Problem with LG GSA-4163B

[Syxxpk]

I picked this burner up on friday and have had nothing but problems with it so far. I've found a solution for all but one. It's supose to be a 16x burner but no matter what burning software I try the highest speed shown is always 2.5. I've tried reinstalling windows, upgrading the firmware, downgrading the firmware and moving it to different position in the computer. I'm out of ideas. Does anyone know why it's doing this?

[canadateck]

What Media? also it will never burn full time at rated 16x.

[victoriabears]

try uninstalling it and reinstalling and make sure dma is enabled.

[laspis59]

I have the same burner and have no problems whatsoever.If its properly installed (Set to master and IDE slot 2)and your using the latest firmware A104,then maybe its a faulty piece of hardware.
Contact LG or take the burner back and get a refund.

[thevoelk]

Make sure your drive is set to use DMA instead of PIO. Also, if the drive you're burning from, probably your hard drive, is on the same channel as your 4163 is, your burn speeds will slow down.

[Syxxpk]

The media is 8x. Even if I don't have any media inserted it still only display speeds up to 2.5.
DMA is on, reinstalling the drivers didn't help.
The drive is currently set at secondary master which seems to be the ideal position for it (it solved the other problems I mentioned) but it still won't burn at full speed. I'm currently using firmware 103 but I did try 104 and it made no difference.
It looks like I'm going to have to return the burner.

[laspis59]

Sorry,Syxxpk,I'm totally giving you the wrong info.
You set your DVD-ROM(Reader) to Secondary Master and your LG GSA-4163B (Writer) to Secondary Slave.
I apoligize for my dumb mistake.
I cant believe no one corrected me on this one.

Update: My LG GSA-4163B usually shows up to 12x when inserting 8x Verbatim DVD+R for writing.

[Syxxpk]

I don't have any other dvd readers/writer in the machine. I did use to have it setup as secondary slave but no love. The only position that I haven't tried yet is primary master. Either way I've already decided to return it and will be on my way there shortly. Thanks for trying to help.

[AlecWest]

I picked this burner up on friday and have had nothing but problems with it so far. I've found a solution for all but one. It's supose to be a 16x burner but no matter what burning software I try the highest speed shown is always 2.5. I've tried reinstalling windows, upgrading the firmware, downgrading the firmware and moving it to different position in the computer. I'm out of ideas. Does anyone know why it's doing this?

I had a different problem ... but since the two may be related, I'll share it with you. Normally DVDdecrypter would work at various read-rates between 2x and 10x (sometimes faster). Then, all of a sudden, all read-rates were between 1.1x and 2.5x. I did some research and found the fix for the problem at Microsoft.com (this assumes WinXP SP2):

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;817472#XSLTH3141121124120121120120

In brief, this is the "workaround" method I used to fix things:

WORKAROUND

To re-enable the typical, or faster, transfer mode for an affected device:

1. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management.

2. Click System Tools, and then click Device Manager.

3. Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers node.

4. Double-click the controller for which you want to restore the typical DMA transfer mode.

5. Click the Driver tab.

6. Click Uninstall.

7. When the process completes, restart your computer. When Windows restarts, the hard disk controller is re-enumerated and the transfer mode is reset to the default value for each device that is connected to the controller.

In short, the problem was with my IDE Controller. When you attempt to capture from or burn to a "bad disk," WinXP does you "a favor" (ahem) by changing your controller from DMA mode to PIO mode. The capture or burn may still work ... but after encountering a certain number of internal errors, the change takes place "silently" without a user's knowledge. You don't find out about it until the NEXT time you boot your system and try to capture or burn ... then WHAM ... everything slows down to a snail's pace.

Hope this solution works as well for you as it did for me.

[Hawseman]

What software and version is showing you 2.5x? Does it need to be upgraded to support the LG?

Gotta ask.....

[laspis59]

I think its too late as Syxxpk has probably returned it by now.