Has my writer had it..?

[Newt]

Hi,

I burned loads of DVD's on my laptop DVD writer. My problem is now whenever I burn using Nero the burn says it has completed successfully but when I take the DVD out to inspect it it hasn't written anything....Infact it is still completley blank. Am I doing something wrong or is my writer shagged?

Before anyone suggests it....No, I am definitley not running a simulation burn. Let me know what you think.. thanks

Newt

[sitlet]

i would say its dead. can you burn cd's with it? also, have you tried other formats, like -r, +r, -rw or +rw

[Newt]

It only writes -R's & -RW's and I've tried them both with no joy.. Boo hoo. Also tried burning a CD-R and not a sausage. I'm left with one blank CD-R.

I just find it slightly strange that Nero suggests that the burn was completed successfully??

thanks for your quick reply. I'll see if it's still covered by warranty.

all the best.

[handyguy]

Did you select simulation? Cause if you did it won't write anything, just simulates it.

[sitlet]

Did you select simulation? Cause if you did it won't write anything, just simulates it.

Before anyone suggests it....No, I am definitley not running a simulation burn

it may be dead then....but you're right, its wierd that nero says it burned completely. it should give you an error. have you tried another version of nero? maybe something is wrong with that version causing it to write a simulation without you knowing it.

[Newt]

cheers guy's who responded. Yup the Toshiba writer passed away. (R.I.P.) but it still rights CD's and reads DVD's just doesn't write them.

Got a new problem though:
I've bought myself a new writer but it's giving me a headache aswell. (Its a Emprex DVD+-R/RW) I've connected via USB2.0 but Nero always chucks up a SCSI Command error and Decrypter shows a I/O Device error when burning DVD-R's but both write +R's with no problem.
Yes it is dual format!

I'd prefer to right to DVD-R's as my home standalone player only recognises DVD-R's not +R's.

I've also upgraded to the latest firmware.

Any of you genius's/heroes fancy a crack at helping me through this one it would be very much appreciated.

Be gentle

thanks!

Doh - Should I have posted this as a new thread?

[Jumbo_Holden]

+ is brillant, - is a cheapo load of crap

Nuff said

[Newt]

"Nuff said"

How does that help me?

Do you know how to solve the USB2/SCSI/ I/O error problem?

[sitlet]

dont listen to him, he doesnt know what hes talking about.

about your error, i had a similar problem before. i have a pioneer dvr-106 that i put into a usb2.0 external enclosure so i could use it with my laptop. i had so many different errors with that thing, including the same one you have. it was wierd, i could burn dvd+rw's only, nothing else. it would also burn cd-r's, but they would come out crappy. after a lot of suggestions, i decided to buy a firewire external enclosure. ever since then, the firewire has worked perfectly.

so for your problem, i would say start by updating the drivers for your usb2.0 card. if that doesnt work, i would suggest going with firewire. usb just isnt good enough to be burning dvds with.

[thinkert]

+ is brillant, - is a cheapo load of crap

Nuff said

I know I always take the word of people who can't spell or use commas correctly when they comment on how "brillant" something is...

What speed are you trying to burn your DVD-R's at? Have you tried lower speeds?

[Newt]

sitlet & thinkert, thanks for your responses.

sitlet, how would I go about updating my USB2 drivers? I know they are located in Device Manager. Are the latest drivers on the web somewhere? My buddy has got exactly the same setup as but with a different external burner connected via USB, he has burned loads of
DVD-R's on his USB burner with no probs (and his frickin Toshiba is still working, grrrrr). Guess I am just unlucky! I knew I should had spent that extra tennner and bought the writer that connects via firewire.

thinkert, I've tried x1/x2 and x4, same error on both Decrypter and Nero. I just don't understand why DVD+R's work and DVD-R's do not.

[sitlet]

when does it give you this error? before it actually starts burning, or in the middle of the burn?

im assuming you have win xp:
for the usb drivers, go to control panel-system-hardware tab-device manager. scroll down to universal serial bus controllers and open it up. you will probably see a few diff things. on mine it shows 3 usb root hubs, on e for each port on my computer, and three VIA USB Host controllers. i searched around and found out that VIA is the company that makes my usb. i went to their site and found some help, but it didnt work. i also went to Compaq's site (my comp manufacturer) and got the usb drivers from their also, but it didnt help. so i would suggest to you to do the same thing. try your comp manufacturers site, and your usb makers site, and see if you get any luck. as for my case, i still dont know if it was my external enclosure that didnt like my computer, or my usb didnt like the exclosure. but either way, it just would not work with my computer. some people with the same burner and enclosure said it worked with their systems, but not with mine.

if you cant figure it out, you may want to see if you can take the burner out of the factory enclosure and buy a separate firewire enclosure. becuase if the burner is separate from the enclosure, you can take it out and put it in a new one. do you have any pics of your new burner?

heres a link to the enclosure i have now:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-145-315&depa=0

[nufan292]

Also dvd decrypter has been known to spit out I/O errors on external drives. I know this doesn't help, but for information's sake. You should check out the dvd decrypter forum, and post the error message, and someone might be able to guide you from there too. Just a thought. Best of luck.

[Newt]

hi sitlet / nufan292

sitlet, Updated the USB drivers... nada. I got well cheesed off today so I exchanged it for a writer that connects via firewire after your advice. (Now that was good advice ) coz it works frickin amazing.

I'm sure other posters may encounter this problem..... firewire is the solution.

thanks sitlet you are a frickin legend.

Newt

[sitlet]

wow ive never been called a legend before

yeah i dont know what it is with the usb 2.0 drive, but it just did not work with my computer. i had a long post that was like 4 pages long of people trying to help me with that. a lot of people said they have a few usb drives and they all worked fine, and other said that usb is crap. i agree that usb is crap now. i also have a 160gb hard drive that i tried to put into the usb enclosure. it work work fine reading files, and transferring small files. but if i tried to send it a file over 5mb, it would start sending it, then stop for a minute, then start sending it again, then stop, until the file was done. but the resulting file was corrupt and would never open. so i put the drive in the firewire enclosure, and like my burner, it works fine. so now i recommend firewire for everyone who asks about external drives

[Supreme2k]

Yeah. The legend of the dog-faced woman.



Homer: Legend of the dog-faced woman! Oh, that's good!

[Jumbo_Holden]

I know it doesn't help your problem, but ive binned about 25 coasters already since buying a DVD burner all misus. never had so much as a hipcup using plus, I don't understand why people seem to like misus so much there crap

[rkr1958]

I know it doesn't help your problem, but ive binned about 25 coasters already since buying a DVD burner all misus. never had so much as a hipcup using plus, I don't understand why people seem to like misus so much there crap

Don't hijack the thread. Second ... We don't need another -R vs +R (It's like Pentium vs. Athlon, MAC vs PC, etc.). Everyone has the prefrences, why the like one over the other and so on.

[Electrox3d]

it could be that your burner needs to be RMA'd.
Have you tried the external USB 2.0 with another PC? and what luck for -RW media? +RW media?
I didn't catch what speed the drive is? Not sure if you got a steal on it, but if you return it, there is a USB 2.0 & Firewire 8x Dual drive here for $153. Comes with some cool software to copy DVD movies and edit them. I've been using it for a while with no problems, -R/+R discs on USB OR Firewire. The discs I also got at the same place, here and at only $0.64 a disc its a pretty good deal.

Oh, and the discs and burner works on playback of xbox and ps2, and every consumer dvd player i've tried. THAT in itself is a bonus for me.

[Electrox3d]

I just re-read your first post... and it looks like you could actually replace your DVD drive that died in your laptop with this 2x DVD External Slimline drive at digistor.com. Its $187 but its tray load so it will probably fit your notebook style faceplate.

My fav so far is the SLOT LOAD, yes like the powerbook, slimline dvd burner. This one is being blown out at $159! (cheapest on priceline is $210, and that is with NO USB2.0 or Firewire enclosure or software) Thing is, you probably would have to do some faceplate modification if your notebook DVD drive is molded in a certain way. Or just use it as an external drive.