dbminter

LG wrote me back and said to send it in for a replacement. Unfortunately, I had to write them back because, even though they assigned me a case # for the drive, they didn't provide the address where to send it in to! I don't know if it's the same as last time or not.

Now, this should prove interesting. After a few months on the refurbished, replacement drive LG sent me for my WH16NS60, it stopped writing DVD-R correctly! Using the same image, with discs from the same cake stack, in ImgBurn, with the same external enclosure on the same cable and port, with a fallback NS60 I had, DVD-R burns correctly. So, the problem is the refurbished NS60. So, does LG offer a warranty on refurbished, replacement drives? I wrote them about the issue and we'll see what they say.

The WH14NS40 can write to CD-RW/DVD+-RW just fine. I had a few and it wrote to them without difficulty. I checked the users manual on the LG site and it still says it supports CD-RW/DVD+-RW.

I would test to make sure those CD-R's you made on a different computer that worked actually boot on a machine. Did you try making a CDI of Sonic Adventures on your own computer and got a failure where it worked on another? Also, I'm not entirely sure what a CDI is. Why you'd get a CDI on one kind of disc and an ISO on another. Could be how the disc is authored. IF you have a case where it works on one computer but not another, it's a combination of media/file contents/drive you're using. If it works on another computer but not on yours, not much you can do other than replace your burner with something else that won't conflict. Plus, it may be a simple case of those discs can't be copied with ImgBurn. For instance, certain PS1 games cannot be copied with ImgBurn even though they can be with Alcohol. Although that's a read issue, not a burn one. And it may be the CDI versus ISO thing. For whatever reason, when read to CDI, they're not read properly. Try copying Sonic Adventures on your own PC and see if you get an ISO. Then try burning that ISO on your own computer. See if ISO works but the CDI is not being read properly. Again, I can't see why one disc reads to CDI while another reads to ISO. ISO is generally not a CD file format that I know of.

Here's your most likely culprit: I 17:43:51 Destination Media Type: CD-R (Disc ID: 97m26s66f, CMC Magnetics Corp.) Have you tried burning CDI files before to CD-R or is this your first time? Is this the first time you've tried using these CD-R's you used above? CMC Magnetics is the worst manufacturer of optical media out there. More than 50% of the errors we see on this board can be attributed to using CMC media. Most problems magically disappear when CMC is removed from the equation. Before I even opened the log, I put the blame, most likely, on CMC media. If you haven't tried any other CD-R, try finding AZO/DataLife Plus Verbatim CD-R which you'll only find in online stores. NOT the Life Series you find in brick and mortar stores because those ARE CMC. Unfortunately, CMC bought up Verbatim, so there's no guarantee the good stuff is still any good anymore.

There's a difference between 25 GB and 25 Gb. It's confusing, I know, but when they say a disc is 25 GB, they're often saying it's 25 Gb. Bottom line, you get the maximum out of whatever you're allowed to by the software. So, you can try ImgBurn to see if you get more files on a BD-R, but you're most likely capped at 22.3 GB.

So, you're saying you used these CMC discs before on a different computer, but on this new laptop, this is the first time you're trying to use these CMC discs? If that's the case, your laptop probably has a different kind of optical disc burner in it than you were using before in the other system. And that different new drive has a conflict using the CMC's. No drive is guaranteed to like any kind of media, even the quality stuff. However, you're better off always using the quality stuff over CMC. CMC's will be unreadable sooner than quality discs like Verbatim DataLife Plus/AZO. Plus there can be compatibility issues trying to play CMC's on players. I would first try to remove the known problematic CMC discs from the equation and try high quality Verbatim DataLife Plus/AZO blanks. Most CMC problems tend to go away when Verbatim is introduced. However, be aware Verbatim also uses CMC for their Life Series discs you find in brick and mortar stores, so stay away from the Life Series. You want the DataLife Plus or the stuff that says it's AZO. And the good Verbatim you can only find in online stores like Amazon.com.

Here's your most likely culprit: I 16:16:50 Destination Media Type: CD-R (Disc ID: 97m26s66f, CMC Magnetics Corp.) Don't use CMC Magnetics discs. CMC is the absolute bottom of the barrel optical disc manufacturer. Their media fails more often than it works. Try Verbatim DataLife Plus/AZO CD-R, if you can find it.

Unfortunately, ZA is the only software I've found that successfully blocks outgoing communication, which is what I need for specific reasons. People keep telling me of other software they claim that does it, but when I follow their steps to the letter, it never does what they claim. So, yes, ZA is pretty much the best of only one choice. Couldn't pay me to switch back to Acronis from Reflect. Got tired of YEARS of rescue media from Acronis that would recognize external target drives, but on restores, would conveniently "forget" the external source device was connected, but only AFTER deleting the target partition, rendering your system useless. Actually, you're the one who convinced me to switch to Reflect all those years ago.

I stopped using ZoneAlarm Free Firewall And AntiVirus years ago abecause it used Kaspersky's AV engine. Maybe I'm being paranoid. Maybe Kaspersky is not a branch of the Russian government. But, I didn't want to roll the dice. Plus, I didn't like how they inserted things into your UEFI partition. I got too damn sick and tired of jumping through hoops figuring out what AV software works and suddenly doesn't work. Like Avast AntiVirus Free. It was working on my old model Dell XPS 8930 but on the newer model 8930, it doesn't. So, I just gave up and stuck with Windows Defender for my AV needs.

Yeah, Norton is probably flagging the software as a PUP, with Potentially Unwanted Programs. They're not viruses, but lazy and overzealous AV vendors often times flag them as viruses because they're too lazy to do otherwise. 2006 was around the time I gave up on Norton products. As was said, it became entirely bloatware and good luck trying to uninstall what was already installed!

Now comes the long and laborious process of determining what no longer works on a new PC. For instance, there's a conflict between ZoneAlarm Free Firewall and Macrium Reflect on this Dell XPS 8930 and that has never been present on any PC I've had running ZoneAlarm and Reflect since Reflect 4.x. Nothing that can't be worked around, thankfully, but it's still a pain in the ass.

So far, it looks like the issue I was having isn't present on this new PC! I won't know for sure until I change the Power settings to not conserve power when the PC is not in use. So, it's actually up for an hour without powering down. But, I was relatively sure it was some kind of hardware error on the old XPS. All the tests I performed indicated that that was most likely the cause.

The DVI to HDMI adapter worked fine. I've gotten my e-mail and web clients installed, so now I can test the 45 minute to 60 minute window for the previous error on my old XPS. It MIGHT have been caused by AdAware AntiVirus Free. Discovered I can't have it running on this new XPS 8930. When it's installed, accessing partitions on my USB HDD goes all wonky. Reflect just locks up trying to write images to partitions there. Applications won't start when run. Doesn't explain why it WAS working before, though. Just explains I can't use something I used to be able to use. But, nothing new there. Discover every time I get a new PC there's something that won't damn well work anymore. So, I'll just use Windows Defender as my AV app. I'm sick and tired of configuring AV apps only to discover there's SOMETHING wrong with them!

Actually, I had heard of DisplayPort before. Just not a whole lot about it. I had forgotten about it. I read somethings about it on PCWorld.com. First thing I looked for on this monitor was an HDMI port to connect directly HDMI to HDMI. Didn't see one available. Just an old port that looks like a VGA one, but I can't quite be sure. I saw 3 ports: the DVI, the supposed VGA, and the power supply. My current monitor is an Acer and that's about all I know. There's no other identification on the front to make itself known. There may be some info on little stickers on the back, but they're not easily accessible. It's a relatively older model from like 2014. I had an HP VGA monitor before that one I used for years. Then, in 2011, my newest PC didn't have VGA on it, but DVI. But, the PC came with a VGA to DVI adapter. However, by my 2014 PC purchase, they had changed DVI ports again so my adapter didn't connect to the latest version. So, in 2014, I had to get this Acer current monitor. Got the DVI to HDMI adapter. So, I'll see how this goes once I do some preliminaries on the current computer, like deactivate my Macrium Reflect license so I can register it on the new PC.

Well, the new PC is here, but it's useless to me at this point! My monitor that worked on my last few PC's is a DVI, but there's no DVI port on this new PC because there's no dedicated graphics card. I checked the specs on Dell's site and there's an HDMI port and something called DisplayPort, which I've never heard of before. So, I'm guessing I need a new monitor that connects by HDMI or whatever this DisplayPort is. Or is there an adapter that converts DVI to HDMI or DisplayPort? I don't know. Just called the local repair shop I talk to whenever I have an issue I don't know the answer to. They said they do make DVI to HDMI adapters and that they had them.

I'm not familiar with any Professional blanks from Verbatim. I've just stuck with DataLife Plus because they've been the high quality blanks that worked. At least, before CMC got their sticky fingers involved...

Was that directed at me? If so, I don't understand why. The only changes I've made to DataLife Plus was switching from DVD+R back to DVD-R because the WH16NS60 stopped properly writing to DataLife Plus DVD+R. New PC should arrive tomorrow. Was initially scheduled for today, but probably got delayed a day because of New Year's Day, when shipping probably ceased for the holiday. The USPS doesn't ship on that day, so I doubt Federal Express did.

Dell has shipped my new PC. Should arrive Friday.

According to some posts on the VSO forums, it seems when the 64 bit versions of their applications come out next year, they will have brand new interfaces. I'm rarely a fan of new interfaces simply because you updated the software. The way I see it, if it works, don't mess with it. You're just forcing people to relearn what they already knew. And only because you want people to think your software is improved simply because you changed the coat of paint on it. The same problem plagues web sites. Web site designers think you have to completely overhaul the front page every once in a while simply because if it looks new it must be better. To Hell with if the site actually navigated just fine before. Brick and mortar stores do the same annoying thing. Every few years, they rearrange the location of everything in the store. It's the same old stuff, but they think if they put it in a new location, it will fool people into thinking it's new merchandise.

I knew once I typed 5600 it wasn't right, but it was all I could remember. The drive also has a terrible habit of making a loud fan based noise when it first spun up from any kind of video processing activity. As for the different specs, that's about all I know of the differences between the two. I think the processor might be updated, but I couldn't tell you what the one in my current 8930 is. As for the graphics card, I don't know why it says UHD now when, before, my 8930 came with nVIDIA. But, the nVIDIA options were additional cost add ons. I don't game and I find the constant slew of updates to nVIDIA to cause more problems than they solve. For instance, never use GeForce Experience. It will always "crash" when you try to restart Windows. As long as it supports my DVI monitor, I don't care about what graphics card is included. As long as I get picture on my monitor so I don't have to buy a new one, that's all I care about. Here's the page for it, if that helps you: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-desktop-computers/xps-desktop/spd/xps-8930-desktop/xdvmstcs004s?ref=p13n_rv_hp I opted for the same upgrades as before: a BD-RE drive, an M.2 SSD, and a different 2nd mechanical HDD. It's the same size, but rotates at a more modern rate of speed.

Actually, there are a few updates to the 8930 now it seems. It seems Dell is offering a higher processor than what I originally got. The mechanical HDD I'd add on is upgraded to 7200 RPM, whereas I believe mine is 5600 now. And it seems the graphics card is Intel UHD versus the nVIDIA that I got.

I'd second these recommendations. CMC media just causes all kinds of problems. And LTH (Low To High) media was more trouble than the price saved in cost. Even if you got a successful LTH burn, you'd probably be hard pressed to find a Blu-Ray player that would play the disc. You want the HTL (High To Low) BD.

I can't explain it because I don't know what the issue is. It's not Windows because I restored down 3 different versions that worked before and it did the same thing. It did not do the same thing on my old Dell. So, it's not the USB HDD because it does it on any USB HDD connected and it's not a Windows error. It's a hardware error. Again, Dell is not replacing it. Eventually, I'm going to stop saying the same things over and over again.

In that particular case, you probably have a DVD-9 that's nearly fully. Most likely nothing to do with being unable to detect media.