First Pioneer DVR-231 Problem after heavy use...

[Max Renn, Channel 83]

I bought this recorder December 2005 and have used it daily since then. I have probably burned nearly, or well over, 1000 DVDs with it with no troubles. But lately it has started shutting off during recording or it will just stop recording and instead of displaying the "RECORDING INFORMATION TO DISC" message on the screen it simply stops without actually recording.

For example, you'll press Display and you can see that something is on the disc because it will have lest time next to REMAIN or if you look at the disc you can visibly see it is burnt. This is especially annoying because it happens at any time. From cold starts (like tonight, my room was 60 degrees F) or after several hours of use. It started doing this a couple months ago on and off, and then everything was fine till today.

Anyone have a similar problem with the Pioneer players, and any ideas as to what this could be? I tried unplugging the power source from the back and rehooking it up. It's a pain when this happens since you have to record "real-time." HUGE time waster.

Thanks

[Frobozz]

It sounds like the optical drive is failing and needs replacement. But you also could try a laser-cleaning disc to see if it is a dust problem instead.

[Max Renn, Channel 83]

Well just to update, after I opened up a new pack of DVD-Rs it started working again. The old pack was near the end and I wonder if maybe they were just bad. Having said that, it just stopped AGAIN a few minutes ago and I'm only halfway through this pack. They are Maxell 16X DVD-R, bought from Wal-Mart.

I'll try the laser cleaning before I burn anything else. Thanks for the tip.

[evil_lives]

My 510H would not give a constant burn using 16X blanks...
It would go through the process.. sometimes stopping after 1hr, and would come up with copy error... sometimes it would copy everything, and then fail on the finalize..

Had to go back to using 8X blanks..


Peace.

[MJA]

Maxell quality isn't that good.try the Verbatim 16X from bestbuy when they get on sale($12.99 for 50) they work fine on my ILO 04

one more thing. did you buy the player from walmart?I remember walmart used to sell the 231

[Constant Gardener]

Clean the IDE connectors, on the burner and the motherboard, with a q-tip and isopropanol. Then replace the IDE cable, preferably with a quality 80-wire one. (I have similar temperature swings in my basement office which have lead to some problems with corrosion of cheap cables.) If that doesn't help, replace the burner.