MAJOR probs w/ my NEC 2500A

[candlelight]

Hi, actually I've been following your forum for quite a while in the search for all my driver problems, but alas I had to post a new thread.
Ok I'm going to start from the beginning...I bought a ext. usb mad dog megastor 7-in-1 dvd+-rw dl burner drive on ebay. (my biggest mistake ever!) Anyway, lets get to the point. I attached it thru usb to my inspiron 700m and the comp happens to read it as a NEC DVD RW ND-2500A. So here's where the dilemma starts. I couldn't get it to burn anything but cds. So I upgraded the firmware to 1.07 (nec 2500A firmware). Still nothing..then I read that nero (what I was using) doesn't work w/ this burner. I went on to install RecordNow dx, dvdxcopy, RecordNow Max just about all the programs I've seen in your forum that say they work. Oh I was trying to burn tdk 16x dvd-r's. And I have also tried cucusoft, tmpeg and of course Nero 7 Ultimate. After all this, I got RecordNow to burn dvd-rw's, but still no dvd-r's. I upgraded my dvdxcopy to dvdnextcopy, and still no progress. It doesn't even detect my video_ts files.
So now, I've gathered some solutions from the internet and your forum that are still left to be tested. But before I go any deeper into the problem, I wanted to know if there were any other methods, simpler methods, I could try to solve this issue.

I still have to try...
upgrading the 1.07 to 1.0A firmware
flashing the 2500A to 2510 with 2.0A (somewhat of a risk, I've heard)
And something about Microsoft drivers not working w/ nero and installing some nvidia driver. This one I'm pretty confused about, but hopefully I won't have to go this far.

Some of the errors I get are something along the lines of , disk-at-once failed (nero and cucusoft), RecordNow just spits the dvd-r out b4 even starting telling me to insert another black dvd, which never works. Dvdxcopy won't let me browse for files on my hd to burn (the Browse button doesn't work).

And one more problem with my internal cd-rw/dvd burner in my inspiron 700m.
I have a
sony crx830E cdrw/dvd drive
Firmware: v. kdk3
Inspiron 700m (WinXP/SP2) (same for my nec2500A)
Prob: It won't write my cd-rw disks (memorex 4x).
Any advice on how to fix this?
This one's secondary to my nec 2500a problem, but if anyone can help it won't hurt.

So there's my devestating experience with the nec 2500a/md 16x-dvd9-ext. Whatever it is!

I would REALLLLYYY appreciate your suggestions, advice, instructions, responses...anything at this point would be useful. I've tried posting in other forums but no one responds. i don't know if it's my problem that's incorrigible or is it just laziness, but anyway I have high hopes from you guys.

Thanx for reading thru all this and THANX a MILLION if you're going to respond!

I'll be checking back frequently!

[redwudz]

You must be persistent. I would have tossed the unit before this.

You tried a lot of burning programs. Have you tried ImgBurn? Nero 6X should have worked with that burner, though, it's not that new.

I don't think it's a firmware problem. Firmware upgrades are usually for newer media or region free mods. And I don't think it's driver issues as burner drivers are part of the OS.

So it seems to come down to the interface to the burner or the burner itself. Or possibly the media. But what you describe sounds more like a hardware problem. Have you tried the USB burner on a different computer? That might give you an idea of where the problem lies.

USB burners work fine most of the time. But the USB interface has a lot of 'overhead'. The OS may butt in at times, but that usually just causes failed burns. Or the external interface may be having communication problems with the computer.

Just my opinion, but I would go with my first comment. Toss it. You may have a poorly engineered device or that particular unit may be messed up. You could try the burner by itself in a different computer and see if that works. Then it's the interface. Or something really messed up in your computer concerning the USB bus. But that seems fairly unlikely.

Sorry, not much good news there.

And welcome to our forums.

[piano632]

Sometimes external cases have firmware updates for their chipsets too, so if you can find out what chipset your external case is using, see if there's an updated version.

Also, why don't you use a DVD-RW disc while you are experimenting so you don't waste blank discs?

As to the other drive in your notebook, try using a laser lens cleaning disc first. Or they could just be junk quality discs (Memorex...need I say more).

[Richard_G]

You been ripped off. You bought a ext. usb mad dog megastor 7-in-1 dvd+-rw dl burner but that isn't what you got. There may have been a dl burner in that housing originally, but the NEC 2500A is an old 12x single layer burner. Sounds to me like the original burner in the housing died, somebody bunged an old NEC drive they had kicking around in it and sold it quick.

It may be that the housing controller can't work with that drive or the drive itself is just stuffed. If it were me, I'd simply buy a Pioneer 112D drive and fit that instead. If it still doesn't work, fit it as an internal drive and forget the housing.

[budz]

To Candlelight: IMHO never buy a dvd burner from Ebay. Too much of a risk for some Ebay seller to put a defective drive up for sale because they flashed the drive with incorrect firmware or flashed it wrong that the drive died. I'm sure after this experience you'll never buy another dvd burner from Ebay. Dvd burners are inexpensive these days. As RichardG suggested buy a PIONEER 112D drive and use it in that enclosure but if it doesn't work in there then install the drive internally. Just my 2 big cents!

[SingSing]

Your problem is the USB_IDE bridge. If you take the NEC out of the box and used it as internal DVD burner, it will work just fine.

[Krispy Kritter]

I agree, something isn't right about the drive type. From past experience, and from the data on their website, MD drives are recognized as Mad Dog drives. http://www.mdmm.com/spec.php?productid=25

There is a PDF on the drivers page with examples.

Sounds like someone swapped the drive as mentioned above or flashed it incorrectly.

[candlelight]

Thanx for all the responses! I know I'm never going to buy a burner from ebay again

Singsing and Richard_G: I will try removing it from the case and installing it into a pc. I actually tried it with my desktop (currently using w/ my inspiron 700m) as well, but the same problem occurred. So I'm assuming it's not my laptop that's messed up. Thanx

redwudz: I am going to try both nero and imgburn...I'll let you know hoe it goes. Thanx

Piano632: Where exactly can I find the chipset my external case is using? I'll try using the lens cleaning disc. And actually I was using memorex So what brand would you recommend? Thanx

[piano632]

Sometimes your computer will tell you what chipset the ext. case is using if you plug it in while the computer is on you might get a message in your system tray saying "found Prolific xxx-xxx device" or some such thing. There are different chipsets like Prolific, NEC, Ali, Oxford, etc. so look for those names. Once it's connected you can also look in the system tray for a green arrow icon thing that is used to terminate the USB connection (click on it and see if it names a chipset device).

[Krispy Kritter]

If you do open it, you can verify the actual make and model on the label, then try flashing the firmware again.

[candlelight]

I tried ImgBurn and got this error message:

I/O Error!
Device: [0:0:0] _NEC DVD_RW ND-2500A 1.07 (F (USB)
ScsiStatus: 0x02
Interpretation: Check Condition
CDB: 53 00 00 00 00 00 08 20 30 00
Interpretation: Reserve Track - Sectors: 532,528
Sense Area: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 30 05 00 00 00 00
Interpretation: Cannot Write Medium - Incompatible Format

Clicked --> OK and this message:
Failed to Reserve Track
Reason: Cannot Write Medium - Incompatible Format

Tried Nero and it says : disk-at-once failed (?????)

RecordNow won't burn the iso I created with ImgBurn and DVDnextCopy gives me this error:

Burn Done with error: A write-error occurred. (Bad request: cannot format medium)

Oh and my comp won't show the safely remove Usb device icon in the quick launch bar. Where else can I find the chipset info?

Any suggestions?

[candlelight]

Oh here's the exact message:

Nero 6 Error Message:

_NEC DVD_RW ND-2500A
illegal disc
could not perform start of Disc-at-once
Burn Process failed at 1x

????????????????

Oh and ignore the smiley in the last post!

[redwudz]

The smiley is because the text is the same as the smiley emoticon. :) You can turn off emoticons by clicking 'Disable Smilies in this post', as I have done here. :) :) :)

I'm thinking budz may have the right idea that the drive was flashed improperly.

I also assumed you have tried different media?

At this point I would try flashing the drive with the proper firmware and if that doesn't work, you could substitute a known good drive. That would tell you if the USB and the enclosure hardware is working properly. You may have to put that drive in a computer to flash it, don't know.

Most of those Nero/ImgBurn errors are communication errors. These may be from the interface not communicating with the burner or computer. But you may also get those when the media is improperly identified. A burner has a 'write strategy' for each brand of media. This has to match your media or the burner will show a error.

And I suppose it's possible that your MD enclosure only works properly with MD drives, but that seems unlikely.

I have the feeling you won't give up on this problem, at least for a while longer. :)

[lawnman]

To Candlelight: IMHO never buy a dvd burner from Ebay. Too much of a risk for some Ebay seller to put a defective drive up for sale because they flashed the drive with incorrect firmware or flashed it wrong that the drive died. I'm sure after this experience you'll never buy another dvd burner from Ebay. Dvd burners are inexpensive these days. As RichardG suggested buy a PIONEER 112D drive and use it in that enclosure but if it doesn't work in there then install the drive internally. Just my 2 big cents!

I don't agree with not buying from ebay. I bought 4 Pioneer 110-D's off ebay last year and they all were new just like advertised. I flashed 2, sold one to a friend at RipDifferent and still have one in the box. I like the 110's because I can flash them with my Mac. Newer Pioneers you need a windows unit.

[candlelight]

I was going to flash it to a 2150 with 2.0A firmware version, but I also have modified 2A5C firmware from LD's, I think? Anyway, which one is better for me to flash to? Oh and I have uniflash and necwinflash, which one of these should I use?

Thanx again for all the help!

[Krispy Kritter]

Try either one, doesn't matter at this point, you just need it to work.

I would verify the actual make and model on the drive label before attempting to flash....again.

[candlelight]

I just needed a little clarification on this flashing business:

I verified that the drive is a Nec 2500A.

1. On some sites it says I can just flash w/ binflash or winflash to nec 2510 w/ 2.0A or 2A5C...w/out making any other adjustments like removing the drive from the usb ext. case.

2. On other sites it specifically says to flash w/ a DOS flasher and make adjustments like:
creating a boot cd and moving the drive to secondary master or slave (neither of which I know how to do) and then flashing w/ DOS.

If option 2 is my answer, can you tell me how to create a boot cd and move the drive to sec. mas/slav?

Before I render my drive completely useless, can someone shed some light on this confusion

Thanx again for all the help and YES, I AM DETERMINED TO GET THIS DRIVE TO WORK

[SingSing]

Are you still using the drive as external USB burner ? If so, you are fighting the "External USB" problem, by flashing the drive!

[candlelight]

Yeah, it's still in the ext. usb case, but what do you mean 'I'm fighting the ext. usb problem'?

[SingSing]

Megastor sells external USB burner by getting 1ower supply 2. DVD burner 3. USB to IDE board, and package them in a box.

The probelm is caused by item 2. Who cannot works properly with PC's USB host command, and control and time the DVD burner to perform its function properly.

Users after figured it out, will typically do one of these two things : 1. Buy a item 2 from newegg or..., and solve the problem. 2. Take the NEC drive, and use it as an internal drive in a PC ( not applicable to laptop. ).

[Krispy Kritter]

In other words, it isn't recommended to flash the drive in the enclosure.

It was also recommended earlier to try using the drive "as is" as an internal drive (not in the enclosure). This was recommended to help diagnose if you are having a drive issue or USB/USB enclosure issue.

[candlelight]

Hey Everyone! GOOD NEWS

I installed the driver into my desktop, flashed it to a nec 2150 and now it WORKS!!!!
It was the first time I ever installed anything into the motherboard, and it was amazingly easy!

Anyway, it finally burns my tdk dvd-r's (which I have a 100 of). :P

I just want to THANK EVERYONE for there help and advise. I know I was probably OVERLY persistent towards this problem, but I don't like to give up that easily And good thing that all my hard work paid off. I've learned quite a lot about computers, drivers, firmware, flashing and media thru all this...All of which I had never heard of before.

Now I may even be able to help someone else!

Just one more question: During this whole process I've downloaded several different burning and converting softwares...Can anyone suggest the best software to burn with and the most comprehensive all video format converting software I should stick to. i would really appreciate it. thanx.

THANK-YOU GUYS, once again

[Krispy Kritter]

I personally use Nero for all of my burning. For free software, IMGBurn seems to be the way to go.

As for conversion software (as in avi to dvd), ConvertX2DVD is a decent "all in one" tool and seems to be the most reliable.

[SingSing]

I installed the driver into my desktop, flashed it to a nec 2150 and now it WORKS!!!!

It was the first time I ever installed anything into the motherboard, and it was amazingly easy!

Now I may even be able to help someone else!

It really help if you figure out what these terms really means, where do they go, and what they are for :

1. driver

2. flash

3. desktop

4. motherboard

5. firmware

6. flash utility

7. BIOS

8. OS

[candlelight]

I'm familiar w/ all of them, except for BIOS...and OS is operating system, right, like windows xp. Could you please explain BIOS, in brief? Thanx, again.

[redwudz]

BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System.

BIOS refers to the firmware code run by an IBM compatible PC when first powered on. The primary function of the BIOS is to prepare the machine so other software programs stored on various media (such as hard drives, floppies, and CDs) can load, execute, and assume control of the PC. This process is known as booting up.

This from Wikipedia, a good place for definition help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS

It sounds like the previous owner of your unit may have tried a unsuccessful flash and messed things up. But it's good knowing you got it working again.