Liteon LTR-52246S Problem

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers LiteOn / PLDS / Sony Writer
#1

Hi guys,

Over the past few days I’ve noticed that my Liteon burner has been a little “inconsistent” while being used. This inconsistency happens when using all kinds of different software packages which leads me to believe that it’s a burner issue. The problem is this: sometimes when getting the burner going (ie. in the first 3-5% of the burn) the burner just seems to stop ‘burning’. I can still hear the CD spinning, and the software (in most cases I use Nero) continues to think that the burner is working its magic. I have let this go for a few minutes and it just sits on the same 3-5% without budging. The burner just seems to freeze while still keeping the disc spinning.

When I hit cancel in Nero, the app doesn’t actually cancel, and ultimately, to get access to the disc again, i have to reboot my machine. Initially I thought this could have been a firmware issue - so I toodled off to the web and downloaded the latest firmware (I’m afraid I can’t remember the exact number but I know that it was something like 6xxxF). I upgraded the firmware no problem, rebooted my machine and tried it again. It appeared to work nicely for another 3 or 4 CDs, then it started doing it again.

I tried running through “simulation” aswell while burning and most of the time it would go past the simulation no problem and freeze on the start of the actual burn. Only once do I recall it freezing in the same way but at the start of the simulation.

Finally, not once have I created a coaster as a result! After rebooting and checking the media it’s quite clear that nothing has been written to it and I am able to try again using the same disc. Proof of the pudding is that after a while I managed to get a burn working with a disc that I had attempted to use 3 times before.

So my questions are: does anyone have any idea what might be going on here? Have you had a similar experience? Does it sound like I need to replace my burner? Could it be another issue such as heat??

I am running WindowsXP SP1, and use Nero 5.5 (I think) and CloneCD 4.2.

Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks one and all.
OJ

#2

Hello Uraldor

I just went through the same thing, tried Nero, CloneCD, burnatonce and they all did as you describe. I put the burner in a comp where another LiteOn is working fine and it didn’t work. I sent the burner back and it took 4weeks to get a replacement. Checking the serial # they actually sent my same drive back (thought I’d get a refurb) and it works now.

I don’t know what they did to fix my drive but I noticed that the firmware is the latest 6SOF where as before it was 6SO8.

#3

Hi FastGame,

Thanks for your reply. I might just have to pull it out and take it back to the shop to see what’s wrong with it. It’s very frustrating. They might just have done something else other than simply update the firmware though. The firmware update alone didn’t seem to resolve the issue for me.

Thanks again! I’ll see what I can do.
OJ

#4

Sorry to dig up old threads, but his is precisely the problem I am having. I’m well past my warrenty and have tried several firmwares includiing 6SOF.

Is the laser failing? It works sometimes (like 1/10 times) and will burn fine.

Does anyone have any information on this or is it time to upgrade?

#5

i face the same situation !!

slight differences:

-burner works fine in my brothers computer.
-firmware upgrades / downgrades didnt fix my problem.
-unlike the other guy, my simulation in nero has the same problems.
-brothers burner works fine in my computer

edit:
out of interest, when im going to burn, it begins to make the spinning noise, gets faster, and then as if something is stopping it, it just slows down to nothing. this process is repeated for a long time.
on my brothers computer, it made the spinning noise, got faster, and stayed spinning at that speed throughout the whole burn (52x). i tried exactly the same media - even the same CD.

aditionally, i just successfully simulated the same CD at 8x. What’s going on?

:frowning: any help guys? ive been stuck without a working burner for over 3 months!

#6

i would check dma. if you search you will find several threads on this.

have you tried any other burning software? if only nero i would try something else. if it is all software then i would suspect dma even more. if it is only in nero then i would clean nero out and reinstall.

#7

the problem seems to be happening in other software as well, such as alcohol 120%.

i have checked out the DMA mode, and it is on “Ultra DMA 2 - Ultra 33”.

here is the picture of the situation, and what i can select as the mode:

<a href=“http://members.optushome.com.au/tomnas/dma_mode.jpg”>Picture</a>

Is that the correct DMA mode to have selected? All the available options are in that drop-down menu.

#8

Originally posted by desty
[B]the problem seems to be happening in other software as well, such as alcohol 120%.

i have checked out the DMA mode, and it is on “Ultra DMA 2 - Ultra 33”.

here is the picture of the situation, and what i can select as the mode:

<a href=“http://members.optushome.com.au/tomnas/dma_mode.jpg”>Picture</a>

Is that the correct DMA mode to have selected? All the available options are in that drop-down menu. [/B]

nVidia’s IDE drivers have been reported to cause problems with optical drives. A number of people have been able to solve their problems by using the default XP drivers instead.

#9

i have tried the default microsoft drivers in the past, and i have had the same problems.

i just reverted back to them right now, and the problem is still there.

what should i do? :bow:

#10

try the drive in another computer to see if the issue is software (no problems on different computer) or hardware (problem follows the drive)

#11

i already have… :bigsmile:

-my burner works fine in my brothers computer.

that would lead me to believe its something in my computer thats the problem.

however…

-brothers burner works fine in my computer

argh!!

whats going on :(:(:frowning:

#12

Give these things a try:

  • If you have any packet writing software installed (ie Nero’s InCD) try uninstalling it.
  • Also, if you have any Nforce IDE tools installed (I can’t remember the exact name of them) try getting rid of them.
  • Try using a different IDE cable.
  • Place the drive on a different IDE chain (if it’s on the primary one try secondary and vise-vera).
#13

Originally posted by desty
[B]i already have… :bigsmile:

-my burner works fine in my brothers computer.

that would lead me to believe its something in my computer thats the problem.

however…

-brothers burner works fine in my computer

argh!!

whats going on :(:(:frowning: [/B]

is your brothers burner as fast as yours? if not that may be why it appears to work fine.

also you may want to remove and reinstall both the burner and the ide channel it is on and reinstall them just to make sure there are no incorrect entries for the drive.

normally for me since i backup fairly regularly for me when this happens i would restore a backup to see if it was a software issue.

#14

Originally posted by Ssseth
[B]Give these things a try:

  • If you have any packet writing software installed (ie Nero’s InCD) try uninstalling it.
  • Also, if you have any Nforce IDE tools installed (I can’t remember the exact name of them) try getting rid of them.
  • Try using a different IDE cable.
  • Place the drive on a different IDE chain (if it’s on the primary one try secondary and vise-vera). [/B]

i have already tried, with no success:

  • different IDE cable
  • Changing between primary and secondary IDE chains

i will try removing all Nvidia crap from my system, and also the Nero InCD and see how it goes.
Thanks!

#15

Originally posted by cnlson
[B]is your brothers burner as fast as yours? if not that may be why it appears to work fine.

also you may want to remove and reinstall both the burner and the ide channel it is on and reinstall them just to make sure there are no incorrect entries for the drive.

normally for me since i backup fairly regularly for me when this happens i would restore a backup to see if it was a software issue. [/B]

good point. my brothers burner is 8x. Co-incedence that i can successfully write cd’s at 8x using my burner? Seems more than just a co-incidence here.

i have recently re-formatted my computer, so all ide channels and drives were thus re-installed. didnt appear to fix much though.

i think we’re definately onto something with the maximum of 8x writing. Now… to find out exactly what is going on… ::iagree:

Thanks!

#16

Originally posted by desty
[B]

edit:
out of interest, when im going to burn, it begins to make the spinning noise, gets faster, and then as if something is stopping it, it just slows down to nothing. this process is repeated for a long time.
on my brothers computer, it made the spinning noise, got faster, and stayed spinning at that speed throughout the whole burn (52x). i tried exactly the same media - even the same CD.
[/B]

i went back and reread your post. this spin up and down indicates to me that the drive is trying to burn at 52x but the buffer is repeatedly filling and emptying. if you are using windows xp try the built in burning once and see if it will work @ 52 with no problems

i think it is definitively your computer hardware or software that is the issue. just a little detective work to find out which is causing the problem.

#17

windows XP built - in burning failed :sad:

#18

hmm it appears reading CD’s is slow too.

took me an hour to install visual studio 6.

edit: it makes the spin up / spin down noises too.

#19

Originally posted by desty
windows XP built - in burning failed :sad:

well since built in writing does not have burnproof i would guess that there is a problem feeding this drive. somehting either in software or hardware is not giving it all it needs for bandwidth.

if you have nero you might want to try benchmarking with cdspeed from the nero tools to see what read/write speed you are getting out of the drive.