Problem with CDRW drive.

[Lunac]

I have a pretty standard LG CDRW drive, and recently I have been having some serious problems with it. All the CDRs I record with this drive have errors. Recording phase goes just fine, but if I try reading that same CDR there are lot of errors. (I've checked the integrity of CDRs both with Easy CD Creator Integrity tool, and CDCheck) I've tried 5 burning apps so far, with same results, including Easy CD Creator, CDRDAO, Nero Express, Burn4Free. and DOSRecord (a pure DOS app). I've also tried lot of CDR media from different manufacturers. (3 so far). I've tried different burning speeds and burning methods. Results are always the same: recording phase finishes without errors, but CDs are completely unreadable, or most of the files on said CDRs are. (Some files are readable in case of Data CDs)

I've tried CDRW discs. Interestingly enough, some of the CDRW burns were without errors, but in some 8 CDRW disc recording sessions, only 2 were without errors. Compared to some 20+ CDR burns, which all came out bad.

Any ideas? Anyone?

Edited May 4, 2006 by Lunac

[puntoMX]

Clean the lens, and if that doesn´t help buy a new CD-RW drive, also check your IDE cable .

[Scubar]

it could be the software the cds were burnt with, i remember my old adaptec cd writing software that when burning cds with that you could make it so that only that cd drive could access it.

[Lunac]

I just finished cleaning. I cleaned the lense with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (its not the first time, I cleaned the lense on this drive 2 years ago, when it didn't want to read any CDs at all, and it fixed it). I also cleaned out all the dust that was inside the unit. I made sure all cables, power and IDE, were properly seated. I recored a new CDR, and I did a readability test on that CDR. Results are the same: 6 files out 9 (701MB total), were unreadable. Recording seesion was without errors, but CDR in question was quite unreadable.

Edited May 5, 2006 by Lunac

[03GrandAmGT]

As was stated before just get another one. They are so CHEAP right now. I just purchased (2 weeks) ago a NEC-3550 DVD-Dual Layer and so far everything burns and reads properly. Price was like 35.00 at http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Category.asp?Category=10

jd

[puntoMX]

Yes indeed,

To hard / expensive to fix you old CD-RW drive; Use it to read CD´s and buy a new DVD-RW drive or so, that´s what I would do

[Andromeda43]

A CD burner could be brand new, but that doesn't mean that someone didn't drop it off the truck.

A little jar can misalign the laser and from there on, all bets are off.

I just replaced a nearly new AOpen drive with a new LG drive to solve a reoccuring drive failure problem.

It hurt my feelings, yes, but didn't break the bank. The new LG drive was only $45.

As a reader, the AOpen works just fine, so that's what I'll use it for, in one of my many systems.

I always encourage all my customers to shut down all running programs before opening their CD burning software. CD burners just hate to see any other program accessing the HD while they are running.

I use "End It All 2.exe" to do this for myself.

Bad ram or a really funky HD (badly fragmented) can cause CD burning problems too.

I'd sure cover all those bets before spending money for a new drive. It really won't take but a few minutes.

Good Luck,

Andromeda43

[Lunac]

I just tried two more old CDRW drives. (An old 2x6x8 BCE drive, and old 8x4x20 HP drive) Guess what? Same problem. Both are burning coasters. Apparently it is something in my system, any ideas?

Anyone?

[noguru]

As said before,try new/other IDE cables. Test your memory for errors, also a common cause. Others could be: bad IDE controller, bad PSU.

[Lunac]

I tried several new IDE cables, round and non-round, no improvement. I tested the RAM for errors with MemTest86 and several other utilities, and after many hours they found no problems. I also tried new PSUs (actually I tried this yesterday). I replaced my current X-Connect modular PSU with a plain no-name 500watt PSU and after that I tried another newer 450watt PSU since the no-name was in the basement for years. I had to be sure. No improvement.

I've also tried different versions of drivers for my motherboard, video card, rest of the system components. After updating to latest drivers I saw no change, so I tried really old drivers. No improvement. I scanned my system with several AV apps and they found nothing. I scanned my registry and my hard disks for errors, no errors and no improvement.

My motherboard, CDRW drive, and Video card already have the latest BIOS/Firmware updates.

I am pretty much running out of stuff to do.

I am defragmenting my disk drives right now.

[urie]

Backup you system and try a clean install of windows

[Lunac]

Clean install of Windows? I would leave that as a last and most extreme measure. I've had this install (Win98SE) since summer of 1999 (cloned several times and has gone through 4 systems so far). I have too many customized apps in place, (80+ GB), it would take days, or even weeks to get everything back to previous condition.

Is there a smaller/free OS that has CDR-CDRW burn capabilities that I could install and test my burner? Linux is not an option since it doesn't detect or support my specific VIA SATA/PATA chipset (VT6421L)

Any ideas?

[nitroshift]

Is there a smaller/free OS that has CDR-CDRW burn capabilities that I could install and test my burner? Linux is not an option since it doesn't detect or support my specific VIA SATA/PATA chipset (VT6421L)

try it in a virtual environment.

[Lunac]

Ahead of ya nitroshift. I have both Bochs and QEMU. As far as I know, QEMU does not support CD Burn emulation. I am pretty sure same goes for Bochs. Unless you had something else in mind.

I just finished defragmenting all my drives. After few test burns nothing's changed.

[urie]

Clean install of Windows? I would leave that as a last and most extreme measure. I've had this install (Win98SE) since summer of 1999 (cloned several times and has gone through 4 systems so far). I have too many customized apps in place, (80+ GB), it would take days, or even weeks to get everything back to previous condition.

Is there a smaller/free OS that has CDR-CDRW burn capabilities that I could install and test my burner? Linux is not an option since it doesn't detect or support my specific VIA SATA/PATA chipset (VT6421L)

Any ideas?

God help you if you hard drive goes 80+ GB is that your system drive or is it partitioned why cant you make a backup with acronis for example and do a clean install of windows to check then just restore again and you will be back to normal.