Pioneer DVR-111D Problems

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers Asus / Pioneer Writer
#1

Hi. I have been nothing but satisfied with my Pioneer DVR-111D crossflashed to a DVR-111L until now. It now has serious problems burning DVD+RW discs. Most of the times it cant erase a disc and when it finally works and starts a burn in ImgBurn I get a new error with performing the optimum power calibration. I thought it was cuz of scrathed discs or just worn out discs so I bought a new pack of Sony DVD+RW’s. I tried again with a fresh new disc and this time it couldnt even format the disc and and gave some error message and the disc is now totally ruined, cant be formatted again/erased again.

What could be wrong with my drive? Is it just time for it to “die” or what?

Ps. It burns ALL OTHER discs perfectly, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-R/DL, DVD+R/DL, CD-R etc. Only the re-writables that is fucked.

/Tnx in advance

#2

SONY DVD+Rw media is known as problematic media inmany burners!

Buy either Ricoh or Verbatim. Also clean the drive, if possible.

#3

I too am experciencing the same error when IMGburn or Nero 8 tries “optimum power calibration”. I spent hours yesterday searching these forums along with others and still no luck.

This all started when yesterday I flashed my DVR-111D from 1.06 original FW to the official 1.29. I’m trying to burn Memerox DVD+R DL discs which I had no problem doing before the 1.29FW. I realize the quality of disc is not so great, but why the sudden complete failure after the flash?

During my search the most common response was to get new 80pin IDE cableor the drive is failing. Ok, I get that it may be starting to fal (even tho it worked perfect 2 days ago), but why do I all the sudden need new cable?

I would maybe like to just revert back to 1.06 (even tho thats dumb because the 1.29 was SUPPOSED too add support for more DVD DL etc.) but obviously Pioneer has locked the FW update. I’ve read about using DVRFlash and a patched FW or something but it seems like a rather complicted approach to what shouldn’t even be a problem.

So without further hihjacking the thread (sorry dude, didn’t want to start a new one), what are my options? Thnx in advance. (I’m not exactly new here, but I been trolling;))

#4

You can revert to 1.06 if u use a “non-pioneer” flasher, and that is probably ur only option if u wanna go back to 1.06. Take a look at this page. http://tdb.rpc1.org/

They also provide “alternative” firmwares for the 111D drive. I crossflashed my drive into a Dvr-111L and by doing that It gave me labelflash and disctatoo + the drive now bitsets all +R discs to Dvd-rom which is very good if u for example have an older dvd-player that dont play all kinds of discs (setting the booktype to DVD-Rom on +R discs makes the standalone dvd-player think u inserted an original pressed disc).

Also last night I decided to order a new burner, did some reading and I choose between the Samsung SH-S203B and Pioneer DVR-215. After some extensive reading I went for the Pioneer Dvr-215 which has gotten some great reviews. If u are interested take a look here: http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=22642&PageId=37
and ofc here for the dvr-115 review: http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Pioneer-DVR-115D-DVD-Burner-Review

#5

I also found this page http://club.cdfreaks.com/f150/pioneer-mcse-patching-238902/ it describes how u can patch ur f/w flasher so u can flash to a previous firmware.

#6

So, first of all thanks a bunch for your advice.

I already had Danger bros FW and MCSE (which I didn’t use) downloaded, so I was just waiting for someone to tell me to go for it. So I did. The results are both a success, and a failure. I’ll explain:

So I re-flashed (and unlocked the 1.29 Pioneer FW) with danger bro 1.06 patched. This was a succsess. I Burned the Memerex DVD+R DL just as before. However, I tried both re-flashing with danger bro to 1.23 and 1.29 patched, again = same error “Power calibration error”

Then I remembered about the 80 pin IDE cable. So I decide to look in case and I forgot when I built this I used a 40 pin on both the pioneer dvd drives (1 - DVR-111D + 1 Pioneer DVD ROM) I looked threw my spare parts and found 2 extra quality 80 pin cables.

Neither one helped. :Z I tried even unhooking the DVD-ROM and the power to it. No go, still “Power Calibration error”

My last resort is to swicth this 250W PSU to a spare 300W PSU and see what that does. I’m very curious why the 1.06 fw burns fine on a 40 pin IDE cable, yet the 1.29 fw (or earlier) doesn’t work on either a 40 or 80 pin IDE cable. maybe it has nothing to do with the cable? Drive just doesn’t like the new firmware? lol

I’ll try the power supply switch and report back. I need to sleep now.:confused:

#7

also, The cross flash to Dvr-111L intrigues me. If I can figure out this power error I’d be intrested in that because my samsung home theater is older and extremely picky with DVD’s. It doesn’t even like to play some newer original pressed discs. (I think new copy protection plays a role too with older players) So, if you could point me to a guide or tell me in a few steps about how to go about that would appreciate very much.

And even though I got the DVR to burn again with 1.06, the Memorex DL won’t seem to play right in my samsungHT, or the Xbox. The Xbox has yet to refuse any disc I throw at it, so I think I need to have bitset or whatever you said. I even recently took apart the Xbox and the internal DVD drive to clean the lens because it was getting errors in games. works like new again except for these damn DVD DL burned discs.:a

#8

@ Tha Doc,

It has been discussed through the CD Freaks Forum that Memorex DL Media is problematic DL Media and should be avoided (not used). To consistently obtain quality error free DL results Verbatim DL MKM001/MKM003 Mitsubishi Kagaku Media is the preferred DL Media. All other DL Media is considered suspect and should be avoided (not used).

Suggested reviewing the Pioneer DVD Burner Read First posting titled “MediaCodeSpeedEdit support for Pioneer DVD-Writers” (http://club.cdfreaks.com/f87/mediacodespeededit-support-pioneer-dvd-writers-153213) and note the comments concerning patching Firmware with the Increase Read Speed/RPC-1/Enable BitSetting patches and the Flasher with Allow Same To Same Flashing patch.

Also suggest reviewing Guides And Tutorial Forum posting titled “Pioneer & MCSE Patching” (http://club.cdfreaks.com/f150/pioneer-mcse-patching-238902).

Regards,
bjkg

#9

I’m trying to burn Memerox DVD+R DL discs
Crap discs.

#10

[QUOTE=Tha Doc;2015685]also, The cross flash to Dvr-111L intrigues me. If I can figure out this power error I’d be intrested in that because my samsung home theater is older and extremely picky with DVD’s. It doesn’t even like to play some newer original pressed discs. (I think new copy protection plays a role too with older players) So, if you could point me to a guide or tell me in a few steps about how to go about that would appreciate very much.[/QUOTE]

Its been quite a while since I crossflashed my drive, I did that when I had just bought it like a year ago but if my memory serves me right u need to do it in 2 steps.

1st u need to flash ur drive with the flasher marked as kernel-flasher, the one with a *-sign. - So if u want to crossflash ur dvr-111D into a dvr-111L pick Pioneer DVR-111L “8.19 INT (Buffalo-Internal) *” http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_file.php?site=tdb1&file=111L_819.ZIP. That will make ur drive into a 111L. Then u MUST reboot so ur computer recognizes the drive as a 111L before going on with the firmware update.

When that is done, verify in the device manager that the drive is recognized properly.

Now u can go onto step 2 and that is flashing the drive to the latest firmware which is “8.29 INT (Buffalo-Internal)” http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_file.php?site=tdb1&file=111L_829.ZIP

And again reboot. That should be it. Now u should have a Pioner DVR-111L with Labelflash and disctatoo AND ALL +R discs will automatically set the booktype to DVD-ROM, thus making ur standalone dvd player think the inserted disc is a “bought” pressed disc. (Just a note, my parents also have a samsung standalone dvd player that will not play any other discs than dvd-rom. Making my drive into a dvr-111L and burning on +R discs solved that issue.)

BUT as I said before, it was a while ago I did this so to be 100% sure u might wanna search the forum for any additional info.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

#11

Thanks to everyone who posted guides (that I already said searched and read) and that the memorex sux (which I already said was not great quality)

Everything is working! Fixed “Power calibration error” by swapping the PSU. Flashed to DVR-111L with no problems. Memorex sux but at least it backs up my data alright. As for watching video, not so much. But, I’ve yet to do a DL burn with this new FW so we’ll see if that booktype (bitset) setting helps.

Thanks again. :clap:

#12

@ Tha Doc,

It appears you REALLY don’t understand that Memorex DL Media is problematic media and should not be used. If you actually value your data you should not be attempting to use the well-documented known problematic Memorex DL Media for backing up data. You are playing Russian Roulette with your data and you ARE going to lose. One day will you will attempt to retrieve the data burned to Memorex DL Media and realize that the data is unretrievable.

Even using BitSetting Firmware that automatically Book Type BitSetting Memorex DL Media to DVD-ROM is not going to do anything to magically change the quality and reliability of Memorex DL Media.

Suggest using one of the software diagnostic utility programs similar to Nero CD-DVD Speed (http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroCDSpeed_47715.zip) and perform a ScanDisc surface scan on one of your Memorex DL Media ‘Data BackUp’ disk. If the ScanDisc surface scan reveals any Red and/or Yellow sectors the data recorded to these Red and/or Yellow sectors will be unretrievable.

Regards,
bjkg

#13

Well…balls. I didn’t really burn anything crucial. (I have backup HDD’s for that)

However, I did delete some ISO movie files I had because I burnt them to the Memorex DL and needed to free up some space. I love these movies (some were criterion) and will be really pissed if I can not retrive the films back to HDD. oh well, that’s what netflix is for.:iagree:

edit: oh and these discs were part of a hot sale so I didn’t lose much if I scrap them. Verbatim or nothing from now on.

#14

Hi all
I’d like to up the thread. I just started having about the same problem as the topic starter.
I have a Pioneer DVR 111D cross flashed to 111L with 8.29 FW about half a year ago. And just 2 days ago it started refusing to write\erase\format on Maxell DVD+RW. And that puzzles me the most. I’d think it had to refuse burning this media from the very beginning and not after i burned about 10 or 15 of them.
Now Nero just ejects the disk when i try to burn it requesting other media, when i try to format with Nero nothing happens (when i hit full format button the program just closes) and ImgBurn stops with “Potential ‘WaitImmediateIO’ Deferred Error - (0/4) - Format Command Failed” error.
Do i need to start a new topic, post any logs from any programs - sorry this is my first post so any help and guidance appreciated.

#15

@ RusI,

Welcome to the Forum.

In this thread substitute the name Memorex with the name Maxell and most likely you will see the cause of your problem.

In short discard your Maxell Media which is known poor quality problematic Media and replace it with known proven quality Media such as Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim Media that consistently provides quality error free results.

Also if you are attempting to use any type of Packet Writing software program(s) such as InCD Strongly recommend cease using them and completely and thoroughly remove them from your computer. Packet Writing software program(s) do not work correctly and are only a source of numerous Computer/DVD Burner/Media problems.

Regards,
bjkg

#16

[QUOTE=RusI;2036424]Hi all…Now Nero just ejects the disk when i try to burn it requesting other media, when i try to format with Nero nothing happens (when i hit full format button the program just closes) and ImgBurn stops with “Potential ‘WaitImmediateIO’ Deferred Error - (0/4) - Format Command Failed” error.[/QUOTE]Most probably the media you use is not compatible with your drive when it comes to erasing, [stupidly said I know, but can’t say it in a more simple way]. Check out this thread with another brand of burner.
Are you doing full format or only erase. When everything fails try DVDInfoPro.

BTW, what’s the MID of your discs? (CD/DVD Speed -DiscInfo- tab.)

[QUOTE=RusI;2036424]Do i need to start a new topic, post any logs from any programs - sorry this is my first post so any help and guidance appreciated.[/QUOTE]Very good first post, right on spot. :clap:

#17

Thank you guys for your help. Finally I found some time to get back to this issue.

No, I don’t have any packet writing programs installed.
I tried to do both on this disk – erase and format via DVD Info Pro and Nero – it all failed.

So here is what I did:
I took a Maxell DVD+RW disk that I previously burned and then tried to format and it resulted in an error. After that I was unable to erase\format\write on it like I previously described.
Here’s is what DVD INFO PRO says about this particular disk:
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Manufacturer ID cannot be read
Book Type Unknown
Media Type DVD+RW
Manufacturer Rated Speed Unknown
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 2.4x 3324KBps
BG Format Status Blank Disc
Linear Density Blank Disc
Track Density Unknown
Number of Layers 1
When try to format the disk via DVD Info Pro – it says “can’t read disk information”

Then I took the brand new Maxell DVD+RW (identical to previous specimen) which I’m sure never was burned and here’s what DVD INFO PRO says
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID RITEK 004
Media Product Revision Number 30h
Format Capacity Blank Disc
Free Blocks 405405696
Free Capacity 4.38GB/4.70GB
Book Type DVD+RW
Media Type DVD+RW
Manufacturer Rated Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 2.4x 3324KBps
BG Format Status Blank Disc
Data area starting sector 30000h
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1
Complete Media Code
00000000 08 02 00 00 92 0F 04 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 05 3F …&.?
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 52 49 54 45 4B 00 00 00 30 …RITEK…0
00000020 30 34 30 39 23 00 9C 81 5C 02 28 00 96 8A 70 02 0409#…(…p.
00000030 28 00 9C 81 68 02 28 04 04 20 E0 00 F0 00 00 00 (…h.(… …

Then I ran a disk quality test in Nero CD-DVD speed on this same brand new Maxell disk. But at the end the program froze dead, so I wasn’t able to save the results, so instead I took a screen shot of the program output before terminating it. The image attached.
I don’t know if there is anything else i can do except pitch all the Maxells and start using Verbatims.

Nero Disk scan.jpg760×608 67.4 KB

#18

Were it FULL formatted?

#19

Wait, are you using your pioneer drive to scan the disc? I though they took that out of all the newer versions of cd-speed since pioneer scans are erratic

#20

[QUOTE=Homeless;2039081][B][B]Wait, are you using your pioneer drive to scan the disc?[/B][/B] I though they took that out of all the newer versions of cd-speed since pioneer scans are erratic[/QUOTE]

Correct, using a Pioneer for quality scanning is futile, useless, nada sense.