LG GSA-4040B problems

[RudeShark]

Re: LG GSA-4040B

Hi.

I got this drive a month or so ago and have just got hold of some DVD-R and DVD+RW discs to try them out.

The drive works fine with the DVD-RAM that came with the drive, it plays bought DVDs and burns CD-R discs.

However, if I try and burn a DVD-R using something like Nero, it claims that the drive is empty. In Alcohol 120% the same. In DVD Identifier, it says "Waiting for Drive to Initialize Disc" and then "Unable To Initialize Disc In Time : Not ready - Logical unit not ready [02/04/00]".

In Nero, using the DVD+RW gets beyond the checks but when the burning window appears, it says "Illegal disc".

The DVD-Rs are : Datawrite Red 4x (V2) - (made by Datasafe)
The DVD+RW are : Datasafe Yellow 2.4x

I've updated the Firmware to A302, the latest version. I've tried different DVD-Rs from the batch of 25 I got.

Can anyone help me? I can't think why it'd work with DVD-RAM and CD-R but not the others. I am a newbie with DVD writers but not with PCs.

Cheers.

[smellycanine]

Most likely it is the media you are using. Sometimes the LG can be picky, try finding Ritek made disks.

ritek G04 s seem to give people good results.
The other remmote possibility is that your drives could be out of date or installed in an odd way; but I say remote.

[jrsdsl]

I have the 4040B and I agree with smellycanine try different media. I have used Fuji(+/-) Verbatin(+), Memorex(-RW), Phillips(+R) and Ritek(+/-) with no bad burns.

[hech54]

I have the same drive....OLD A300 firmware. Ritek's are my personal choice....but even before I bought this drive. G03's and G04's work flawlessly....but so do Philips +RW's, BenQ +RW's and Emtec -R's.
I REALLY don't think calling this drive "picky" is a very fair statement though....I'm just not very brave spending my money on media just to TRY if it will work. Everything I have tried other than Ritek's has been given to me by others as gifts....and they just happen to work.

[igalan]

I have this drive, and it burns Verbatim DVD-R 2x and TDK DVD+RW 4x flawless. I didn't upgrade the firmware, yet (it's working fine, so no need to fix it ).

[Beams]

I have the drive. Works with TDK +4x, Ritek -4x at 4x, Ritek -2x RW at 2.4, Ritek +2x RW at 2.4,Maxell -2x at 2.4, and Maxell -1xRW at 2.4. No coasters.

I'm having trouble with DVD-RAM it's Ritek and I get "no disk in drive".

[lgmayka]

The orange RitekG04 disks are supposed to be 4x DVD-R, but sometimes I have to burn them at 2x instead, otherwise the drive hangs. My point is that if you have difficulty with a particular brand or run of media, you could try reducing the burn speed.

[zod5000]

holy crap.. I wan't the only one that had a problem burning to some ritek media? I bought 100 ridata Ritek 4x dvd-r's (came as 2 50 packs)...

and 90 percent of the time they hang at 4x.. says burning the lead-in, but never actualy burns anything.. but they burn fine at 2x all the time.

i had Y's power riteks before.. no problems.. and rima.com shipped me some samples of a different batch and no problems.

I was thinking of switching to princo discs next time. Allthough I've heard people think the die disintegrates on them within a few years.. but i'm thinking then that would be 2 years old dvd-r's.. and they've probably improved the process since.

have to see what i'll do when i use up the last of this slow batch

- BRian

[RudeShark]

Thanks for the replies.

Has anyone tried Datawrite or Datasafe DVDs with this drive? I don't want to go out and buy different discs just to find out that the drive is knackered.

Cheers.

[lafamar]

Hi, RudeShark
I think thats your problem is simple. Your software doesn´t recognisize your LG GSA 4040B.
Go to the Nero site and looking for the drive that´s accept your DVD burn.
Good luck,
Bye.

[joe-mamma]

I just picked up a GSA 4040B and I'm having issues as well. Aside from the whole not burning at 4X thing I'm having problems with DVD-RW's. I picked up a spindle of 25 Memorex 4X DVD-R and they have burnt fine at 2X (don't know about 4X because it won't let me) I also picked up a 3 pack of Memorex DVD-RW just to do test burns on. Every time I try to burn one with the exception of the very first time (only ~600MB test disc) I get a track focusing error but it burns for a bit before the error. Has anyone else had similar problems? I really don't feel like updating the firmware and from what I've heard it doesn't seem to do much anyway.

TIA
Joe

[zod5000]

its just a picky ass drive for choosing media.. I've been ordering my media off the internet.. nothing i buy at future shops (except maybe some maxells) seems to work properly.

try blankmedia.ca and order some ritek's or princo's maybe (allthough popular rumor is that the dye in a princo disc doesn't last much pass a year or 2)

so that leaves ritek discs

- BRian

[alandla]

I bought a 3 pack of Maxell DVD-RW at the Future Shop to play around with my new writer. I played my first burned disk in my Samsung DVD S222 player and it played fine. I then burned another disc a few days later and tried it in my DVD Player and was getting a disc error. I tried the first disc and got the same error.

Both discs play fine on my pc in the LG DVD Rom and the LG GSA 4040B multi recorder.

Any ideas?

[zod5000]

there isn't much top of the line dvd-r's out there.

don't buy anything from future shop.

go to blankmedia.ca or something and order yourself some riteks...

you're going to find that dvd-r / +r compatibility is iffy.

I bought some maxell discs from future shop.. 3/5 worked on my dvd player.

I also bought those pine/pearl discs future shop has and they were really bad for freezing picture mid movie.

haven't had much of a problem with riteks.. and most standalones like 'em.. so i'm guessing thats your best bet. or maybe princos.. but i think the concensus on princos is they are really good for immediate use but deterioate over time.

[RudeShark]

Is it fair to assume that because DVD-RAM and CD-RW is working, the drive is fine?

Do the DVD-RAM/CD-RW/DVD+-RW all use the same laser etc. within the drive?

If this is the case then I will have to buy some recommended discs (by you chaps) and try them out instead.

Cheers.

[Bolss]

I have the same problem here, but its even worse: my writer simply refuses to write dvd+R ; i successfully wrote dvd+rws, and dvd-r, but these days i recorded with no errors a dvd-r, and it acting like the cd was scratched or something like that, but its perfect. i updated the firmware and had no success with the problems so i tried every firmware. now im using the A300, before that, the writer wouldnt read any kind of media!!
what is happening? truly, its still difficult, i put the media into the drive and it tells me that there is no disc inserted and messages like that.
why is this GSA-4040B so bad?

[alandla]

by the way, would there be anypoint in upgrading firmware from A300 to A302 if there are no problems right now?

Is the upgrade just to increase disc compatibilty with the burner?

[matthewmalay]

I don't know if this is relevant but I when I upgraded my BIOS, nero 6.3 would hang after caching of files started when I tried to burn a DVD-R, only way to quit Nero was to restart my computer. Everything would work fine when I tried to burn a DVD+RW.

I tried using EasyCD Creator 6, 1st attempt it burned my DVD-R up to around 90% then EasyCD spat out the DVD-R saying it found errors, 2nd attempt didnt even get to 2%.

I went back to my old BIOS and everything seems to be fine now, burned a few DVD-Rs with Nero no problems so far.

My m/b is a Gigabyte GA-6VXC7-4X. I think it's in the Apollo Pro family, AGPset. It's connected on the secondary IDE channel as master, nothing else is connected on that channel.

[APVM]

Check this to make sure...

1) Memorex will burn at 4x with firmware A302
2) check windows to make sure DMA is on for your 4040
3) Use latest version of Nero to burn DVD, earlier verson has problem with 4040 and was fixed in latest version.
4) Check jumper are set as either master or slave as per your configuration, try not to set it as cable select.

I am using the LG4040 and have no problem burning at 4X with Memorex, Princo and Retik.

The only problem I have is the LG4040 can't read some all region DVD, I tried about 10 different ones and it can't read two of them, don't think it is a problem with the drive, maybe the hacked A302 all region will fix it but no big deal since I can watch those two with my stand alone.

[zod5000]

which earlier version of nero had the problem with the 4040b?

and do you know what that problem was?

[APVM]

I think it was one or two version before 6.3.0.0, I am using 6.3.0.0 and have no problem at all.

[igalan]

Version 6.3.0.3 is avaliable. But I use Nero 5.5.10.54 on the computer with the LG 4040B.

[APVM]

Version 5 which support DVD has no problem, I am talking about Version 6...there were problems with 4040 on some versions of 6.2.x.x

[zod5000]

ahh ok.. i'm runnng 6.3.0.2

had problems with this batch of ritek's not burning at 4x. You can select 4x.. but about 80 percent of them get stuck when nero says its writing the lead-in.. but if you burn them at 2x they are fine (i should mention it never actually writes to the disc when the error occurs).

I've had the problem show up in dvd decrypter and recordnow DX as well.. but i keep thinking.. did i really. maybe i was remember it wrong.

but as wierd as it is.. I think my burner doesn't like this batch of Ridata Riteks but there almost done... I burned a couple of Maxell's and a couple of princo's at 4x without the error happening.. the LG is one fussy burner

- Brian

[APVM]

With Nero 6.3.0.0 and A302 firmware I have no problem with Memorex DVD+/-R, Ridata Riteks and Princo at 4X. The only one that still can't do at 4X is the Mitsumi (only 4 left and I'll be staying away from this one)

Riteks are almost 30% more than Princo (pricewise) and I think I'll be staying with Princo unless Office Deport is offering buy one and get one free again. Bought 25 cake of Memorex DVD-r and DVD+r each before Christmas and get 2 cakes free total 100 DVD for the price of 50 and works out cheaper than Princo 4x

In anycase the drive is not as bad as some said, I have no burning problem with it yet and all my backups works with my old APEX 1500, any recommendation on a read all (vcd, svcd, dvd-r, dvd+r) DVD player with progressive scan?

[zod5000]

i haven't used princos yet because i've been lead to believe that the dye they use doesn't have a long shelf life. Somewhere around 50 percent of burned princo dvd's won't work after 2 years.

but i've been reluctant to believe it too. because that would have to be some of the first dvd-r's ever made that are failing now. so who knows if princo came up with a better dye and the discs being made these days have the same problem.

either ways it gotten me to keep buying riteks.. might trying princo's next time.. just a little wary that the discs might not work in a few years.

[Colindale]

?? Somewhere around 50 percent of burned princo dvd's won't work after 2 years. ??

Where do you get that from, have the latest Princo's been out for 2 years, I dont think so!.

[zod5000]

you read the last part of my post right.. or well the middle.. where i questioned my own information. How are we supposed to know if the shelf life of the current discs is only a few years. They could of changed the dye.. made it better.

but I basically got the info i had from other forums on this board and other dvd writing boards.

i'm guessing the current princos are probably better.. just haven't risked it yet.

[oldfart13]

For me, the 4040 simply won't burn up to speed on Maxell+R disks. I get a max speed of 1.6X on + but the full 4X on - so go figure. I thought it was software related so I upgraded the firmware but its still locked at 1.6X. Anyone know how to fix this without switching brands of disks? The Maxell's are Ricoh according to DVD Decryptor...

[APVM]

There is also one thing to notice, it was with my friend's Gigabyte motherboard and LG 4040, he has XP and no problem burning with XP Microsoft IDE drivers but eversince he updated the drivers with the one from Gigabyte website, the burner won't burn right anymore. He has to reinstall XP.