DVD-R and DRU510UL - does not burn?

[NIIDeep]

Hi all,

I'm asking on behalf of a frustrated friend who has the external Sony DRU510UL. He has flashed to the latest firmware and everything. He can burn DVD+Rs fine... no problems. BUT when he sticks a DVD-R in there, the drive does one of the following:

1) Excessively seeks, making alot of noise, seems like it can't find where to start or something.
2) Starts burning but will hit I/O error.

I have the internal DRU500Ax and I have not problems with either. My friend is pretty dissappointed... paid bucks for a universal drive but he gets half.

If anyone has had any success in burning DVD-R with this external drive, please let me know. Also if anyone has encountered this issue please let me know. Otherwise, I'm chalking this up as a defect and will recommend that my friend send it back. But this is a pain.

Thanks.

BTW, he is currently burning with DVD Decrypter 3.1.6.0.

[scottvf]

Have you tried calling sony tech support? Maybe you have a bad drive that they can replace.