Sony 710A changes mind about MXL RG/02

willmore · February 14, 2017, 1:33am

Hello, all.

I have a partial spindle of Maxell DVD-R discs with MID of MXL RG/02. I know I’ve burnt them in the past as it’s a partial spindle–half missing. I’m pretty sure I’ve never burnt anything at 1x before–the lowest speed this drive offers on any media capable of it is 4x.

Looking at the info in the firmware with OmniPatcher 2.4.2–on the firmware files that I’ve used to program the drive–shows that for this MID code, the drive should want to burn at 4x (only chosen speed). But, when a disc is inserted and DVD Identifier (or Nero InfoTool) run, it reports 1x as the only known burn speed. Sure enough, using Nero to burn a disc results in a 1x burn–with really bad PI/PO.

Any suggestions on what I should look at? Should I reburn with a known good firmware? Is there some chance that the EEPROM got corrupted? I did save a copy from some time ago, so I’m not totally hosed.

I only have a partial spindle of these things left–and it was a 25 disc spindle at that! So, I’d just like to burn these dozen or so discs and forget about this MID forever. Has anyone seen an error condition like this before?

Thanks!

willmore · February 14, 2017, 4:28pm

I just tried an obscure piece of double sided -R media and got the same kind of results. DVD Identifier says the drive wants to burn it 1x while the firmware (as reported by OmniPatcher 2.4.2) says that it should only offer 4x.

Strangely, it still seems to like the CMC MAG. AE01 which it reports it will burn at 8x max. Strange.

willmore · February 14, 2017, 4:29pm

Has noone ever had this problem with their drive? I know my drive has been a complete PITA–well, mostly Sony support was, but I wouldn’t have had to call if the drive had come with functional firmware in the first place–but this is silly.

Possibly, I need to backup the EPROM and do an LMR on it. I can always load the old EPROM back in if things don’t go well.

chok0 · February 14, 2017, 4:29pm

what firmware’s in on your drive?
try liteon’s CS0P or sony’s BYX4. these are the best firmwares for my 710a. (and i thinnk for others, too)

willmore · February 14, 2017, 4:29pm

It’s BYX4 with patches to the media table by OmniPatcher. I also selected the Ledfix so the LED actually indicates what the drive is doing–and doesn’t make the light on the IDE bus steadily blink.

I’ve been really happy with this firmware–in general. If it weren’t for this one little problem.

thanks, chok0

willmore · February 14, 2017, 4:34pm

A little more information came to light today. I was looking through a directory of ‘junk’ on my PC and came across a list of media identifications I had done when I first installed BYX4 on this drive. I found two types of media that look funny.

MAXELL DVD-R N44 7GG084H0908202
Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID MXL RG02
Format Capacity Blank Disc
Free Blocks 411107328
Free Capacity 4.38GB(4.71GB)
Book Type DVD-R
Media Type DVD-R
Manufacturer Rated Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 1.0x 1385KBps
Write Strategy Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
2x Speed OPC beta 0A
2x Speed OPC power 0E
2x Write Strategy field 1 15 87 78 90
2x Write Strategy field 2 88 80 00 00 00 00
4x Speed OPC beta 05
4x Speed OPC power 16
4x Write Strategy field 1 0D 0F 0B 08
4x Write Strategy field 2 97 07 0E 0B
4x Write Strategy field 3 A4 00 24 00
4x Speed OPC beta multi-pulse 05
4x Speed OPC power multi-pulse 19
4x Write Strategy field 4 17 A8 89 75
4x Write Strategy field 5 C6 89 88 80 00 00
4x Write Strategy field 6 00 00 D0 00 00
Data area starting sector 30000h
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1

                       Complete Media Code

00000000 00 6C 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 52 00 02 86 0E 11 .l…@…R…
00000010 87 89 80 00 03 4D 58 4C 20 52 47 00 04 30 32 00 …MXL RG…02.
00000020 00 00 00 00 05 88 80 00 00 00 02 00 06 0A 0E 15 …

UNBRANDED DOUBLE SIDED
Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID VDSPMSAB 01
Format Capacity Blank Disc
Free Blocks 411107328
Free Capacity 4.38GB(4.71GB)
Book Type DVD-R
Media Type DVD-R
Manufacturer Rated Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 1.0x 1385KBps
Write Strategy Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
2x Speed OPC beta 0B
2x Speed OPC power 10
2x Write Strategy field 1 11 87 78 80
2x Write Strategy field 2 88 80 00 00 00 00
4x Speed OPC beta 06
4x Speed OPC power 17
4x Write Strategy field 1 0D 10 0A 0B
4x Write Strategy field 2 98 08 0F 0B
4x Write Strategy field 3 00 00 00 00
4x Speed OPC beta multi-pulse 06
4x Speed OPC power multi-pulse 1C
4x Write Strategy field 4 13 A8 88 65
4x Write Strategy field 5 98 9A 88 80 00 00
4x Write Strategy field 6 00 00 D0 00 00
Data area starting sector 30000h
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1

                       Complete Media Code

00000000 00 6C 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 52 00 02 EA 0B 14 .l…@…R…
00000010 76 78 90 00 03 56 44 53 50 4D 53 00 04 41 42 20 vx…VDSPMS…AB
00000020 30 31 00 00 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 06 0B 10 11 01…

And, for comparison, here’s a ‘good’ -R media type entry:
STAPLES DVD-R 8X MAH 662JC13035569 5
Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID CMC MAG. AE1
Format Capacity Blank Disc
Free Blocks 411107328
Free Capacity 4.38GB(4.71GB)
Book Type DVD-R
Media Type DVD-R
Manufacturer Rated Speed 8.0x 11080KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 8.0x 11080KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 6.0x 8310KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Write Strategy Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
2x Speed OPC beta 09
2x Speed OPC power 0D
2x Write Strategy field 1 11 87 78 90
2x Write Strategy field 2 88 80 00 00 00 00
4x Speed OPC beta 05
4x Speed OPC power 15
4x Write Strategy field 1 0D 0F 0A 09
4x Write Strategy field 2 97 07 0F 0B
4x Write Strategy field 3 80 00 00 00
4x Speed OPC beta multi-pulse 05
4x Speed OPC power multi-pulse 1B
4x Write Strategy field 4 13 A8 89 65
4x Write Strategy field 5 B6 89 88 80 00 00
4x Write Strategy field 6 00 00 D0 00 00
Data area starting sector 30000h
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1

                       Complete Media Code

00000000 00 6C 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 52 00 02 35 0D 0E .l…@…R…5…
00000010 88 9A 80 00 03 43 4D 43 20 4D 41 00 04 47 2E 20 …CMC MA…G.
00000020 41 45 31 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 06 09 0D 11 AE1…

So, though the drive can see that the manufacturer intended the media to be
faster, there is only that 1x write descriptor available. Strange.

willmore · February 14, 2017, 4:34pm

Staring at it more, all I can see is that it doesn’t mind 8x rated media–that gets burnt at 8x. But, if the media is 4x, then it only gets recognized for 1x burning.

Could there be a problem with the BYX4 firmware WRT 4x -R media? Maybe something was done to it when the 12X -R ability was added. Just an idea.