Pioneer DVR-A07 (107) can't burn any +R media at any speed

[Ronaldus]

Less than a year ago I bought a Pioneer DVR-A07 (the retail version of the DVR-107) DVD -R/+R writer. It still has the original factory firmware 1.09. I know there are more recent firmware versions available, but I didn't want to void my warranty which is supposed to be 1 year.

The A07 has worked great on every -R disc I've tried in it. However, every time I tried burning any brand or speed of +R disc, when it gets to the end of the burn where it should be finalizing or writing the lead out, Nero comes up with a failure error message and some number (unfortunately I don't have the exact message or number handy since it has been months since I tried a +R burn on it). The burned +R discs were never readable in any drive or player even though they look fully burned. I've tried both 2.4x and 4x on +R media rated 4x through 8x (I never tried burning +R at 8x). This problem existed from day one when I got the drive, but I bought mine when they were being closed out and they never got any more to exchange, so my choice was return the drive or live with no +R. Like the great procrastinator I am, I've waited until near the end of my warranty to deal with this problem. It would be nice, but it's not critical to get +R working on the A07.

My previous still-working drive is a Pioneer DVR-A06 (106) and with its older firmware, it can write +R discs at 2.4x or 4x without any problem. The error scans on a BenQ 1620 of my A06 burned +R discs are fabulous.

I searched videohelp, cdfreaks, and the Pioneer firmware page to see if anyone else was unable to burn any +R media on the A07 at any speed, and I found nothing, so I'm skeptical that upgrading my firmware will solve the +R problem.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I see my 3 options as:

1. With a few weeks left on my 1 year warranty, call Pioneer to see if they can help or want to send me a refurb unit.
2. Try upgrading to the latest A07 firmware (such as 1.21) on blind faith it might help, but if it doesn't help will I be able to flash the drive back to 1.09 to return it to Pioneer as defective?
3. Leave the drive alone to avoid ruining it and only use it for -R discs as I've been doing since I bought it.

It would help in my troubleshooting to know if people think it's a firmware issue or a hardware issue.

By the way, I'm using the same version of Nero 5.5.x.x on both the A06 and A07. Is it possible the same version of Nero doesn't know how to do +R on the A07 but can do +R on the A06? It sounds like a longshot.

Any help would be appreciated.

[HARRYSPADGE]

I would definetly upgrade the firmware to the latest version which I believe is 1.21.
If you use the genuine firmware from Pioneer this should not invalidate your warranty as pioneer release new versions to deal with problems like this.
I have the DVR-107 with firmware version 1.21 and it has no trouble burning to DVD+R.

You state that Nero can burn +R on the 106 drive but not the 107 so to me this points to a firmware problem, so upgrade it and give it a go.

It's very easy to do, just download the latest version from Pioneer, extract the files to a folder, (the pioneer firmware is usually self extracting) then click on the UPGR file and it will find your drive, you then will be asked to go ahead with the upgrade so click yes and away you go.

[lordsmurf]

Laser may be dying.