dbminter

The good news is Dell hasn't released a newer version of the XPS apparently since the 8930 I got a year and a half ago. So, I'd be getting a known quantity. The bad news is this known quantity needed replacing after a year and a half.

Amazon.com has it listed as being in stock the day after Christmas. https://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Blu-ray-Writer-Optical/dp/B079LR2Q67/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PFS3W8D5E2GS&keywords=wh16ns60+external&qid=1576715910&sprefix=wh16ns60%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-1

As I said before, it's NOT a security issue because it does something similar (Different but related.) on my factory default image.

You don't have the same problem I have. My drives show up fine in Windows Explorer with no problem. But, after 45 to 60 minutes of being up, File Explorer locks up and prevents Windows from any subsequent restarts without File Explorer locking up. Even when the drive is disconnected.

I didn't realize there were 3 different versions of the NS40. Maybe that's why you had better luck with that drive. Maybe later models fixed the issues encountered in the past.

Everything's garbage now. No one gives a damn except about dimes. Pioneer used to be a good choice, but they're now. I'm already in the process of getting a refund for a drive they already sent me a replacement for. One thing you can do is take one of these NS40 failure BD's and check the bottom of them. If they're scratched with easily definable scratches, that could explain it. LG WH models have a terrible habit, even after less than 2 months, of physically scratching BD media they write to. You just have to get a refurbished replacement from LG. LG is, at least, good at issuing replacement drives. The LG WH16NS60 is the only drive I use anymore. Verbatim the only media because it may simply be the best of the worst out there.

Well, you can believe what you like, but I had 4 of those NS40's and they all behaved the same way on quality Verbatim BD DL media. And it wasn't just my experience. However, your situation is slightly different. You're, at least, getting failures on burns. We got failures on Verifies after successful burns. After that many burns, your drive may have just given up the ghost. Another possible explanation is Verbatim media may not longer be quality media, particularly if this is the first disc you're trying in a new stack. Verbatim was bought out by CMC, the makers of the worst media out there. They will probably end up changing the manufacturing process to squeeze out every last possible dime. I know they changed the formula for DataLife Plus DVD+R, which worked fine on my NS60 and then no longer did, conveniently after the sale to CMC.

Here's your most likely culprit: the WH16NS40. That LG model is absolutely terrible at writing dual layer BD media, which you're attempting to use. You're using the quality stuff, so it's not a media issue. The NS40 will, 8 times out of 10, fail to Verify dual layer BD media if it does succeed. That's why I recommend the NS60. It costs more and you may not need its Ultra HD features, but it, at least, properly writes to BD DL media.

Look, I don't want to get cross, but I've already explained what's going on and why it can't be anything else too many times in this thread. I feel awful and I'm not going to recycle the entire story all over again.

A fresh install won't do any good! I restored down the factory default partition and it still does this, so reinstalling everything won't fix this! My problems aren't as easy fixes as others. I'm constantly on the assault. There are no unique symptoms like mine! My situation is so custom no one else is going to encounter it! And I swapped in an old PC, recreated the same situation, and it didn't do it! So, the problem is this latest PC.

I don't really care if they're prebuilt or custom rigs. I just want shit that works. I've already got somebody else out there who might customize a rig for me. Or I may go with the guy I took my PC in for diagnostics. He did the entire diagnostics for free, so I kind of feel bad that he didn't find anything, putting him through all that time and trouble. He also sells rigs.

Well, I summoned up the blood and just worked through the fatigue to swap out the latest USB HDD for the one that used to work, restored Windows 10 1909 back to when it used to work, restored the live data partition back when it used to work, booted into Windows, did nothing else, and waited for 60 minutes. On cue, the Start menu wouldn't open! So, it's a problem with the PC. Not a BIOS issue! Not a security issue! Not a software issue! Funny enough, a BIOS update had been released since this all began. I applied that, knowing full well it wouldn't address the problem, and it didn't. So, there's no escaping it. I have to get a 2nd new PC is under 2 years!

I am still suffering with whatever it is I have, though I doubt it's stomach flu anymore, unless stomach flu lasts more than 7 days. I still need to perform one last test to rule out it's not the new USB HDD, but I can't do it until I get enough strength to be able to lift the one out of place and put an old one in. Then, restore known good images of Windows 10 1909 and live data partition on the old device, start Windows, and wait an hour. Also, last things I needed right now to happen all at the same time: 1.) needing a new PC 2.) 2 ER visits 3.) 2 primary care physician visits 4.) my waterbed sprung a leak 5.) one of the few Christmas gifts to me under the tree this year that isn't To me From me arrived from a friend from Amazon.com damaged! It was an 11 disc DVD set where 6 of them were packaged out of order and one was disconnected from its peg, floating around inside the packaging, getting scratched beyond play.

It's half a year past its warranty under Dell. Plus, to replicate the issue, I'd have to send in one of my USB HDD's along with it, which means sending in my live data, which is too important. Plus, it would have be configured to load the Desktop folder from F:\.

Well, not that I'm defending Freemake Video Converter, because it has a lot of problems, it is converting from one video container format to another. That's where the long time comes in, particularly on the so called "free" version. Which watermarks the video so how useful is it? ImgBurn just burns what you feed it. It does no, and cannot do, any video conversion.

It's NOT a security issue! It happens on 2 different drives that were working fine before. It doesn't do this on my old PC. So, the problem is with the PC. It's not solved by deleting everything and start from scratch. Tried that. 7.0.0.69 is the last Gold release of CXD. And I spent all afternoon into the evening in the emergency room with apparent stomach flu. Really hit me first hard yesterday, but today, my first attempt to eat something, caused uncontrollable shaking. Last thing I need right now.

Try something other than MediaRange BD-R DL. Like Verbatim BD-R DL. When using dual layer media, the only reliable stuff used to be made by Verbatim. CMC bought up Verbatim so it's hard to say much anymore. Near as I can remember, MediaRange is a no name manufacturer so their discs are cheap. Cheap media often times aren't recognized by players.

By engrave, do you mean burning a BD-R? By lounge, do you mean a Blu-Ray player? If so, ImgBurn should automatically finalize discs for you. If a Blu-Ray player isn't playing your BD-R movie disc, it could be a variety of things. Either non-compliant BDMV and CERTIFICATE folders made by the program that made them or your player doesn't like the BD-R's you're using and doesn't recognize they've been inserted.

There's no way around it. My PC's still not working right and the tech guys find nothing wrong. I connected this USB HDD to my old PC and it doesn't do what it does on my newest PC. Any time any contents are accessed from this drive in any way, Windows locks up fatally after an hour and won't restart, ever. It's not the USB HDD because it works fine on my old PC. So, there's no way around it. The problem is with this PC that's only a year and a half old. Well, Dell goes on my list now. Also on my list is Pioneer. Now the BDR-212 won't write to BD-R! It ALWAYS returns Medium Corrupted when trying to write to them now! Before, I'd get that error and just retry the burn and it would work. I put the SAME disc the 212 returns the Medium Corrupted error on in my LG WH16NS60 and it burns fine. I will see if I can still take up Pioneer on that refund offer.

Did you find my VRO input post on the VSO CXD forum?

When I bought my CXD license, I got the lifetime version. Don't know if they still offer that anymore. Why offer that when they can make you pay infinitely? I used to use Partition Wizard but the last time I tried a resize operation, all it did was hide the partition and didn't do anything else. Stayed at 0%. Tried to get tech support to help, but I knew, from looking at the log, they'd find nothing wrong because nothing was being done. And, of course, they couldn't help. So, I switched to AEOMI Partition Assistant. It has its own bugs, but they're not nearly as fatal. And their tech support stinks, too. They keep asking me to describe the SAME thing over and over again! Yes, free versions of True Image used to come with my My Books. I never used it because True Image kept borking the recovery media. It would recognize external source devices for recovery images, but it would then FORGET they were there... but only after, conveniently, DELETING the target partition for restore! So, from chevr0n's suggestion, I tried and switched over to Macrium Reflect.

dr, I saw your post about your Explorer issue on the VSO CXD forum.

I think I sussed the problem out by attaching the USB HDD in question to an older PC running an older Windows 10 version. I got a new error this time, but this error was more indicative of what was probably going on. It appears to be NEITHER a hardware or a software issue! It appears a partition on the drive had been turned entirely read only somehow. When connecting that drive to my old PC, I couldn't open anything for editing. I couldn't even create new files in the root directory of the partition. That partition had one thing in common in all tests: contents were being accessed from it. My Desktop folder and my Waterfox web browser profile folder were on that partition. Desktop gets accessed every time Windows starts. On the 1809 image restore, the problem only appeared when Waterfox accessed its contents, creating corrupted contents where Waterfox wouldn't even load. So, I restored the partition image made back when it was working and the contents were no longer in read only mode. Now, WHY Windows WOULD work for 45 to 60 minutes BEFORE crashing if the contents were read only makes no sense. Should have happened immediately. WHY connecting the other working HDD did the same thing makes no sense either. I won't know if this fixes the issue until I get the PC back from the shop to test it. Plus, it doesn't explain WHAT set the entire partition read only. And, frankly, HOW. It could STILL be a hardware issue in my live PC that is causing this. Or could be a hardware error in the USB HDD. What also isn't explained is why Windows would lock up on subsequent restarts, even with the drive disconnected.

It's not a BIOS problem. Besides, there isn't a new BIOS update. I updated Windows 10 1903 to 1909 twice just fine for 2 weeks with no problem. It's not a BIOS issue. VSO basically said my VRO problem wasn't something they cared about right now. They said they're too busy doing the 64 bit version to worry about my piddling problem. I did more tests and Wondershare Filmora processes the VRO just fine, so it's a CXD issue.

It's not a BIOS issue. BIOS settings just don't change themselves and I haven't updated the BIOS in months. Otherwise, I'd have have suspected a borked BIOS. It's not a Device Manager issue as even restoring all images where Windows was working fine before it does this. It doesn't do this unless a USB HDD is plugged in and contents are accessed from it. All images were working fine until the 21st. Regardless of device, when 2 working ones I had before, one for over a year, do this. So, the problem has to be an internal hardware error. After explaining the issue to the shop I went in and detailed my 3 days of debugging, he agrees with me it's either the mobo, the RAM, the CPU, or the BIOS controller on the mobo. I forgot to run MemTest86 and did so last night. No problems there so it's most likely not the RAM. If the mobo needs to be replaced, might as well get a whole new PC. Replacing the mobo might void my Windows license.