CD-RW problems

Just moved this thread from software to hardware. Thought this to be an Explorer problem but since there are no such info anywhere I thought I'd go through the hardware once more. Some things have changed too so I'll start over.

Samsung 80GB - Primary master
IBM 60GB - Primary slave
Lite-On LTR-52246S CDRW - Secondary master
Western Digital 10GB - Secondary slave

DMA if available chosen on all four drives.

I'm having huge problems copying stuff from CD's. Especially large files like over 600MB's or somewhere around there. When copying the cdrw is gradually spinning up into 52x (baby steps...) then after about 20 seconds in 52x mode it suddenly falls and almost stops. It goes down to what I guess would be 4x, then slowly speeds up again. This happens over and over again. Usually it never copies the file, it just stops and gives me a CRC error after a couple of tries. It happens on all cd's no matter what cdrw burned them (I've tried with a LOT of cd's, belive me). Same thing - it's really really slow if I right-click the file on the cd, it takes like 10 seconds for it to display the menu. Access time? What? Oh, and same goes for burning large files, in fact the exact same problem happens. It starts burning at 52x then after 30% it slows down. It still finishes the burning though (Thank god for burn-proof) but it does so in 4x *yawn*.

I discovered a new thing tonight that I haven't seen before. When running mp3's from secondary slave while trying to copy from cdrw the sound goes mongoose..! It scratches and slows down and sounds... well terrible. Probably due to some conflict with cables or DMA modes, not sure though.

So then I started looking. Secondary channel is connected with an 80-pin connector (as well as primary channel but that's no issue is it?) and I started wondering, maybe the old 10GB drive didn't support ATA66+, so I disconnected the old drive and ran only the cdrw drive as master on the 80-pin connector. In BIOS under advanced settings is 'IDE conductor cable type' and that was set to Auto. Still got the same problem in Windows though.

So then I swapped cable with an ATA33 40 pin connector and ran the cdrw again as master and Auto type in BIOS. Still the same but this time it seemed to work better. I can copy the whole file without errors but still it's really slow. It speeds up and down about 4 times on a 700MB file now. Then I checked in drive properties if DMA mode was enabled and no, it had changed (used to be before the change of cables). So I changed to 'DMA if available'. Now it copies a little faster, it only speeds up and down 2 times on a 700MB file.

Here's a link to the drive's specs:
http://www.liteonit.com/ODD/English/e_product/e_ltr52246s.asp
I have upgraded the firmware to the newest - R526S0F

As far as I can tell it definitely should support ATA66 at least so I can't figure out what the problem is, except a faulty cdrw. Or have I overlooked something here..?

Any tips or ideas appriciated!

 

Old thread: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=37698

Don't start new threads like this. Bad idea.

Try getting one of those CD drive cleaning kits. Maybe the optics are dirty. Beyond that, you're down to putting the drive in a working machine and testing it.

 

The drive supports up to UltraDMA Mode 2. That's ATA-4, which does introduct the 80 pin conductor. This particular drive is UDMA/33.

 

Man I got the same stupid problem on a fairly new computer. In the beginning the burner was nice and quick but after a few months it slows down intermittently without any real pattern or reason. Around the same time this problem started, I obtained a new burner for another machine, which I generally don't torture as much. The new burner has been working well.

One difference between the two computers is that the slowing-down burner is running on a computer that has been in heavy usage. I figure that if I restore Windows everything will work fast again. Lucky for me I made a ghost within days of setting everything up on the machine. Since the new burner has been working I'm too lazy to try restoring Windows but I'm sure that will solve the problems. The drive itself appears to be fast as a reader and it does have fast burns if I don't make it burn too much at once. I feel Windows gets really busy doing *something* because the CPU load cranks right up when the burner slows down.

One of the lessons I have learned: create a bootable partition of Windows where you do all kinds of junk and create another bootable partition that is totally for basic usage or programs with no known side effects as experienced over several years. Embrace rollback. Minimize the suffering though computers are fairly fun in general these days compared to Win 3.1, Win 95, etc.

 

Well as I suspect it to be a windows or explorer problem I just have to get it together and format the damn thing. I noticed the cpu usage after this spin-down happened and it seems there are some conflict that slows down the data sent to the burner. The buffer level goes down to about 8% before the burnproof function kicks in which makes it spin down.

I'll install win and see if the problem disappears, and if it does I'm sure it's one of the updates causing this. I'll install them systematically to see which one's bad, then I'll report it back here (in case you wanna take it up in a faq or such).

Thanks for all your help,

/Phatsta

 

Alright folks, I have the solution. Not as sexy as I'd hoped for but anyways...


It's the damn unit. The CDRW. It's acting very strange in DOS mode as well. Accidently stumbled over it as I were about to reinstall Windows. It's got major problems reading the damn disc... I've tried with a cleaning kit but it had no effect so I'm guessing it's just faulty. That's life...

So the tip of the day would be:
NEVER buy Lite-On! The unit is about 7 months old and now this happens. It's quite slow in general so it's not the best of choices anyway..! I know I'm entitled to a replacement unit but I say screw that, don't want their faulty shit anymore.

Now you know. Thanks again for all your help!