Too Many Wasted DVDs! ??? Why?

[bibit]

hi to all,
I recently installed a BENQ DVD burner (DV400 A) for DVD+R
I alway get one wasted dvd every two DVDs burnt.
The message window keep telling 'Communication Error' and 'failed writing'

My PC settings are:

Operating System: WIN ME
Processore: PENTIUM 800
RAM: 320 Mb
IDE Primary Master: HARD DISK 20 Gb
IDE Primary Slave: ATAPI DVD-RW 4X BENQ
IDE Secondary Master: HARD DISK Maxtor 80 Gb
IDE Secondary Slave: Mast. CD-Rom SHUTTLE WAitec
Burning Software: NERO 6

I always put the DVD data on the 'secondary master' Hard Disk while I burn by the BENQ burner on the IDE primary Slave.
I've alway thought it was the best way: two drives on two separate IDEs.

I don't think it can be a buffer underrun problem.
Maybe a hardware problem but which one?
I noticed everything is ok on burning DVD when I turn on the PC and soon start burning: maybe the processor is not that hot...
The rate of failed DVDs is higher when I use the PC for a long time..
but telling the true I'm not that sure about that opinion..

I guess to have installed the latest ASPI driver-

As I can't afford to waste so many DVDs, is there someone downthere able to help me? I got several answers all along the net but any of them filled my trouble. I need something working!

I was forgetting.. When I launch Nero InfoTools and it starts checking the hardware I always get the famous WIN ME blue message about locking of the system - press Ctrl*Alt+Del to restart.
Doest it help?

Thanks in advance to everyone.
Fabrizio

[MikeV]

Are your CD_ROM and DVD_RW setting right on top of each other in the case? If they are and you have room in the case leave at least one empty drive space above and below the DVD_RW for cooling. Learned this years ago when a friend of mine had the same CDRW as i had and he could burn one or two CDs and then got nothing but failures. He had his RW and ROM drives setting on top of one another, mine were seperated by one drive slot. When he seperated his drives by a drive slot his failures disappeared. I now have my DVD_RW seperated by a drive slot with a set of fans blowing through and have had no problems. Also check and make sure your system is staying cool inside. Try adding another case fan if needed.

[joepic]

My PC settings are:

Operating System: WIN ME
Processore: PENTIUM 800
RAM: 320 Mb
IDE Primary Master: HARD DISK 20 Gb
IDE Primary Slave: ATAPI DVD-RW 4X BENQ
IDE Secondary Master: HARD DISK Maxtor 80 Gb
IDE Secondary Slave: Mast. CD-Rom SHUTTLE WAitec
Burning Software: NERO 6

You have your IDE drives configured WRONG

Your PRIMARY IDE (Master & Slave) should be your HD's. The BOOT drive should be the MASTER.

Your Secondary IDE (Master & Slave) should be your CD/burner. It does NOT make a difference which one is Master or Slave.

Try this and let us know how it works..

[Jayhawk]

You have your IDE drives configured WRONG

His drives should work OK as long as the jumpers are set right. I'm assuming that your primary-master (20gig) holds the operating system and you rip the original dvd to the secondary-master (80gig). You then burn from the secondary-master to the primary- slave (burner).

Nothing wrong with that. One caution is "where are your work files". My guess is that Nero is using the C: drive for work file space but still should NOT cause coasters. The blue screen bothers me a lot as it shows something is definitely not right. You might go into accessores-system tool-system information and check for any device/IRQ conflicts. Blue screens in ME can definitely be memory-related, device drivers, irq conflicts, memory conflicts (you aren't doing BIOS or video shadowing, are you ?).

I don't think it's you IDE setup but if you're concerned it would be easy to mke your burner the master on the secondary and your 80gig the slave on the primary. Just make sure you check all your jumpers as that can definitely cause communication error. Stay away from using the cable select setting. Might want to look closely at your IDE cables too.

[hitechjunkie]

you could be having power supply problems with your dvd burner.

since burning dvds requires a much more precise and constant focus of laser light, the power supply in your pentium 800 (a 200W PS?) may not be up to the task of "adequately" supporting a dvd burner with 2 hard drives, a cd-rom drive and all the other devices in your PC consuming power:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/power-supply3.htm

-hitechjunkie

[Jayhawk]

you could be having power supply problems with your dvd burner.

Good call hitechjunkie, that is a possibility and might explain why it "appears" to happen more frequently after the machine is used for a long period of time. Would probably pay to check out the other simplier stuff before replacing a power supply.

[bdf24]

I would still take into consideration what MikeV said. I also learned years ago not to throw my CD/RW disk drives on top of each other. I would get a lot of bad burns with my CDRW drives. As soon as I split them apart it worked perfect. To much heat.

Also I personally would have both of my Hard drives on the primary IDE and the CD/RW drives on the secondary. I guess now day's it probobly does'nt make much of a difference. But it did years ago. I do it more out of habbit now I guess.

[h8sh8]

Just want to say that having a Pentium 800 shouldn't be the problem (got no idea about the power supplies though) - I have a pentium 400 and have had about 5 disc errors out of 160. My computer is so slow it takes 30mins to burn when I choose 4x burn - I've watched at least part of every backup I've done, and no problems except length of time it takes
One problem I did have was using Nero in WinME for backing up a ps2 game - the dvds wouldn't work at all - it would burn the disc, but not read em afterwards, but for movies I use CloneDVD in WinXP with no problems, and now DVD Decrypter in WinXP for PS2 with no problems. Have you tried burning with something other than Nero? Nero 6 works fine for cds for me, but not any of the dvds I tried (only tried ps2 though)

Basically my computer is crap compared to yours and I don't get problems because of that reason.

[budz]

bdf24 wrote:

I would still take into consideration what MikeV said. I also learned years ago not to throw my CD/RW disk drives on top of each other. I would get a lot of bad burns with my CDRW drives. As soon as I split them apart it worked perfect. To much heat.

hmmms....I have my dvdrom, dvd burner, cdrw burner all stacked up in that sequence....I don't have problems with bad burns.....I use a well ventilated ANTEC case with 2 case fans.....


TO bibit>>>>You don't mention how you're backing up your dvds. Do you use DVD SHRINK to compress and then use NERO to burn? What version of NERO are you using? I would suggest you check to see if your dvd burner is DMA enabled. Here is a download for ASPI drivers:

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/drivers_by_product.jsp?language=English+US&ca...dkey=ASPI-4.70

There is a exe file in there called "aspichk", double click on it and it will tell you what version ASPI you have installed on your pc.

You may want to try IMG TOOL BURN to burn dvds.

http://www.coujo.de/ib/index.php?s=81e587bb3568a51437e8871b6af6d1fb&act=html_include&i..._name=download

Good Luck! Let us know how things turn out.

[mike_rach]

Win ME bites the big one, try going to 2000 or XP.
Could also be why it is more likely to be successful on a clean boot, Win ME memory management sucks!

[bdf24]

Win ME bites the big one, try going to 2000 or XP.
Could also be why it is more likely to be successful on a clean boot, Win ME memory management sucks!

I second this one. WinME is a bad OS IMO.

[jimmalenko]

Win ME bites the big one, try going to 2000 or XP.
Could also be why it is more likely to be successful on a clean boot, Win ME memory management sucks!

I second this one. WinME is a bad OS IMO.

I third this one.

[Jayhawk]

Agree that ME is the absolute worst operating system other than perhaps Win95 when it comes to memory management. As you load (use) programs they tend to stay in memory, memory becomes fragmented, programs run slow, programs crash. A reboot once or more a day was a given. I go for weeks without rebooting XP.

(even 98SE was more stable than ME).

Even more reason to make sure you are not shadowing your BIOS or video. Also might try and limit programs that load on startup and stay there.

[hitechjunkie]

still might be a power supply/heat issue. what other components do you have installed? video card? modem? network card? sound card?

try running your PC in the most basic configuration as possible, only one harddrive on the primary IDE and your dvd writer on the secondary IDE and disconnect the power to your floppy drive if you have one, then try dvd burning. if your burns are more consistent/successful, then you've got to decide on which components/devices you absolutely must have and which you can do without. either that, or buy a new 1) power supply or 2) case or 3) system.

(by the way, i agree with the other posters about WinME - absolutely terrible O/S!)

[Vanderlow]

Get XP and reformat in NTFS.

[handyguy]

usually its a media issue. You must match media to writer, must be a thousand topics on this alone. But once get the right stuff stay with it.

[Nelson37]

First, get some RW disks.

Your description sounds like a memory leak problem. Works on boot, not again unless you reboot. Try burning several with a reboot between each disk. If this works, that confirms the memory leak.

Your description is not clear enough to be certain. The fact that it works at all eliminates most of the possibilities mentioned. Could be heat or power, but if you can burn, let it sit for a while, reboot, and burn again with success, its memory leak.

Many progs do not properly remove themselves from memory after exit, this can be affected by order of launch and/or exit. WinME is particularly prone to this.

[lenti_75]

if you get that famous blue screen, it's either win, or Nero...something is installed wrong.
you should reinstall everything again.
it could be the source, but I doubt it, even if is 200W is enough, your sistem is not that "hungry"...

[bdf24]

if you get that famous blue screen, it's either win, or Nero...something is installed wrong.
you should reinstall everything again.
it could be the source, but I doubt it, even if is 200W is enough, your sistem is not that "hungry"...

Yeah but he does have 2 hard drives and 2 CD Drives! If his PSU is only 200 watts I could see it possibly getting stressed out while burning a disk. But yes a reinstall is what I would do first. But I would actually recommend getting WinXP as well. Much more stable then Win98 or ME. About the same as Win2K just prettier and more bloated.