New NEC3540 Failing ALREADY

[accountwiz]

I owned a 2500 some times ago that failed after just a few months, and I replaced it with a Pioneer 108 that has performed brilliantly. I'm not even sure why I bought this 3540, anyway. Probably just boredom and curiosity.

Anyway, the 3540 is killing several brands of media in a series of power calibration and other undefined (but likely related) errors all of a sudden. I heard that a firmware flash could sometimes upgrade things, but that was a no go. Best I can gather from scouring the message boards is that it's giving up the ghost just a month after I installed it. Lovely.

It's the last business NEC is getting though. Sorry, had to vent.

[RottenFoxBreath]

in my personal experience,NEC writers were shit,ive owned 3,and 3 never worked correctly,whereas the pioneer 105,106,107,108,and 109 i have,have never been so.

[QuaiBoy]

Go back to the 108, awesome drive. Couldn't be more pleased.

-Evan-

[ark]

Thanks for your feedback on NEC. I was almost on the verge of getting one.

I am sticking to my Pioneer A07XLA which handles every media without fail. And I am happy with 10 - 15 min. per disk.

[Noahtuck]

Huh...
I have had an NEC ND-3520A for 6 months now and i have literaly put 1000's of dvdr's through it and still works great!! 8)

[bidefordboy]

Have burned over 1000 dvd's on my Nec 2500a, no problems whatsoever. Have just ordered a 3540.

[parallax1]

Had an NEC 1300a. Have an NEC 2510 and NEC 3540 with no problems. Burnt tons of discs (cheap and expensive) and all have been great. Must be user error?

[FulciLives]

I also had the trusty NEC ND-1300A and that puppy was a very nice burner ... as long as you supplied it very nice MADE IN JAPAN media like Maxell DVD-R and Taiyo Yuden DVD-R.

I do happen to own a Pioneer now though hehehe :P

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[samijubal]

I've burned a few thousand discs on the 3500, I've had problems with 2 discs that were defective.

[greymalkin]

Had an HP 300i (NEC 1300a). Have an NEC 2510 and NEC 3540 with no problems. Burnt tons of discs (cheap and expensive) and all have been great. Must be user error?

www.dlvee.com/error.mp3

[accountwiz]

Well, I'm going to eBay the replacement 3540 that newegg sends me and hug my Pioneer a bit tighter. The quality of Pioneer 108 burns is pretty to behold, and I guess my 2nd flirtation with NEC was a waste of time and money.

[Poppa_Meth]

The pioneer 109 isn't the best drive either. The 108 was much better. I think it comes down to everything taking a quality hit in a market that demand a product as cheaply priced as possible.

[WoodyWoodpecker]

I have owned so far NEC 1000,1100,1300,2500,2510,3520,and have a 3540 on the way.I've been very pleased with all these drives with no problems.I do have other burners also but NEC is my preference.

[CBC]

I own both a 2500 & a new 3540 & couldn't be happier. In general NEC burners seem to be a bit less picky on media types than other brands, which is useful in today's market place.

[Gilligan]

I owned a 2500 some times ago that failed after just a few months, and I replaced it with a Pioneer 108 that has performed brilliantly. I'm not even sure why I bought this 3540, anyway. Probably just boredom and curiosity.

Anyway, the 3540 is killing several brands of media in a series of power calibration and other undefined (but likely related) errors all of a sudden. I heard that a firmware flash could sometimes upgrade things, but that was a no go. Best I can gather from scouring the message boards is that it's giving up the ghost just a month after I installed it. Lovely.

It's the last business NEC is getting though. Sorry, had to vent.

Can you be a little more specific about what media and the MID codes ?You should also jump over to www.cdfreaks.com if you haven''t already and check out the NEC forum.I have a 3500 that i have burned over 1300 DVD's in the last year or so and haven't had any problems when using decent media (Ritek Ricohjpn,Verbatim 16 x MCC004,Fuji TY,etc.) I have in the past though ran into some Power Calibration errors on my NEC and my Lite-On drives when using inferior media. I'm not saying that is your problem but being more specific on the media could help. Is it several brands of media or several brands of cheap media ?

Tom

[accountwiz]

The media ranged from CMC to MIJ Maxell to Fuji TY. It was the drive, my friend. A complete and total dud of a drive.

[Gilligan]

The media ranged from CMC to MIJ Maxell to Fuji TY. It was the drive, my friend. A complete and total dud of a drive.

It happens.Had 2 Pioneers and a Plextor go south so I understand my friend.

Tom

[ltseng]

I just bought NEC 3540A a week ago. The drive write the disks good but the max speed on a dvd+r 16x is 2.1x. Any idea? Thanks.

[CBC]

what burning app are you using?
What brand are your DVDs?
You have your drive connected as MASTER on your IDE channel?

[DTSL06]

Have NEC 2500/2510 and 3500 and installed a bunch of 3520s and 3540s and they have been flawless so far. Maybe I am just lucky since non of the DVD burners that I've own or have installed has given any problems. I still have my Pio 105 and its still burning fine...slow but fine. The only one that had problems was a LG multiwriter (forgot model) that I installed for a client that died after 2 years. The only problems I had with any of the burners have been that some really cheap media will burn on one and not another and vise versa and then the really crap media that dont burn on any burners.

[fakerbaker]

i have a nec 3520 and its literally only a few monthes old and its starting to fail on loads of discs,cos i had a spare 109 in my old pc i've put it in and no probs at all burning.nec to my mind are far inferior than pioneer and i would never buy another again

[CBC]

As with anything else, some people love 'em, some people don't. The reason I bought mine was that there's a ton of different firmwares out there, which means lots of ppl use them, they're reported to be less picky w/ brands of media versus other burners, they are dirt cheap, and all reviews I've seen have them rated highly.
Bottom line is...those who have good luck with them will use them, those who don't will buy something else.

[ltseng]

CBC, I used DVD descrypter. I got few ideas from other forum, I route the drive as primary and changed to DMA did the trick. Every read and write to it's max and above now. I love this drive!

[CBC]

That is always the first two things I check when there's a problem
DMA and IDE setting. I love it when it turns out to be the simple stuff! :P

[pcbman]

ND-3540 working great here for around 3 months now.
Several hundred burned with no coasters unless I do something stupid or have a bad rip.
Always using VERBATIM media and never burn at max speed.
Upgraded firmware to latest Dees 1.03W with riplock removed.
Sticking with what works best for me I guess.

Gotta love this drive for the money.

[zoobie]

6 months with ND-3540 here...not as much as a hiccup...