Short story:
In the past two weeks, I burned numerous DVD+R DL coasters on my LG and Pioneer burners. (Other formats burned fine: CD, single-layer, and bluray (on the Pioneer).) Got a "servo error" in the ImgBurn log for the LG and figured it was dead. Bought a LiteOn iHBS212.
First three attempts to burn a DVD+R DL on the LiteOn crapped out right at the start. Many target failure messages in the log, right at the start of burning.
According to LiteOn utilities, firmware is up to date.
Notice the warning for daemon tools' SPTD in the log and set about disabling SPTD -- their website gives a registry tweak for to disable the driver after reboot with uninstalling. Only noticed after the fact by reading this forum that the warning should be no big deal and can be disabled ("interfering programs") in options->general. But at that point I had rebooted without SPTD running.
What the heck, tried a DVD+R DL burn AND IT WORKED.
So, is the "warning" actually a "WARNING!" 'cause it seems to have been a severe problem for me. Checking things further, I noted that I installed an update of Daemon Tools on June 2, 2012, just around when I noticed the coasters when I tried a DL burn.
I seem to be fixed now, and I may try rolling back to an older Daemon Tools.