Pioneer 105 killing -rw media

[brettel]

I have been happily using my 105 for over a year now and have never had any problems that weren't user error. Recently though the drive is damaging -rw discs that I'm writing - sometimes I'll get 2 or 3 burns but more often than not I'll only get one burn and then the disc is useless to write on. In the past I've been able to burn -rw many times.

I've used Verbatim, Traxdata and TDK media and have burnt with Nero 6, Instant CD/DVD 8 and RecordNow Max. After burning the disc, when I try to erase it I am either told that the disc is not -rw or the disc simply isn't recognised by the drive.

I have some old -rw that the drive used to read and my stand alone DVD player will still play that the drive now either wont recognise or will show me the files on the drive and when I try to copy them will give me a cyclic redundancy error.

I am running XP Pro and have cracked firmware 1.33 on the drive. I have checked my ASPI and everything is reported fine. I am still burning Ritek G03 -r media perfectly.

Is my drive just dying or am I missing something here? If anyone's got any ideas then I'd be grateful to hear them - this problem is really winding me up.

Thanks.

[buzzqw]

I have the same dvd-burner but i haven't problem...
I just using dvd decrypter both for mastering iso, both for erasing my tdk dvd-rw. Never used other programs. :)
Give dvd decrypter a try ! :cool: :cool: :cool:
EDIT: nil firmware too (rpc free, 2*all, rip speed 12x), win xp sp1, aspi 4.60

BHH

[Happygolucky]

Originally posted by brettel

I am running XP Pro and have cracked firmware 1.33 on the drive.

The "cracked firmware" would be my first guess. Try flashing with some approved firmware and see if it still does the same thing.

[idbirch2]

My 105 has just started doing the exact same thing - one write to a DVD-RW and the dsc cannot be erased again. Reads OK in DVDROM but the 105 will nt explore/erase the disc at all.

I too had the hacked 1.33 firmware but have flashed back to the official Pioneer firmware and there is no change. After flashing back the firmware, 2 of the discs that previously were dead did let me erase them but once I'd written to them again it did the same thing.

New drive required?

[idbirch2]

Well thanks for all the help but I bought a new drive and problem solved - upgraded to a 106. The discs the 105 wrecked still cannot be erased but the 106 successfully burnt and erased new DVD-RW discs.

I guess this proves its no software problem as I haven't changed anything at all, just the drive. The drive lasted a little over a year which I thought was a bit crap.

[geffroman]

I had the same issue twice...

Went like this...

Used cheap -RW media from Meritline... worked for about 30 burns... then quit working... I tried regular media and PIONEER -RW media which it destroyed all media after symptom started...

Bottomline is that the burner went bad... due to cheap -RW media... Pioneer never gave a GOOD explanation... but now I never use cheap -RW and been burning for 18 months on a DVR104 and over a year on a DVR105 and 6 months on a DVR106 with NO PROBLEMS...

Bottomline... stay away from cheap -RW media especially on DVR104 and DVR105 drives...

BTW - I always used Pioneer firmware...

[idbirch2]

Well its not cheap RW media that does it because I've never used any - I have only ever used Verbatim (not the crappy CMC ones either - always jewel cased MCC discs). I don't believe for a second its hacked firmware either - this only removes ripping speed limitations and clears the 2x blacklist.

I reckon its just that theres a few crap drives out there - I imagine its the same for any manufacturer.

[geffroman]

Originally posted by idbirch2
Well its not cheap RW media that does it because I've never used any - I have only ever used Verbatim (not the crappy CMC ones either - always jewel cased MCC discs). I don't believe for a second its hacked firmware either - this only removes ripping speed limitations and clears the 2x blacklist.

I reckon its just that theres a few crap drives out there - I imagine its the same for any manufacturer.

Well between our experiences it is sure that it is a conflict between PIONEER drives when writing to some -RW media. I think it has happened often enough that it becomes a Pioneer issue especially if it occurs on name brand media.

I have not heard anyone speak of this with a DVR-A06/106, so I imagine they fixed it. Though like most comapnies they are not going to admit it was ever an issue.