Problems burning a Data DVD on a new 708A

I'm having a real problem with my Plextor PX-708A. I've tried EZ DVD
Creator program that came with the burner and I've also tried Nero 6 but
both give me a "reset error" while burning DVD+R's. So far all I've tried is
burning a data DVD but I've created a lot of lovely coasters. I have not tried burning any other type of DVD.

Roxio Drag to Disk works fine as does writing to DVD+RW's but regular burning does not.

I've done the drive self-test and it appears to be fine.

When using the Roxio software I get the following errors
E80004005 - unspecified error
E800418c3 - Status - poweron, reset, or bus device reset occured.

These errors always appear together. When I try burning with Nero6 it comes
back with "device reset".

I have 1.5 gig of RAM
Athlon +2000
Abit KR7A RAID motherboard with two Maxtor 40 Gig 7200 rpm 2MB ATA 133
drives (not setup as a raid though)
a Pioneer DVD drive on the first main board IDE
The Plextor 708A is a master on the other main baord IDE
The two drives are on the raid IDE
A Guillemot Hercules 3D Prophet 111 Titanium 200 64 Mg video card
I am using XP pro service pack 1

I am running Norton Anitvirus 2003
Zonealarm
and that's about it for services running in the background

The IDE channels are using Ultra DMA mode 2

Also when I try to upgrade the Plextor burner (currently at firmware version
1.04) with the lastest firmware I get the following messages
Firmware update failed:
system error (Win32) code:1117
Failed target status: check condition

I am using Maxell DVD+R's for the media.

Is this simply a bad drive or there is something else I should be checking? I've been tearing my hair out for a couple of days now and Roxio simply won't get back to me with any advice.

Phrog

It doesn't look like a bad drive to me. Please check your cables and the master/slave/cable select settings. Your burner should be set to master when it's the only device on the channel. Have you installed any ASPI drivers? You don't need them as software like Nero has its own ASPI layer. Have you installed any drivers that might be interfering? Have you tried the drive on another channel or in another computer possibly? Please report back! Welcome to the forum Phrog.

I hope you don't have nero 6.0.0.15, but something newer. This version had problems with the drive. Try to use one burning program at once, cause nero sometimes conflicts with easy cd creator. Then add more programs and check if u have any problem. It doesn't seem to be a bad drive, like G@M3FR3@K said. something else: check if power voltage of +-12 and +-5 is ok, cause you have many drives at your system. if your power supply is 300+watt, no prob. Have you tried to swap IDE's? Try -R too.

I agree with previous postings that your Plextor drive is unlikely to be at fault. The PX-708A firmware upgrade failure suggests there is a major data integrity problem somewhere within the IDE subsystem (IDE controller on motherboard, cables, drives, etc.) Poor data integrity can cause IDE controllers to issue corrective bus resets, and if a bus reset occurs during a DVD burn you will get a coaster. Here are my thoughts:
- check IDE cable quality. If cables are the 40-wire type, consider switching to 80-wire type. Many 40-wire (cheap) IDE cables can have marginal/poor signal integrity at the ATA-33 (UDMA mode 2) speed.
- possibly a defect with the IDE controller on the motherboard. Can you test with another motherboard? Also, trying moving a drive between the primary and secondary IDE channels to see if one channel may be defective.
- it is always a good idea to have minimal CD/DVD software, to minimize conflicts and compatibility issues
- if you are using any Via chipset drivers with your motherboard, consider uninstalling them and going back to Microsoft WinXP built-in drivers.

I wish you luck!

Thanks guys. I'll make all the changes and let you know what happens. I've already put in a new cable and switched the IDE channels around but that doesn't seem to have helped at all. I'm in the process of updating the VIA drivers so we'll see what that does.

Also, I did a system test in EZ Creator and I noticed that a "Drive in use by ACCD codec" would pop up from time to time. I went into the processes and killed rxmon.exe, and playlist.exe to quit the Roxio Audio Central program. Is there a way to permanently disable Audio Central from loading up on startup? I don't notice any icons in the Start Up folders.

After all this though I am still getting the same errors when burning a DVD though so we'll see what happens when I update the VIA drivers. Plextor has also suggested that I upgrade the firmware using the "add the jumper to the DMA pins" but I think I'll wait to try that as I've heard mixed reviews on the 1.06 firmware update.

I'll keep you up to date.

Roxio Audio Central may have been configured to launch during every startup via the "Run" key. Launch REGEDIT and go to:

"My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Run"

and look for a key(s) of type REG_SZ that may belong to Roxio Audio Central. Once you have positive confimation, the key(s) can simply be deleted to prevent the app from auto-launching on subsequent WinXP startups.

I would strongly recommend you uninstall EASY CD/DVD CREATOR software. It is known to cause conflicts with other burner programs. After uninstalling EASY CD, uninstall NERO BURN then use NERO CLEAN TOOL. Then reinstall NERO but use either the latest version or use version 5. I use version 5.5.10.42 with my 708a drive. Here's the link for NERO CLEAN TOOL:
http://www.nero.com/us/631940828445001.html
good luck!

Change your startup processes with msconfig.exe. You can find it at C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries @windows xp. There are some scripts (aka batch files) at folder C:\WINDOWS\ForceASPI. Try to killaspi, and then restarting it or install nero. Try LINUX

Personally I don't think that a firmware upgrade will help. By setting the DMA jumper on the back of the drive it will be set to MultiWord DMA mode 2 instead of UDMA mode 2. This is not ideal but it is known to work on some systems where UDMA fails. Please keep us updated!

Success!

First though I tried just about everything I could think of. I took out ALL the burning software, the version of Nero I had installed was the "bad" version so that was the first to go - I used the cleaner tool too (thanks for that advice). I then unistalled Roxio's software and then did a full system check with Norton utilities (which found a lot of system registery stuff from Roxio and even a few things from Nero that the cleaner didn't pick up.
I then also unistalled the ide drivers I had in Windows (more on this in a moment) and rebooted letting Windows reinstall the ide drivers. I then did a full defrag of all the partitions and did a full scandisk as well. I went out and bought some DVD-R's and then reinstalled Roxios Easy DVD stuff.

Lo and behold but the first DVD burned easy as pie! I've yet to test any of the other stuff yet (now I can actually do tests to try and learn the software). So, it appears as though something was screwy with the IDE drivers. I can't say what and I'll have to keep an eye on things but things are looking good so far.

I just want to thank everyone who posted suggestions. I followed almost everyones advice. I still am letting Audio Central start up at boot which I may change soon and i haven't yet done any firmware upgrade (not until I'm more confortable with the machine) and I didn't have to go to MultiWord DMA mode after all.

So again a big thanks to everyone. I hope to bother you all with more crazy questions in the future. Although I've burned a lot of regular CD's over the years this DVD burning is new to me.

Good to hear you fixed it Phrog, too bad though you're still using the Roxio software Hehe, nah only kidding, if it works for you, burn away!

Hello!

I know this post is old and finished, but I had the same problem today and got another solution.

Phrog didn't need to uninstall/install/reinstall nothing. The solution is very simple.

This problem occurs with roxio easy cd/dvd simplily because this soft is not capable to recreate the temp folder of the system if it was deleted.

Sounds strange?

So, try this:

- Open easy cd, click "tools", "options".
- Confirm that "Use windows temp directory" is checked. Is it? All right. Click cancel or hit esc to go back.

- Now open windows explorer and go to temp folder that easy cd is using.
(for default, something like C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_PROFILE\Local Settings\Temp)

- DELETE the temp folder.

- Finally, try to burn anything with easy cd. You can't. The temp folder is not there anymore and easy cd, strangely, doesn't recreate it.

- Justo to check, recreate the temp folder, just typing control + Z at windows explorer or restoring it from recycler.

- Now, try to burn again a cd or dvd. Voila! Now you can! The problem was just the temp folder. Believe it.... or not!

Phrog, most probably, while cleaning his pc just deleted that temp folder, like anyone use to do sometimes. We all now the temp folder is always recreated when needed. But not roxio...

Naturally, after uninstalling and reinstalling his stuffs, along scandisk and defrag, the temp folder was recreated by the system. When Phrog tried to burn again he did it. Only because the temp folder was recreated.

At least... I think....

I hope you can understand my poor English, since I speak Portuguese.

Thanks for reading!