New PC Burns With Errors

[NOIC]

Hello,
I'm new to your forum so please excuse me if I make an error. Corrections welcome. I have a problem burning when I back up a movie. Circumstances are:
1. I use DVD neXt Copy Ulitimate with Machinist2 plug in.
2. I've used this program for some time with no problems.
3. I purchased a Dell XPS 630i, Q9550 2.83GHz, 4GB RAM which has a TSSTcorp TS-H493B Combo drive & an Optiarc AD-7200S Burner.
4. When I try to back up the movie it goes all through the process, but when it completes the burn it says "burned with errors" and the new disk is unusable.
5. I've check with all the support techs (software, Dell, etc.) and I've checked and double checked all the settings. It "is" possible to burn files to the a blank so the burner appears to be working according to Dell.
6. Here's the kicker, all of the software on the new PC is on my old PC. The old PC (Dell Dimension 8300) is slower with less memory and it has a Memorex Dual Format burner, all of which is about 4 years old AND it lets me back up the movie with "no problems".

Any suggestions, hints, tips, etc. are welcome. Also if you are of the opinion that the burner that came in the PC is incompatable or for some reason is the problem, I would be interested in your suggestion as to which burner to buy.

Thanks in advance for your help in this quite frustrating problem.

[Dv8ted2]

Try using Imgburn.

[jman98]

It could be that you are using poor quality media. In the USA, if you aren't burning to Taiyo Yuden (you'll have to order these online) or Verbatim, you are using poor quality media. Sony discs sold in North America are sometimes very good, depending on where they are made, but it's best to just stick with Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden rather than trying to figure out if you have good Sony media or bad Sony media. You don't tell us what brand of discs you are using, but the odds are pretty good you're just using whatever is cheap or easy to find and probably not Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden.

Burners do good bad, but based on your post I'm guessing it's a media issue and your new PC is not very tolerant of bad media.

[NOIC]

I have for the past 4 years used Memorex media, but I thought of that and purchased some Sony media, but the problem is still there. I also tried burning at a much slower speed. One would think that the new PC would be more tolerant since it's new technology. Another note of interest that I didn't mention, I have a Dell Laptop that is about 3 years old with what ever burner Dell provided at the time and in my troubleshooting of this problem I tried to burn on it and got the errors as well. I'm wondering if it isn't Dell that uses cheap burners.

[Dv8ted2]

Dell historically uses cheap parts and their optical drives leave a lot to be desired. It is possible that the laser is starting to go out in that drive.

[NOIC]

I might agree with the drive going bad, but it's a new PC, only 2 months old and it never worked from day one so I'm leaning towards the drive just being poor quality. Any suggestions as to which one is best to buy? I looked at the Memorex drives, but as far as I can tell the interfaces are all IDE and my new PC says it is ATA.

[Dv8ted2]

I do not recommend Memorex burners. I have had good luck with BTC drives if you can find them where you live.

[jman98]

I have for the past 4 years used Memorex media, but I thought of that and purchased some Sony media, but the problem is still there.

Memorex media is TERRIBLE. It always has been. The fact that it worked for you in the past doesn't mean that it's not crap and it's not the problem now. Your assumptions that your new PC should be more tolerant of bad media is groundless. We get posts here all the time about problems just like yours that got fixed by switching to better media. Newer burners are not necessarily better than some of the older models that were known for reliability.

Your potential cheap fix is to buy Verbatim discs and see if they work. Or you can try to convince Dell to replace a drive that may or may not be going bad, but which they already think is OK.

[Nelson37]

So you have ONE PC that burns successfully, and TWO, the new one and the laptop, which both fail? Though at least the desktop can burn files, presumably the laptop drive has also been tested this way?

Even cheap drives will burn to most media, 2 out of three drives, with absolutely nothing in common other than the same outfit assembled the box, failing would indicate try some better disks.

I don't think you got UNlucky with BOTH the newer PC AND the laptop, I think you got Lucky with the one old one.

Another useful test would be to take the final DVD files or image and burn it with another program, try two or three. Verify as well that the image created on the PC is itself valid, either copy to the old, working PC for test or take one known to be good and copy it to the new PC.

Temporarily swapping the working burner into the new PC should be feasible. Note that this would NOT verify the new burner is bad, just confirm that the two burners have different tolerance levels, and remove the PC from the equation.

[orsetto]

All good suggestions here, it could easily be the media and/or the drive in the new PC. I would only add that DVD backup is a moving target kind of task: any slight change to software, DVD protection schemes, operating system, host computer or burner can throw off the sometimes fragile synergy that makes DVD backup possible. Step One, buy some Verbatim and/or TY media and see if that solves the problem. If not, Step Two would be to download ImgBurn and use it to make a plain data DVD (back up some jpegs or Word documents to a DVD). If your new PC does that successfully, you'll know at least it can burn that much. Next, find a DVD you recorded yourself from TV, or perhaps an existing backup DVD you know is good: use ImgBurn to make a copy of it. If that also succeeds then the problem lies in your other software. If none of this works, it could be a faulty new burner (Optiarcs are OK but not great.). Since the burner that works fine in your old computer is IDE, your only path to testing the Dell is to buy a new SATA burner and try it in the Dell. I'd suggest going with a Pioneer burner, the last couple of models have been pretty bulletproof.

If the new Dell also came with Windows pre-installed, a related issue might be the newer version of Windows conflicting with your backup software. Even if you ported over your old Windows to the new Dell, you might not have matched your old Windows configuration exactly on the new PC: again, all it takes is one slight change to screw up the whole ball of wax. DVD neXt Copy is reported to be somewhat funky of late, you might be hitting a wall there as well. It may be worth testing alternative DVD backup software on the new PC, free or 'free trial' versions can be downloaded for CloneDVD/AnyDVD or several other backup apps. Check the backup software reports here on VH for some developer websites.

[NOIC]

We all make fools of ourselves from time to time I guess. Given the amount of troubleshooting I've done to resolve this problem, this is the biggest blunder I think I've ever made. And before I give you the suggestion that fixed it, I had better say "Thank You Very Much For Your Help". (Had to say that first so you read it before you died laughing at me). Ok for the correct suggestion...DUH, "Use better media". In this case I bought some Verbatim DVD's and burned a move perfectly the first time. Thanks again.

[hech54]

Dell historically uses cheap parts and their optical drives leave a lot to be desired. It is possible that the laser is starting to go out in that drive.

"Historically" inaccurate...and proven so by many(including me) whose old Dells are still running fine with ZERO problems at all. In my case...my 6 year old 1.8ghz Dell is now my "alternate operating system" guinea pig.
Anything else completely inaccurate and irrelevant you'd like to add? Apparently so.

I do not recommend Memorex burners. I have had good luck with BTC drives if you can find them where you live.

Who said anything about Memorex burners?

"Use better media". In this case I bought some Verbatim DVD's and burned a move perfectly the first time. Thanks again.

Well well....it wasn't a "Dell" problem or an imaginary Memorex burner problem after all.
Jeez...the knee-jerk responses I see here DAILY are getting worse and worse.

[T-Fish]

i have to agree with hech54..
i currently am on a dell i only use for surfing & watching movies. it came with a NEC dvdrw that
was brilliant. died after 2 years though, but none of my dvd writers held on
longer. the worst i ever had was lite-on. loudest drive ever and the dvd laser
gave up after 2 month LOL.. didnt even bother to replace the crap drive.

@NOIC.. good to hear you got it working

[Bjs]

Without reading way too much into it the first thing to do is try different brand of media and where funds don't allow then you should have located updated firmware, flashed the unit and then retested the units capabilities.

Even new drives are dud's from time to time.

[Dv8ted2]

Dell historically uses cheap parts and their optical drives leave a lot to be desired. It is possible that the laser is starting to go out in that drive.

"Historically" inaccurate...and proven so by many(including me) whose old Dells are still running fine with ZERO problems at all. In my case...my 6 year old 1.8ghz Dell is now my "alternate operating system" guinea pig.
Anything else completely inaccurate and irrelevant you'd like to add? Apparently so.

I have experience on my side to back my claim up. I have had to replace the drives on multiple desktops and laptops in a corporate environment. Please do not rebuke my own experience.

It is no secret that OEMs use cheap parts. Look at the inside of Dell cases and you see cheap plastic rails instead of screws to mount optical drives and big dust covers to protect the processor because they did not put an active cooling system in the computers. Instead they use a heat sink and rely on that dust cover to protect the processor. Nothing that I am saying is inaccurate, nor untrue.

I have seen new laptops have memory errors and other assorted problems. I have seen new desktops that would not read any discs at all with known working good media. Yet you attack my words as if I am an idiot who has no clue of what I am talking about.

I also was not the first to mention that it might be the burner, but you attack my words. NOIC mentioned it might be the burner, and JMan98 mentioned it might be the burner. Please ignore my posts from now on instead of acting like some kind of know it all jerk.

Who said anything about Memorex burners?

NOIC did

I looked at the Memorex drives

Who said anything about Memorex burners?

The old PC (Dell Dimension 8300) is slower with less memory and it has a Memorex Dual Format burner

You might want to read more closely in the future before attacking my words.

Hech54, you remind me of someone who I worked with at AT&T, who told me that the incident that I saw occur could not happen, and yet I saw it happen. He looked foolish when I showed him that it in fact did occur.

[fritzi93]

Without reading way too much into it the first thing to do is try different brand of media and where funds don't allow then you should have located updated firmware, flashed the unit and then retested the units capabilities.

Even new drives are dud's from time to time.

Yeah, I'd look for newer firmware regardless.

Most of the burners I've had didn't work well with certain media I.D.s until the firmware was updated. Since I went to Verbatims exclusively, that's become a non-issue. (The last few burners purchased, a Lite-On, a Samsung, and an LG, all have original firmware.)

Nevertheless, the OP might be able to get some use out of those Memorex discs with a firmware update. Just don't use them for anything important.

[hech54]

Dell historically uses cheap parts and their optical drives leave a lot to be desired. It is possible that the laser is starting to go out in that drive.

"Historically" inaccurate...and proven so by many(including me) whose old Dells are still running fine with ZERO problems at all. In my case...my 6 year old 1.8ghz Dell is now my "alternate operating system" guinea pig.
Anything else completely inaccurate and irrelevant you'd like to add? Apparently so.

I have experience on my side to back my claim up. I have had to replace the drives on multiple desktops and laptops in a corporate environment. Please do not rebuke my own experience.

So my own Dell is NOT actually still running?
I'll be damned.
...or are you just rebuking my own experience of my still running old Dell
Dimension 4500 with the ultra-cool(but quite heavy)"scissor" case?

[Dv8ted2]

Dell historically uses cheap parts and their optical drives leave a lot to be desired. It is possible that the laser is starting to go out in that drive.

"Historically" inaccurate...and proven so by many(including me) whose old Dells are still running fine with ZERO problems at all. In my case...my 6 year old 1.8ghz Dell is now my "alternate operating system" guinea pig.
Anything else completely inaccurate and irrelevant you'd like to add? Apparently so.

I have experience on my side to back my claim up. I have had to replace the drives on multiple desktops and laptops in a corporate environment. Please do not rebuke my own experience.

So my own Dell is NOT actually still running?
I'll be damned.
...or are you just rebuking my own experience of my still running old Dell
Dimension 4500 with the ultra-cool(but quite heavy)"scissor" case?

What is your one computer against hundreds of computers that have had issues? I am not talking about just one model. I am talking Dimension desktops, Latitude laptops, Inspiron laptops and Optiplex desktops.

When I worked for a construction company, every inspiron laptop that we rolled out to the enterprise would have memory errors. Dell would send out new RAM sticks.

I am not talking about residential experience. I am talking about corporate mass roll out experience. I am happy your computer still works. That is beside the point. It does not give you free reign to act like a know it all.

At any rate, the original question has been answered.

[hech54]

What is your one computer against hundreds of computers that have had issues? I am not talking about just one model. I am talking Dimension desktops, Latitude laptops, Inspiron laptops and Optiplex desktops.

When I worked for a construction company, every inspiron laptop that we rolled out to the enterprise would have memory errors. Dell would send out new RAM sticks.

I am not talking about residential experience. I am talking about corporate mass roll out experience. I am happy your computer still works. That is beside the point. It does not give you free reign to act like a know it all.

At any rate, the original question has been answered.

"Impressive - most impressive"
Does that mean you will now stop sending me moronic and threatening PM's now too?...like these?

Unless you have seen what I have and had my experience, I would not discount what I say as being false. I have worked for tons of companies in which faulty drives were shipped with the desktops and laptops that are on 3 year lease cycles from Dell.

I am willing to let your attack slide, but please do not do it again.

You do so at your own peril. Read my reponse in the thread.

...or should I just go back and hit the "Report This PM" button?
Your choice Captain Ego.....make the call.

[Dv8ted2]

What is your one computer against hundreds of computers that have had issues? I am not talking about just one model. I am talking Dimension desktops, Latitude laptops, Inspiron laptops and Optiplex desktops.

When I worked for a construction company, every inspiron laptop that we rolled out to the enterprise would have memory errors. Dell would send out new RAM sticks.

I am not talking about residential experience. I am talking about corporate mass roll out experience. I am happy your computer still works. That is beside the point. It does not give you free reign to act like a know it all.

At any rate, the original question has been answered.

"Impressive - most impressive"
Does that mean you will now stop sending me moronic and threatening PM's now too?...like these?

Unless you have seen what I have and had my experience, I would not discount what I say as being false. I have worked for tons of companies in which faulty drives were shipped with the desktops and laptops that are on 3 year lease cycles from Dell.

I am willing to let your attack slide, but please do not do it again.

You do so at your own peril. Read my reponse in the thread.

...or should I just go back and hit the "Report This PM" button?
Your choice Captain Ego.....make the call.

My pm was not meant to be threatening in any way. My original pm was not moronic either. I have no beef with you, but you sought out to attack my words like you have some agenda. Why can't we all just get along?

[T-Fish]

It is no secret that OEMs use cheap parts. Look at the inside of Dell cases and you see cheap plastic rails instead of screws to mount optical drives and big dust covers to protect the processor because they did not put an active cooling system in the computers. Instead they use a heat sink and rely on that dust cover to protect the processor. Nothing that I am saying is inaccurate, nor untrue.

funny, thermaltake cases have plastic rails too, its more convenient then screws in case you hadn't noticed
ever heard of passive cooling? i.e. quiet?

[Dv8ted2]

It is no secret that OEMs use cheap parts. Look at the inside of Dell cases and you see cheap plastic rails instead of screws to mount optical drives and big dust covers to protect the processor because they did not put an active cooling system in the computers. Instead they use a heat sink and rely on that dust cover to protect the processor. Nothing that I am saying is inaccurate, nor untrue.

funny, thermaltake cases have plastic rails too, its more convenient then screws in case you hadn't noticed
ever heard of passive cooling? i.e. quiet?

Yes,

I have heard of passive cooling, and I am not convinced that it works as well, but that is irrelevant. I actually prefer the screws, but that is my preference. This thread should have been closed already as the original question has been answered.

[redwudz]

The OP's question has been answered. Locked.