[Michael Wozniak]

Hi All,
I'm suddenly having lots of problems with CD burning. It's a TDK
CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW in my XP athlon machine, which is otherwise working
fine. I've typically had maybe a 4-5% coaster rate, but suddenly that has
jumped up to about 35-40%. I'm getting these error messages from the disc
creator software (Roxio EZ CD creator):

E80041898 Write error (03/0c/00) (not sure if these are "ohs' or "zeroes")
E80041899 Write error - Buffer underrun occurred (o6/c5/oo)
E80041925 Track writer error - command retry failed (T7118)

Most of the errors have been TAO, but now DAO is giving errors, too. I've
been duping at 16x (which typically yields 10-16x actual speed), then I
tried 8x - still errors. The hard drive is an older 40gig, about 85-90%
full.
Windows says it does not need defragmenting - I have defragged recently.

The errors are occurring at diferent parts of the discs. I'm trying to dupe
200 CDs with 19 songs. Many are having errors around halfway thru - tracks
9, 10, or 11 - but some are track 4, 6, 14, 18 even.

I've never had a batch of CDs this bad. IIRC, I had previously burned about
7 or 8 discs from this particular spindle of 100 without problems. The only
thing that may have changed is that the room the computer is in is quite
warm right now - about 85 degrees.

I've made no changes to the hardware or software recently. Computer has
never been online - DAW only.

Any ideas?

thanks,
--
Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
This sig is haiku

[Laurence Payne]

On Tue, 01 May 2007 05:10:40 GMT, "Michael Wozniak"
wrote:

I'm suddenly having lots of problems with CD burning. It's a TDK
CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW in my XP athlon machine, which is otherwise working
fine. I've typically had maybe a 4-5% coaster rate, but suddenly that has
jumped up to about 35-40%. I'm getting these error messages from the disc
creator software (Roxio EZ CD creator):

E80041898 Write error (03/0c/00) (not sure if these are "ohs' or "zeroes")
E80041899 Write error - Buffer underrun occurred (o6/c5/oo)
E80041925 Track writer error - command retry failed (T7118)

Most of the errors have been TAO, but now DAO is giving errors, too. I've
been duping at 16x (which typically yields 10-16x actual speed), then I
tried 8x - still errors. The hard drive is an older 40gig, about 85-90%
full.
Windows says it does not need defragmenting - I have defragged recently.

The errors are occurring at diferent parts of the discs. I'm trying to dupe
200 CDs with 19 songs. Many are having errors around halfway thru - tracks
9, 10, or 11 - but some are track 4, 6, 14, 18 even.

I've never had a batch of CDs this bad. IIRC, I had previously burned about
7 or 8 discs from this particular spindle of 100 without problems. The only
thing that may have changed is that the room the computer is in is quite
warm right now - about 85 degrees.

I've made no changes to the hardware or software recently. Computer has
never been online - DAW only.

Any ideas?


Well, for a start, put the machine online and make sure you have
latest versions of your burning program and of firmware for the
burner. There's no need to be paranoid about it :-)

I wouldn't be too happy having a hard drive with only 10% free space,
but can't see how this would be the direct problem.

Temperature could be an issue. Take the case off your compute, aim a
table fan at the guts and see if things improve?

Maybe the burner's just given up. Possible hastened on its way by the
heat. They're so cheap now, why not slot in a new one and see if it
works any better?

[William Sommerwerck]

I've never had a batch of CDs this bad. IIRC, I had previously burned
about 7 or 8 discs from this particular spindle of 100 without problems.
The only thing that may have changed is that the room the computer
is in is quite warm right now -- about 85 degrees.

Last year I was suddenly unable to copy from the CD drive to the DVD writer,
getting all sorts of error messages. When I spoke to the writer's importer,
they suggested the problem with the CD drive. As it cost only $16 to replace
it, I gave it a shot. Lo and behold -- it had abruptly failed. The PROM had
apparently gone bad.

I wouldn't rush to buy a new drive before thoroughly checking everything,
but there's a good chance the drive is the problem.

[Mike Rivers]

On May 1, 1:10 am, "Michael Wozniak"
wrote:
Hi All,
I'm suddenly having lots of problems with CD burning. It's a TDK
CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW in my XP athlon machine, which is otherwise working
fine. I've typically had maybe a 4-5% coaster rate, but suddenly that has
jumped up to about 35-40%.

Cheap **** wears out. Spend another $15 and stick in a new CD drive.
It's the cheapest troubleshooting you can do. Don't spend $50 to get a
better one, and don't confuse the issue by replacing it with a DVD
drive if you can find a CD drive. Your Easy CD Creator may not work
with the new drive, however, so you may need to use whatever program
comes with the new drive.

A 4-5% coaster rate is pretty high, though. Either you're burning too
fast for your blanks or you're buying poor blanks. My rate is close
enough to zero coasters with 30 cent Taiyo Yuden disks and a
conservative (12x or 16x) burn speed.

[William Sommerwerck]

Cheap **** wears out.

It might not even wear out -- just suddenly fail.

The CD drive in my computer is a cheap ASUS. It's so cheap I don't care if
it fails once a year.

But the DVD burner is a Plextor. I wouldn't own any other brand. It's not
just because Plextors generally get good reviews -- it's their user manuals
and customer service. The former are among the best I've seen -- they appear
to be written by a native-English speaker who tells the reader everything he
needs to know in a simple, clear way. The latter is provided by US employees
who'll stay on the 'phone until the issue is resolved. When I get this level
of service, I don't mind paying for the call.

[Richard Crowley]

"Michael Wozniak" wrote ...
Hi All,
I'm suddenly having lots of problems with CD burning. It's a TDK
CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW
......
I've never had a batch of CDs this bad. IIRC, I had previously burned
about 7 or 8 discs from this particular spindle of 100 without problems.
The only thing that may have changed is that the room the computer is in
is quite warm right now - about 85 degrees.

I've made no changes to the hardware or software recently. Computer has
never been online - DAW only.

Any ideas?

You didn't mention the disc blanks? Did you change brands/
speeds/vendors? Are you getting them from a vendor who has a
reputation for not selling counterfeits? Do you have software that
will read and report the actual manufacturer's ID code moulded into
the discs (not just what the paper labels say)?

I agree that it is possible that the drive is just old and tired. It is far
cheaper and faster to just replace it than to fool around with most
any other form of debugging.

I do NOT agree that you should connect the system online and load
up any "updates" This is NOT indicated from your description and
symptoms and could easily compound the problem.

[Richard Crowley]

"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
Well, for a start, put the machine online and make sure you have
latest versions of your burning program and of firmware for the
burner. There's no need to be paranoid about it :-)

IMHO, there is excelent reason to be paranoid about it.
If it ain't broke, don't attempt to "fix" it. Nothing about the
situation or the symptoms suggest that the problem is
lack of some "update". I have audio and video workstations
that have not been "upgraded" since the day they were put
into service many years ago.

Maybe the burner's just given up. Possible hastened on its way by the
heat. They're so cheap now, why not slot in a new one and see if it
works any better?

Agree completely.

[Peter A. Stoll]

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in
:

It might not even wear out -- just suddenly fail.

The CD drive in my computer is a cheap ASUS. It's so cheap I don't
care if it fails once a year.

But the DVD burner is a Plextor. I wouldn't own any other brand.

Not all Plextor models may have good reliability. I bought about eight
Plextor DVD burners around 2004, one for my home machine and the rest for
work. By now more than half of that batch have failed. The later model
Plextor DVD burner I replaced the first failing one with at home has by now
also failed, and just recently the Plextor CD burner I installed in the
same machine in 2002 has failed. This seriously annoyed me, because when I
did tests to choose new standard media late last year, my choice was Taiyo
Yuden on that Plextor CD burner (all the other media in my trial did better
on the Lite-On DVD burner than on the Plextor, but TY did _much_ better on
the Plextor, and that combination had substantially the lowest error rates
in my trial).

In all these particular cases, it did not just go silent overnight, but
progressively got more likely to fail to respond when the software first
accessed it, or to quit in the middle of the burn. I almost think I may
have seen the same error message as shown by the Original Poster at least
once in my troubles.

I'm not really here to slam Plextor, but mostly to agree with the many here
who are suggesting that the most likely change is that the burner degraded,
and the most likely fix a new one. Other than the problem with tied-in
software, CD and DVD drives are one of the very easiest things to replace
in a PC.

[Geoff]

Peter A. Stoll wrote:
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in
:

It might not even wear out -- just suddenly fail.

The CD drive in my computer is a cheap ASUS. It's so cheap I don't
care if it fails once a year.

But the DVD burner is a Plextor. I wouldn't own any other brand.

Not all Plextor models may have good reliability. I bought about
eight Plextor DVD burners around 2004,

I've had 14 Plexwriter 12/4/32s since around or before than time. If they
give any problems a gentle blow thru the tray opening usually fixes it.
Moves the dust and fluff around you see.

Better still, take thhem apart and clean properly.

As for the OP, just stick a new cheapo CD drive in (borrowed if you can't
afford the expenditure) and see if it fixes things. If it does, then buy one
that satisfies you.

geoff

[Michael Wozniak]

"Geoff" wrote in message
...
Peter A. Stoll wrote:
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in
:

It might not even wear out -- just suddenly fail.

The CD drive in my computer is a cheap ASUS. It's so cheap I don't
care if it fails once a year.

But the DVD burner is a Plextor. I wouldn't own any other brand.

Not all Plextor models may have good reliability. I bought about
eight Plextor DVD burners around 2004,

I've had 14 Plexwriter 12/4/32s since around or before than time. If they
give any problems a gentle blow thru the tray opening usually fixes it.
Moves the dust and fluff around you see.

Better still, take thhem apart and clean properly.

As for the OP, just stick a new cheapo CD drive in (borrowed if you can't
afford the expenditure) and see if it fixes things. If it does, then buy
one that satisfies you.

geoff

Progress report. While at CompUSA today, I picked up a new DVD burner and
some house CDRs. On the way home I decided to try the CDRs before swapping
the drive. 20 straight good burns as of now with the new discs. It's also
cooler in the room, so to eliminate that variable I'll try some of the old
discs. That should tell me if its the discs or the temp. I'll post results
when I have more to go on.

Thanks for the help!

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku

[Richard Crowley]

"Michael Wozniak" wrote ...
Progress report. While at CompUSA today, I picked up a
new DVD burner and some house CDRs.

I swore off the house-brand discs from CompUSA years ago.
You might get lucky and get some good discs (as you apparently
did this time), or you could just as easily get landfill-quality junk
depending on which vendor they OEMed from that month.

"CompUSA, CompUSA.com: This store (both online and brick-
n-mortar) has one of the worst return policies on the face of the
planet. Avoid them at all costs, no matter what you plan to buy.
Even if the media is bad, you're stuck with it."
http://www.digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/...s/buymedia.htm

On the way home I decided to try the CDRs before swapping
the drive. 20 straight good burns as of now with the new discs.

I think you would be surprised at how much the quality of the
blank discs matters. Not to be taken for granted just because
they all tend to look the same to the naked eye. I use Taiyo-
Yuden discs exclusively (both CDR and DVDR). They cost a
few pennies more (literally) but well worth it to have zero
problems and zero returns. T-Y are so good that some
vendors sell counterfeits, so it is good to buy from a trusted
source.

Note that you can find software utilities that will read the
moulded-in identification code on the disc so you know where
it came from, regardless of the OEM name brand.

[Michael Wozniak]

"Michael Wozniak" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Geoff" wrote in message
...
Peter A. Stoll wrote:
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in
:

It might not even wear out -- just suddenly fail.

The CD drive in my computer is a cheap ASUS. It's so cheap I don't
care if it fails once a year.

But the DVD burner is a Plextor. I wouldn't own any other brand.

Not all Plextor models may have good reliability. I bought about
eight Plextor DVD burners around 2004,

I've had 14 Plexwriter 12/4/32s since around or before than time. If
they give any problems a gentle blow thru the tray opening usually fixes
it. Moves the dust and fluff around you see.

Better still, take thhem apart and clean properly.

As for the OP, just stick a new cheapo CD drive in (borrowed if you can't
afford the expenditure) and see if it fixes things. If it does, then buy
one that satisfies you.

geoff

Progress report. While at CompUSA today, I picked up a new DVD burner and
some house CDRs. On the way home I decided to try the CDRs before swapping
the drive. 20 straight good burns as of now with the new discs. It's also
cooler in the room, so to eliminate that variable I'll try some of the old
discs. That should tell me if its the discs or the temp. I'll post results
when I have more to go on.

Thanks for the help!

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku

More progress... after burning 20 good new compUSA discs, i tried a few of
the older batch and 3 out of 4 failed. It's the disc batch. Room temp was 72
degrees. I'll take the new burner back for refund, since i never opened the
box. OTOH, it's good to know that compUSA has good (so far) taiwanese
disks - $12.99 for 50 white inkjet-printable.

thanks again,

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku

[Richard Crowley]

"Michael Wozniak" wrote ...
More progress... after burning 20 good new compUSA discs, i tried a
few of the older batch and 3 out of 4 failed. It's the disc batch.
Room temp was 72 degrees. I'll take the new burner back for refund,
since i never opened the box. OTOH, it's good to know that compUSA has
good (so far) taiwanese disks - $12.99 for 50 white inkjet-printable.

At least this week. Chances are you will get a different OEM
vendor next time. You're playing Russian Roulette with discs.
Good luck.

[James Perrett]

On Tue, 01 May 2007 12:32:34 +0100, Mike Rivers
wrote:

A 4-5% coaster rate is pretty high, though. Either you're burning too
fast for your blanks or you're buying poor blanks. My rate is close
enough to zero coasters with 30 cent Taiyo Yuden disks and a
conservative (12x or 16x) burn speed.


I would echo Mike's comments. A 4-5% coaster rate would be grave cause for
concern around here. I can't remember the last time I burned a coaster and
I burn quite a few discs each month. It sounds like your drive has been on
the way out for quite a while now and it is probably time for a
replacement.

Cheers

James.

[Michael Wozniak]

"James Perrett" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 01 May 2007 12:32:34 +0100, Mike Rivers
wrote:

A 4-5% coaster rate is pretty high, though. Either you're burning too
fast for your blanks or you're buying poor blanks. My rate is close
enough to zero coasters with 30 cent Taiyo Yuden disks and a
conservative (12x or 16x) burn speed.


I would echo Mike's comments. A 4-5% coaster rate would be grave cause for
concern around here. I can't remember the last time I burned a coaster and
I burn quite a few discs each month. It sounds like your drive has been on
the way out for quite a while now and it is probably time for a
replacement.

Cheers

James.

Actually, I confused the disc burn failure rate with my disc printer failure
rate, which is around 4%. The disc burner is around 1% failure rate overall.

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku

[Tobiah]

fine. I've typically had maybe a 4-5% coaster rate, but suddenly that has
jumped up to about 35-40%.

Even though your new disks work better, the lens in the cd writer
needs to be cleaned periodically. I have a TDK disk with little
brushes on it that cleans the lens instantly. I've cured people's
burning problems with it, including my own. Same goes for audio
cd players that skip or get stuck repeating a small section.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[Michael Wozniak]

"Richard Crowley" wrote in message
...
"Michael Wozniak" wrote ...
Hi All,
I'm suddenly having lots of problems with CD burning. It's a TDK
CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW
.....
I've never had a batch of CDs this bad. IIRC, I had previously burned
about 7 or 8 discs from this particular spindle of 100 without problems.
The only thing that may have changed is that the room the computer is in
is quite warm right now - about 85 degrees.

I've made no changes to the hardware or software recently. Computer has
never been online - DAW only.

Any ideas?

You didn't mention the disc blanks? Did you change brands/
speeds/vendors? Are you getting them from a vendor who has a
reputation for not selling counterfeits? Do you have software that
will read and report the actual manufacturer's ID code moulded into
the discs (not just what the paper labels say)?

I agree that it is possible that the drive is just old and tired. It is
far
cheaper and faster to just replace it than to fool around with most
any other form of debugging.

I do NOT agree that you should connect the system online and load
up any "updates" This is NOT indicated from your description and
symptoms and could easily compound the problem.

Further update... All 50 of the compUSA discs burned fine -using TAO
(track-at-once) option. After a few coasters with the other discs burning
TAO, I went back to DAO and now the other discs are burning fine (15 in a
row), tho I am pulling from the bottom of the stack instead of the top.

Richard, as for your questions - I did change brands to the compUSA, I did
try lower speeds with the old discs (didn't help). I have used the same
vendor for some time, I have no reason to think counterfeit (or genuine, for
that matter), I don't have the ID code software, tho if it's free I wouldn't
mind getting it. Only the compUSA discs burned well using TAO. Hmmmm....

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku

[Laurence Payne]

On Thu, 03 May 2007 04:03:26 GMT, "Michael Wozniak"
wrote:

Further update... All 50 of the compUSA discs burned fine -using TAO
(track-at-once) option. After a few coasters with the other discs burning
TAO, I went back to DAO and now the other discs are burning fine (15 in a
row), tho I am pulling from the bottom of the stack instead of the top.

Richard, as for your questions - I did change brands to the compUSA, I did
try lower speeds with the old discs (didn't help). I have used the same
vendor for some time, I have no reason to think counterfeit (or genuine, for
that matter), I don't have the ID code software, tho if it's free I wouldn't
mind getting it. Only the compUSA discs burned well using TAO. Hmmmm....


How old is the CD burner? Has the maker released updates for the
firmware,and have you installed them?

It's not as bad as it was in the early days of writable CDs when you
had to be picky about what media suited which burner. (We're not
quite out of those woods yet with DVD media). But media does vary,
and newer burners generally cope better.

[Michael Wozniak]

"Laurence Payne" lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote in message
...
On Thu, 03 May 2007 04:03:26 GMT, "Michael Wozniak"
wrote:

Further update... All 50 of the compUSA discs burned fine -using TAO
(track-at-once) option. After a few coasters with the other discs burning
TAO, I went back to DAO and now the other discs are burning fine (15 in a
row), tho I am pulling from the bottom of the stack instead of the top.

Richard, as for your questions - I did change brands to the compUSA, I did
try lower speeds with the old discs (didn't help). I have used the same
vendor for some time, I have no reason to think counterfeit (or genuine,
for
that matter), I don't have the ID code software, tho if it's free I
wouldn't
mind getting it. Only the compUSA discs burned well using TAO. Hmmmm....


How old is the CD burner? Has the maker released updates for the
firmware,and have you installed them?

It's not as bad as it was in the early days of writable CDs when you
had to be picky about what media suited which burner. (We're not
quite out of those woods yet with DVD media). But media does vary,
and newer burners generally cope better.

The TDK burner is about 2 years old, never updated, no problems until now. I
may take Tobiah's suggestion and at least clean the drive as much as
possible. I'm still stumped as to why TAO won't work for the old disks but
DAO does...

Mikey Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
this sig is haiku

[Laurence Payne]

On Thu, 03 May 2007 18:18:45 GMT, "Michael Wozniak"
wrote:

How old is the CD burner? Has the maker released updates for the
firmware,and have you installed them?

It's not as bad as it was in the early days of writable CDs when you
had to be picky about what media suited which burner. (We're not
quite out of those woods yet with DVD media). But media does vary,
and newer burners generally cope better.

The TDK burner is about 2 years old, never updated, no problems until now. I
may take Tobiah's suggestion and at least clean the drive as much as
possible. I'm still stumped as to why TAO won't work for the old disks but
DAO does...

Well, you might as well get any firmware update available. There's
nothing sacroscant about the one you got, there were doubtless earlier
versions. If TDK have released updates, they will doubtless be mainly
about supporting a wider range of media.

Of course, you may simply have a bad batch of media, or a failing
burner.

Ok, blow the fluff out. Further attempts at cleaning often do more
harm than good.