Pioneer DVD-108, weird problem when writing dvds

I have pioneer dvr-108 dvd writer, and i am having problem burnind dvds. The problem is as follows:

I have a box of 50 verbatim dvd+r's (8x) and one of every 2 discs (in the order they are put in the box), fails when trying to burn.

I had same problem with other medias iomega dvd+r and dms dvd+r. When i first bough the writer I did not have this problem. Some time later I bought 2 box of 25 DMS DVD+Rs (8x), first box was ok but I had the problem I mentioned above, with the second box - and half of that box is wasted. Then I thought I would never buy DMS discs, and switched back to Iomega dvd+rs which i did not have any problem before and again I bought 2 box of 25 discs, and again first box was ok, half of the second box is wasted. Then I decided to pay more for the media and buy verbatim discs, and i am having same problem again.

Anyone heard of this kind of thing? Any solutions? My writer is wasted?

 

I burn at 8x speed normally. And when I put a DVD media in the driver, I know that it will fail burning because it makes strange noises as if it is turning faster than normal. If the disc ok, it does not make any such noises.

 

It is DVR-108, sorry.

 

Your sure its not alternating one good burn then one bad burn this could point toward some kind of buffer problem or does the drive screw each alternating disk from the box,if you slid out all the alternating disks from a batch would one poile work perfectly and the other none at all

update the drive firmware in any case and reinstall your burning software

I'm struggling justfying my post though as I cant see you doing anything legal with 50dvdr's

 

Well,

I have the latest firmware and I had nero 6, now i have nero 7. Didnt change a thing really.

And my burner doesnt really choose whether I do legal stuff

And as far as i recall, when i take out the alternating ones, it burns all the rest ok...

 

Do you have DMA enabled?

Try the Nero Info Tool.

 

it is enabled for the DVD writer.

and for both first and secondary ide channels, DMA is off for both slaves.

as a matter of fact, when i check the device manager on control panel, there is no "advanced settings" tab on the properies of secondary ide channel, where you can configure DMA.

 

DMA should be on for all hard drives, and optical drives.

 

ok a couple of questions...

1 - I have my 2 hard drives on primary ide, and 2 optical drives (dvd writer, master / cd writer - slave) on secondary ide. Can this situation be anyway related?

2 - As i mentioned before, on the Properties of the secondary IDE channel on device manager, I have no tab for "Advanced Settings" where you can configure DMA option. How am i supposed to set DMA on for secondary channel?

3 - And for primary ide channel, on the Advances Settings tab, "DMA if available" is set for both master and slave drives (hdds) but Nero info tool says that DMA is off for the slave drive, how can i set it back on?

 

Oh, and one last thing...

How is this DMA problem related with my DVD writer rotating the medias with strange noises and doing this only half the time?, if it is related by any means?

 

Don't know about the noises, but DMA being off can cause buffer underruns.

First thing I would do is make sure you are using the latest motherboard/chipset drivers, then go into the Bios and make sure DMA is enabled, and also in Device Manager (for all hard drives and optical drives).

 

ok, now i tried turning dma on. (found some stuff around which told to uninstall ide drivers etc.) that did not change a goddamn thing. the situation is same

master hard disk - dma on
slave hard disk - dma off

master drive - dvd writer - dma on
slave drive - cd writer - dma off. (despite dma off, i dont have any problems with my cd writer anyway.)

i tried again burning one disc = thinkin things may have changed since last time i was successful i was expecting this to fail, which it did.

I am still thinking whether putting hard disks on primary ide, optic drives on secondary ide is a good configuration (which i cannot easily change cos of the ide cables )

and i also attached nero log, which shows my recent successful and unseccessful burning attempts with this new install of nero 7.

 

Yes, hard disks should be on the Primary IDE channel, and optical on Secondary, and both in the correct master/slave hierarchy.

Don't use cable select.

It's choking for memory, so DMA is the likely cause.

Did you follow my recommendations in post #11?

 

Checked if there is any updates. Not really... my board is old anyway.


I checked bios - all set to auto (no enable option, just disable and auto)

The device manager part is not that easy. As i mentioned before, for my primary channel both master and slave is set to "Use DMA if available" which does not change the fact that the slave hard disk on primary channel has DMA off -> at least nero info tool says so.

For the secondary ide channel, there is no advanced settings tab (as i mentioned twice before.), i uninstalled the driver and reinstalled but didnt change a thing - so no advance settings tab, no way to see or set DMA on/off. I dunno if it was like it all the time but it is now.

 

It may be because of your IDE cable.

Anyway, HERE and HERE is some information and things you can try.


When you say "not really" for motherboard driver updates, does that mean you are using the latest or only ones available?

You really need to find a way to enable DMA. I believe this will not only fix the DVD burning issue, but will make your PC perform better.

 

I updated my bios a year or so ago, and nothing since then.

And for DMA when i tried uninstalling primary channel blue screen comes up on the start up, and therefore i need to restart with last good configuration.

One of the links talk about a hotfix, but the link in there is dead i guess...

 

Additional information: Nero info tool might be wrong,

I used other software (sisoft sandra, aida32) they say thay both hard disks running udma 5.

I could not obtain information for optic drives tho from these.