I have a problem burning ANYTHING

vonGorre 2008-10-30 00:06:00 UTC #1

[qanda]This thread is about the Lite-On LH-20A1L. Click here to see full specs[/qanda]Everybody's going to love me for this one.

I present a super-hard conundrum to you fine people of CDFreaks.com. I have been reading your threads, and along with countless others such as the likes of Afterdawn, Videohelp, and the Ubuntu Community.

I'm running a custom computer: Asus Crosshair (M2 - Green), AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+, 4 Gb G.E.i.L PC6400 (800 MHz) RAM, x2 Kingwin MACH 1 (520 Watts each), x2 (SLI configured) MSI GeForce 7900 OC 512 MB, x2 Hitachi Deskstar HDDs, and a LITEON LH-20AIL (recommended by you fine folks at CDFreaks).

I have been unable to get a CD or a DVD burned without errors for about two months, using Windows XP Professional (32-Bit, version 5.01.2600, Service Pack 2), and Nero 6 (version 6.3.1.28). Here's what I have done.

RAM TEST: First and foremost. GEiL is an excellent manufacturer, but I ran the test anyway. I used Ubuntu's Memtest86, for nothing less than 48 hours. Not one single error.

MEDIA: I'm using Memorex DVD+R, 16x Speed. It shows up as a RICOHJPN R03, which, from what I understand in your forums, is one of the best forms of media around. They are fresh from the cake - totally unscratched.

DVD DRIVE: Brand new; not even a month old. It has the BL05 firmware, RPC II, and it is sitting on SATA [3:0] - not a PCI card, but part of the motherboard. I am using nVidia SATA drivers (version 5.10.2600.0667). I've been reading about ASPI, and NERO tells me that my WINASPI32.dll, version 4.71 (0002), is installed and working properly.

DRIVERS: I have updated the driver for my BIOS to the latest. I have a fairly updated AMD driver. I looked up the firmware update for the LITEON, but it appeared to be only something for make more media work.

So, in short, I have reason to believe it isn't the MEDIA, it isn't the RAM, and there's a huge probability it isn't the DRIVE. This leaves me with software and drivers. The only thing I haven't done is use anything other than Nero 6, and update the drivers for EVERYTHING in my computer.

I have used many different types of DVD drives (mostly e-IDE) before I went to SATA. They all had the same problem. I have tried lower burning speeds - with the same result. I'm not even trying to burn movies, just straight-up data! And there's still errors all over the place!

Please help. If you need me, I'll be in the corner, quietly going insane.

Thanks!

Dialysis1 2008-10-30 02:00:08 UTC #2

Can you post your Nero log?

geno888 2008-10-30 08:40:19 UTC #3

I wouldn’t say that Memorex discs are “one of the best media around”. Actually, Memorex produces among the ugliest discs available in the market

This could be another probable candidate of the problem, but I don’t know if there is an alternative driver for this controller (usually standard microsoft drivers are good for burners).

If you think that can be a software issue, try to use ImgBurn and see if it works correctly.

rayw 2008-10-30 23:40:20 UTC #4

You could try burning at a lower speed say 8x and see if you get
errors just because the discs are rated at 16x doesnt mean
that they will burn correctly every time

Jimbo 2008-11-05 04:42:14 UTC #5

Myself I would try a better brand of media such as TY’s or Verbatims as Memorex isn’t very good media IMHO

vonGorre 2008-11-18 16:35:39 UTC #6

Dialysis 1, Geno888, rayw, and Jimbo, thank you ever so much for reading my post, and offering recommendations.

I have, however, found out the real problem. My initial tester for my RAM did not catch the fact that one of my sticks was cranking out 50,000 errors a minute. The second RAM tester, which I only ran for #$@% and giggles, caught the problem immediately.

Just for the record, my LITEON is now working perfectly, all verifications pass, and the NEW UBUNTU (8.10) memtest86 is what caught the problem, not the 8.04.01 memtest86.

Thank you for your time and effort!

–vonGorre

geno888 2008-11-19 07:52:32 UTC #7

Thanks for posting the updates