Sony DRU-500A won't work, making me broke & insane! HELP

[Mazinga-Z]

About 3 weeks ago I bought the Sony DRU-500A DVD burner and the thing hasn't worked properly since. The problem I'm having is that when I insert a blank DVD-R disc, the DRU-500A says that the disc is an audio cd with 2 gigs of data already on it. When I try to burn a movie to disc with the latest Nero, Sonic MyDVD, or Dazzle DVD Complete, the programs either say that the disc is going to be multisession or that the disc isn't empty and the burn fails at the 50% mark. Once the drive actually read the disc properly and I was able to burn two whole DVDs that work but after that rare time no discs have burned properly since. So far out of 10 discs I have 8 coasters and 2 working DVDs. I've tried upgrading the firmware, I bought new Burning and authoring software, I tried 2 different brands of blank discs (Imation & K-Hypermedia), as well as the Sony DVD+RW disc that came with the Burner, deleted all the ghost drives in safe mode, as well as a few other things listed on the Sony site and nothing works. I can't even take back the Burner for a refund because CompUSA only gives you 2 weeks to return anything and I've had the Burner for over 3 weeks already. I tried contacting Sony and their response was that the Burner had to be on it's own IDE cable . When I tried to tell the supposed technician that shouldn't have anything to do with the problem I'm having she ended the online session! Sony won't even return my e-mails. Just out of curiosity I tried doing what she said and took off my New Hard Drive and wasted my last bit of money to buy a kit that would turn my Hard Drive into a USB drive so that I could still use both the HD and Burner, but just like I thought it had no effect. I've already wasted $500 hard earned dollars on this piece of junk (including the blank DVDs, hard drive kit, and software) and I can't even use it! I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and Sony still won't return my e-mails. It seems like most of the Sony DRU-500A burners don't work, I think all of us that got screwed by Sony should get together and file a lawsuit against them for selling known defective merchandise, and get them to have some sort of recall to replace the drive with a newer version that works. If anyone knows what the problem is and could help, please let me know, I don't know what to do and Sony is no help at all. I'm now totally broke and slowly going insane!

[MOVIEGEEK]

I have the DRU-500A and set it as Master on Second Channel and never encountered any problems you described,you probably got a bad drive.I would go to CompUSA and complain to the manager and ask for an exchange or refund.I've worked in the retail sector and if you make a big enough stink(like threatening to contact their corporate office)
you will certainly get satisfaction.
P.S.out of curiosity..have you updated the ASPI?www.adaptec.com
Good luck

[Felix_2000]

Why not just return your drive? 3 weeks is still within the return period for most stores. If the refuse because of too long or whatever you could try to get a friend to buy the same one then switch it with yours and return it the same day.

-=| Felix |=-

[HyperYagami]

It seems like most of the Sony DRU-500A burners don't work

huh? wtf? please don't tell me you came up with that conclusion based on what you read here, or you really need to get your logic straighten out.

but anyway, you should be able to get sony to give you a replacement (RMA).

Felix_2000:

Each burner (and the box too) has its own serial# so I don't know if the swap trick would work. Also, he wouldn't be able to get a replacement if he got it from, say, ebay (well, depends, difficult nevertheless).

[Felix_2000]

Yeah I have it as the drive as well... I know the serials where there but most of the time the employee's getting $8/hr don't give a shit... that or you just make sure the drive really is "defective" like take a shower with your drive or something similar...

-=[ Felix ]=-

[Mazinga-Z]

Thanks for the tips guys, I tried getting updated ASPI drivers from adaptec.com but everytime I downloaded them and tried to run them it would say something like "not a valid win32 program" so finally I found this site that had a program that let you check your ASPI drivers and see what version they were and if they were installed correctly and to my surprise it said that they weren't! So I looked all over the net for updated ASPI drivers and found a place that Win98se drivers, but when I went to install them it said they were for Win95/NT, but I installed them anyway and the ASPI checker program said they were installed properly. So thinking that the problem was fixed I went to burn a disc and 40% into the burn it not only failed but my whole pc locked up. So I'm still at square 1. As far as taking it back, I already tried and the Manager at CompUSA said after 14 days it wasn't their problem anymore, I have to deal with Sony. And they charge a 15% restocking fee if you buy something like a DVD burner and want a refund, so I can't have anyone else buy one and exchange and return another unit. I'm just totally screwed! My only hope is to keep bugging Sony and the Better Business Bureau and hope I can get a new one. By the way, MOVIEGEEK, do you know any other places that have the newest ASPI drivers other than Adaptec and Nero? If so could you let me know? I only have 4.60 right now but would like 4.70 or later. Thanks again for the suggestions guys, at least my ASPI drivers are working the way they are supposed to now, I think.

[Mazinga-Z]

HyperYagami Wrote:
huh? wtf? please don't tell me you came up with that conclusion based on what you read here, or you really need to get your logic straighten out.

I came to that conclusion after going to about 10 different message boards and about 70% of the posts about the DRU-500A were from people who were having problems with it. It seems some people get one that works perfectly but others get one that like mine that just won't work right. But I agree, my only choice is to try to get Sony to replace it, but so far they don't seem willing, even after I filed the complaint with the Better Business Bureau, they still won't return my e-mails, I'll have to try to call again when I'm a little less pissed and can talk calmly without losing my temper.

[Capt Peachfuzz]

I can only offer what works for me. The software that was included with the drive works wonderful once it is upgraded. (The upgrade is free and available through the CD.) I've heard a lot of complaints about Nero with the Sony drive.

Media is also important. For cheap media, I've been using the Accu branded media at 1x. It's important to note that I've had some trouble burning these DVDs at their full capacity.

Finally, my computer is running Win XP and is powerful enough to get the job done. Some of your problems may be a result of using an older computer that isn't up to the task.

I'm sorry you're having so many problems. Good luck with trying to return the drive.

[az1284xx]

I have the external 500U Firewire DVD burner, running WinXp on a 800mhz laptop machine with 256ram and 27GB (40GB) open drive space. I used the DVD software from Sony and burned DVD and Data DVD as well as Data / MP3 CD-R and Audio disks with CDCreator Platnum. Media was Sony and Panasonic for DVD ($3 each) and RCA CD-R ($.25). Everything worked fine. Cheap DVD media does not work well on this Sony model, the 500UAX upgrade has improved firmware that should help, or so I have heard. The Sony site also has a firmware update as well as software updates. I would not run any DVD burner under Win98SE or below, Win2k or WinXP minimum and a 1k machine with max memory and big hard drive is a real plus. Loan the drive to a friend to install and see if it works, or take it to a local PC shop and ask them to check it out, for a few bucks they could help you determine if it is the drive. In my opinion of all of this is that DVD burning is going through the same problems CD burning had a few years back, I remember making a lot of CD coasters and wind chimes until it all got settled out, DVD burning is just taking a little longer, and now Sony announced a Blue laser (23GB) burner for $4k, so here we go again! I don't think Sony is making bad drives, at least not on purpose, they do work and many of the Sony Computers have them, so I would not think that they would want to install something that is not going to work, I feel it is a setup problem somewhere, not your fault or Sony's or CompUSA's.

[Bob W]

Try here for some help.
http://www.sonydru500a.com/

Also there is a little utility called "Force ASPI" that I had to use one time but I forgot where I found that.

[burnproof]

Force aspi is in the tools section on the left hand side of this site.

Burnproof

[Bob W]

Force aspi is in the tools section on the left hand side of this site.

Burnproof

Well DUH Bob. What exactly does that do?

[HyperYagami]

I came to that conclusion after going to about 10 different message boards and about 70% of the posts about the DRU-500A were from people who were having problems with it.

please realize most of the ppl come to msg boards are just like you - having problems. you don't see people come and start a new thread "my drive is working fine". it's biased statistic. it's like making a poll about how many ppl in the US smoke...asking only ppl who come out a cigarette shop.

compusa -> 14 days?! that's shitty...

my only suggestion to you is to keep banging sony...eventually they'll take it.

[RappWizard]

COMP USA has one of the most fascist refund/exchange policies of any store I know. Their policy is that if you opened the box even if you bring back a defective product within 14 days then you can either exchange it for the same item or they hit you with a 15% "open box" fee. What a rip. Duh, isn't every defective product going to be an "open box" scenario. Why should the customer have to pay a 15% fee because Comp USA sold them a defective product.
Now get the logic of this: Since alot of people may elect to exchange it for the same exact product to avoid the 15% open box fee, you may wind up coming back again with the same problem because frequently these products aren't necessarily defective just incompatible with your system. That is stupid business sense by Comp USA since rather then sell that 2nd drive off the shelf to another customer they may wind up taking back the same product again if it indeed was just a compatbility issue. Plus it just creates ill will with the customer.

[atb]

First, for those who doesn't know how to update ASPI layer...do you ever use dos mode? if you do..than..just type cmd in "run" and go to the folder of aspi files that you unziped, and install it in dos mode.
i got a dru-500ax and i saw lots of scary post about there drive die within few month of using it. I just had my drive for 2 weeks and it works fine, never have problem since i install it in my pc. burn 60+ dvd-video already with lead data dvd-r with 2x speed, didn't produce a single coast yet. i am happy to have this drive. hopefully it won't die soon...cross fingers!

[bl2003]

You know, I have nothing to add to this thread, except this.

Sony DRU-500A won't work, making me broke & insane!

That has got to be the funniest post title I've ever read.

[Bob W]

You know, I have nothing to add to this thread, except this.

Sony DRU-500A won't work, making me broke & insane!

That has got to be the funniest post title I've ever read.

Well I'm about to go insane myself with this 500A drive. It won't do DVD-R 4x anymore on any media and this after burning over a 100 disc's. Also no amount of emails to Sony support ever gets a single answer so fork them. Think I will just throw in the towel and buy this drive http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=c147-2000%20p

[bl2003]

Think I will just throw in the towel and buy this drive http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=c147-2000%20p

Before you do that, take a look at this:
http://store.yahoo.com/elegantshopping1/piondv4xdvdr.html

[Bob W]

Think I will just throw in the towel and buy this drive http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=c147-2000%20p

Before you do that, take a look at this:
http://store.yahoo.com/elegantshopping1/piondv4xdvdr.html

Yeah that's a slightly better price for the real thing so thanks for the link.

[MOVIEGEEK]

You guys might want to wait a few months,Lite-On is supposed to be releasing a multi-format DVD writer for around $200USD.

[Bob W]

WOot I got the Sony 500A to burn at 4x again!!!

I downgraded my firmware from 1.0f to 1.0d which I had done before but it didn't work. What I did different this time is to do the firmware flash in WinXP safe-mode then after the firmware was installed I ran "Force ASPI" which I got from here ftp://ftp.321studios.com/ASPI/ForceASPI.exe

I just burned a 78 minute 2.24GB 50's classic movie using the same DVD-ON 4x DVD-R media that didn't burn at 4x and it took a mere 10 minutes for the full burn.