Sony DRU500A - Writing Problem Error Message - Help Please!

[James-J]

I have a Sony DRU500A which i have been very happy with and burnt approx 50 discs.

The other night i was burning DVD's successfully, but when i went to do the next one the Sony/Record Now software stated there was 'a problem writing to the disc' immediately after i pressed the button to burn the DVD.
A screen shot of the Error message can be seen here http://www.sovrin.com/sony.htm

I have tried several types of discs including DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW & DVD+RW but the message still appears. The Sony drive still plays DVD's and burns CD's.

I have currently have firmware version 1.0d and have never had a problem until now.

Is this a software problem (Veritas Record Now - Sony Bundle) or a hardware problem with the drive?

I sent an e-mail to Sony but to date have not had a reply. Your thoughts/advice would be greatly recived.

Thanks

[SaSi]

What I would do is to try another burning s/w. Candidates would be Nero, ULEAD DVD Workshop, DVDDecrypter, ...

The reason for using another s/w is that perhaps it will be more detailed about the error. Or, if the error is caused by problems in the RecordNow DX application, other s/w may not have problems at all.

For your info, a recording "problem" I had with Nero, recording DVD+RWs was that Nero aborted the erase process with a "Power Calibration Error". The first time I saw it I got scared. I tried a DVD-R and it was recorded OK. Then I looked at the recording surface of the DVD+RW and saw dust, grease, fingerprints and ... a few cockroaches After cleaning the disk, it was recorded fine. Since then I occasionally get this error and I know it's time for the disks to take a bath. (Just a joke, to ease the tension you obviously have).

Another thing to try is to re-install RecordNow DX. Just in case...

If all the above fail, I would look for h/w problems.

Based on some background reading, DVD Roms and DVD-Recorders have two beams, one for CDs and one for DVDs. The read beam is used for write, at a higher intensity (and at even higher intensity for erasing).

So, can you erase a DVD? If yes, then you have a really strange problem. In that case, since the drive, I suspect, is brand new, I would return it for a replacement.

In any case, please update the thread with your findings. Your problem appears to be strange, and I also have a DRU-500A...

[somte]

You have firmware 1.0d. This is old and have cause unexspected problems. Go to www.sony.com/storagesupport for the latest firmware. 2.0e

-Somte

[James-J]

Firstly thanks for your help.

I uninstalled RecordNow, and then reinstalled it and downloaded and installed the updated from 4.5 to 4.6. However the same error message is still appearing.

I then used Nero to burn a DVD and it did this without any problems! So therefore i am assuming that it must be a software problem. Strange!

I have not updated the firmware to 2.0e as i have read that some people have had a lot of problems with this and i am at the moment only burning x1 speed discs. I may upgrade it over the weekend though.

I have read that Nero isn't the most reliable DVD burning software, not too sure how true this is?

Do you or anybody else have a preference?

Thanks again to both of you for your help.