LIGHTNING UK!

ImgBurn doesn't look at or use the MD5 calculations at all, they're purely cosmetic... hell I even turned off their calculation (by default) in newer versions. I think the cause of the problem lies with this... That is to say, the track (according to the TOC) spans the LBA range 0... 329183 = 329184 sectors in total. Yet upon asking the drive about the track (the 'Track Information' bit), it says the 'Track Size' is 329182 sectors. So it's misreporting the size by 2 sectors. I bet if you took 4096 bytes off the end of the proper ISO it would have the same MD5 as that reported by the 'Device'. Likewise if you added 4096 bytes to the end of the broken ISO you'd then see (via 'Comp') that the differences were in those final 2 sectors. I'm currently looking to why the difference in size wasn't flagged up somehow but it's hard when I can't find a disc / drive that will show the same issue! I'll keep you posted. EDIT: Can you please take your problem CD and try to read/view the 2 sectors it's missing off the end using the builtin sector viewer. i.e. try and read sector 329182 and 329183 Does it do that ok? If you could then attempt to read (or verify... perhaps both!) the cd again, but this time press F8 before you click the 'go' button. When that's done, save the contents of the log window to a file and upload it (rather than pasting it as plain text in your post).

Do you need it to be a cable or could you use a proper enclosure?

Not really, no. The drive had a problem writing to the media so the issue is somewhere between your drive, its firmware and the media you're using. Nothing else really comes into the equation. You could try using a cleaning disc on the drive in case the lense is a tiny bit dirty.

Where did the image with 329,182 sectors come from, you just using 'Read' mode? If so, does Read mode produce the same size image from all of your drives? Am I right in thinking that verifying as part of a burn returns correct md5 for both but verifying standalone returns a different one for the drive/device?

What do you see under the ide/atapi controller branch in device manager? How about the scsi / raid controller one? See if you can get us a screenshot with both of those branches expanded and visible. The bios option would be for the controller itself rather than a drive. Being a Dell, they might have hidden all that stuff from you. Try installing the latest chipset and matrix drivers from the intel site. http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/inf/ http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/

So it's the USB drive that's the problem then? That's what the OS knows as 'CdRom2' and Windows isn't even letting Imgburn open a 'handle' to it (probably because windows can't send I/O to it either), that's why no I/O is logged within ImgBurn after that final 'Report Key - RPC State' command directed at CdRom1. Leave the USB drive disconnected if your machine hangs when it isn't.

What files do you see in the video_ts folder? Assuming it's a proper dvd video disc there's no reason for it not to play.... EXCEPT.. if the player can't read your disc or it doesn't support something about the files. Not all players will support mpa audio (and I know this from experience) or whatever pinnacle studio seems to default to using for the audio encoding. Dolby digital 2.0 is a much better choice.

DVD+RW don't burn as well and aren't as reabable as write once media. You should avoid using them whenever possible. If you really must use them, it's trial and error to find some your drive likes. The skipping is just where your player can't read them - and it failing to verify should have sent the alarm bells ringing.

Ok so 2 sectors are being lost somewhere. If that's the size your drive is reporting for the disc then I guess that's why the md5 doesn't match - the last 2 sectors aren't part of the calculation. Copy + paste the disc info text from the panel on the right.

If you're not using a Verbatim BD-RE, forget about it! They're the only ones the drive seems to like.

Go with the Verbatim 2.4x MKM-001-00 dye discs then.

Firmware update: http://download.aopen.com.tw/userdownload_...&Model=1149 Tips on which discs to use: http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=8000

The cells have to land within a certain region (LBA wise) for it to be physically possible to use them as layer break cells. You can't just pick a cell because it looks good It's probably best if you just work the the main pgc (longest duration?) and insert some additional cells next to the one that was already visible in ImgBurn. If you need any more info about using VobBlanker for this task you'll have to wait for someone else to help you because it's not something I've ever done before. You might also like to seek help at the Doom9 forums as I believe that's where most of the users (and the author) are to be found.

Please post the log

Nope, for data discs you can just pretend there's no such thing as layers or a 'layer break' on discs.

Your drive doesn't support those discs. Memorex don't make discs, they 'brand' them. The ones you're using there have the 'CMC MAG-D01-00' dye and it's the dye that discs use that's the important thing. http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=8000

Correct

Ok so you already know that DirectShow won't deal with these files but that's where ImgBurn's fallback to 'ACM' decoding should kick in. The beta I'm currently working with is ok on the 'girls just wanna have fun' one (i.e. no 'Reached EOF' error in ACM fallback mode), the other one doesn't work in ACM mode because the 'channel mode' flag (stereo, joint stereo, mono etc) changes between frame header 1 and header 2 and ImgBurn rejects it. It would appear the test where Imgburn compares the 2 headers was a little bit too good and in actual fact it's ok for the 'channel mode' to change just so long as it doesn't go to/from mono. i.e. Stereo -> Joint Stereo is ok, Stereo -> Mono or Joint Stereo -> Mono or Mono -> Stereo is NOT ok. I've updated my compare routine based on this new found knowledge and the file is no longer rejected. ACM decoding then works just fine and I can happily burn both songs

The previewer displays 2 cells. Based on your selection in the LB window, Cell 1 is the one BEFORE the LB and Cell 2 is the one AFTER the LB. So basically, as the previewer goes from Cell 1 to Cell 2, that's where the player would be switching layers and potentially pausing the action for a split second. It's not uncommon for discs to have multiple PGC's within a VTS set which actually play (some of) the same cells. That's all you're seeing here. Notice the LBA (before the '->') for both entries is the same... that means the split point would be the same no matter which one you selected. If you want to see more options you'll have to insert some more Cells. You can refer to the 'end of the world' guide in the Guide forum to find out how to do that.

None of that makes any difference. The bottom line is that your drive shouldn't be returning 'Write Error' status codes when setting the layer break. The post you were linked to said MKM-001-00 works better in more drives. Seeing as yours is erroring out with MKM-003-00 (even if they are still Verbatim!) means the info in that topic still applies to you. You might find that your drive is better at burning MKM-003-00 if you select a faster speed. 2.4x might not be the optimal one on that drive, it might be 4x or 6x. So basically, experiment with it!

Correct, that's how you burn double layer DVD Video. We also have several guides on the subject in the Guides forum. Just remember that you want to be using DVD+R DL rather than DVD-R DL. DVD+R DL are much more flexible and allow you to position the layer break wherever you want on the disc (content and physical LB can be moved for nice alignment), on DVD-R DL it's in a fixed position and cannot be moved (content can be moved for nice alignment).

The log doesn't show that it's hung on a command ImgBurn is sending. Was there really nothing after the report key one? What did the status bar say at that time? (BEFORE you tried to close it)

You could just use the 'comp' command line tool. When you know the offset where things start to change, divide that number by 2048 to get the sector number, then -1 tp get the LBA. Then open both ISO's in IsoBuster (2 instances) and jump to that LBA. Can I just ask, when you load the ISO in ImgBurn does the 'Sectors' value match the one in the disc info panel on the right?

I'm sure hdd regen and spinrite would both work for testing it. (They're not free though) The manufacturer diag tools must work too... after all, they're made for the drives and they must know that they're SATA as well as IDE!

The multisession log entry is referring to burning multisession images - i.e. where the image file clearly defines several sessions. You cannot add sessions to a disc at a later time, it's all done in a single burning session. ImgBurn cannot be used (in Build mode) to keep adding to discs. ImgBurn is more flexible with the DVD Video layer break in that you can position (and preview) it exactly where you want it - providing you've got 'Cells' defined in the right place within the IFO. Nero will just split the data in half.