Did I get a lemon???

[impmon2]

Sometime ago I bought an HP 640i and after haggling with the store manager they finally got the replacement burner *with* software included.

Anyway I think I traded a good one for a dud Of the following medias I've used:

Maxell +R 8x
Maxell -R 8x
Sony -R 8x
cheap -R 8x
some unknown leftover 2x +R

When I burn them, at 8x speed it takes about 25 minutes with a 1 in 3 chance it'd abort with instant coaster. But when I burn them at 4x, 15 minutes usually with the same 1 in 3 chance of coaster.

Even the old leftovers 2x DVD I had (almost 1 hour to burn). I never had a coaster with the old burnerr but 640i was spitting out coasters like crazy.

I did a speed simulation and I was able to achieve 17x with peaks hitting close to 30x Never a coaster when burning CD-R at any speed.

My current system setup:
80GB primary with OS
80GB secondary mostly for data storeage including ISO's for buring to DVD
HP 640i on secondary, no secondary slave
3.0 GHz P4
1.5GB RAM
Xp Home with SP2

Any idea or suggestion? Take it back for an exchange? Or shove this one up in HP's Q&A dept and get a different brand?

[budz]

check to make sure the drive is in DMA MODE.....use DVDINFO PRO or DVD IDENTIFIER to find the exact MEDIA ID for those discs. i suspect those maxell's you have are MADE IN TAIWAN which is RITEK media...your dvd drive maybe a rebadged drive but i am not sure who could be the manufacturer.

[impmon2]

The cheap -R checks out as Ritek, and both Memorex +-R comes back as Prodisc.

I checked, the DVD burner is on DMA mode 2 and both HD are on mode 5.

With the last DVD burner I had, it didn't make any coaster out of maybe 100 DVD's I've burned.

Right now HP's Q&A dept is probably laughing at me. I just tried to remove the burner to get a better idea of what brand it was and one of the screw head just popped off. It's stuck in the PC because the screw shaft is far out enough to keep the drive in place yet there's nothing for me to grip my plier or something on. i can't bend the drive frame out far enough to pop the drive and that screw shaft out.

[impmon2]

Just a quick update: I borrowed (well, actually stole) my friend's DVD burner and tried it on my PC using same software and same default settings. 8 discs no coasters plus it burns at 8x in under 15 minutes.

So the HP burner I got is a dud.

That makes the second time HP screwed up in the Q&A dept (first one was missing software) I'm almost afraid to try and get DVD640 the third time...

[laspis59]

So the HP burner I got is a dud.

My first DVD Writer was a HP,zero coasters.
I can understand how angry you must feel though.

[impmon2]

My first was also an HP, 8250i IIRC. No coaster and worked for almost 2 years before it went blind somehow (wouldn't read or write anything). My last burner is HP dvd300i and still works but it's limited to 4x +R/RW only while today's burner can do both format up to 16x. That's why I went with HP initially but it seems their quality had slipped since I bought that 300i.

[impmon2]

Take 3: by the look of empty cake boxes I've gone through over 300 DVD-R's since taking back drive #2 for an exchange and only 3 coasters so far. Looks like the third time's the charm