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  1. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Hi all,

    I bought a new HDD for my system and did a fresh install of WinXP SP2, but now the XP doesn't recognize DVDRW discs on my Optiarc (Sony-NEC) AD-7170A DVD/CD burner... It reads pressed and burned CDs and DVDs with no problem, but can't read any DVDRWs.

    I've scoured through the net for workarounds and patches, but none of 'em have worked.

    I'm more than sure it has something to do with WinXP, but I can't figure it out: when I connect my old HDD back, everything works fine and I can read any type of disc (CD/CDR/CDRW/DVD/DVDR/DVDRW), so it's not a hardware issue.

    I've visually compared the drivers in the old HDD and the new HDD and they're the same generic versions that come with WinXP... I've also compared registry entries for the burner and they're the same as well.

    I'm out of ideas... Anyone care to chime in?

    Thanks in advance.
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  2. you need to install whatever software you used before to write the rw's. they sound like packet written(drag & drop) dvds. usually some form of roxio, or nero package installs it.
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  3. You must have SP1 on your older setup. That may be the key to work with your burner.

    Try a XP with SP1, then a SP2 upgrade.
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  4. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by minidv2dvd
    you need to install whatever software you used before to write the rw's. they sound like packet written(drag & drop) dvds. usually some form of roxio, or nero package installs it.
    I have Nero7 installed... Didn't make a difference.
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  5. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by SingSing
    You must have SP1 on your older setup. That may be the key to work with your burner.

    Try a XP with SP1, then a SP2 upgrade.
    Nope, I'm running SP2 on the old HDD...

    And fighting the urge to upgrade to SP3: leave well enough alone.
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  6. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Oh, one other observation: if I connect a read-only DVD-ROM drive (an old BTC drive) in place of the Optiarc, I can read all media, even the DVDRW that the Optiarc cannot read with the new HDD WinXP install.

    The conclusion would be that the new HDD XP install doesn't recognize the Optiarc burner as such and thus cannot read DVDRWs.... But why?
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  7. But why? because Vista is on sale and you haven't bought it yet..
    Delete the Burner and let winz re-install it..
    Nero infotool will tell you loads about your drive
    DVDinfopro will tell you even more

    Not region coding rearing its ugly head, possibly??

    or the aspi layer.. try imgburn ..DVDDEcrypter to burn as well
    Corned beef is now made to a higher standard than at any time in history.
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  8. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by RabidDog
    But why? because Vista is on sale and you haven't bought it yet..
    Vista???

    No thanks.

    Delete the Burner and let winz re-install it..
    Tried that... No dice.

    Nero infotool will tell you loads about your drive
    DVDinfopro will tell you even more
    DVD Info Pro recognizes the drive and the DVDRW disc... But thinks the disc is blank.

    Not region coding rearing its ugly head, possibly??
    Nope.

    Region coding has nothing to do with it: I'm just trying to read data from a DVDRW disc.

    or the aspi layer.. try imgburn ..DVDDEcrypter to burn as well
    Hmm.

    There's a possibility.
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  9. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    Are you using a 80 wire ide cable? If not try one and if you are buy a new one. 80 wire ide cables can fail. Most of newer ide dvd burners require using a 80 wire ide cable or the drives will not work correctly. What brand is that DVDRW disc that you're using? Some dvd burners are not capable of reading certain DVDRW media.

    Have you checked for a firmware upgrade for your drive? SONY no longer makes their own dvd burners, they have a collaboration with NEC to manufacture the drives for them. Check out the SONY or NEC forums at CdFreaks.com and do some research or join and post your question there. SONY & NEC are notorious for not providing firmware upgrades for their drives.
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  10. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by budz
    Are you using a 80 wire ide cable? If not try one and if you are buy a new one. 80 wire ide cables can fail. Most of newer ide dvd burners require using a 80 wire ide cable or the drives will not work correctly. What brand is that DVDRW disc that you're using? Some dvd burners are not capable of reading certain DVDRW media.

    Have you checked for a firmware upgrade for your drive? SONY no longer makes their own dvd burners, they have a collaboration with NEC to manufacture the drives for them. Check out the SONY or NEC forums at CdFreaks.com and do some research or join and post your question there. SONY & NEC are notorious for not providing firmware upgrades for their drives.
    Yeah, I'm using a 80-conductor IDE cable.

    ALL the hardware and cables are the same, just a different HDD, and XP has a problem with the Optiarc drive... When I reconnect the original HDD, everything works just fine, no issues with the Optiarc whatsoever.

    There's gotta be something missing or wrong with the new XP install, but I have no idea what it is.
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  11. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by RabidDog
    or the aspi layer..
    Downloaded and installed the Adaptec ASPI drivers... Didn't make a difference unfortunately.

    The next step is to attach my older Pioneer DVD burner to the new XP install and see if there's a difference. *fingers crossed*
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  12. imgburn will tell you what your drive is specs are. imgburn/tools/drive/capabilities.

    any chance the drive and the hdd are on the same ide cable?
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  13. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by minidv2dvd
    imgburn will tell you what your drive is specs are. imgburn/tools/drive/capabilities.
    I'll try it out, but I'm not too optimistic at the moment.

    any chance the drive and the hdd are on the same ide cable?
    Nope. The Optiarc is all alone on the secondary IDE cable.


    The other thing that kills me is how did I get the existing (old HDD) XP setup to work? I don't recall having all these issues with the Optiarc then..... *head scratch*
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  14. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    As I suggested buy a NEW 80 wire ide cable because it would determine where or not the drive is defective. Many have bought new ide dvd burners and have had similar problems as you then they buy a new 80 wire ide cable and the drive works correctly. Just my 2 cents! Two each's own!
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  15. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by budz
    As I suggested buy a NEW 80 wire ide cable because it would determine where or not the drive is defective. Many have bought new ide dvd burners and have had similar problems as you then they buy a new 80 wire ide cable and the drive works correctly. Just my 2 cents! Two each's own!
    Swapped out the 80-conductor cable with a new one... No change.


    Did make this interesting discovery: when I attached my older Pioneer burner, the new XP HDD install had no problems recognizing my DVDRW discs or any other disc for that matter... So that sort of points to some kind of incompatibility with the Optiarc burner and the new XP SP2 install... But what?

    That fact that the Optiarc burner works just fine with the old XP SP2 install says that there's nothing really wrong with the Optiarc burner... Or does it?
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  16. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by bmwracer
    Originally Posted by budz
    As I suggested buy a NEW 80 wire ide cable because it would determine where or not the drive is defective. Many have bought new ide dvd burners and have had similar problems as you then they buy a new 80 wire ide cable and the drive works correctly. Just my 2 cents! Two each's own!
    Swapped out the 80-conductor cable with a new one... No change.


    Did make this interesting discovery: when I attached my older Pioneer burner, the new XP HDD install had no problems recognizing my DVDRW discs or any other disc for that matter... So that sort of points to some kind of incompatibility with the Optiarc burner and the new XP SP2 install... But what?

    That fact that the Optiarc burner works just fine with the old XP SP2 install says that there's nothing really wrong with the Optiarc burner... Or does it?
    IMHO it sounds like the drive is defective that it can't read the DVDRW disc correctly because you said your PIONEER drive had no problems recognizing the DVDRW discs. My suggestion to you is to return the defective drive and buy yourself a PIONEER 115D from the PIONEER website. I read at Cdfreaks.com that PIONEER's website is selling it for $34.99 and shipping is one cent! Or you can buy a PIONEER 116 from Newegg.com. The PIONEER drive is a much better than the SONY/NEC that you have. Remember SONY just slaps it's name on the drive even though it's a collaboration with using the NEC chipset. PIONEER also uses the NEC chipset but it's a better dvd burner!

    http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/BusinessProducts/Blu-rayDisc+DVDWriter...iters/DVR-115D

    As always just my 2 cents!
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  17. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by budz
    Originally Posted by bmwracer
    Originally Posted by budz
    As I suggested buy a NEW 80 wire ide cable because it would determine where or not the drive is defective. Many have bought new ide dvd burners and have had similar problems as you then they buy a new 80 wire ide cable and the drive works correctly. Just my 2 cents! Two each's own!
    Swapped out the 80-conductor cable with a new one... No change.


    Did make this interesting discovery: when I attached my older Pioneer burner, the new XP HDD install had no problems recognizing my DVDRW discs or any other disc for that matter... So that sort of points to some kind of incompatibility with the Optiarc burner and the new XP SP2 install... But what?

    That fact that the Optiarc burner works just fine with the old XP SP2 install says that there's nothing really wrong with the Optiarc burner... Or does it?
    IMHO it sounds like the drive is defective that it can't read the DVDRW disc correctly because you said your PIONEER drive had no problems recognizing the DVDRW discs.
    But it doesn't explain why the Optiarc burner works perfectly fine with my old XP install... That inconsistency has me befuddled.

    My suggestion to you is to return the defective drive and buy yourself a PIONEER 115D from the PIONEER website.
    I've had the Optiarc burner for over two years... Can't return it.
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  18. It sounds like your new XP install does not recognise your drive as a burner. HAve you tried looking at the windows driver versions on both HDD's?
    It could possibly (10% chance) be a power issue.. New drive takes more power therefore leaving Burner marginal, able to read but not write?
    Boot up LIve LINUX CD and check burning ability with that?
    Stick SONY on end of cable, change to CS, or MASTER or SLAVE.
    FAiling all that re-install windows XP, check to see if it works?
    install sp1 ,check to see if it works?
    install sp2 ,check to see if it works??
    install sp3 ,check to see if it works???

    What does DVDinfopro say about your drive?
    IS it perhaps the media? sometimes its best to just throw dodgy media out the door
    NEC are good drives
    Corned beef is now made to a higher standard than at any time in history.
    The electronic components of the power part adopted a lot of Rubycons.
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  19. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by RabidDog
    It sounds like your new XP install does not recognise your drive as a burner. HAve you tried looking at the windows driver versions on both HDD's?
    I did compare driver versions: both are the same for both installs... No surprise, since both installs used the same XP SP2 disc.

    It could possibly (10% chance) be a power issue.. New drive takes more power therefore leaving Burner marginal, able to read but not write?
    Seems remote, but I'll take a look at the power consumption of both drives.

    Boot up LIve LINUX CD and check burning ability with that?
    Stick SONY on end of cable, change to CS, or MASTER or SLAVE.
    Live Linux?

    FAiling all that re-install windows XP, check to see if it works?
    install sp1 ,check to see if it works?
    install sp2 ,check to see if it works??
    install sp3 ,check to see if it works???
    I only have the XP SP2 install disc... And have reinstalled a half dozen times with similar results.

    What does DVDinfopro say about your drive?
    Haven't tried that or Imgburn.

    IS it perhaps the media? sometimes its best to just throw dodgy media out the door
    NEC are good drives
    The TDK DVDRWs read fine with the old XP install, with the old Pioneer burner, and the even older BTC DVD-ROM drive... Hard to point the finger at the media with that evidence.
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  20. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    if you've had that OPTIARC drive for 2 years it's probably just dying. i've had some made in japan maxell DVD-RW discs fail after 2 years because i used them over and over in my pioneeer dvd recorder. try buying some new ones. dvd burners are so cheap these days buy a new one. just my 2 cents!
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  21. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by budz
    if you've had that OPTIARC drive for 2 years it's probably just dying.
    Normally I'd agree, but it doesn't explain why it works perfectly with my old XP SP2 install.

    Not trying to be anal, but this problem is inexplicable.

    dvd burners are so cheap these days buy a new one.
    Yeah, they are cheap, but still, it's a last resort.


    One other thing: I checked with Microsoft's HCL (Hardware Compatibility List) and the Optiarc AD-7170A is on the list, for what it's worth.
    Frank Zappa: "People wouldn't know a good movie if it smacked 'em in the face."
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  22. Blow out your upper and lower filters
    Re-install Nero with InCD
    tgpo famous MAC commercial, You be the judge?
    Originally Posted by jagabo
    I use the FixEverythingThat'sWrongWithThisVideo() filter. Works perfectly every time.
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  23. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by stiltman
    I checked that per Microsoft's recommendation: those filters don't exist in the registry for my install.

    Re-install Nero with InCD
    I was hoping to avoid InCD, since I've read so many negative things about it... But it's worth a try.

    Thanks!
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  24. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Installed Nero7 with InCD... No change at all.


    Yet another weird discovery:

    I removed the Optiarc burner from my main PC and attached it to my secondary PC and it works fine on that PC...

    So at this point , the Optiarc works everywhere EXCEPT with my new XP install.
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  25. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by bmwracer
    Installed Nero7 with InCD... No change at all.


    Yet another weird discovery:

    I removed the Optiarc burner from my main PC and attached it to my secondary PC and it works fine on that PC...

    So at this point , the Optiarc works everywhere EXCEPT with my new XP install.
    Sounds like your new xp is
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  26. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by budz
    Originally Posted by bmwracer
    Installed Nero7 with InCD... No change at all.


    Yet another weird discovery:

    I removed the Optiarc burner from my main PC and attached it to my secondary PC and it works fine on that PC...

    So at this point , the Optiarc works everywhere EXCEPT with my new XP install.
    Sounds like your new xp is
    Yup.

    Guess I'll borrow an XP disc from work and try installing from that disc... Can't say I'm very optimistic about it.
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  27. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    Gonna try a new tactic later today: I'm going to install XP on my new HDD using my old Pioneer burner and once that's done, I'll swap in the Optiarc burner.

    If memory serves, my last clean install used the Pioneer burner and I added the Optiarc as an upgrade...

    Hope this works, 'cause I'm plum out of ideas.
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    I've used the following method to repair similar optical drive problems. If it doesn't work, you want to check for a firmware update.

    Step 1: Start Registry Editor
    Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. Registry Editor starts.
    Step 2: Delete the UpperFilters registry entry
    1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
    2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
    3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
    4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
    5. In the right pane (topic area), click UpperFilters.

    Note An UpperFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the UpperFilters registry entry, you must click UpperFilters and not UpperFilters.bak.
    6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
    7. When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the UpperFilters registry entry:
    Are you sure you want to delete this value?
    The UpperFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey.

    Note Do not exit Registry Editor. You must have this program for the next step.
    Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry
    1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
    2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
    3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
    4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
    5. In the right pane (topic area), click LowerFilters.

    Note An LowerFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the LowerFilters registry entry, you must click LowerFilters and not LowerFilters.bak.
    6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
    7. When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the LowerFilters registry entry:
    Are you sure you want to delete this value?
    The LowerFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey.
    8. Exit Registry Editor.
    Step 4: Restart the computer

    If a CD recording program no longer works after you restart the computer, you must reinstall the CD recording program.
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  29. Member bmwracer's Avatar
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    ^ Thanks, but I've looked into that already: there are no entries for the Upper and Lower Filters in the registry.

    And I've updated the firmware on the Optiarc twice already and I've still got the same problem.
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    Well that's odd.

    I've performed that fix about 20 times and those keys were always there.
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