Are HP DVD drives prone to early problems ? Got HP Forum ?

[VideoMann]

Hello!

I'm wondering if HP DVD drives are prone to early hardware problems, such as laser calibration going out of specs or other internal problems.

HP used to have an open Forum when DVD+R drives came into the market, however after they backaway from their promise to upgrade all first generation DVD drives to support DVD+RW their HP DVD Forum disappeared (probably due to all the negative comments and lawsuits).

1) Is there now an HP Forum dedicated to their drives?:
PC-HP DVD200i, HP-DVD200e, HP-DVD200ix, HP-DVD300e

2) What other "support & troubleshooting Forums" that would cover PC-DVD writable drives do you know ?

I'm having problems with my HP-DVD200i recognizing DVDs and CDs with data in it (not as video dvd). I thought it might be a software corruption but I don't believe now.

Symptoms:
1. Drive spins the disc (CD-R or DVD+RW) forever.
2. Sometimes I get an i/o error
3. Sometimes it says the disk is corrupted

These were disks burned on this drive and are in excellent condition (no scratches). Burned with Nero as data multisession. Previously working. Problem is not related to media brand.

Between the time the drive was working and the time problems started , no new hardware installed, no firmware changes ( that is not a solution if you were thinking as a remedy), no new software installed.

PLEASE POST YOUR OPINIONS AND LINKS.

THANKS !!!

[BreakingTheSilence]

All I have to say is stay the hell away from the HP firmware 1.51 update. I cannot write to +R DVDs, only +RW, since I upgraded. Also, only a handful of DVDs will now play in my stand alone DVD player when before the upgrade everything I burned played flawlessly. I will stay away from all things HP in the future.

[ofbarea]

If you had problems with firmware 1.51, you may try to update to the latest the latest 1.64 Firmware for Ricoh 5125. Since HP DVD200i is burner is based in the Ricoh 5125 the firmware 1.64 will work properly.

I upgraded my DVD200i to the 1.64 5125 firmware a while ago and no problems so far. Since the upgrade I have burned 4 DVD movies (2 DVD-R and 2 DVD-RW), a few data DVDs, a couple VCDs, and some data CDs.

If you are interested in trying this option, take a look at the following guide: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/174580.php