Can't burn DVD-RW

[AlanHK]

I bought a Samsung DVD drive, model TS-H662A CM02
It burns DVD blanks reliably using ImgBurn.
But every time I try to burn a DVD RW, it reports success, but the disc is unreadable in either the PC drive or a DVD player.

Even if I reformat/erase the disc first.

I also have an older LG drive. (GSA-4160B A306).
With that I can burn the same DVDRW discs successfully, though I have to reformat them after the other drive has written to them.
This for several different brands of disc. I cant find any RWs the Samsung will burn properly.

Any clues as to what is going on?

The LG drive is failing mechanically, the tray won't eject unless it has a disc in it or if I use a wire in the eject pinhole. So I was hoping to retire it.

[DB83]

Cannot find much about this unit.

Some reviews state that it works. Others, it does not. And some even state that it requires drivers (not supplied). I can never recall a dvd writer that needed its own drivers before !!!!!!!!!!

[Noahtuck]

The LG drive is failing mechanically, the tray won't eject unless it has a disc in it or if I use a wire in the eject pinhole. So I was hoping to retire it.

99.9% of the time it is just the drive belt.
Old, worn, stretched out.

[jman98]

Any hardware component can ship defectively. It could be that it wasn't tested adequately, if at all, in reality prior to shipping. If you can find them, in my opinion Pioneer makes the best burners.

Verbatim makes the best RW DVD media and every other brand really is inferior. Other brands I've tried were not as good.

[Noahtuck]

I was also thinking if it is a new burner and older media maybe the new burner does not have a write strategy for the media in the firmware ?

But I see he also posted it happens with "several" brands of RW ?
But maybe they are old media ?

[fredreed]

You need to make sure that the disc gets finalized after burning process is done. If the disc isn't finalized then it will be unplayable In a PC and DVD player. Also make sure that you are using the correct software for burning.

[johns0]

You need to make sure that the disc gets finalized after burning process is done. If the disc isn't finalized then it will be unplayable In a PC and DVD player. Also make sure that you are using the correct software for burning.

AlanHK did say that he uses imgburn for burning which is the correct software and it says that the burn was successful,unless he's doing a multisession dvd then the disc gets finalized anyways,sounds more like a burner problem with dvd-rw.

I had the same problem with a dvd burner and replaced it.

[AlanHK]

The LG drive is failing mechanically, the tray won't eject unless it has a disc in it or if I use a wire in the eject pinhole. So I was hoping to retire it.

99.9% of the time it is just the drive belt.
Old, worn, stretched out.

I guessed that. But can't see any way to get into it to fix it, even if I could find a new belt.
I've had this problem with other burners. The burning is fine, just the damn tray won't eject.
Then after using the eject pin for a while, the tray eventually won't close properly and is useless.

I've never seen a guide to fixing this. I destroyed a couple of old burners trying to work this out.

Any hardware component can ship defectively. It could be that it wasn't tested adequately, if at all, in reality prior to shipping. If you can find them, in my opinion Pioneer makes the best burners.

This was the only IDE burner I could find. (Aside from used ones.)
My PC is ancient, no SATA.
I don't use New Egg, Amazon, etc, as I'm not in the US.

I was also thinking if it is a new burner and older media maybe the new burner does not have a write strategy for the media in the firmware ?
But I see he also posted it happens with "several" brands of RW ?
But maybe they are old media ?

As I said, "several".
Old and almost new.
Verbatim, Memorex, Sony. All work in the LG, all fail in the Samsung.
So I'm pretty sure it's not bad /old media.
I haven't tried a brand new one yet, all were originally formatted in the LG.
But after the Samsung screws up the disc I can reformat in the LG and it's fine again.

And the Samsung is much newer than the LG, so it shouldn't have outdated strategies.
I've flashed both to the latest firmware.

Samsung: 2009
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters/samsung-sh-s222a-ts-h662a/2526
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/TS-H662A

LG: 2004
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters?DVDname=gsa-4160B
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=11079

Maybe I'll try older firmware for the Samsung. Could be a bug in the latest version.

[[_chef_]]

Post the logfile from imgburn, so we can see what parameters you have used.

Anything else is stabbing in the dark....

[DB83]

With a 'updated' firmware of 2010 it is hardly 'new'. Have you tried other (non RW) media ?

I assume you flashed it after the problems you describe but it sounds now more like a bad drive/controller etc.

[jman98]

[
As I said, "several".
Old and almost new.
Verbatim, Memorex, Sony. All work in the LG, all fail in the Samsung.
So I'm pretty sure it's not bad /old media.

For the benefit of others...
Memorex is ALWAYS bad. It has NEVER been good. Even back in the days when almost everybody was making high quality DVD media, Memorex was making junk.
Verbatim RW media is ALWAYS good. Period. They do not use low quality manufacturers for RW discs.
Sony media is made by both the worst and the best manufacturers so all I can offer is a shrug as to its quality.

[classfour]

One other thing: Burners are $20 on sale at the egg - I'd weigh in the value of my time before I'd tear a drive down.

If you have the time - it's your call.

[AlanHK]

With a 'updated' firmware of 2010 it is hardly 'new'. Have you tried other (non RW) media ?

I assume you flashed it after the problems you describe but it sounds now more like a bad drive/controller etc.

It burns DVD blanks reliably using ImgBurn.

Please read the post before you give advice.

One other thing: Burners are $20 on sale at the egg - I'd weigh in the value of my time before I'd tear a drive down.
If you have the time - it's your call.

My PC is ancient, no SATA.
I don't use New Egg, Amazon, etc, as I'm not in the US.

Please read the post before you give advice.

[DB83]

My sincere apologies.

Now burn failures/non-compatable -RW media is well known with stand-alones. Example: I have two dvd-recorders one made/badged as Funai and a much newer model made/badged as Sony. The Sony claims to accept 2x media but it will not accept the 'Sony' 1x-2x media - yeah I know they do not make 'em but the Funai has no issue with them.

Now your 'Samsung' is actually a Toshiba if I read the blurb correctly and I had a similar issue with a previous Toshiba stand-alone. In the end it was impossible to find RW media for it.

I believe it is something to do with the dye. The Funai also accepts 4x TDK's so it may be worth trying to get some of these if you have not already tried them.

[johns0]

How about buying a new dvd burner and putting it in an external case,won't cost much more.

[Noahtuck]

The LG drive is failing mechanically, the tray won't eject unless it has a disc in it or if I use a wire in the eject pinhole. So I was hoping to retire it.

99.9% of the time it is just the drive belt.
Old, worn, stretched out.

I guessed that. But can't see any way to get into it to fix it, even if I could find a new belt.
I've had this problem with other burners. The burning is fine, just the damn tray won't eject.
Then after using the eject pin for a while, the tray eventually won't close properly and is useless.

I've never seen a guide to fixing this. I destroyed a couple of old burners trying to work this out.

I just take the drives apart, the metal housing, and replace the drive belt.
I have done it a 100 times, PC burners, console dvd roms, etc.

I was also thinking if it is a new burner and older media maybe the new burner does not have a write strategy for the media in the firmware ?
But I see he also posted it happens with "several" brands of RW ?
But maybe they are old media ?

As I said, "several".
Old and almost new.
Verbatim, Memorex, Sony. All work in the LG, all fail in the Samsung.
So I'm pretty sure it's not bad /old media.
I haven't tried a brand new one yet, all were originally formatted in the LG.
But after the Samsung screws up the disc I can reformat in the LG and it's fine again.
And the Samsung is much newer than the LG, so it shouldn't have outdated strategies.

Yep, I know you said several, as I stated you did in m post you quoted.

And they can't possibly include write strategies for every old type of media out there in new burners, just 1 brand of +R media from the past 10 years could possibly have hundreds of different codes on them.

[AlanHK]

I just take the drives apart, the metal housing, and replace the drive belt.
I have done it a 100 times, PC burners, console dvd roms, etc.

Well, "just take the drive apart" may be obvious to you. But it doesn't help me a lot. I don't even know where the belt in question is.
You're under no obligation to be more specific, of course.
I've looked for service manuals, none say a thing about taklng apart or replacing parts.

And they can't possibly include write strategies for every old type of media out there in new burners, just 1 brand of +R media from the past 10 years could possibly have hundreds of different codes on them.

Well, if they don't have write stratgies for Verbatim and Sony, what the hell would they have?
And to repeat, the same discs burn okay in the LG, and before that in a Pioneer drive (that burnt till the end but wouldn't eject).
And I've never, before had a disc that couldn't be written. If the firmware didn't recognise it it would fall back to some default mode and burn very slowly, but it would work.

I suppose the question is, how is burning an RW disc different from a burn-once?
If it's only the "strategy" that's different, then it is the firmware (and possibly fixable). If it has different mechanical or optical requirements, it could be hardware (and probably not fixable).
I guess I should just try the other firmwares, there were two older releases.

[Noahtuck]

The point was/is, they may not use write strategies for ANY media, even Verbatim, that are 8 years old and are NOT produced anymore......

You just need to take the drive casing apart/off and open the tray a little as the drive mechanism is usually right at the front of the drive.

[johns0]

Just take off 4 screws from the dvdrw housing and lift off the cover and eject the tray and you will see what Noahtuck is showing in the picture.

[DB83]

On the issue on 'write strategies' I well remember my first CD burner. It did not come with sofware and I also bought what I thought would do the job.

Jeez, the software kept a database, updated from time to time, and refused to write to any disk. It took 2 to 3 months for the list to include my burner by which time I had obtained other software (Nero I think, from a time when it was still good) which did the job straight out of the box.

[[_chef_]]

Software has nothing to do with write strategies.
WS are included in the firmware, or not at all.