Burning problems Philips DVDRW228

[manso]

Hi,

I just bought a Philips DVDRW228 and installed it on my Windows XP machine. Two DVD discs were shipped with the recorder, one +R and one +RW. The problem is that I can't burn DVDs with it. It can read CDs and DVDs. I can burn CD-R/-RWs. When I try to burn a DVD+R or DVD+RW it simply stops after a while. I have tried using Nero 5.5 and DVD Workshop 1.2 and it simply stops after a few minutes. In Nero I receive "Illegal Media" and in DVD Workshop I get no (blank) error message. Extremely annoying! I went out and bought a new set of discs and it goes on for a few minutes and then stops.

Does anyone know how to troubleshoot something like this? Does Nero or DVD Workshop create a log/trace file? Are there any tools out there that I can use to test with?

Thanks,

- Mans

[TOMMO]

Hi, I have the same unit as you running XP Pro and firmware version 1.38.

Did you install the metainstaller that came with the drive?

What OTHER cd burning software have you installed on your system? The metainstaller installed INCD which screwed things up a little with other writting programs. Had to to use restore to an earlier date then browsed my hard drive and found the Philips folder, I could then install the software like MYDVD and NERO seperately.

Are you using the DVD wizard in NERO?

When you say starts then stops, does it start to actually burn resulting in ruined disk or do you get an error message?

Have you tried authoring using MYDVD and does that work?

Let me know a little bit more and will try and help.

[kubrik]

Did you install latest InCD after Nero Burning Rom?

You can't use +rw media without this software

[TOMMO]

You do NOT need INCD to use +RW media.

[manso]

Thanks for your prompt reply.

I installed the software that came with the drive and uninstalled InCD. Apart from that I only have Nero and DVD Workshop (trial) installed.

I'm using the wizard in Nero to try and burn a Data DVD with a single 5mb file. It spins up for a few seconds and then spits out the disc. I get the message "Illegal Media".

In DVD Workshop it went on for ~10 mins on a 2gb file and then simply stopped. DVD Workshop doesn't give any error message.

I have flashed it to v1.38. Have tried with Philips DVD+RW, Memorex DVD+R and Inifiniti Pro DVD+RW discs.

Any ideas? Are you aware of any drive testing tool that can give me some hints as to what goes wrong? Extremely frustrating, this is...

Cheers,

Mans

[TOMMO]

My version of NERO is 5.5.9.0.

Have you trie burning a DVD video using MYDVD?

From with DVD Workshop, do you have the option of creating a TITLESET, not burning to DVD from the program. You can then burn the title set to DVD using NERO.

Basically, depending on what I am using as source, encode my movie to MPEG2 using the DVD template in TMPEnc, then import into MYDVD or SPRUCEUP.

if using MYDVD, I select my background, i import my MPEG, Preview the menu and run the film. Then I burn to DVD+R (best you stick with +RW) until you are sussed.

Spruce up is about as simple as MYDVD to use, but I write to TITLESET then burn in NERO.

It could be that 5MB is too small, and the trial of DWS is not up to speed or has a limit on it?

[manso]

Yeeeha! Just managed to burn my first DVD!

BUT, it only worked once. I tried to do it again and I received "Illegal medium" again (what does it mean anyway?!). It seems to happen randomly. I tried with a blank (new) +RW disc and it failed again. Tried to do a full erase and it started spinning and then failed after a minute or so.

Are there any specific drivers for the drive that I have missed? If I have a look in Device Manager I have version 5.1.2535.0 of the driver and it's a generic Microsoft driver.

I'm using Nero version 5.5.9.8 and it doesn't matter if I burn an image file or Data DVD or create the Video DVD from scratch. It fails after a while.

I tried with MyDVD and it started to write but simply hung on two notches in the progress bar (red light disappeared on the drive) and it's currently filling up sonic.log with lines like:

datalen=65536 00 00 01 BA 44 07 87 17 9C 29 01 89 C3 F8 00 00 01 E0 07 EC 81 00 00 18 ED 41 18 CC 74 11 B7 02 6A E4 4B C2 AE 20 51 55 23 30 3C 75 70 1F 46 9D 11 8E AB B8 86 04 69 42 68 DF 2D 85 B6 83 C2 9B
112883327(10)<- 39092
112883427(110)->2A 0 0 0 B9 80 0 0 20 0
datalen=65536 00 00 01 BA 44 07 87 17 9C 29 01 89 C3 F8 00 00 01 E0 07 EC 81 00 00 18 ED 41 18 CC 74 11 B7 02 6A E4 4B C2 AE 20 51 55 23 30 3C 75 70 1F 46 9D 11 8E AB B8 86 04 69 42 68 DF 2D 85 B6 83 C2 9B
112883427(0)<- 39092

Proper error handling is something Ahead, ULead and Sonic should go on a crash course in.

I'm starting to think this is a faulty drive. According to all the comments on vcdhelp.com this drive simply worked and that's the least I can say.

Thanks,

Mans

[TOMMO]

Hi,

i can confirm my driver is the same as yours.

illegal Medium means it does not like the disks, they are not what it expected. Could be faulty disks, but that would have to be real bad luck considering the cross section of variety.

OK. Lets start to look at other possible problems.

1. It could be programs running in the background that are affecting the burn. If you are familiar with MSCONFIG and STARTUP, uncheck all those that are not essential to running the computer.

2. Disable Antivirus before burning a disk.

3. Make the Philips the MASTER on the secondary IDE chain.

4. In the bios, select CDROM for the philips.

5. Enable DMA mode for the Secondary IDE channel ( Use device Manager for this).

6. Check the IDE cable is secure.

7. Are you sure the source matrial is good. I have recently wasted 5 disks, before realising that the error message (READ ERROR) meant a problem with the source. It was actually a failing hard drive, the next day it was clunking and clicking. Replaced with a new 80 GB.

8. Now depending on where you purchased the drive from, and thinking about standard consumer support, normally the first port of call is the method above. The second line of defence the will use is softare conflict. Perhaps you might consider a backup, and then reload. BUT prior to that, check that the drivers for your Motherboard are up to date. Check for bios updates for your board.

9. if you have the latest drivers, and your bios is up to date, and you have a clean install and it still does not work, then the drive is faulty. If it will not read a Philips DVDR then well, you cannot be accussed of using suspect media can you!. i Use Verbatim and find them excellent. I am about to try Datasafe, and TDK work well too.

I realise just how frustrating this must be for you. i don't mind if you email me.

you might want to also check out this link.

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/cgi/forum/ikonboard.cgi?s=af88f46d7ae3dc0bf971495e9bf6d826;ac...=ST;f=6;t=4645