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Certain ISO images won't burn - need help please!
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white61
Newbie
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5. December 2005 @ 15:33 |
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I've got 3 ISO images on my hard drive that just won't burn, each get to less than 50% progress before my writer just stops and gives up (im running a laptop with plenty of memory, and an external HP DVD writer)..... i've tried using the latest version of Nero AND DVD Decrypter to burn, reduced the burn speed, tried different media (sony & verbatim dvd-r), nothing seems to work. I've successfully burned 3 other images that work fine on my PS2 so its nothing that im doing wrong in general, but is there something specific that I need to be doing?? The games are Need for Speed Most Wanted (Black Edition), Chronicles of Narnia, and Resident Evil 4.
Im a newbie to this so any guidance would be useful - i've scoured the forums with no luck.....i've also read about patching and rebuilding but i'm not sure if they would be relevant where the thing just won't burn, they seem to be more relevant for boot problems....if it is just a rebuild, or deleting dummy files that's needed, i've got all the relevant utilities that I need & have the link on how to do it, I just didn't want to waste my time doing it if it wouldn't make any difference to how the thing burns. Any ideas?? Thanks...
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Senior Member
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6. December 2005 @ 02:06 |
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It sounds to me as if you have a buffer underrun or something. Were you trying to use the computer for something else as well as burning a disc at the time?
When burning, remember to turn off all the non-essential programs, virus scanner and the internet(disable internet before shutting the virus scan down).. and don't use it for anything except burning.
Use good 8x media and burn at 4x with DVD Decrypter or Nero image burning program.
Also, I'm not sure but think that resident evil 4 needs to have some work done to it before burning.. and maybe NFS MW(black ed) too.... so mioght be worth using the search to find out what needs to be done first before trying to burn again. I know you don't think that's the problem, and I don't either...i'm just saying that it's not worth trying to burn a game that needs a rebuild or whatever, cos you'll end up with a coaster anyway if you don't rebuild etc.
so, try what I told you and if you have any probs get back to me and I'll try and help... don't forget to explain exactly what you did though as it'll help determine what the problem is the more info I have.. good luck
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white61
Newbie
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6. December 2005 @ 02:49 |
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OK thanks, at first I thought it may be having other programs running, the only other thing running was a Kodak update manager but I closed that and the same problem occurred.
The only other points to note are
A)My fan seems to be running constantly whilst burning, not sure if this would make any difference?!?
B)One thing I do get occasionally, whilst running a couple of programs at once (not related directly to burning), is a 'virtual memory too low' message - it's never happened whilst burning but could this be having some sort of affect on things?
Strange that it has worked for some images though, the ones that have burned successfully seem to be under 2gb. Would a defrag help? Its the only thing i've not tried. And (this may be a thick question but like I said im a newbie) is there any way of getting the writer to burn at less than 4x?? With Nero and DVD Decrypter I can only burn the image at 4x or 8x. It's not a media issue as i've been using Sony, Phillips and Verbatim 8x DVD-R. Burning DVD's etc. works fine it just seems to be these particular games that are the problem. Really appreciate the advice you've given but if the above sheds any more light on proceedings I would be grateful of any further feedback. Thanks a lot.
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Senior Member
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6. December 2005 @ 03:01 |
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if you're getting a "virtual memory too low" on the pc and the games that burned successfuly were smaller ones (2gb and under) then I'd defenetly suspect some kind of buffer underrun. Try increasing your cache file (aka virtual memory). I forget how it's done in winxp (and I'm not on a winxp machine right now) but for win2k do the following:
1)right click on my computer
2)click on properties
3)click on advanced tab
4)click on performance options
5)click on the "change" button under virtual memory
6)increase the initial size and maximum size(don't make them too big) and click on set.
You can try to see if the same procedure applies to winxp but I remember winxp was a bit different then win2k when it comes to changing the wirtual memory. Also, rebuilding is only needed for some games when you're using swap magic so, if you use a mod then rebuilding should not be necessary.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 6. December 2005 @ 03:01
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Senior Member
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6. December 2005 @ 03:12 |
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How much ram have you got in your laptop? if under 512mb I would recommend upping the pagefile (virtual memory) for definite.
What OS are you running? if winXP then it should already be NTFS format on your hard drive and won't be a problem. If not NTFS then you'd need to choose the mds file with DVD Decrypter in iso write mode to write games over 2Gb, which you say are the ones you are having trouble with. Basically with DVD Decrypter if you have a FAT32 format hard drive, then decrypter will spilt a file over 2gb's into 2 archive files.. it then knows how to put these back together to form the one iso file by using the mds file as a cue file...
But as I said in my previous post, I think some of these games you're trying to burn need rebuilding or something first... can't tell you exactly as I don't have them yet.. but use the search function and type in the name of the game you want to research and hopefully someone will have figured it out.
try some of these things and then get back to me and let me know how you got on.. i'll try to help if I can
good luck
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white61
Newbie
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6. December 2005 @ 03:15 |
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Sounds good, will give it a go later. I never actually got the virtual memory message whilst burning but it does crop up from time to time whilst running several programs at once, which makes me think that the laptop struggles when it gets busy, and maybe the memory cant cope with burning bigger files?? The ISO images under 2gb have all burned first time with absolutely no problems. Also when the writer stops burning part way through, I dont get an error message, the counter on Nero/DVD Decrypter carries on but the progress bar stops. I am using swap magic so a rebuild will be required where necessary. Thanks for the advice will increase the cache file first and see where we go from there...keep you posted.
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Senior Member
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6. December 2005 @ 03:21 |
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To change pagefile in winxp:-
go to control panel
system icon
advanced tab
performance <settings> button
advanced tab
virtual memory <change> button
list of hard drives and settings for each one... select harddrive and then there are radio buttons which say custom size, system mangaged or no paging file I think.
I normally use custom size and set it to about 1000mb min.
Then click the <set> button... at some point you may be prompted to restart your system.. do this and the settings should be ok.
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pimpinIT
Member
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6. December 2005 @ 03:28 |
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You may also want to check and see what mode your burner is running in. When i first started burning games i had an issue because my burner was actually in PIO mode as opposed to Ultra DMA(Direct Memory Access) Also make sure the burners firmware is up to date.
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Senior Member
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6. December 2005 @ 03:32 |
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I don't think he needs to do that pimpin as it's an external burner so will be running through usb2 or whatever.. i could be wrong though. might be right about firmware though, not sure how you would go about that with external burner though.
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white61
Newbie
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6. December 2005 @ 03:35 |
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Great advice sure I will crack it....won't be until later tonight though. Paddymail, i'm running XP and i'm sure the ram is over 512mb (not at home at the moment so I cant say 100%)
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pimpinIT
Member
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6. December 2005 @ 03:35 |
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You may also want to check and see what mode your burner is running in. When i first started burning games i had an issue because my burner was actually in PIO mode as opposed to Ultra DMA(Direct Memory Access) Also make sure the burners firmware is up to date.
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Senior Member
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6. December 2005 @ 04:04 |
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I don't think PIO would cause affects like that. I also had an issue with PIO, I couldn't burn anything faster than 2X even if I put max or 4X on the burning app it'd do 2X when I changed it to udma it fixed the problem but, this was with internal burner and not external which most likely is usb connection and I don't know if those use pio/udma.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 6. December 2005 @ 04:05
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white61
Newbie
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6. December 2005 @ 11:16 |
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I've followed the following process and still no luck:-
1. Defragmented the HD
2. Increased the pagefile to 1000mb
3. Installed Alcohol 120% (thought it may be useful to use a diffrent program to burn and this seems to be popular).
4. Closed all other programs, virus scanners, inernet, peerguardian - everything except the burning program
5. Burnt at 4x on Sony 8x dvd-r
Again trying to burn an ISO approx. 2.8gb in size, failed at under 20% (I tried both Alcohol 120% and DVD Decrypter). It's doubtful that it's a hardware issue as I've written countless CD's and several PS2 backups of 2gb and under without a single hitch. The machine just stops writing part way through without an error message.
To recap:-
My laptop is a Packard Bell with a 30gb HD (approx 10gb free)
Processor is a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon with 224MB of RAM
OS is winxp (NTFS format)
DVD Writer is an external HP Lightscribe via USB
Ive got Nero, DVD Decrypter and Alcohol 120% as burning utilities
Im using good quality media (8x dvd-r) and burning at 4x
Ive increased the pagefile to 1000mb and cleaned the HD up
My machine is totally clean of viruses & all programs are shut down whilst burning
Im going to smash my machine to bits before long, if anyone can shed ANY light on why the writer is just stopping on files over 2gb it would be a HUGE help.....
Thanks!!
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Senior Member
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6. December 2005 @ 12:33 |
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Are these iso's ones that you downloaded or from original discs?
It could be a corrupted file maybe? this is a puzzler for sure.
will think more on it and get back to you
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white61
Newbie
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6. December 2005 @ 13:22 |
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2 x ISO's created using the original disc and 1 x downloaded. They vary in size from 2.8gb to 4.25gb, I honestly cant see what i'm doing wrong. I've a feeling it's the laptop rather than any software or programs as i've done a few that have worked and all other factors such as the programs im using, media, burn speed etc. seem ok. The writer doesn't seem to have anything wrong with it either. As I mentioned before the fan runs constantly whilst burning so the machine is obviously working overtime, not sure if that has any affect on things. They never seem to fail at the same point either (it can vary from 2% up to about 50%) so I don't personally think it's the files that are corrupt.
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kafiend
Junior Member
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6. December 2005 @ 17:16 |
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You tried mounting the images in a virtual drive to see if they are ok?
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Senior Member
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7. December 2005 @ 04:02 |
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I think it's definitely a buffer problem... but can't figure out why it worked ok for your other backups. It's very hard to figure out what's up with someone's comp etc when all you have to go on is the info they give you, LOL... not having a go at you, you've given loads of info... i'm just saying that if I had it in front of me I might be able to figure out the problem in like 5 mins.
Things you could try:- (if you don't mind maybe making a few more coasters)
1) Redo one of the backups that previously worked for you.. see if it still works (this should rule out a hardware/software change that is effecting all backups)
2) search for a firmware update for your burner.
good luck and let us know how you get on with it
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white61
Newbie
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7. December 2005 @ 04:32 |
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Thanks will give it a go & keep you posted!! Appreciate the advice
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Senior Member
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7. December 2005 @ 05:15 |
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I thought increasing the pagefile size would surely fix this.... Just to be sure you changed the initial size to 1000mb right? (by doing this you might also need to change the maximum size to make sure it's over 1000mb if it's not already) Perhaps you need to make it larger than 1000mb (since you have a small amount of ram)? only other things I could suggest is, try getting more ram (if you can get one just to test with). I'm wondering if the low speed of the cpu on your lappy is somehow affecting this since they are larger files (although this shouldn't be the case since I used to burn 4gb dvdr files at 1X on my p3 600 desktop but, my desktop had 1 or 2gb of ram) The other thing I can say is to go with pimpinit's suggestion of checking for PIO or UDMA (although I don't think this'll apply since it's a USB drive) doesn't hurt to check.
edit:
found something that might help you (although you have tried different burning apps)
for the what's new from 3.5.3.0- 3.5.4.0 for dvd decrypter they have this as one of the things they fixed.
Fixed: Hang on some usb/firewire drives (enclosures).
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. December 2005 @ 05:45
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white61
Newbie
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7. December 2005 @ 06:53 |
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Will check the firmware is up to date (although the burner is brand new so it should be ok) and get the pagefile up to 1.5gb min, 2gb max to see if that helps. Other than that I will take the machine into the garden and apply force to it by means of a large rock. Cheers again will keep you posted!
Forgot to mention, yes I did get the pagefile up to 1000mb but the burn failed again in the usual manner. As per above will do 1500 min, 2000 max this time & see where we go from there.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. December 2005 @ 06:55
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