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Hope I'm posting this in the right place.
I've had my 708UF since they first came out. I'm using Nero 6.6.0.14. OS is XP, SP2. PC has dual processors (2.00 GHz, IIRC), 1.5 GB RAM.
I almost never have a problem burning CDs -- only with DVDs. I was able to burn good DVDs most of the time until a couple of months ago (I went through almost a whole spindle of 50 Maxell MIJs with good results and then suddenly started having problems). Now I can't burn a good DVD no matter what I try.
I've tried several different types of media. TDK, Maxell (MIJ), Taiyo, and a brand-new spindle of Sony (MIJ) just bought this morning, which resulted in uncorrectable error 31105.
I shut down all programs (except ZoneAlarm) when burning DVDs. I've tried burning files from my IDE drive and various SCSI drives (all internal). I've optimized my hard drives before burning files to DVD, and make sure there's lots of empty space on the hard drives (for buffers or whatever). I tried hooking up the Plextor to my laptop and burning a DVD and had no luck there either (I only have Roxio installed on the laptop, and I got the dreaded No Additional Sense information error).
I've tried both -R and +R media. I never burn faster than 4x. (I've tried 8x, and the results are no better.) I've tried hooking up the Plextor via USB2 and Firewire. No difference.
Some of the files I'm burning are .avi, some are data files (QuarkXpress, Photoshop, digital photos, etc.), some are drive images. I'm not copying commercial disks, so copy protection should not even be an issue.
I don't know what else to try. I don't have another DVD burner to experiment with.
When I burn DVDs, I often get no errors, but I do get a pretty awful-looking transfer rate test results -- very jagged graph lines.
Am I making too much of the transfer rate test results?? Is it possible that the DVDs are really okay, even though the TRT graph is so jagged? Is there something better than Nero's CD Speed/ScanDisk for checking burned DVDs? Checking the DVDs by opening or playing all the files is not a logical option -- it could take several hours to check each disk.
Before I started having problems a couple of months ago, the TRTs were much smoother -- the yellow line almost straight across, the green line a fairly smooth diagonal.
One possible problem could be my DMA settings. When I check my IDE controller settings, they are all DMA except for device 0 on the secondary IDE channel, which is set at PIO.
But I have no idea what device 0 on the secondary IDE channel is! How do I determine which devices are on which channels?? My IDE devices are my CD reader (internal), the Plextor (external), one internal IDE hard drive, and one external IDE hard drive. But I don't which is device 0 or device 1 on either the primary or secondary IDE channels (I am NOT a technical person, to say the least).
If I change device 0 on the secondary IDE channel to DMA, and it turns out it's not the correct device, will it screw up anything or will I just be able to change it back to PIO? I have no idea if the hard drives need to be PIO or DMA.
I would appreciate any suggestions. My next step, if I can't solve this problem, will be to buy a new DVD burner, but I'd like to rule out other possible causes first. I really don't think it could be media, since I have tried so many different types.
TIA,
Mallomar
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