Ativa 18x dvd writer is real slow and tried everything to speed it up!!

[rotwiler]

Hi, a little history first.. I have been into dvd burners and cd burners since the start, always have done my own installs and build my own computers. My setup is a Asus motherboard(2006 model, can't remember the #, I'm at work), 1 GB memory, 800GB hd space, 3800+ athlon 64 etc.. I have a slave drive cd/dvd player(lite-on) and had a Lite-On dvd/cd burner. In the past few weeks the burner was giving errors mainly on dvd-r's and from past situtations it has been the burner wearing out and I use a burner alot, so was time to get a new one(It was about a year and half old. So, I seen a new Ativa LH-A181H 18x, lightscribe dvd burner which is a rebadged LITEON 18A1H drive. For $39 I decided to get it. I took out my old drive, changed the jumper to master like the one I took out and plugged it in. windows found the drive and all seemed good. Then I used nero to check out the drive info and all it said was ATAPI DVD RAM A181H, doesn't show manufacturer info serial # etc, not even which region it is in, Then I burned a cd-r(52X) and took about 7 minutes which seemed slow, then I tried a DVD-R, it showed it was starting in Alcohol 120% at 18x, but never passed the 2x mark and took well over 1/2 hour. My last dvd burner which was a little slower only took about 6 minutes. So I checked my Aspi and said it was corrupt, but had to have been even with the old drive, so that shouldn't be the main issue and nero said the nero aspi layer was fine. Then I checked to make sure it was in DMA, it was in PIO mode, so I changed the box to DMA when available, restarted the computer and still said it was in PIO mode, so I did it again and removed the drive from the system and restarted the computer again. Still is in PIO mode. For some reason now the drive will not go into DMA mode and when I am burning a DVD the computer goes really slow and mouse moves funny like all the system resources are being used up which it never did before. Also, when burning with nero and alcohol both show strange remarks when letting me know whats going on in the burn process and show around 4 minutes to complete burn, but when it gets to 0, it is only about 15% complete. Also the messages are odd like unknown process starting etc.. All my burns with this drive have worked fine, just super slow. I know for sure it is a Lite-on drive since the box had a shipping label and even said manufacturer lite-on, but I can't use any lite-on updates for the drive since they changed a few numbers around and the updates don't see the drive. BTW, my dvd/cd drive which is not the burner is in DMA mode 2. Any help would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post, wanted to cover everything..I even tried a system restore with no luck.

[jman98]

Here are some directions I wrote myself so I'd have notes on how I used RegEdit to change the timeout value for a slave CD/DVD writer that kept resetting itself to PIO mode. This worked. None of the other suggestions I found worked for me. Note that this requires you to edit the Windows Registry. Do NOT attempt this if you have never done this before. The potential for mistakes is enormous if you are not experienced with this kind of work. This method does work, if you know what you are doing. Note that this problem usually happens to slave devices. If I understand correctly, your device is a master. In which case, you will need to find the Primary IDE Channel and NOT the Secondary IDE Channel as in my example. If you read this and do not understand very well exactly what you have to do or consider yourself to not be experienced in this kind of thing, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS!

Here are the instructions:
Slave devices under XP may reset to PIO mode instead of being in DMA mode. This is due to a default slave or master device timing variable being set too low. To fix, start regedt32 and go to:

My Computer -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Class -> 4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 -> 0005

(NOTE: this value will almost certainly be different on each PC, so you will have to check each possible setting 0003, etc. until you find the one that says says under DriverDesc the IDE channel you want - here it says "Secondary IDE Channel" which is what we want for a slave device on the secondary channel.)

Then modify UserSlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed REG_DWORD to have value

0xffffffff (4294967295).
You should reboot at this point. This resets the timeout to the highest value possible, which will let you change the mode of the IDE channel under Device Manager from PIO to DMA. You probably should reboot again after changing to DMA mode.

[rotwiler]

Today I removed the Ativa 18x and put back in my old Lite On 16x burner and showed as a dma 4, so I am thinking the drive is bad, so may just take it back and get a branded model. I am thinking one of the prongs on the plug may be bad... can't really think of what other thing could cause it. Nero wouldn't even recognize smart burn etc... could be a firmware issue from the manufacturer too...who knows

[smitbret]

One last thing you may want to do is go into the control panel and uninstall the IDE Channel that the device is attached to. Reboot, let Windows reinstall the device and see if that doesn't fix the problem. 90% of the time it will.
-Brett

[rotwiler]

I tired that several times... Finally went back to Office Depot and took it back. Bought a Memorex(rebadged Lite-On) and now works perfect again. Must have been a defective drive.. Guy working there said they have had many come back, something about compatability issues since it is a unknown brand and he said even the Ativa products made by Belking for them have large amounts returned due to issues.

[garyh]

Ativa 18x DVD Writer With Litescribe Technology.
I have had serious Lightscribe issues with this drive
it seems that Ativa is made by Lite-On, but lite-on does not
support the firmware. Tried All manufacturors host system
software including Lightscribe.com. None seems to work. I just
gave up on its Lightscribe function and started to use it just to burn
disks. Burning disks has a lot of issues as well from PIO Mode only to
incomplete burns. I will not buy another Ativa Product again. So I am
now using a HP DVDRW with Lightscribe. Works Perfect and 18Min Scribes.

[budz]

Ativa 18x DVD Writer With Litescribe Technology.
I have had serious Lightscribe issues with this drive
it seems that Ativa is made by Lite-On, but lite-on does not
support the firmware. Tried All manufacturors host system
software including Lightscribe.com. None seems to work. I just
gave up on its Lightscribe function and started to use it just to burn
disks. Burning disks has a lot of issues as well from PIO Mode only to
incomplete burns. I will not buy another Ativa Product again. So I am
now using a HP DVDRW with Lightscribe. Works Perfect and 18Min Scribes.

are you sure your HP lightscribe drive isn't a rebadged LITEON?