LiteOn 5005 won't record Audio CDs

[RiteOn]

Hi

I haven't posted for a while, but I haven't had any problems for a while!

A couple of weeks ago, I transferred my daughter's audio cassettes to CD, directly using the 5005, onto FUJI CD-R's. No problem. Then, since that was the last of the blanks, I went out and bought some more. I know better than to buy Memorex or lower these days, so I went to an old stand-by, Maxell. A 50-pack, in fact, because I never have problems with them.

A couple of days after I bought them, my daughter wanted to record a bunch of 45s onto the recorder as a mixed CD, but the deck would not record on the Maxell's. It would ask me what format I wanted (Audio, VCD, or SVCD), I selected, then started recording, but there was no blinking red/yellow LED on the drive while I recorded (I can see my drive's light because I put a new LiteOn in it last year), and then the audio cut off after about 30 seconds. Pressing STOP only made it blink and blink and blink "STOPPING" until I broke in by holding the POWER button.

I thought today that I would buy another brand of CD-R to see what was up, so I picked up some VERBATIM's. (Another old stand-by that I never had problems with) and they very nearly worked...meaning I got through the song without the audio cutting off, and STOPPING didn't blink forever, but I couldn't play the song back. I recorded a second record to see what was going on, and the total time did not have the first record's time subtracted from it, indicating that the first song did not even go onto the disc! I let the second record finish, then tried again with a third, and the TOTAL time displayed was still the same, again.

I suppose I have to go ahead and try some FUJI's again, but I don't need so many kinds of blank CD's lying around the house (both stacks work on the PC, just not in the 5005).

Any suggestions? This deck is drive replaced (no prior problems) and back-flashed/hacked for "various perks". I don't want to have to put the original firmware back in, do I? I have both the original and desired firmware on separate discs, so could I just keep going back and forth if that works, without harming the unit? Also, I've been recording vinyl for myself by doing a long mix onto a DVD-RW and then extracting the audio into the PC so I can process the clicks and pops, but for these mixes, for my daughter, (and since MOST of the records are near mint, anyway) she doesn't really need that much trouble, and doesn't care...she just wants the songs for her personal use downstairs.

thanx in advance

eric

[RiteOn]

I just thought of another thing...

I made a VCD on one of the Maxell's (on the PC) and it would not play, even though it was 2.0 compliant and properly finalized, etc. on the 5005, but I dragged out the old mini-Melatta (is that spelled right) and it played on that.

It's as though the 5005 is IGNORING some brands of CD completely for some reason.

Has anyone experienced this?

e

[guns1inger]

What media IDs are recognised and/or burned by a writer, and at what speed they burn, is controlled by the firmware. It is possible that some brands are so new your burner doesn't recognise them or have a fall-back for them.

That said, while I have seen this happen with older DVD burners and new DVD media, I have not seen it happen with CDs before.

[MOVIEGEEK]

It sounds like the CD laser is dirty or is dying.

[RiteOn]

It sounds like the CD laser is dirty or is dying.

Gee, I never thought of that, I suppose that could be too. There are two different laser systems in these things?

[RiteOn]

I am going to do some more experimenting with this after work today, starting with re-flashing the firmware to the original. I'll post the results.

e

[RiteOn]

So what drives are the most compatible with the 5005?

Looks like the drive has just given up on CDs. Audio CDs, CDs with MP3s, VCDs, and of course the blanks.

I hooked up the ACER drive that is in my PC tower just to see if I could get it to work, but it's not completely compatible. Unfortunately, it DID do everything except record onto an audio CD, so I'm no closer to getting it to work, but I know it played CDs, MP3, VCD...everything the other drive was having trouble with, so I'm guessing that is the problem with the LiteOn drive.

I did a search on eBay for this drive, so I could replace it without losing things like VCD and Fast Forward (I've heard stories), but this drive doesn't seem to exist anymore. (LDW-851S)

What other (cheap) drives could I be looking at?

e

[SCDVD]

If you do some Google and forum searches, you can find lists of burners that are compatible with your 5005 as well as replacement procedures. Most of these will be older drives that you might have to look for on Ebay etc. I have seen these before but I don't remember where but I'm sure you can find these sites if you do some searching around. If you don't turn anything up with Google, you might search on Doom9.

[LCSHG]

Riteon

The liteon firmware is for both the unit and the drive I have not heard or viewed any firmware that is fo the drive only

A replacement [PC] drive will have to be removed and flashed in a PC I found no need to do so

I have two 5005 with liteon 832s drives and work fine. Other liteon/ilo units have liteon drives to 1693s All work OK

I believe woy back someone used I think an Acer
The unit recognized the rive but there was some broblems with cetiain disks [Not Mfg]
It may be the Acer has problems with disks --[Again not the Mfg and that may br only in the unit


EDIT

Any liteon PC drive from 4x to 16x [1693s should work ok]

[bevills1]

Has 5005 firmware been updated? In another forum I read where a user updated to latest firmware to fix a 16x DVD media problem and then flashed back to hacked firmware to gain hack advantages resulting in fixed media issue to also. The same may apply for newer CD compatibility, and you might try that. The Sony DRU-190A is one of the easier to find replacement drives if you decide to do a burner replacement, and it has full functionality except for VCD recording while lacking the freeze on fast forward other newer LiteOns have. The LiteOn 1693 and older drives are much harder to find as well as the Benq DW1620 which is also a fully functional replacement drive.

[lordsmurf]

I'm not aware of any 5005 updates in years. That machine was made in 2003.

[bevills1]

Quite true there have been no updates for a while, but OP said he's using a hack firmware version which is older than latest 5005 update (0101 I think) because versions past 098 don't hack. I flashed 3 units with latest firmware and then flashed back to hacked version.