What part of my computer is dead? :(

[theboywonderuk]

hey, ok ... very confusing problem.

When burning dvdrs at 4x (both from the hd AND on the fly) using Nero 5.5.10.28 on a Pioneer 106, I started getting "communication failure" 80% of the time and usually towards the end of a burn - hardly any problems before now. This is what I have tried (with no sucess):

1) Upgraded to Nero 6.0.0.0. No better.

2) Changed media from bulkpaq orange to ICE and Mirror white tops. No better.

3) Changed speed down to 2x (for both off hd and on the fly) - no better.

4) Changed media to Datawrite red. 2x and 4x no better.

5) Brought a new dvdrom to replace oldish one. No better on the fly.

6) Burnt from different partitions, and different hard drives. No better.

7) Just put my brothers known to be working fine Pioneer 106 into my system - NO BETTER!!
_____________________________

-- "SUCCESSFUL" burns often do not work - both drives have problems reading parts of them.

Playing the rips off the hd using WinDVD and PowerDVD work fine!

Once it was burning at 4x .... I didnt touch the PC until about 80% ... when I simply moved my mouse, and the buffer dropped INSTANTANEOUSLY and it failed?!?!
______________________________

I'm thinking its now either:

a) My motherboard (ASUS A7V333)
b) IDE cable?

Any ideas people? Thankyou so much for any help.
Robin

[dannyv]

Originally posted by theboywonderuk
Once it was burning at 4x .... I didnt touch the PC until about 80% ... when I simply moved my mouse, and the buffer dropped INSTANTANEOUSLY and it failed?!?!
______________________________

I'm thinking its now either:

a) My motherboard (ASUS A7V333)
b) IDE cable?

Any ideas people? Thankyou so much for any help.
Robin [/B]

It could be just crappy dvd-r's try burning at 1x speed. If still no good try the following.

A few things to check,

1. Make sure your burner is not on the same cable as the hard drive your copying from.

2. Get a memory tester like prime95 and test your memory.

3. Bring up task manager and unload any un-nessessary apps.

If #3 is the problem do process of elimination until you find the app causing the problem.

[Stress_analyst]

Read the Sticky:Pioneer FAQ in this forum

Q5. Common problem

Good luck

[theboywonderuk]

Originally posted by Stress_analyst
Read the Sticky:Pioneer FAQ in this forum

Q5. Common problem

Good luck

I read it already!... and thankyou :D hehe... but you're kinda missing the point. I don't WANT to burn my dvdrs at 2x and have to change DMA to PIO mode everytime I want to burn. Everything worked perfectly well before! :( :( :(

Originally posted by dannyv It could be just crappy dvd-r's try burning at 1x speed. If still no good try the following.

1. Its not :)
2. ran a torture test for 25 mins - no errors.
3. Could be very costly... will try....

I might have been when i upgraded the firmware to 1.07.... hmmm.......

[Stress_analyst]

I was just reading your initial post:

3) Changed speed down to 2x (for both off hd and on the fly) - no better.
So is the 2x DMA working or not?

[theboywonderuk]

4x and 2x burning from the hd and on the fly worked perfectly well with DMA enabled. Hardly any coasters... must have burnt about 100 discs.... and had about 5 coasters?

Now its more failing more like 90% of the time!

[dannyv]

Originally posted by theboywonderuk


1. Its not :)
2. ran a torture test for 25 mins - no errors.
3. Could be very costly... will try....

I might have been when i upgraded the firmware to 1.07.... hmmm.......


could be the 107 upgrade. Did you try the hacked upgrade http://forum.firmware-flash.com/vie...ht=106+firmware

Also #3 should not be costly. Just look at the tasks and processess running and end what you don't need. DON'T uninstall anything during the process of elimination just end the task or process.

[theboywonderuk]

Originally posted by dannyv
could be the 107 upgrade. Did you try the hacked upgrade http://forum.firmware-flash.com/vie...ht=106+firmware

Also #3 should not be costly. Just look at the tasks and processess running and end what you don't need. DON'T uninstall anything during the process of elimination just end the task or process.
I can't use hacked firmware because I don't want to void my warranty, just incase my drive does DEFINITELY die at some point. Odd that my brothers Pioneer (same firmware) works in his system - same processor and similar ASUS motherboard.

#3 would be costly because by process of elimination, I'm going to be burning failed discs until eventually i get a good one! That is, if it is a piece of software conflicting with the burn....

I'm gonna try replacing my IDE cable, then I will have a go at #3..... then.... i think its new motherboard time :(

[dannyv]

Originally posted by theboywonderuk


#3 would be costly because by process of elimination, I'm going to be burning failed discs until eventually i get a good one! That is, if it is a piece of software conflicting with the burn....

I'm gonna try replacing my IDE cable, then I will have a go at #3..... then.... i think its new motherboard time :(

Do you have any 2x RW's you can test with? Its better then waisting all those -r's.

[theboywonderuk]

Nope, only 1x! :(

I had a thought. Some consistancy with the failures:

"BACKUP A" burnt from drive C:\ burns "successfully" but will not seek through some chapters - any dvd software says inaccessible / disc maybe damaged etc (but the backup plays fine off my hd)
--- SAME thing 3 times.

BACKUP B burnt from drive D:\ failed at a low percentage (in the 20's I think).
--- SAME thing 2 times.

Surely this points to some sort of data transfer error due to the motherboard / IDE cable?

[theboywonderuk]

Hmmm ok... updated my BROTHER'S dvdrom to the hacked 1.07 (hehe) and also moved BACKUP A to drive G: (which is a DIFFERENT hard drive to c: and d:) and the burn worked...

Fingers crossed for some more burns

[dannyv]

Originally posted by theboywonderuk
Nope, only 1x! :(

I had a thought. Some consistancy with the failures:

"BACKUP A" burnt from drive C:\ burns "successfully" but will not seek through some chapters - any dvd software says inaccessible / disc maybe damaged etc (but the backup plays fine off my hd)
--- SAME thing 3 times.

BACKUP B burnt from drive D:\ failed at a low percentage (in the 20's I think).
--- SAME thing 2 times.

Surely this points to some sort of data transfer error due to the motherboard / IDE cable?

Try burning with nero 5.5.10.xx (NOT 6.0) this software will have a buffer bar. If the buffer bar consistantly goes up then yes you do have a transfer problem. If not you can rule that out. And go out and get 2x rw so you don't waiste more disks

[theboywonderuk]

Originally posted by dannyv
Try burning with nero 5.5.10.xx (NOT 6.0) this software will have a buffer bar. If the buffer bar consistantly goes up then yes you do have a transfer problem. If not you can rule that out. And go out and get 2x rw so you don't waiste more disks
Nero 6 also has a buffer bar! Mine never goes up and down - 1GB of RAM means it always stays between 93-97%.... even on the fly at 4x it doesn't drop below about 85% :)

I would have brought some 2x DVD rw's if they were in stock! Will try again next time lol.

[dannyv]

Originally posted by theboywonderuk
Nero 6 also has a buffer bar! Mine never goes up and down - 1GB of RAM means it always stays between 93-97%.... even on the fly at 4x it doesn't drop below about 85% :)

I would have brought some 2x DVD rw's if they were in stock! Will try again next time lol.

Then you don't have a transfer problem. Are you using DMA or PIO mode on the dvd burner and reader. You must use DMA or you will never be able to burn faster then 2x. Also nero 6.0 has bugs you should downgrade.

[theboywonderuk]

Ok, another "communications failure".... from drive G:\ :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: !

[theboywonderuk]

Ok, to clarify again!

1) I always burnt with DMA enabled. I have NEVER burnt with PIO mode enabled, nor do I intend to do this... ever.

2) ALL my burns were done at 4x from the hd, and 4x on the fly.

3) I used Nero 5.5.10.28

THEN THE PROBLEMS STARTED!

Update: Took my hd round to brothers, using his burner. Burnt 3 discs perfectly (using Nero 6.0.0.0 - I upgraded MINE yesterday from this to 6.0.0.19 but stil no good).

[g0blez]

Simple solution : go back to firmare 1.06. To do so, use patched upgdvd.exe and downgrade to previous firmware (1.06).

Your problems started because you installed 1.07 I have the same problem but am still trying to find a way to get 1.07 to work (no luck yet).

[theboywonderuk]

lol, I said MIGHT have started when I upgraded to 1.06. I didn't say they did.... I'm not exactly sure when I upgraded the firmware, and when the problems started.... could be a week apart or more )they might not correlate).

anyone GOT firmware 1.06?!

[The Edge]

I have the same drive mate. Great burner.
Anyway, enter safe mode on boot (tapping F8)
Then your device manager. You will see two burners installed. Remove both of them. Actually remove all optical drivers and reboot machine.
You can test with Nero again but try to rip an image of a previously burnt DVD to hdd and then reburn it with DVDDecrypter. Just to rule out Nero. Check the usual DMA on your IDE controllers.
I have the 1.07 firmware installed and it works fine.

Also, install the VIA drivers (http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=300) for your motherboards while your at it.

Edge

[theboywonderuk]

Hey,

Well, I booted into safe mode and took a look in device manager but couldn't see what you were on about?! Two burners?! Optical drivers?

I installed the VIA drivers, rebooted, then burnt 2 dvdrs perfect at 4x, then got another fail, with Nero.

About a week ago (still had lots of problems then) I burnt 6 dvdrs at 4x in a row, by creating an image first (from an existing dvdr), and then burning, all with Nero! I just did this with DVDDecryptor aswell and it worked fine.

It seems to be only when I:

a) Direct DVDr copy with Nero

b) Burn a VIDEO_TS folder from the hd with the usual method, using Nero.

DMA is always enabled. Except in Safe Mode of course.

I don't really want to have to turn all my VIDEO_TS folders into iso files to be able to burn (I just tried that with UltraISO and for some reason the now burnt disc shows no files in the VIDEO_TS folder).

Help :(

[theboywonderuk]

I think I found a way that works. Just done about 8 on the go with no problems.

1) Create an ISO using Nero (easy) if I have a VIDEO_TS folder on my hd. If its an existing DVDr I have to rip it with DVDDecryptor first, then use Nero to make the ISO.

2) Burn the ISO using Nero, or DVDDecryptor. Both seem fine.

- Shame I can't do direct dvd copy on the fly at 2 or 4x though.

Thankyou for everyones help :)