit from cleaning. Maxell makes a DVD/CD cleaning disc that sells for approximately $10US

2) Your newly purchased "T-Y" media might be at fault. There have been many reports of bogus "T-Y" media. You might want to try different media and/or try the same media on a different system...

[monomer]

Setarip_old... Hey thanks for the reply! I really appreciate it...

This is an up-date... I tried cleaning the lens after which the drive then burned 3 DVDs in a row without flaw... THEN it started going nutz again during writing the lead-out. On a hunch, I turned the computer off for a day... next DVD burned fine and second one didn't... I also tried several disc's from other locations in the stack and also from another cake box (same Taiyo Yuden) ...didn't do any good. The bottomline for me is, I think the drive's laser is getting 'weak' possibly (I don't know how long these drives 'typically' last) so anyway I ordered another burner (NEC 3550A) from Newegg, it got here yesterday and everything it burns is perfect... so, for me, that's proof positive it was the drive. Also on a curious note... there are DVDs that were previously burned on the Lite-On that that drive can no longer read yet the new NEC has no problem reading them at all... another clue that leads me to believe its the laser's that's the problem.

[setarip_old]

Setarip_old... Hey thanks for the reply! I really appreciate it... As always, my pleasure ;>}