read errors with no c1 or c2 errors

I just tried installing a game that I had backed up onto cd. This cd had worked fine in the past but recently, the installer complains about corrupt files. So I used nero cdspeed to check the CD and it came up with no c1 or c2 errors. This does not make sense to me. From what I understand, no c1 or c2 errors means you have a good disc. So why am I having corrupt file problems?

weird, I cant edit my previous post. anyway the problem was caused by the SATA controller being in PIO mode. The thing that worries me is that I was pretty sure I checked it was in DMA mode before, that means something changed it to PIO mode. This freaks me out because i could be burning in PIO mode and not even know it. What could have caused this?

A disc with zero C1 errors is not possible using consumer drives and media (except in theory), so your drive is simply not capable of reporting C1 errors. Maybe your drive is also not capable of reporting C2 errors?!

When Windows detects too many data transfer errors from a drive in DMA mode, it will automatically downgrade it to PIO mode.

Um, there's no such thing as PIO on a SATA controller.

I don't think that's entirely accurate.

The SATA specification mentions PIO mode quite a lot, specifically under Standard ATA Emulation. Have a look here if you don't believe me (Warning - it's a PDF file larger than 6 MB).

Windows XP Device Manage also allows you (or at least it allows me) to change the Transfer mode for a SATA harddisk from "DMA if available" to "PIO Only", and this results in a PIO transfer mode which is capable of no more than 3.3 MB/s transfer rate on my 200 GB Maxtor DiamondMax+9 SATA harddrive.

And just to be clear - I'm quite positive that my harddrive is a Serial ATA (SATA) drive and not Parallel ATA! (It may be using a SATA-PATA bridge however since the Maxtor DiamondMax+9 is available in bot SATA and PATA versions).

Here are some screen shots:

1. The SATA controller set to PIO Only mode for my secondary harddrive
2. HD Tach quick benchmark performed in PIO mode
3. HD Tach quick benchmark performed in normal DMA mode

EDIT: Third screen shot was of the wrong disk. It has been corrected now.

No C1 errors, that's simply impossible. I guess your drive can't report errors at all (many don't)

Oh, I've just noticed that DrageMester already adressed that point too, sorry

My drive is a PX-172A. Is that drive unable to report errors? If it can report errors, is it disabled or something?

Ah, a Plextor drive. CDSpeed can not be used with PIONEER, SAMSUNG,TSST (Toshiba), HL-DT-ST (LG), and PLEXTOR drives. There's a registry hack to unlock the feature, but there's no guarantee that errors will be reported at all, nor that if errors are reported, they will be reported in a relevant fashion.

If your drive actually CAN report errors (I have no idea, ask in the Plextor forum or wait for input from DrageMester), you can use Plextools for scanning.

The PX-712A can indeed scan for C1/C2/CU errors, but only with PlexTools.

Aaah, thanks, I'm not very familiar with Plextor burners so I didn't get that "172A" was a typo... - I did know, thought, that the 712A can report errors...

Dvdinfopro works with Plextors now too, but not with cd-r of course...

And also with PxScan/PxView.

But even with a registry hack Nero CD-DVD Speed will not do (usable) quality scanning on a PX-712.

Without the registry hack, CD-DVD Speed will let you do a quality scan on a CD, but it will report no C1 errors, and it will not report C2 errors correctly.

With the registry hack, CD-DVD Speed will let you start the quality scan on a CD, but it will not do anything useful - it will just hang until you cancel the scan.

Here are screenshots of the same test disc scanned with PlexTools, PxScan and Nero CD-DVD Speed. It can be clearly seen that CD-DVD Speed doesn't report C1 at all and doesn't report C2 correctly.

ok so plextor drives work only with plextools .

Another question is that is there anyway to prevent windows from setting the drive in PIO mode? This way I dont have to check every time I go burn or read a CD/DVD

Use Windows2000.

XP will set to PIO anytime it detects reading errors (like CRC errors). Some copy protections have been know to trigger this too. Event viewer will often list the errors, maybe giving you a clue as to what set it off.

Follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:
1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
6. Type 1, and then click OK.
Follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:
1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0002
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
6. Type 1, and then click OK.
Note The numbered subkeys that are listed earlier correspond to the primary and secondary IDE channels on a computer that contains a single IDE controller. If your computer contains two IDE controllers, the numbered subkeys for the primary and secondary IDE channels for each of the two controllers may be:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0002

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0003

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0004

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0005
To verify that you have located the correct subkey, verify that the DriverDesc value for the subkey contains the string value "Primary IDE Channel" or the string value "Secondary IDE Channel."

Hi, Drage

FYI, I have observed that the C2 in CD-DVD Speed obtained with Plextor drives is E32, thus corresponds to CU in C1/C2 test of PlexTools, but in different unit of measurement. For more information, please read my dialogues with Erik Deppe:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=246

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=249

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=255

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=259

Thanks. I suspected that the reported C2 (E22) errors in CDSpeed on the Plextor drive might in fact be CU (E32) errors, and if you and Erik Deppe agreed that CU (measured as bytes/second) are reported as C2 then I have no reason to doubt that!

Will it work with the Plex 760A to report PIE, PIF, Jitter scans? What V of DVD Infor Pro? Thanks .