Big smudge on disc

[trekkerj]

I just burned a Ritek disc, and after removing it from the burner, I noticed a big splotch on the edge of the disc with darker purples intermixed with the 'burned' color. I thought it was a fingerprint, but it wasn't. What the heck does this mean? I assume the disc isn't going to work toward the end. About to find out. Very strange.

[trekkerj]

I tried playing the disc, and it DID have problems toward the end, at the part of the disc the smudge would be. It just looks like the burning process failed toward the end. Since I didn't get any software errors, could this be a) just a bad disc with some bad dye, or b) insufficient power supply ? Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

[trekkerj]

Here is a good scan I made of the disc surface to better show you what I am talking about. I really need to figure out what's going on here. Is the discs or my system? I pointed out the smudge:

http://warp.core.binghamton.edu/~trekker/disc.jpg

[trekkerj]

Come to think of it, I posted this earlier in a different thread: some of my other discs have what I originally thought was marker ink running through the disc, but wasn't. It just looks like little dot-sized specs at different points on the surface that are the same color as the underlying disc before the burning. Almost like the laser is underpowered and doesn't quite burn all the way. Some of these discs still play fine, however. But this last one was very noticeable and in a large area.

[padre]

You mean that smudge appeared AFTER you burned the disc? I have about 100 PrimeDisc/Ritek's left out of the 200 ordered recently, and I've never noticed a smudge before or after burning them.

[trekkerj]

Yes. And this is why I am worried that is it the power supply.
If you look at the picture I linked to, it is not so much a smudge, but as if part of the disc was not completely burned.

[trekkerj]

I also suddenly noticed as a I was about to try another that the number of sectors reported on any dvd-r I put in there is reported as a little bit lower number than usual. Why on earth would this be the case?

I am running a 250 Wt PSU in my Dell with 3 HD's, 2 CD/DVD drives, and an AGP video card. Too much for the DVD burner to handle when it's burning at times?

[padre]

It looks like a media defect, rather than a burning issue.

[klona]

I think also it's a media defect, which appears once burned.

Anyway, I feel 250W is a quite short for your PC, even it should be enough.

DVr-A03 is 24W max, typical HD is 15W, P4 is about 50W.
I have no idea about CD but should be 15W and AGP video card, I don't know

But you have about 150 W + the agp board and the mainboard.
You can bet your power supply will fail soon anyway, as there is a lot more power consumption on PC init (starting CPU,chipsets,HD etc..)

[trekkerj]

Thanks for the responses. Just wondering why you both thought of a media defect? Any previous experiences with this problem? I thought Ritek was supposed to be reliable. The next disc I burned looked fine (physically). So you think I should replace the Dell power supply anyway?

[padre]

I think you misunderstand. I think the issue you have is a media problem, but not all Ritek's are bad, just the batch or discs you have that are exhibiting this problem.

All manufacturers have an occasional defective media, most don't make it out to the public. You may have found some that were not detected.

Where did you buy them? I'm sure if you show them that graphic, they will replace them.

I've used over 500 Ritek/PrimeDiscs over the last year and have never had a problem (including what you have run into), so I'd say you've run into an isolated event. (I'm burning about 20 today, as we speak!)

As far as the power supply goes, I don't have any opinion on that.

[klona]

Yes. I think also to an isolated problem on ritek.
Just ship back burned DVD with error and they should send you back new ones (most vendors do that). begin with an Email with the scan.

On Power supply question, if your PC works, that means the power supply is big enough.

But, on init, all card, chipset, CPU have a peak consumption.
So, during 250 ms or less, you will have 400W comsumption, and that is what kill power supply most of the time.So you can expect a power failure much faster with your supply than with a 400W powerr supply, that's all.

[trekkerj]

So you are saying there is no way my power supply could cause my burner to produce a disc like that and it must be a media defect? You're sure about this? :) Thanks again for your expertise.

[padre]

I don't know about klona, but I don't think anyone is going be able to guarentee the root cause of your problem. All we're doing is giving you suggestions and ideas. Your the one that needs to act on them, no one's going to make the decision for you.

We both think it's a media issue, based on the image you posted and the comments.

[trekkerj]

I appreciate that. I just thought maybe someone has seen something similar and been able to determine what the problem was or had a powerful PSU which would eliminate that problem. I guess I will just forge ahead and see if the problem occurs again, and keep a new power supply in the back of my mind.

The reason I switched to this brand is because of recommendations, and the fact that I would get occasional problems with the generic brand I'd been using. Also, every few discs would not burn. My burning software would pop up an error message dealing with the 'power calibration area error', just before trying to begin the burn. I have not had this problem with the Ritek's (yet).

[klona]

Sorry, I separated the 2 questions and they are related.

I feel more a media problem but cannot offer any warranty about that aof course.

Power causing burning error ? Humm. perhaps. try slown down your CPU, remove unneeded HD and CD, and do a try to burn a new one.
You can also measure how much 12V is used. It's an intrusive process (measurement has an effect on what you measure)

But i feel not because, when burning, typically, one disk is reading, CPU is 10% used. So about 15W for the HD running, 24 for the A03,5W for the 2 remaining idle HD,and same for the idle CDROM, the P4 use only 20W max @10-20% charge, and the AGP board, doing nothing, do not need a lot.
So you see, you use probably not more than 100W when burning.

[trekkerj]

Not only that, I try to unload any background applications to keep CPU time focused on the burning process only. I use a Panasonic LF-D311 in PIO mode, and I am burning from a 7200 rpm HD. I am using power management to spin down the idle HDs after a short period of time. The AGP card uses a lot of wattage, and my network card probably about 5-6 Watts. My CPU is P4 1.5Ghz, with 512 Ram (2x256).

[fletch]

Strange.. Was just reading another site and came across a similar thread to yours trekkerj ...

Check it out, may be of interest.

Cheers

Fletch

http://forum.firmware-flash.com/viewtopic.php?t=7516

[trekkerj]

Interesting. Looks like it is a media issue then. I don't have the Pioneer drive, however. I've burned a couple of more discs, and physically, they look perfect. Hoping it was just a fluke.