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Slimtype DVDRW SOSW-833S Media Problems
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biojam
Newbie
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3. February 2006 @ 08:43 |
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Hi everybody.
So. After a very fast and funny talk with the technician on the acer-hotline a guy came to pick it up. the technician was pretty unsure about what he is saying. Obviously i know more about comps than he does. Well....
Now I am waiting for the statement. I will update you on the latest info ASAP. Wish you luck guys.
btw. my burner was a philips...
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nofuze
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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3. February 2006 @ 16:28 |
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Hey guys...Acer is really p*ssing me off!!
I likewise have an Acer 3613wlmi with a Philips sdvd8441 burner. My burns take in the neighbourhood of 2-3 hours for either iso or VOB files. I initially called Acer Support who sent me to the nearest service depot and swapped out a new replacement drive. Same problem.
Called Acer Support again, got a female who insisted that she has a dvd burner on her home computer and 2 hours is NORMAL...WHAT? I told her she was basically insane with which she changed her tactic and said she has never encountered this problem in the 4 MONTHS she's been working there...SHEESH!!! I realized I was wasting my breath and decided to do a fresh reinstall of the system ...same problem. I even tried another version of Windows, but Windows 2K Pro is not compatible with this notebook....GAWWWD! Called Acer (lack of)Support once again, they want to swap out the drive AGAIN with the same model and refused my request for a different model of drive saying that they can only install the original part number (talk about Anal). In my research I have found that Windows XP SP2 has caused all sorts of problems around the buffer file management, which in turn causes significant slowdowns in performance. However there is no way to rollback to SP1. I use a USB external LG 16x burner and it writes flawlessly at all speeds every time. So it appears to be an IDE bus/dvd drive/buffer underrun problem which does not affect the USB port. Nero's drive check shows a "million" sync errors which definitely causes bad burns. So what.s the bottom line here??? I HAVE NO F***ING IDEA!!!!!
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nofuze
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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4. February 2006 @ 13:56 |
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Hey...I think I finally figured it out. After going to my local electronics superstore and checking out various brands of laptops (ie. HP,Toshiba,Gateway and a few others) I found that all of them, with the exception of Acer has two IDE buses, a primary AND secondary channel. Acer in their infinite wisdom and poor design engineering decided to institute a single IDE primary channel and put the hard disk drive (HDD) as the master and the dvd writer as the slave. Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that you can't have massive high speed data read and write transfer going on using the same channel without perfomance degradation and buffer issues. That is why it is paramount that the HDD be a master on the primary bus and the dvd writer be the master on the secondary bus. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a workaround for thisproblem...no media change, no dvd drive change, no amount of HDD defragging or software reinstallation. That is why also the USB burner works flawlessly...because it is not on the same bus as the HDD. I will be talking to the geniuses at ACER once again to see how they BS their way out of this one!!!
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paulrod
Newbie
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5. February 2006 @ 02:38 |
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Hi guys, as I said in my first post i would get back to you with my findings regarding burn success with my Acer AS1654WLMi and the DVDRW SOSW-833S. As some of you have said in this thread, you are having unsuccessful burns with DVD R(+-), it's strange, i am getting 100% perfect burns on DVD+RW discs at 4x taking around 11 mins to backup a DVD, but although it burns my DVD+R at 4x and takes the same time around 11 mins, the DVD goes blocky on my stand alone DVD Player and on the notebook. I have plenty DVD+RW discs, and think it may be brand compatability issues here, well in my case anyway.
Will keep trying other brands and report back soon.
Thanks guys, good luck.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. February 2006 @ 02:40
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OMGfusion
Newbie
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11. February 2006 @ 13:18 |
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Hi people!
I've been having the same damd problem with my SOSW-833s drive. I realy hope someone figures out what the hell is going on. I've searched the whole net and haven't found any help.
I have made a small list of media that have worked and posted them here
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia.php?dvdmediasearch=&dvdmediadvd...
i hope it helps.
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terryhart
Newbie
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12. February 2006 @ 03:07 |
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Hi all.
I reported a problem with the Acer Travelmate Laptop Slimtype SOSW-833S VRS3 optical drive a few weeks ago. It was burning okay all media except CD-RW using NTI FileCD trying to format to UDF or ISO 9660, NTI DataCD or WinXP software. This fault was probably from new on a 6 month old laptop, but not detected by me until now.
I reloaded the default recovery a few times, checked LiteOn web site to download their Media compatible list. What I did notice on the log file of a failed write (but ghost written CD-RW), was that it identified the CD-RW media as a DVD ROM type, all other types of media were identified correctly and writing was successful to them. So it would be worth checking the log file to see if you have any discrepancies.
I have returned the laptop to Acer Service Repair (Plymouth UK), and they report a bad optical drive which has been replaced. I have yet to receive the laptop back to test the new drive, but will certainly post here when I have received and tested it.
Someone had a broblem with blocking when playing back a DVD or CD on the DVD player, I have found this problem also with some media, to get over it I recorded at the slowest speed possible, it may be to do with the quality of the media or laser going soft.
Good Luck you guys, I know how frustrating it is when these things don't work as they should do.
Regards Terry
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biojam
Newbie
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12. February 2006 @ 23:59 |
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Hi Guys!
My burner is finally working. I´ve sent the Notebook back to acer service center. They returned it within 4 days. The official statement says that there was a physical problem with the the old burner. so they exchanged it for a new one (same type) and now everything works.
so, wish you luck.
bye
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terryhart
Newbie
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16. February 2006 @ 02:56 |
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Hi all.
I reported a problem with the Acer Travelmate Laptop Slimtype SOSW-833S VRS3 optical drive a few weeks ago. It was burning okay all media except CD-RW using NTI FileCD trying to format to UDF or ISO 9660, NTI DataCD or WinXP software. This fault was probably from new on a 6 month old laptop, but not detected by me until now.
Have now received the laptop from Acer repair services, they fitted a replacement optical drive, SOSW-833S but now VRS2 instead of VRS3.
Have tested all media types and appears to be working okay.
Reading the problems you other guys have, trying all the different types of media and particular the risky downloads of firmware i.e. VRS1, VRS2, VRS3 and VRS4, the only solution appears to be replace the drive.
I would advise returning the PC to factory defaults OS and bundled software, if that doesn't fix the drive, then replace the drive.
If this happens to the laptop again out of warranty, I will go the external drive route. - Regards Terry
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rmorones
Newbie
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18. February 2006 @ 06:26 |
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Hey everyone. I recently purchased the ACER TM4060 with the sosw-833s drive. I have also had no luck. In speakikng with tech support they asked that I uninstall the NTI software as it is not compatible withother burning software such as Nero. Most of you talk about the firmware. Can you gude me as to where I can find that? Thanks for all the information.
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terryhart
Newbie
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18. February 2006 @ 10:20 |
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Hi,
You will find the Firmware version at, Control panel,System, Hardware, Device Manager, Highlight DVD/CD Drives, click Slimtype,select Details, Highlight Slimtype, you should see the Firmware Version at the end of the drive description. Regards Terry
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rmorones
Newbie
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18. February 2006 @ 15:20 |
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Thanks Terry. Can youtell me where I can find the newest version available for download? Thanks again.
Roger
By the way, I tried to backup a recent movie and it seemed that all worked fine other than the fact that my regular dvd player will not play the movie but my computer does. I am still looking for a solution. Media used was maxell DVD-R.
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bobnett
Newbie
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19. February 2006 @ 09:58 |
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Just returned my Acer Aspire 1642 laptop to Comet after calling Acer support. Acer explained to me that this is an old model with an old dvd writer, also told Acer of a boot up problem with my laptop (taking around 10 to 15 minutes to boot up....Norton antivirus removed). Acer advised me to return my laptop to comet has it was just 28 days since purchase they would give me a full refund or choose another laptop.
I chose another laptop after checking various ones to make sure it had 2 ide channels instead of Acer one channel set up. Also looked for a decent dvd writer...Pioneer etc. Finally chose a Toshiba Satellite M70 with 2 ide channels and a Pioneer dvd drive.
Put my new Toshiba to the test and backed up a few dvd movies using Datawrite 8x DVD-R, philips 8x DVD+R, datasafe 8x DVD-R and some other dvdrw and all work fine taking around 20 minutes with the 8x media, the drive in the Toshiba also writes dvd ram.
I don't know what the problem with the Acer laptops is, maybe it is the single ide channel problem or firmware but I can really tell the difference with the Toshiba....MUCH BETTER.
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nofuze
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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23. February 2006 @ 10:35 |
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As I stated earlier, I had my DVD drive replaced and still experienced the same problem with lengthly burns. A buddy of mine has an HP notebook computer with 2 IDE channels and he can't get his burner to work above 2.4X either (His burner is on 2nd master) so there goes that theory. I have given up hoping that ACER will solve the problem. I am also P.O'd that ACER formatted the HDD in FAT32 rather than NTFS 'cause now I can't work with video files greater than 4 gigs (about 1 hour.) So much for transferring my home VHS tapes to DVD. I would have to purchase a copy of Windows XP to reformat the drive and download all of the drivers separately as the bundled software that came with the laptop allows you no latitude of installation/configuration.
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jonbest
Junior Member
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23. February 2006 @ 12:34 |
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I was also infuriated bt the Fat32 issue. Luckily however I had a copy of windows and reformatted to ntfs.
When you loaded up the laptop for the first time did it offer you the chance to backup your drivers on 4 cds? I did that on mine and was able to use the disks to install all of the drivers onto the newly formatted hard disk. That could be an option for you.
If all else fails there are programs that will convert your hard drive to ntfs without the need to format. A quick search on the internet and you should find some.
Here is a link that could help. Although I have not tried this myself so it is at your own risk.
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php
:)
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rmorones
Newbie
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23. February 2006 @ 13:39 |
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If you do not have the windows cd you can convert to NTFS by using the convert.exe method. Here are the instructions taken directly from Microsoft support. You can get more information about converting on the support website of microsft.com. The article number is 214579:
I have not tried burning any dvd's since converting.
To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.
1. Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt. (start, run, cmd)
2. At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS.
3. Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.
By the way, you CAN convert without reformatting the hard drive.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 23. February 2006 @ 13:43
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nofuze
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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23. February 2006 @ 16:32 |
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No..unfortunately, when I first started up the notebook, everything auto-installed with no options as to formatting etc. I was stuck with FAT32. Also I tried using convert.exe but an error came up saying the drive could not be converted to NTFS. I forget the exact script but I seem to remember that it was do to the installation/software configuration (?) Anyway this has been most frustrating.
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nofuze
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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23. February 2006 @ 16:49 |
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Hi, guys.
My mistake. I tried running convert.exe again and it said that the drive needed to be unmounted before conversion. By restarting Windows, the c: drive converted to NTFS. Thanx gentlemen for your assistance at least that's one less pain in the *ss...now if I can figure out this dvd drive issue!
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rmorones
Newbie
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24. February 2006 @ 05:24 |
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After converting yesterday to NTFS I backed up two movies last night. One older and one newer. I also used +r and -r dvd's. I had no trouble what so ever. The dvd's played on both the laptop and my normal dvd player. I will post if I encounter any problems.
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jonbest
Junior Member
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24. February 2006 @ 07:03 |
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Interesting. I converted to NTFS and I can burn DVD+R disks fine but not the dvd-r's. Still thats better than most on this forum.
Can the users who have very slow speeds confirm if there hard disks are in fat32 or ntfs?
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nofuze
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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24. February 2006 @ 12:25 |
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My extreme slow speeds were on my acer aspire notebook formatted to FAT32. A 3 gig file took in excess of 2 1/2 hours. As mentioned above I just converted to NTFS late last night and I will attempt another burn tonight after work. Let you know if there is any improvement. Here's hoping!
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nofuze
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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24. February 2006 @ 16:43 |
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Well, I tried a burn at 8x,4x and 2.4x with the same result, it would start the burn perfectly, then at exactly 12% (at all speeds) the buffer level would start fluctuating between 20 and 80%. The speed would drop off drastically even though Nero continued counting down the remaing time as if it were running at "normal" speed. This fluctuating buffer level for the burner is indicative of a data stream interruption causing a buffer underrun situation. The HDD was converted from fat32 to ntfs, all extraneous processes have been turned off and still it refuses to burn at a constant speed. I then hooked up my trusty external USB LG super multi-drive and the disk burned lightning speed with 100% buffers. Therefore I contend that the problem remains an internal IDE bus, data tunneling problem.
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urgat
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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26. February 2006 @ 10:10 |
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hi I have been also experiencing problems with some media type - usually of the low quality or unknown manufacturers. But editing the firmware and then flashing it IS REALLY the solution !!! i tried PLASMON 1A disc and on VRS03 it didnt work at all showing max speed of x1 but not working at all .... at VS 04 it allowed x2 , then I edited the firmware with OMNIPATCHER and created entry with the name of PLASMON1A and speed of x8. After flashing the new bios - everything worked fine even without reboot :) - i was quite desperate i just bought 100 plasmon DVD-R didnt really want to throw them away :)))
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bbrain
Newbie
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5. March 2006 @ 06:39 |
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Quote:
Can the users who have very slow speeds confirm if there hard disks are in fat32 or ntfs?
Hey jonbest,
My 60GB drive in my Acer Aspire 3613WLMi is partioned in two and both partitions are NTFS.
I'm currently burning at 2x only cuz anything speed above just slows down wayyyyy to much. I haven't been able to find anything out lately as I've been busy as hell and was hoping that someone somewhere found a solution and posted here.
Anyway, I plan on calling those oh so unqualified tech support peeps at Acer again next week to see what they can do for me. As usual if I have any info I'll be sure to post it.
Cheers!
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sahmraw
Newbie
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15. March 2006 @ 03:53 |
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I got a aspire 1642 yesterday as an insurance replacement. i am really annoyed that I am having problems with it already. I uninstalled NTI as it locked up the machine and installed Nero 7. In the end I dragged the ts file to desktop and burned back with Imgtool Burn and the 16 spd burned at 1x, the 8 spd burned at 2x and I got some cheap 4 spd from SVP which did burn at about 3-4 spd. I am annoyed that the hard drives are in fat 32 and what is with the 2 partitions anyway? For £700 this is a piece of C..p! My f/ware version is 02. I am worried about flashing in case they say it invalidates my warranty. I will be keeping an eye on this forum. I don't even know if I can send it back as it was form the insurance. O ne of my keyboard keys started to fall off within 4 hours of use! This is just a plastic piece of rubbish and not worth what they say it is worth.
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bobnett
Newbie
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15. March 2006 @ 08:29 |
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Hello Sam, yes you should be able to return your Acer under warranty even if you upgrade your firmware. I did have an Acer Aspire 1642 with exactly the same problems (I posted earlier in the forum) and took it back to comet on the 28th day, I replaced it with a Toshiba Satelite M70-267 a laptop with 2 ide channels and a decent dvd cd writer combo. I tried flashing my firmware to both version 3 and 4 but could never get it to work properly. Acer told me it was a discontinued laptop with and old dvd drive fitted so I complained and told Acer I wasn't happy and because I only had the laptop 28 days I wanted a full refund, they told me to return it to Comet (where i bought it from) for either a full refund or a replacement. I took the replacement and my Toshiba has been fine, 2 ide channels a Pioneer dvd drive that writes dvd's at 8x fine, also writes dvd rams too which is a bonus. All in all a much better Laptop. Return your Acer my friend.
Bob
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