Nero problem when writing DVD-Rs on Pioneer A04

[wiespino]

Please, if anyone had problems with Nero and can help me I would appreciate it. Once in a while, when I burn a DVD with Nero in either Windows 2000 SP3 or Windows XP, the program freezes in the middle of the job or at 99% without any error message. I had this problem with Nero 5.5.9.0, 5.5.9.4 and 5.5.9.6. The DVD burner led goes off and I can't open the tray until I reboot (usually from the reset button). The DVD burner is Pioneer A04. Could be a hardware problem with the Pioneer ??? The phenomenon is random and I've used the same media for like 3 months now without problems.

The resulting DVD works in a DVD player up to the point it was written.

Thank You !

[Don2050]

not sure if this is any help but, I just got an RMA for my Pioneer A04 to go back to pioneer direct because it stopped reading only DVD Video discs. It still would read data DVD-R's and CD's but not DVD Video, and it would not write to DVD-RW's. This problem was also intermittant. I swapped out another Pioneer DVD ROM in the same computer and it read DVD Video fine, and I installed the A04 in another of my computers and it had the same problem....

sooo, in the end it was my pioneer A04 that had the problem, it too was intermittant and would not read or write consistently, I had if for 2 months and it worked flawlessly untill about 4 days ago.

I am shipping it out this tuesday and hope to hear from them soon

[Don2050]

I should add.....try another burning program first

[wiespino]

Hello Don2050 !
Thank you for your reply This topic is in the forum for 3 days now and you are the first to answer. First of all I had the problem also when writing an ISO image with DVD Decrypter so is not Nero. I reinstalled both my operating systems (Windows 2000 & XP) but this time I installed in Windows 2000 only SP2 not SP3. I already burned since then 3 discs, one DVD-RW in Windows XP with DVD Decypter (same image and disc that had problems last time) and 2 DVD-R's with Nero in Windows 2000. It worked just fine for all discs but due to the intermitent nature of the problem, I cannot assume that the only problem was with my Windows. All I can do now is sit and wait until it fails again or not... Now let me ask you how intermitent was your problem and how long until the unit started to fail for every disc (DVD-Video) or for most of them ??? Also how long do you think this return is going to take ? Any ideea how long it takes for Pioneer to send you your unit back ?

P.S.: I had my unit for 4 months.

Thanks again for your reply.

[Don2050]

wiespino,

I too had re-installed my Windows XP Pro, and then it worked for about 2 movies before it would freeze up on DVD Video again, after that it was hit & miss, I would estimate about 3 out of every 10 movies would play. What I cannot figure out is why it seemed to work immediately after I re-installed windows, makes me think it is a software issue, but I tried everything I know to trouble shoot it and still nothing. And as I said when I put my pioneer DVD-ROM in the same computer it worked flawlessly(still is). I know it is nothing to do with any third party apps, cause windows explorer would not even read the TS folders on the disk...nothing.

As for how long it is going to take, I would be guessing if I told you. I do work in car audio and we RMA stuff back to pioneer parts for audio equip and it takes them abut 2 weeks, their official statement is 10 days. AS to this though....I am not sure if it all goes through the same department and have never dealt with them on computer stuff before. I will repost when I hear from them though and let you know how the process goes incase you end up sending it back. Unfortunately online computer resellers have the worst warranties on the planet and so any problem with the unit must occure within 15-30 days of purchase.

Anyway, goodluck, I hope re-install fixed your problem.

[Digital3mpire]

I have the pioneer 104 and found out that i had the same problem with mine locking up. I have been doing alot of differnt combinations using nero 5.82 never had a problem untill i found out that all the VIA chipsets that have aspi identifiers freeze your system due to the DvD burner. I finally figured it out. I tried using everything even identifiers from adeptec but no luck. I even was a guinne pig for pioneer but the end result was theres something to do with the via chipset just not compatible. I use 98se,xp pro and 2000pro I went out and made new computers making sure that it didnt have via on it worked great. The chipsets i know work for sure with no errors or freeze ups are Intell, SiS and AMD seems to all work fine. I have all 3 i curently have 4 puters all networked running one burner (104) all using nero 5.82 havent had a problem. Hope it helps some....

[wiespino]

Digital3mpire, thank you for your input... Unfortunately for me this is not the answer because I have a Dell 4100 Pentium III 1 GHz and I am almost 99% sure the chipset is Intel. Thank you anyway and I still hope it was a software problem...

After I reinstalled Windows I burned 4 DVD's without problem...