Power Underrun? What is this BS???

[K3]

HELP! I'm making more darn coasters than I am VCDs!!
Using Nero I keep getting "Power Underrrun" error messeges.
What's causing this? When it does the simulation the "burn" works fine, but when it starts the actual burn it barfs and that's all she wrote!

Do I not have a powerful enoughpower supply in my PC?
I'm running a 900mhz Athalon with 128 MB ram. The burner (which is soon to be heading back to Best Buy...) is the Zip CD 650.

Any help appreciated, or point me in the direction of a good FAQ.

Thanks!

Russ

[aldus4]

Are you 100% certain it says Power underrun and not Buffer Underrun?

How much wattage/ampere does your power supply in your PC have and what is connected to it?

Just to inform you; Zip CD-Writers haven't been getting the best test results. I personally think they should have stuck to what they did best, Zip drives.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-07-04 06:42:22, aldus4 wrote:

Just to inform you; Zip CD-Writers haven't been getting the best test results. I personally think they should have stuck to what they did best, Zip drives.

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>
Where did you get the info on Zip cd-writer test results? I have one and have had no problems with it.

[aldus4]

@ acaciaf

As I recall a german test institute called "Stiftung Warentest" did a test on it, and there is a type of shopping forum @ http://www.jungle.com where purchasers of a product can leave their views.

If you are happy with your drive - Great!

[K3]

OK, I _have_ seen buffer underrruns as well. But last night it was power underrun. What are the sympoms/causes of a buffer underrrun?

Thanks,

Russ

[aldus4]

In simple terms: A CD-R has to be written at a constant flow. Meaning the data stream has to be the same all the time. Much like a water tank for your house a CD-R writer has one, but instead of being called watertank its called a buffer - and it's filled with data not with water. If this buffer becomes empty (in pc terms this can be caused by multi-tasking on your pc, a background program doing something etc.) there is not enough data for your CD-R to write - this situation is then called a "buffer underrun"

Modern so-called "burnproof" CD Writers have a bigger "watertank" (buffer usually >2MB) and once the "water" (data) drops below a point the CD Writer is halted.

I was however looking further into your problem and the only thing remotely the same was "Power calibration error"
The advice that Nero gives: These are really bad hardware errors. Maybe using another brand of CDRs could help. If this doesn't help, then you'll probably need to have your recorder repaired.

[K3]

Thanks for the info!

I've tried different versions of media (for instance I can NOT use the 80 minute Imation disks at ALL! I've coastered about 12 of them in a row for no apparent reason!) and I've even used different programs with the same problems. Even Easy CD Creator fails now. Yep, Best Buy is definately getting this back.

Thank god for 3 year extended warrantys!

[next]

Many times buffer underruns are the result a PC not being fast enough to keep up with the burner. In your case your PC should be able to keep up with the 650. I believe the 650 is an 8x burner. The solution in many cases is to slow down the burn process to let's say 4x. Your PC is powerful enough to keep up with the 650 at 8x though. Two things could be happening here. First you have a defective burner or second your PC has something going on in the backround that is affecting your burns. try burning at a slower speed and see what happens.

[next]

One more thing - you said you are having problems in Nero. The 650 comes with Adaptec software. Do you still have the Adaptec software installed? Many times Nero and Adaptec software cannot coexist on the same PC. If you still have the Adaptec software installed try uninstalling it. This may help your problem.

Especially Direct CD

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: next on 2001-07-05 07:33:27 ]</font>

[K3]

I have the full version of Adaptec 4.0 installed as well as Nero 5.something. I have tried slowing down the burn speed. In fact, I usually try burning at 4X, but lately it hasn't made any difference. I also minimuze everything in the background, and even go so far as to shut off my virus scan programs and such. I'll try deleting Adaptec and see if it makes any difference.

Thanks,

Russ

[next]

I had the exact same problem. Make sure you "uninstall" the adapdec software and not just delete it. Also make sure you get rid of Direct CD. You actually have to uninstall 2 programs. Direct CD and the Easy CD Creator software. If this doesn't work then uninstall Nero too and then reinstall it.

There are ways to make them both co-exist but get past this hurdle first.

[next]

This is from the Nero site:

"Adaptec DirectCD is installed. In many cases Nero and Adaptec DirectCD / Easy CD do not run on the same computer. This problem can often be resolved by removing the file SCSI1HLP.VXD from the system."

But doing the uninstall you should blow out this VXD file. Just to be sure do a find file after the uninstall and see if its still there. If it is deleat it. You can always reinstall EZ CD Creator if you don't like Nero.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: next on 2001-07-05 16:48:09 ]</font>

[next]

K3 - check this out:

http://www.ahead.de/en/helptool/187.htm



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: next on 2001-07-05 17:00:03 ]</font>