homerj32

If I didn't know it would be a waste of good grog, I'd send a flat to local Microsoft shop to get better work from them!

I just want to say that having worked support and R&D for a couple of professional companies for over 12 years, I have never come across a more talented and dedicated group of individuals that were so knowledgable about the product they were working with, who are also supporting their product and users so diligently for free/donations. Reading through the posts from people and the ability that some of you have to diagnose hardware issues through vague descriptions is truly amazing, especially since I have seen (and written) my fair share of convoluted problem descriptions that most organizations would reject out of hand. You folks are easily some of the finest in your profession, the shame is that so few people know it!

I have also found out the hard way recently that TSST Corporation, or the drive manufacturer is not necessarily the best and only place to get your update, as the TSST drive in my machine alluded to in another post was harmed by their 'Software Flash Download for Windows'. I was better served by an update provided by HP which solved all the problems TSST's created, since HP were the ones that tested the burner in this machine with this mobo and therefore are more aware of the gotchas that may come up between the two. If you bought a drive and put it in separately like the LG I also have in this machine, then different story, but just something to think about when sending people for updates.

As usual, Lightening UK is correct. I did this a few weeks back and just did it again today when I saw this question to verify my steps before posting. I highly recommend using a CD-RW until you get the result that you want, unless you host the gang for beers and are in constant need of beer mats. - create a PQMAGIC directory on your machine, perhaps under your Temp directory - copy the contents of both floppies, including hidden and system files to the PQMAGIC directory, preserving the directory structure of the disks - download Winimage, and create a new 2.88MB image file project - inject the contents of the PQMAGIC directory and save the file as pqboot.ima - Run ImgBurn and Write files/folders to disc - switch to Device Output and set your destination to your appropriate drive if you have more than one CD/DVD output - on the Advanced tab, set the Bootable Disc sub-tab Make Image Bootable check box to On, select the Emulation Type as Floppy Disk (2.88 MB) and browse to the pqboot.ima file created in the steps above. - in the build queue, you will need to supply a file or files to be written to the disc, which can be other utilities that you may want to use in the Windows environment as they will not be available outside of the pqboot.ima environment. So having just Partition Magic on there is a bit of a waste when you could have some other things on there which were accesible in Windows. If you have any further questions, let me know, and Lightening UK, if this is too off topic then I am happy to take this as a PM. Just tell us so in a post. Regards

Let us know what the results are if you have problems when you try your first burn, by posting the log files that you will find in the application under Main Menu -> Help -> ImgBurn Logs In those log files will be details about the process as well as your burners that will help determine what type they are, and enable you to find the latest firmware updates for the drives themselves, which can often be key to successful burning. Also very important is to not be cheap when buying CD's and DVD's, as it all comes down to spending a little more money on better quality media, and a lot less time troubleshooting problems because of a bad quality product. Good luck!

And it looks like I had my own bad flash. I had downloaded one from Toshiba for my drive model, which proved to be a bad move. Found one from HP, who are the providers of the entire system, and that one works a treat including reading the disc immediately after verifying while Imgburn is still open.

Glad to have helped one person on the boards. And the machine in question for me today could very well be a Windows Vista problem. I generally do not have a problem with Vista, but let's face it, for a Microsoft product it can still be considered Beta.

More info from another quick test: if I don't do a Verify, then the disc is readable immediately afterwards by Windows in the same drive burning the same ISO. Previously, I had always done a Verify. Sorry for all the previous typos, was feeding my baby daughter at the same time.

So I have to apologize and ask for more advanced input with this one, as I was looking into providing input on another question, and this problem came up again on my personal machine which I don not use for burning all that often although I do have tow burners in it, both with update firmware. The disc that I burnt (Memorex CR-RW) on a Toshiba drive did burn successfully, however when I closed ImgBurn and tried to read it through Windows, I was unable to see the files on the disc. Out of curiousity, I put the disc into the other drive (LG) and Windows saw the files no problem. I rebooted the machine to test the if the disc was bootable, removed the disc from the LG drive and put it back into the Toshiba, and lo and behold but the first one now read the disc just fine. Perplexed? I am as I am not sure at the file level what sharing or handles would/could be open still that could affect this, so anyone else with more experience that would like to wrigh in is welcome. Thanks.

Not going to comment much on what you were doing as that's up to you, and is a discussion for a different forum which I am happy to meet you if you like after you aer able to read your discs. I am also going to defer to mmalves knowledge and experience in all matters here, or all others who are senior to me on this forum, so if there are other suggestion than mine that appear with a stronger user rating to their profile, heed those first as I have only just begun to use the application this year! I have however used it on over 20 different burners to date, and cannot emphasize the value that I have found in updating firmware and reading the Guides. The other thing that I found helpful with CD-R's was setting the File Splitting sizes for Read and Build in Tools | Settings to 650 MB, although looking at your log file, your file size should not exceed the limit of the CD, therefore you should be OK with your current image. I have since also invested in a box of CD-RW and have even been able to burn successfully with an HP CD-Writer 8100, which is 4x and 15 years old. (albeit the firmware is up the latest available.)

Looking at your log further, it is ironic to me that you are having a similar problem that I was having, trying to do what I was doing (burining and XP bootable ISO), on the same type of drive that I was using (Sony DVD, although slightly different model), using CD-R media. This was the specific machine that I first had problems with that required teh firmware update, and since that time I have been using it as my 'master burner' as it has not failed since. I'd suggest making sure you have the lates, and please excuse me if you have already done so.

I had this problem previously with older firmware and found that one of two things may have resolved the problem. First, I updated the firmware on the machines, and then was able to read the discs fine. But then I had the same problem on the next old machine that I received and I got to wondering, and sure enough, even without updating the firmware, if I closed ImgBurn and then let the OS look at the disc it was able to see the files. Not sure if there was a sharing/open files issue, but it was not a problem for me after that. Of course it was still a problem on when I was trying to read a DVD on a machien that only had a CD drive in it, but we can't expect ImgBurn to correct (l)user errors.

Not sure that this is the problem you are having, but I recently came across one of these drives in a laptop that I was working on, and while searching for firmware updates found this page that some other people were venting about this type of drive. It may be that you have a drive issue as well. Keep looking for firmware at the same time, and check with the computer vendor (not sure if you have a PC or laptop). http://club.cdfreaks.com/f86/booktype-sett...d-7530a-214472/

And since I was looking for an update for a remediated machine I just received and had to find the link again anyway, here it is. http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php

Had similar issues when I first used the software and was using somewhat inferior media. Once I flashed the drive with information that I obtained from a link provided in the Guides section, and then I actually read the Guides to determine how to properly use the applicaiton, I was able to even get my inferior media to work, although I have since purchased better media as it just makes more sense.

Thanks again for the reply. I don't understand the difference, but then I am not a CD/DVD HW expert by any stretch, but following some of the posted links I updated some of the firmware on the drives and can now read the discs through Windows on three different machines. Therefore, you are correct (again or is that still?), and your product works like a champ! I have not tried to read them outside of Windows as there was a problem with the CD boot image I used/created, but that is what trial and error is for now that I know the basic process is working on CD and DVD. I'll pay up now, go away and learn for a few weeks, then be back to help field questions or even write documentation from threads for FAQs when you deem me fit to do so. Thanks for the answers

Unfortunately, I have tried across two different machines now and had the same result. Each time it looks like the process has succeeded, yet the disc remains blank and when reinserted to my Vista machine for instance, I am asked what I want to do with this 'Blank CD'. Try to burn to it again, I am prompted that I need to erase it, however I am not able to see files on this media through Windows, a Linux shell or if I use ImgBurn to use it as a source so I suspect that there is something that I am doing wrong. Having reviewed the Guides, and changed but the few options mentioned in this thread, I am at a loss to see what my user error is, so I attach the log in the hope that it reveals my folly and in the meantime trundle off with MS CD in hand to get the first laptop built by hand for the school admin by Wednesday. Logfile - ImgBurn.log - Windows Vista Logfile - ImgBurn1.log - Windows 2003 Server Any tips would be appreciated. ImgBurn1.log ImgBurn.log

Thanks for that LUK. Makes sense, especially when reducing the image break size to 650MB and then doing the files one at a time. Tried to do that in Write Mode, but the ever helpful ImgBurn applicaiton ensured that I chose the MDS . Excellent option having this write function available int he build phase as well. If this works, I'll even bury my prejudice and use PayPal.

Sadly a new problem has reared it's ugly head today now that I have built my ISO's into i0x's with corresponding MDS files and am trying to burn using a Sony DVD QW-G120A burning to Memorex CD-RW 12x CD's. The problem is in the Write phase, when I am selecting the MDS for the overall project and I receive a warning telling me that the image is too large (1.8GB) for the media (702MB) which is why I split it into the lovely MDS project to begin with. I thought that by selecting the MDS, Image Burn would know to burn each file one at a time as they were created. I have searched the FAQ's and Guides unsuccessfully for the past few hours looking for information on writing or burning MDS projects. If the information is there, then please just provide me with the breadcrumb to find it and I will keep looking dutifully for it but unfortunately keyword searches have been fruitless.

Went back to my previous strategy as a test with new settings in the last post saved and now original ISO's are being split a treat, just like a bought one!! It's exactly the solution I needed. Thanks very much for everything. This is so much easier to use than anything else. And thanks for the entertainment with Ondras. After 14 years of tech support with various companies it was nice to see it said properly!

Just a follow up as I am re-working my image strategy and burning a new set of XP ISO images so that I can fit them onto CD's, I wnated to let anyone else that might face this problem know that there are two other things that may occur as 'gotchas' if you're not careful or diligent in reading all of the manuals. First and foremost, when in Read Mode, ensure that you have set the Destination to a file on your hard drive, otherwise the image splitting does not occur at all because of course the default output is to your media. Next, there is also a corresponding Tools - Settings - Write - File Splitting - 700Mb, which may or may not need to be used in concert, or may work on it's own. If I happen to test that one later this week and find out more, I'll post the results.

Thanks for the quick reply. I've held many a network, HDD and ribbon cable in place with blutach. Great stuff! If you find some in a PC at a Hog's Breath Cafe in Australia while you're doing maintenance, it wasn't me. Found that setting, I guess the problem that I have come across is that I am dealing with large compressions within the image that I am trying to create as it is, such is ISO's for WINXP, Office, Symantec, and others that are exceeding the 700 MB size on their own and as such are the application is not going to split them when creating the image. Was thinking about it as a layman for a while and for some reason thought that it would split the files inside the image (D'OH!), but since I ran out of beer about 2 hours ago and have been drinking Coke again, my though processes are starting to clear up. It is after midnight here and you can't buy anymore booze, so intelligence is creeping back in to play. Sorry to trouble you and thanks for your reply, it would indeed solve my problem once I solve the PEBCAK error. I need to rethink my strategy, but this is definitely the best tool I have found for burning in a long time. I'll be sending a donation by week's end as well as letting my former colleagues from BOBJ/SAP who aren't in the fold know about your work. Keep it up. Thanks again

Unfortuantely I have a number of older IBM and clone laptops for a school recycling/donation program that I need to image and the drives are CD only which do not support DVD's, so the DVD I created will be useful for other projects but not this one. I cannot seem to get image file (1.8Gb) broken into multiple files so that I can transfer them onto a small FAT32 partition on each machine. Then I can just hide that partition for the IT manager at the school who can re-image the machine every semester from the partition by booting from a bootable CD that I created with your product. If I get this working, I will be happy to donate at least a portion of the funds that I was going to have to spend on Roxio. I'm a non-profit so saving money is huge, but saving half is jsut as good to see development funds go towards this product which is easy to use and even better than Roxio, it works!