Sony DVD RW DRU-720A issues

Hi team,

first post - please forgive me ( I'm a NEWB!!!! ) I have experience in diff forums (usually on a woodworking site. So anyway - hello from Australia).

I have a question for you guys - My apologies if it has already been answered elsewhere in this obviously fine forum.

I have A sony DVD R/W DRU -720A on my pc. I have updated firmware and drivers from the Sony site and all is wonderful according to all the blurb that my PC and the SONY site spits out.... however when I write a DVD with the burner (Generic blank DVD's - & + format) it says it burns ok but when i try to read the dvd on the same drive or another one it fails to read - it either does a partial write or fails to read altoghether. note when i play a DVD either a movie or one recorded elsewhere its all ok - CD's are ok too....

I use multiple s/w packages (NTI CD & DVD / NERO / DVDSHRINK) and they all say "write ok" etc but same issues.

Does the Sony DVD DRU720A have issues - is it a dog? should I buy another or something like that ? this is starting to ANNOY!!! me

I appreciate your responses.

( PS : as an aside for the worlds BEST woodworking BBS site go to www.ubeaut.com.au and go to the "BB section" Cheers )

cheers

Zed_man from Oz.

Hi & welcome !

Your firmware should be at version no. JY08, correct?

Using "... Generic blank DVD's ..." is your most likely problem. Unlike CD-R nowadays, blank DVD media is still a lot more problematic concerning quality and compatibility. Please try using some proven brand media, like Verbatim.

Also, you can check your burns with a little program called "Nero CD-DVD- Speed" (under Programs - Nero - Nero Toolkit) by doing a "Tranfer Rate Test" and a "Disc Quality Test". There's lots of info on this forum about interpreting the scan results. I expect you'll see some interesting graphs with those "generic" discs .

hi cressida, thanks for the tip. I downloaded the firmware and installed it at JV 08. went ok. my od firmware was JV 02!!!

I burned a cd and it seemed ok but failed the nero verification and subsequentially failed a read on some files....however other files were ok...

I will get some better quality dvd's and burn on them and see if this make sa difference.

I had 2 other thoughts -

1) long files such as mpegs or movies - could they be problematic ?
2) i tried to read a long file name MP3 file from the dvd - it had a read fail on that - could long file names be an issue ?

cheers - thanks for the advice.

Zed_man from oz.

Hi Zed_man. It shouldn't matter what you burn onto the disc, including long files and/or long filenames (unless they're nested in too many subfolders maybe), as long as the drive and your PC are in good working order. Some basics you can check:
- disable the IMAPI CD-burning service under Computer Management in Windows XP
- check that DMA is enabled for your IDE-channels in Device Manager
- preferrably use 80-wire (Ultra DMA 66/100/133) ribbon cable to connect your drive

Did that CD you tried have scratches or fingerprints on the data-side, or is it an old CD-RW maybe? Is your PC in a dusty area (with all that woodwork going on ) causing a dirty laser maybe? The drive could just be dying as well, it's difficult to judge from here with the information we have.

It would still be helpful to try and scan a couple discs with "Nero CD-DVD Speed" and maybe attach the results here (save the images as .png files by clicking the floppy-icon on top of the CD-DVD Speed window). Also, posting a Nero log-file might help (remove your Nero serial no. first).

Good luck!

ta, i'll try that. I did a burn with some brand name dvds (TDK) last night (DVD +R) and one burn process worked! however only at the full speed (x16) and NOT at slower speeds... I'm still not convinced the drive is perfect...

thanks for the advice...

signed

he who is sick of making ugly coasters..

Hi Everyone,

NEWB also. Not sure if anybody is monitoring this thread after 7 months. I'm having a similar problenas Zed (down under). My DRU-720A will burn out to about a third of the disk then spit it out on error. Cressida brings up a good point (several). I just replaced my 40 conductor ribbon with an 80 conductor. I think that's about when my problem started. Will try old 40 conductor cable or new 80 conductor after checking connections and get back to post.

Good site. Thanks Cressida

Found problem. Bad burner. Kinda sux after only burning about 30 disks. Drive only 17 months old. Wonder about Sony. Have 3 year old Somy CD burner no probs.