ts-h652l DVD Burning Problem - slow burns

[1plus1]

Hey forum folks!

I'm stuck. I've been having a bit of a burning issue (video, data, isos, anything). My drive used to work fine (burned 4gb in 6 min), but about 2 weeks ago it started taking a long time to burn (usually 45 min for 4 gb of data). Nero, ImgBurn, CDBurnerXP, every program I use is having the same problem. The burn always succeeds, but always takes a long time. Nero says "6 min remaining", but it still takes forever. I've uninstalled & reinstalled Nero with no luck. I've heard that people have had this type of problem with Nero InCD, so I disabled that, with no luck.

I'm running an HP system, my drive is TSSTcorp cd/dvdw ts-h652l (16x +- RW), with plenty of HD space, RAM, & dual amd64 processors. My system is running perfectly otherwise, and it used to work just fine, so I can't seem to figure out what the problem is.

Please, ANY help would be appreciated.



Here's my last ImgBurn log file, if it's any help to anyone:

//****************************************\\
; ImgBurn Version 2.1.0.0 - Log
; Friday, 12 January 2007, 19:51:29
; \\****************************************//
;
;
I 19:03:09 ImgBurn Version 2.1.0.0 started!
I 19:03:09 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)
W 19:03:09 Drive D:\ (FAT32) does not support single files > 4 GB
I 19:03:09 Initialising SPTI...
I 19:03:09 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 19:03:09 Found 5 DVD-ROMs and 1 DVD±RW/RAM!
I 19:03:50 Operation Started!
I 19:03:50 Source File: C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\My Documents\Downloads\Psychonauts\Psychonauts\Psycho nauts.iso
I 19:03:50 Source File Sectors: 2,020,096 (MODE1/2048)
I 19:03:50 Source File Size: 4,137,156,608 bytes
I 19:03:50 Source File File System(s): ISO9660
I 19:03:50 Destination Device: [0:0:0] TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H652L 0603 (E (ATA)
I 19:03:50 Destination Media Type: DVD+R (Disc ID: YUDEN000-T02-00) (Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x)
I 19:03:50 Destination Media Sectors: 2,295,104
I 19:03:50 Write Mode: DVD
I 19:03:50 Write Type: DAO
I 19:03:50 Write Speed: MAX
I 19:03:50 Link Size: Auto
I 19:03:50 Test Mode: No
I 19:03:50 BURN-Proof: Enabled
I 19:03:51 Filling Buffer...
I 19:03:51 Writing LeadIn...
I 19:04:07 Writing Image...
I 19:50:34 Synchronising Cache...
I 19:50:40 Closing Track...
I 19:50:43 Finalising Disc...
I 19:50:59 Image MD5: b6db6ee49f27842d3ebe8fb09a6a2636
I 19:50:59 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:47:08
I 19:50:59 Average Write Rate: 1,450 KB/s (1.0x) - Maximum Write Rate: 2,182 KB/s (1.6x)
I 19:51:29 Close Request Acknowledged
I 19:51:29 Closing Down...
I 19:51:29 Shutting down SPTI...
I 19:51:29 ImgBurn closed!

It says "maximum write rate: 1.6x", which is weird concidering my drive is 16x & my media is 8x, no?

[redwudz]

I don't see it in the log, but that sounds like the writer is in PIO Mode. Easy enough to check:

To check DMA/PIO mode within Windows:

Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

From there, right click on one of the channels and choose 'Properties>Advanced Settings'. All drives should be DMA mode. The 'Current Transfer Mode' for Hard drives is usually DMA 4-6 and DVD burners DMA 2-4, DVD ROMs usually DMA 2. If you see any in PIO mode, that can slow things down.

Changing them back may be easy or complicated. First see if you can change them in that window. If not, I usually uninstall the channel the drive is on and let the OS reinstall it. This will usually take a reboot. This will not damage any files on the computer.

From there, if no luck, get back to us.

[1plus1]

Thanks for the quick feedback redwudz. The writer wasn't in PIO mode. I checked the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers in the device manager. There were 3 of each type (3 primary, 3 secondary, 3 dual), and dma was selected in the primary & secondary ones. I removed all 9 anyways for good measure, rebooted, it reinstalled the drivers, rebooted again, tried a data DVD burn, and it worked perfectly. So thanks again!

Now you've got me curious. So what are those IDE controllers anyways? How did they get screwed up? Did removing & reinstalling them reset them to default settings or something?

[redwudz]

Here's a little longer explanation I found. Sorry, it is long. I couldn't find a link for it:



DMA reverts to PIO
The stuttering DVD drive
General description

DMA is an abbreviation for Direct Memory Access, an access method for external
devices where the data transfer is not done by the central processor, but by a
small special processor called DMA controller. It uses a procedure called cycle
stealing, where the central processor memory access cycles are delayed for very
short times to intersperse DMA controller memory access cycles. Some newer,
faster DMA modes are called UDMA (Ultra DMA).
The alternative, slow and inefficient data transfer mode is called PIO,
Programmed Input-Output, where the central processor transfers data byte for
byte or word for word. This requires many processor commands for each data word
and therefore causes a high and unwanted processor load.
Possible causes for falling back to PIO mode
The most frequent use why a CD or DVD port falls back to PIO mode is a scratched
or otherwise unreadable CD or DVD.
However, there are a few reasons why a computer may use PIO instead of DMA,
particularly when it's the hard disk port that falls back, not a CD/DVD drive
port. For example, David Duberman reported in 2005 that some Dell computers have
DMA disabled in their BIOS by default for the second hard disk. So it is a good
idea to check the BIOS settings first.
Other reasons can show up in the event log, so check this first and see if you
can find repeated Atapi errors recorded. If so, you likely have a hardware
defect. You can use the procedure described below, but your computer will
probably fall back to PIO mode again and again, until you solve the underlying
problem, which may be located inside the device, on the motherboard, or in the
IDE data cable and its connectors.
The trap
Windows contains a trap in which quite a few computers seem to get caught sooner
or later. The trap was described in a Web article whose link no longer works
(and also in another one mentioned below):
The crucial paragraphs are:
PIO mode is enabled by default in the following situations:
...
For repeated DMA errors. Windows XP will turn off DMA mode for a device after
encountering certain errors during data transfer operations. If more that six
DMA transfer timeouts occur, Windows will turn off DMA and use only PIO mode
on that device.
In this case, the user cannot turn on DMA for this device. The only option for
the user who wants to enable DMA mode is to uninstall and reinstall the
device.
Windows XP downgrades the Ultra DMA transfer mode after receiving more than
six CRC errors. Whenever possible, the operating system will step down one
UDMA mode at a time (from UDMA mode 4 to UDMA mode 3, and so on).
...
Of course, drive firmware being quite complex and certainly containing
programming defects of its own, it is not all that difficult to produce such
errors. In my case a scratched DVD and later also an unreadable (overburned) CD
did the trick, got the drive to choke and Windows to disable DMA for good. Later
my hard disk hiccupped just once and also went back to PIO for good.
I had been using my laptop for DVD viewing for years, until I inserted a
borrowed and heavily scratched DVD. The player and apparently even the DVD drive
choked on it, and when I finally got the DVD to play, I found that playing was
jerky and processor load was 100%, roughly half of which was system overhead.
This indicated that the drive had reverted from the usual UDMA (Ultra Direct
Memory Access) mode 2 to PIO (Programmed Input Output) mode. No amount of
resetting or changing the relevant registry parameters from 1 (try DMA) to 2
(force DMA) helped. Stubbornly the drive kept using PIO mode, and Windows even
changed these settings back to 0 (use PIO only).
The following text will refer to the secondary IDE port because that is more
often affected, but essentially the same also holds for the primary IDE port, to
which the main hard disk is connected in most computers.
Before you begin to work on the problem, log on as Administrator or as a user
with administrator rights.
Check Your IDE Port Mode
First check what mode your secondary IDE port is currently working in. Go to
Device Manager: right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the
Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click on the plus sign to the
left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, double-click on the secondary IDE channel,
click on Extended Settings and check whether it is set to DMA when available.
Directly underneath that setting is a grey field that shows the actual working
mode of your IDE channel. You want the highest possible DMA or Ultra DMA mode
there, and you definitely don't want PIO mode.
Normally you don't have to use the registry editor for this, because the normal
settings are also available through the properties dialog for the IDE port, but
if you want to look at it anyway, the parameter for the secondary IDE port can
be found through regedit.exe at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\Scsi\Scsi Port 1
It is named Scsi only for historic reasons. Scsi Port 0 is the primary IDE port,
to which presumably your hard disk is connected.
After trying various remedies—in vain—I found the abovementioned article and
went to work again. I uninstalled the DVD drive in Device Manager and rebooted,
but that did not help either.
So I searched for more and better information, then I went on and did the
following.
Re-enable DMA using the Registry Editor
My thanks go to my fellow MVP Alexander Grigoriev who taught me this method.
Run REGEDIT. Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
It has subkeys like 0000, 0001, 0002, etc. Normally 0001 is the primary IDE
channel, 0002 the secondary, but other numbers can occur under certain
circumstances. You have to go through these subkeys and check the DriverDesc
value until you find the proper IDE channel.
Delete MasterIdDataChecksum or SlaveIdDataChecksum, depending on whether the
device in question is attached as master or slave, but it can't actually hurt to
delete both. Reboot. The drive DMA capabilities will be redetected.
Open Device Manager again and check whether the device is now actually using DMA
mode. If so, congratulations, you've made it (at least until the next time
Windows disables DMA).
2005-10-24 – Tomáš Souček wrote, if this doesn't work, check also the dword
value MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed, whose default value is hex 0xFFFFFFFF. If
you have a much smaller value, you can try to set it back to its default and
reboot for a test.
Alternative Method—Uninstalling the Port
1. Uninstall the secondary IDE port
To do that, open Device Manager as follows. Right-click on My Computer, select
Properties, click on the Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click
on the plus sign to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, right-click on
Secondary IDE Channel, click on Uninstall. Deactivating is not enough.
Reboot to make the changes active and permanent.
After booting Windows will automatically reinstall the IDE channel and the DVD
(or CD) drive. This Plug-n-Play process can take a little while, so give it a
minute after the boot process finishes.
2. Reactivate DMA
But this is not enough, because unfortunately Windows does not automatically
activate DMA on a DVD or CD drive. You have to tell Windows to try to use DMA
first.
For that, go to Device Manager again. Right-click on My Computer, select
Properties, click on the Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click
on the plus sign to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, double-click on the
secondary IDE channel, click on Extended Settings and change the relevant
setting from PIO only to DMA when available.
On Windows NT and 2000 you now have to reboot a second time, but Windows XP
applies the change instantly. Then you can go to the same place in Device
Manager again and check whether the device is now actually using DMA mode. If
so, all is well.
3. Driver is not intended for this platform
If you keep getting the following error message:
There is a problem installing this hardware.
IDE channel
An error occurred during the installation of the device. Driver is not
intended for this platform.
2005-03-30 – Johannes B. wrote: The reason for this error is often that Daemon
Tools or Alcohol 120% are installed. In this case the solution described below
would not work. But when you uninstall these programs and then restart Windows,
it will then install the device drivers without any further problems.
If these programs are not installed, then one possible way out is to rename
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\atapi.sys (or a similar path on your computer) to
something like atapi.old.
If that's not possible, you can try it from the repair console (boot from the
Windows install CD and select the repair console).
If Windows always automatically recreates atapi.sys, you can try renaming it in
safe mode or from a command line window or you can try to rename or remove it in
the driver cache as well.
Desensitize Your Computer's IDE Channels
There's a bit more to it. The following article offers a way to reduce the
incidence of this problem, although it still doesn't solve it altogether.
IDE ATA and ATAPI Disks Use PIO Mode After Multiple Time-Out or CRC Errors Occur
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472/
Do read this article because it contains a useful long-term workaround. But you
have to go through the procedure described here to re-enable DMA first. Assuming
you've done that, insert the ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess registry values
mentioned in this article into both the primary and the secondary IDE port
registry keys as described.
Unfortunately this is only a half solution, because when you enter an unreadable
DVD, you will get 6 errors in a row, and the IDE channel will revert to PIO
mode, but at least when you pull out the DVD in time and then insert a good one,
the error counter will be reset and it will at least be a bit more difficult for
Windows to hobble your IDE drive.

[1plus1]

Well I certainly learned alot. Hopefully this thread will help others with the same issue. Thanks again for your info!

Take care.

[brucewagner]

I had the exact same problem...

I followed your advice... and...

(1) Created a Recovery Restore Point (just in case)...

(2) Deleted the Driver for the drive (inside Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers>Primary IDE Channel>Properties>Drive>Uninstall...

(3) Rebooted.

It automatically reinstalled the driver and now it's in DMA mode and writes FAST to the DVD-R drive again...

THANK YOU !

(Don't ever delete this thread!!)

[redwudz]

Glad it worked for you. But remember you aren't deleting the channel, just uninstalling it with the uninstall command, though I don't think you can actually delete it. But I wouldn't want to find out.

I don't know if Vista has this same Windows 'feature' as reverting to PIO, but it would be a nice thing to eliminate from the OS. Or at least let it reset itself automatically with a reboot.