LG 4160B: Nero DVD burning hangs Nero itself, gotta reset.

Hi, I'm a newbie regarding DVD burning, so that's my problem.

I have a brand new LG 4160B DVD burner, I have installed, recognized by BIOS and Windows XP SP2 as DVD-RAM drive. Firmware is A301.

I'm able to read CDs, DVD-ROM without any problems. Didn't try yet to play a DVD movie.
Problem is when I try to burn an DVD compilation (4.4 GB) using Nero 6.6.0.3, it starts to caching files and got stuck, frozen at all. Not able to kill the process nor eject the DVD-R. Also try with DVD-RW and same problem. Only way to eject disc is to reset PC, or shutdown Windows but it takes so long, that a cold reset is faster.

Same problem appears when try to simulate burning.

When I was trying to burn a full CD, burning completes but verification failed, too many read errors, however only one test using CD.

My system is

Windows XP Professional SP2 Spanish
Athlon XP 2600+ Barton
1 GB DDR RAM
HDD 120 GB ATA133 Master primary IDE
HDD 80 GB ATA 100 Slave primary IDE
Sony CRX300E Combo CD writer / DVD-ROM master secondary IDE
LG 4160B DVD writer slave secondary IDE

LG writer is detected by BIOS as UDMA 4. (66 MB/S)
Sony DVD-ROM is detected by BIOS as UDMA 2 (33 MB/S).

Before LG writer on same bay and same configuration was installed a generic 52X CD-ROM working fine.

I believe that I have different possibilities in order to solve my problem (I hope):

1) Try to reinstall Nero 6.6.0.3
2) Try to install Nero 6.3.X.X
3) Try to install Nero Express (bundled with burner).
4) Try to upgrade firmware (void warranty ???).
5) Try a different EIDE cable, of course 80 conductor one.
6) Switch the Sony DVD-ROM and the writer so that the LG is the master and not the slave.
7) Try only LG writer as master on cable and no slave.
8) Try the drive in a different machine ( don't have enough time to do it).
9) May be take a look on Nero log (don't know where to search for).

Any idea would be nice.
Thanks in advance,

BadKarma

I haven't read all but I will try to answer.

1. 6.6.0.3 works well.
2. 6.3.x.x works just as well.
3. Nero Express shouldn't be that different. Just some missing features.
4. Upgrading firmware doesn't void warranty. Companies encourage upgrading firmware actually.
5. 40/80 cables are good but not very helpful for troubleshooting.
6. Master or slave doesn't really matter.
7. You can always use two drives in each PATA channel.
8. It's always good to have backup computers for many important reasons.
9. Nero logs are sometimes helpful but not always.

Caching files shouldn't be difficult for your PC in normal situations. Try Nero CD-DVD Speed 3.55 to test-burn in your GSA-4160B. A rewritable media like a CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, or DVD-RW can do.

Is the jumper set correctly?

Have you tried using the native MS IDE drivers?

I will try Nero CD-DVD Speed...
Regarding jumpers, yep it's configured to SLAVE.
Native MS IDE drivers, you mean burning MS explorer integration?

Thanks for your advice,

No. I mean the IDE drivers. You did not state which mobo. I have an Asus mobo with an XP2500, and I find the Nforce drivers can be a bit buggy. It's only a quick job to change them to the normal MS ones via Device Manager.

My mobo is ASUS A7V8X-X, that is to say using VIA. I will try to check Device Manager just to be sure.

Thanks.

I've swapped IDEs, now LG drive is master and Sony drive is slave. Also tried only the LG drive on the secondary IDE as master. Always same result when it started to burn, Nero got frozen.

Also tried with Nero Express OEM (bundled with burner), same result. I tried to quick erase a DVD-RW, it began to erase it, reached 100 % no time remaining but 15 minutes passed and it didn't end. Got to reset in order to eject DVD.

I removed LG drive and installed it in another PC and tried Nero CD-DVD Speed, did some writing/reading testing and was successful. However, when I click on Nero / Nero Express icon, I got blue screen on that PC.

I was considering using Easy CD/DVD Creator in order to get another impression, before reinstalling Windows XP (don't wanna do it)

I cant' find Nero log in order to take a look at it and try to understand what is going on, where's located that Log?

Thanks again.

Can you read the disc burned with Nero CD-Speed back in your second PC?

Nero log is saved manually.

Yes, a matter of fact, on both PCs I was able to read the DVD-RW burned with Nero CD-DVD Speed.

Then the drive itself seems to be working properly. The problem must be of some software. CD-Speed is a burning software as well.

Try to have another clean HDD or a new partition on an existing HDD for source drive. It's always better to have the source and the destination on separate IDE channels. Nero Burning Rom full version is freely downloadable though there are some limits. Some NBR and other utilities are here:

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/firmware/firmware.htm

No need to use Nero Express as it's just a minor version of NBR.

By the way, how do I manually set to log Nero activities? Sorry but i'm new on DVD recording.

Thanks,

When Nero completes burning a disc, it will prompt you to save the log or not. You can then designate the place to save the log file and name it.

I see, that why I didn't see that message because burning was never completed.
Thanks for your fast response...

Yeah, it's often frustrating if you are just burning for tests of your drives and media and sometimes a media fail to burn somewhere near the end track. No log, no record, no screen capture then, but just a wasted disk.

Finally it worked!!!

What I did was to reinstall Windows XP Pro, reinstalled Nero 6.3.1.6, and everything was working fine.

Nero 6.6.0.3 was giving me reading errors on verification phase when copying a DVD or writing a CD... , that's way I returned to Nero 6.3.1.6

Thank you very much for your support.
Happy New Year!!!