Pioneer DVR-104 hot to the touch while idle

[penamty]

I recently noticed while poking inside my computer that the metal case of my Pioneer DVR-104 feels hot to the touch even after not having used it since two days ago. I leave my computer on most of the time, but I had never noticed this because I had not opened my computer since installing that burner a month ago. Is this normal?

[garryheather]

If mine is anything to go by, no, this is not normal !

Most modern hardware supports some sort of power saving function these days, so if nothing else I would expect it to be reasonably cool pretty much all the time - the 04 even has a fan on it that kicks in when the drive reaches a certain point (only ever achieved once on mine TTBOMK during a mega burning session). Did you notice if the fan is running 24/7 ?

Of course, it could be acting as a heatsink if the rest of your machine is doubling as an oven. It's not directly above (or sandwhiched between) a couple of nice, juicy hard disks or any other heat sources like that, is it ?

If the drive functions OK but the PC itself is a bit toasty, invest in a couple of extra fans for your case. They're cheap enough, most are quite quiet, and most of all they will probably extend the life of your hardware by a substantial margin.

[penamty]

Now I am really worried, the drive is not near any other heat producing devices, and yet it remains hot. The computer definitely could use a little more ventilation, but I don’t think that is what’s causing the problem, since the drive is hotter than the nearby components. I only hope that if the burner is going to get fried, it does so within the warranty period, I am not sure I could return it since it seems to be otherwise OK.

[garryheather]

Send Pioneer an e-mail and ask them for their advice - ask them if they would mind checking it out for you, explaining that it does seem to work but it is always unusually warm to the touch. Make sure you stress this is the case when the drive is idle and not just when you're recording, because it will get warm then and you don't want some pleb knocking out a standard reply saying yes, they do RUN warm.

You might find they are happy to check it out for you. Quote the serial number and manufacturing date in case there is a known batch fault - you never know, it could be subject to a recall notice !

[freestyler]

What speed do you burn at? You have applied the firmware patch needed for safe 2x burning, correct?

[mowgly10]

Yes, I had the same exact problem with my pioneer A04. I couldnt understand why the darn thing was so hot even when it wasn't doing anything. It got so hot that it was heating up my dvd player right above it in my case. I just replaced it with an nec 1300 and my entire case is much cooler. Still at a loss as to why any drive should get hot when it's not even spinning or doing anything.

[penamty]

I’ll try Pioneer’s technical support for any comments they may have. I have never burned media rated at over 2X since the drive has firmware version 1.30, and I tried all the firmware upgrades I could find (including the ones from Pioneer’s website) but kept getting the error “Model name of kernel part is not matched", so after much waste of time I gave up on the firmware upgrade.

[kamuixtv]

I think it is "normal" for 104 owners are all owners of 104 is like this? If so I can warranty mine btw what I do is to remove the cables when I'm not using it.

[garryheather]

As I clearly stated earlier on, MY 04 does NOT behave like that. Mine is barely warm to the touch after use and I have never had any problems with official firmware upgrades.