Strange DVD writing errors!

[Kurupt1811]

Hi, new to the forum, hoping some of you guys can help me out. I havn't been able to properly burn a DVD for a couple of days now. Was using a Pioneer (can't remember the model number) for over a year. During the actual burn process, there doesnt seem to be any problems other than it taking a little longer than normal (6-7 min for 16x). No errors come up or anything, but when the burn is completed and I look at the back of the disc, there is what looks to be a scratch on it. My guess is that its an area where data was not written for whatever reason. When I try to play the DVD in my standalone DVD player, it completely freezes at some point, obviously it must be the part where the "scratch" occurs. I thought that it might be my burner, possibly the laser dying or something, so I went to the store and bought a Samsung SH-S182D. Installed it, updated the firmware, but burned another coaster. The same scratch thing!!!! Now the new Samsung drive I bought was OEM and didnt come in a box or anything but for the same exact problem to occur in a new burner? I think thats pretty unlikely. So I'm guessing it has to be something wrong with my computer or settings or something. I did a mem test, everything was fine. Tried burning with Alcohol 120% instead of Nero, same thing happens. Since the majority of DVD's I burn are image files, I thought maybe there was something wrong with the file itself, so I downloaded the file again, same problem. I also tried burning at a low speed, didn't work. WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON!!!

BTW, I tried burning a regular CD, it was fine

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!

[aedipuss]

get some good quality dvdr blanks of another brand to test with. sounds like you ran into a bad batch that all have missing dye or a bad stamper.

[Kurupt1811]

hmmmmm i just tried using another disc from a new package and got the same result. The new discs i used were the same brand however (Memorex DVD-R 16x). If it is the discs (and I'm really hoping it is), do you think that maybe they are too old? I usually buy my discs in bulk and will buy 3 or 4 100 disc spindles at a time when they go on sale. Ive been using from the same stock for at least 6 months now. I will look around and see if I have any discs of another brand to test this theory further. Thanks for the quick reply!

[SCDVD]

Make sure that the IDE controller for your burner is set for DMA, not PIO.

[Kurupt1811]

Yes I've tried that as well, my samsung (master) is set to ultra dma 2 - ultra33, and my pioneer (slave) is set to ultra dma 4 - ultra66

[aedipuss]

if it does the same pattern and creates bad discs with other brand blanks i'd conclude the drive has failed. probably the stepper motor isn't moving the lense unit properly anymore.