I’ve just brought a LG4160B external dvd writer which burns CDs fine, but not DVDs. Has anyone got any idea’s why? I’m running it on a Packard Bell laptop, connecting it via USB2 with Windows XP (SP2) with Nero 6, plus I’ve run the GSA4160A302 firmware update with still no success! I’ve attached an error message from Nero if that’s any help.
In addition, I’ve heard a rumour that it might be SP2 clashing with Nero 6 so an update might be required. Let’s hope so.
What media are you using? Try others.
I am frequently using Win XP SP2 + Nero 6.6.0.6, but 6.6.0.5 also worked ok. So I do not think it is a compatibility issue.
Stupid question, when you choose “File” -> “New” and the “Create new” (or so) window appears, did you select “DVD” in the field at top left?
And second, did you use “Recorder” -> “Choose recorder” to actually choose your DVD-Writer there?
Nero has some issues with menus/windows/dialog boxes changing when the media type changes. Try with the tray open or no disc in the writer if you experience missing speeds in the “Burn” tab or Booktype setting in the “Choose recorder” dialog or so.
Otherwise, your combination of Nero 6 and Win XP SP2 should be fine (well as “fine” as Windoze actually is 
say the un*x freak)
Greetz!
Oh sorry - I just saw you have InCD installed.
Go to the InCD icon in the tray (looks like a yellow battery) or go to “My Computer” and right-click your DVD writer, choose “Properties”, choose the “InCD” tab and look whether the disc is formatted by InCD!
If yes, you cannot use it for burning with Nero anymore but can just drag&drop files on the DVD drive in “My Computer” - thats packet writing. You would normally want to do that with DVD-RWs I think, not DVD-Rs, so in the InCD tab click “Format” (dont worry, it will NOT start immediately) and then the “Options” button. Look whether there is something checked below “…inserting an empty disc…” right in the middle of that dialog box. Choose “Do nothing” there, you can still format Packet writing / UDF CDs by right clicking them in “My Computer” and choosing InCD Format.
Good Luck!
You give some of the most detailed answers here. 
I also run Windows XP SP 2 + Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.6. No problem here.
Kenshin u as an expert, what does the following tell u?
---- DVD Structure: Physical Format Information (00h) ----
Layer: 0, Address: 0 (0 h), AGID: 0; Length: 2050
Book Type: DVD-R (2), Part Version: 5
Disc Size: 120 mm, Maximum Rate: <not specified> (F h)
Number of Layers: 1, Track Path: Parallel Track Path (PTP), Layer Type: recordable
Linear Density: 0,267 um/bit, Track Density: 0,74 um/track
Starting Physical Sector Number of Data Area: 30000 h (DVD-ROM, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW)
End Physical Sector Number of Data Area: 26127F h
End Sector Number in Layer 0: 0 h
Data in Burst Cutting Area (BCA) does not exist
Start sector number of the current Border-Out: 2FE10 h
Start sector number of the next Border-In: 2FFA0 h
Media Specific [16..63]:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00 02 FE 10 00 02 FF A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
Shouldnt we see there Manufacturer data or so?
I just had a look on a Verbatim DVD-R 8x and the data 0x10-0x3f gave
… (my bs deleted) …
which looks much better somehow…Is it possible this is fake DVD-R?
No we should not see manufacturer data. Sorry I obviously mixed up the “data areas” there. Just checked a log of my Nero and looked exactly the same:
Media Specific [16…63]:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …
00 02 FE 10 00 02 FF A0 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …
A bit above is
9:34:50 PM #10 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 3891
Can only write at 2x (2,770 KB/s) instead of 2.4x (3,324 KB/s) to current disc.
I suspect therefore one of
- InCD already took control of that DVD-R
- What about the speed? Maybe that laptops usb port is just too slow … (2x instead of 2.4x) Maybe another high-speed device (hdd?) is on that usb port?
- Bad DVD-R media
Clueless 
oman
Corrected last post !!!
Maybe IMAPI problem?
That is the Windoze XP integrated burning program.
Open your system disk (the one Windows is on, e.g. “C:”) and click
“Search”, for name enter “services.msc”. Double-click it, in the right half, find “IMAPI-” or so, doubleclick it, Stop the service, change the Starttype to “disabled” “off” or so (I have German XP, so u need to search a little bit - a picture is at end of this post).
Then retry burning.
Maybe you would like to put a DVD-ROM in the drive before you burn and use Nero Toolkit -> Nero CD-DVD Speed to find out whether you get the required speed
… 2x (2,770 KB/s) instead of 2.4x (3,324 KB/s) …
at all.
Dont think you could write the DVD slower like you can with CD-Rs! IIRC the speed, laser power, sensitivity of the chemicals in the dye only work in narrow constraints. Like buying 8x media and burning at 2x does not ensure you get a better result, and so maybe burning your 8x media with 2x is just too slow, “overheating” or so the dye.
Not sure though …
Good luck
Look below This is in German but I guess you will see what I mean -> the IMAPI line is what you have to doubleclick, “Stop”, “Disable”.
Hm. It seems the used disc was a RITEKG04 4x DVD-R media and the drive was going to write at 2x speed. It failed after tring for about 10 seconds.
Any other media?
I have got an external hard drive and it may of been on the usb port that the dvd drive is in?
USB 2.0 HDD or USB 1.1 HDD?
USB 2.0 I think! I’ve just disabled the IMAPI and reduced the burn speed to 2.0. It was burning okay and then it was frozen from 61%. The remaining time had reached zero, but the other time was still going. My laptop then froze until I turned the drive off. Still no luck… I’ve attached another error log!
Nero_error2.txt (8.13 KB)
Let´s hope so, with USB 1.1 (?) you cannot reach more than 12 Mbit/s less 10%, which would be way to slow for burning DVDs - this would not even be 1x speed!!
You mean that “Time remaining” until DVD is finished was 0, but the time counter was still going up? This sounds really strange. I am not sure, but I would try to burn a DVD when the external harddisk is not connected … especially if you get the data which is written on the DVD from THAT hdd :o
I do not know what external case the DVD writer is in. Maybe you can give us the manufacturer or - even better - the chipset it uses. Multiple devices on one USB should not, but can - and often do - make problems with concurrent accesses. You should also check whether you have the latest USB drivers installed for the USB port on your laptop.
Check out which chipset your laptop has and try to get the latest drivers for it. With things like CD/DVD burning, this is absolutely essential, as the timing is really critical. Even with 2x speed (about 3MB/s = 24Mbit/s) the buffer of the writer lasts only for about 0.6 sec of interrupted data flow.
I suspect a data collission on the USB which leads to interruption of the writing process and which goes unnoticed by Nero. That would explain the still running time counter in Nero. Not sure whether the LG, the external hdd or the laptop´s USB hostcontroller is the culprit.
Regards and hope you find some more things to examine,
oman
Addendum: I have an external hdd in an IcyBox casing. It uses a chipset really commonplace (so genuine even older Linux kernels know it without patching, out of the box). Its able to deliver about 57Mbit/s, regarding to the specs, which would be somewhere around 7 MB/s or somewhere between 5x and 6x DVD speed. It also behaves so aggressively on the USB it regurlarly breaks transfers to a CD-ROM drive on the same USB connection.
An extra USB 2.0 pcmcia card to connect the writer to or, if possible, a firewire connection between laptop and dvd writer would be preferable IMHO.
A South Korean company is selling Enermax 5-inch HDD case for about US$5. Two fans inside. I’m going to order 8 units
I’m not using the external hard drive to transfer files to the dvd writer, those files (mainly image) are transferred from my local c:drive. I have noticed that it maps a different drive letter to either the hdd or writer. I have tried burning without the hdd plugged in and still no success. Thanks a lot for all your help on this one. Perhaps it’s just a faulty writer, but it seems strange why it would burn cds!!! Cheers again.
I am really sorry DVD writing still does not work for you! Some things which come to my mind:
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I dont think it is strange that CD-Rs work perfectly and DVDs not at all. Reason one, writing CD-Rs is much slower (1x = 150KB/s, so even 40x is only 6000KB/s - which is about writing a DVD at 4x speed), so writing DVDs is MUCH MORE DEMANDING on your system regarding to ide transfer speed/chipset speed/system stability and so on, and two, CD-R / DVD-R are written with 2 different lasers IIRC (or at least different wavelengths), so it is quite possible one type works and one time fails.
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Did you try to use the burner without the external casing in a standard PC, connected as recommended (2ndary IDE port, Master, if possible only device on that cable)? I would positively do so! Maybe it is really a speed/stability issue with your laptop or the external enclosure.
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You still didn´t tell us about your laptops and the external casings chipsets. Maybe you could at least give us the exact type of both. For example there have been stability issues with nForce chipsets and SiS chipsets with USB. I also had problems with pretty standard 440MX (Intel laptop pre-centrino) chipsets. Maybe some more research in that direction is needed…
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Again - I recommend you to REALLY CONSIDER 2. - try the drive the way it is meant to use! - and if that still does not work, try to reach LG tech support and get a replacement drive. If a dvd-writer is $60 and an external casing $50, why would people spend >$200 for an external device? Even if you say “those are stupid”, why are there no clever guys like me assembling such devices for less then $110 and selling them for $150 or $160? Maybe there is more about those external drives - special chipsets, special drivers, special burning software or whatever…
Again, sorry for not being able to help 
Greetz!