Sony DRU-530 failed again - how can I perform diagnostic?

[wm_cheng]

Hi all,

I recently RMAed my Sony DRU-530 after only 6 months of service - its just stopped recognizing DVDs (of all kinds) one day. Now after I got a refurbished 530 back, I've burnt about 10 discs (Ritek05 DVD-Rs x8) and it's causing problems now. It burns to 6-7% and then hangs. WinXP doesn't recognize the drive anymore until I reboot. I am using Nero 6. It can't be that much bad luck - two bad drives? Is there something wrong with my system that might cause the drives to go bad? How can I diagnose the problem - any software that would test the drives. Nero Infotool properly recognizes the drive.

Instead of going through the bad tech support again, and being without my drive for weeks - I am considering just buying another one, any recommendations? (I was considering NEC 3500, Pioneer DVR108 or LiteON 1633 - although I am warey of Sony drives now) I am looking for a drive with the best compatibility with home theatre DVD players.

Thanks, any suggestions would be appreciated.

[handyguy]

Is it a Sony? I think that is a Liteon rebagged. You must use the right media for it & I don't think Riteks are those, try meritline.com ask them what to use.

[wm_cheng]

Yes, it is a retail boxed Sony. Hmm, I've been using RiData/RiTek DVD-Rs this whole time, at least 70 DVDs in total since I got the drives. Can the media actually damage the drive? The official supported media list for the sony is so small. What is the best drive for RiTek DVD-Rs? Are Sony bad for off-medias?

I checked the meritline site, there is no listing for my exact model, but the DRU-500 show that RiData/RiTek 4x was fine.

How do I go about trouble shooting this problem to eleminate possiblities?

[wm_cheng]

Could there be anything wrong with having multiple Burners on one system. I have the Sony DRU-530 as master by itself on the primary IDE, and a LiteOn CD-RW as master with slave Pioneer DVD drive on the secondary IDE channel of my MB built in Intel controller. My HDDs are on a separate VIA controller. After shutting down my system for the night, when I rebooted, everything worked fine for one burn. However, when I tried to do a second rip and burn, my system hung - and my IDE activity light remained on. I rebooted and tried again, as I inserted the blank media, the system hung again with the IDE activity light on.

Any clues...

[B2D327]

I have both a Sony DRU-530 and an NEC nd-3500 on the same P3 system w/256mb RAM and have no problems with either drive reading or writing. I have also burned Ritek G04(dvd-r 4x) with the Sony drive and the blank media has worked fine.
Are you still using the pc in your profile? Your processor is a bit slower than what I'm using but you may also be maxing your systems resources with other programs that may be running at the same time.

[handyguy]

"Yes, it is a retail boxed Sony."

Yeah but its supposed to be a liteon in a Sony box.

U can check at
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters

[wm_cheng]

OK, after a new IDE cable, and new NEC ND-3500 DVD burner, the problem migrated to my older Pioneer DVD drive. So it ain't any of the above. Finally switched out the Power Supply to a new Silverstone ST46 460W power supply and the puppy is happy again. My system must of been straining the old 350W supply.

All problems gone for now - its been a week of stable running. So I guess it was the power supply after all. I guess I have an extra Sony DVD burner now.